Unit 6
Aftermath and legacy
6.3 Was there justice? Before the defeat of Nazi Germany, the wartime Allied powers agreed that there could be no negotiation with the Nazis and that defeated Germany would be divided into zones of military occupation (Soviet, British, French and American zones). They also agreed to destroy Nazi control and influence in Germany and punish those responsible for war crimes. This process was known as de-Nazification.
came from Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union and the United States of America. Of the 22 defendants, 19 were convicted and 10 of them were sentenced to death. Between 1946 and 1949, there were 12 more trials in Nuremberg with a total of 199 German government officials, military leaders, SS, doctors, lawyers and industrialists brought to justice. A total of 161 were convicted.
When the war ended, the Nazi party was banned and Nazi symbols were removed from public places across all the occupation zones. The first trial of war criminals was held in Nuremberg, Germany, in 1945–46. The judges
Think about Do you agree with the Nuremberg judges that ‘following orders’ does not excuse murder?
The Einsatzgruppen trial (1947–48) One of the trials that took place in Nuremberg was the trial of 24 leaders of the SS mobile killing units (see page 51). The defendants admitted the crimes, but claimed that they were not responsible because they were only following orders from their superiors. They pleaded ‘not guilty’, but the court found them guilty and sentenced some to death, and others to imprisonment. The judges at the Nuremberg trials did not accept ‘following orders’ as an adequate defence for criminal acts.
The defendants sit in the dock at the Einsatzgruppen trial.
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