IP: The Nuremberg Trials

[David Farber <dave@farber.net>]

> Date: Sun,  9 Dec 2001 17:20:02 -0500
> From: Jamie McCarthy <jamie@mccarthy.vg>
> Subject: The Nuremberg Trials
> To: farber@cis.upenn.edu
>
> > I am fascinated by Mr. Fisk's selective recall.  He seems to
> > have forgotten that the Nuremberg trials were essentially
> > military tribunals.
>
> The "essentially" is unnecesary;  they were military tribunals in
> name.  The best-known trial is properly known as the Trial of the
> Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal.  The
> others are collectively known as the Trials of War Criminals before
> the Nuremberg Military Tribunals.
>
> But this rhetorical point is misleading, if it is intended to
> provide historical precedent for the secret trials the Bush
> administration intends.
>
> The IMT was held before an international court with film cameras
> rolling.  Every word was translated, transcribed and each day's
> proceedings were reported in the newspapers.  The U.S., Great
> Britain and France (I don't know about the Soviet Union) published
> the full transcripts after the trial was over.  Those four nations
> worked together to assemble evidence and present it (and to make
> sure the defense was entitled to a fair trial).
>
> The IMT's Rules of Procedure were a mix of (nonmilitary!) courtroom
> rules from all four nations.  There would have been a few rules that
> seemed odd to an American, or at least to one familiar with American
> legal procedure.  But overall the international court was entirely
> in keeping with longstanding Western traditions of law.
>
> It was not a kangaroo court;  three of the 22 defendents were
> entirely acquitted and eleven others were acquitted of some of the
> charges against them.
>
> More information on the IMT is here:
>
> http://www.holocaust-history.org/short-essays/nuremberg.shtml
>
> and the Rules of Procedure it laid out are here:
>
> http://www.holocaust-history.org/works/imt/01/htm/t019.htm
> --
>  Jamie McCarthy
>  jamie@mccarthy.vg

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