The Nuremberg Trials: An International Responsibility to Uphold Justice
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  • The History of International Law
    • International Conventions & Treaties
    • Enforcing Early International Law
  • The Road to Nuremberg
    • War Crimes and Crimes Against Peace
    • Crimes Against Humanity
  • The Trial
    • The London Charter & Trial Preparation
    • Trial Proceedings
    • Verdicts & Sentences
  • Immediate Effects
    • Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings
    • International Military Tribunal for the Far East
    • The Cold War & Delays in Progress
  • Legacy
    • The Nuremberg Principles
    • Ad-hoc Tribunals for Rwanda and the Former Yugoslavia
    • The International Criminal Court
  • Required Materials
    • Bibliography
    • Process Paper
    • Interview Transcripts>
      • Ingo Eigen on IMT
      • Dietlinde Joens on German Reaction
      • Ingo Eigen on Nazi Regime
      • Professor William Schabas on International Law Today

Public Response to the Trials

The German public initially did not take much notice of the trial due to the effort of rebuilding the nation, though from the 1950s to the 1990s, German public viewed the trials as an abuse of power by the Allies. This viewpoint spread  to other nations and made it difficult to establish support for future international justice endeavors.

"For the Germans, during the trial, it was seen as a fair trial. But the perception changed during the 1950s, that it was a show trial by the victors and not a fair trial. [...] In the 1950s, the Germans completely ignored their past, did not want to talk about it, and if anyone was guilty it was Hitler, Himmler, and Goebbels." - Historian Ingo Eigen

Picture
German City in Ruins after WWII
(The Atlantic)

New Focus of Foreign Policy

The new focus of foreign policy the US and USSR shifted to the Cold War, making international cooperation seem impossible and delaying the formation of international courts. The Cold War caused several powerful countries to shirk responsibilities to international justice they had pledged to take on during the Nuremberg Trials, not revisiting them until the 1990s.
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American Cold War Propaganda 
(McGraw Hill)
Picture
Soviet Cold War Propaganda
(University of Texas - Austin)
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Cold War Alliances
(Wikimedia Commons)
Go back to The International Military Tribunal for the Far East
Thesis
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Mary Joens, Senior Individual Website
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