Public Response to the TrialsThe 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 |
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.
American Cold War Propaganda
(McGraw Hill) |
Soviet Cold War Propaganda
(University of Texas - Austin) |
Cold War Alliances
(Wikimedia Commons)
(Wikimedia Commons)
