The Greatest Trial in History

Raymond Santana

Mrs. Gentilucci

English II, Period 1

12 May 2011

Nuremberg Trials

To some people they may say that the Nuremberg trial was "the greatest trial in history". (Michael R. Marrus 206). The Nuremberg trials were about twenty-two former officers that were arrested and prosecuted after world war II. (Michael R. Marrus 206). What the Nuremberg trials were all about on November 20, 1945 and how it was the turning point in world history.

Why twenty-two former Nazi were arrested after the holocaust on November 20, 1945? The Nazi officers were charged as war criminals and with crimes against humanity. These Nazi officers were the reason why so many Jews and other ethnic groups during world war II. "The charges brought against the Nazis on trial were complicated and flawed but contends that they were just."(Michael R. Marrus 206). The Allied countries wanted the war crimes trial to be held in Germany, but in 1945, few German cities had standing courthouses in which a major trial could take place. One of the few cities that did was Nuremberg -- ironically, the site of some of Adolph Hitler's most sensational rallies.

What happen two the twenty-two Nazi officers after the Nuremburg trials? After the trials all twenty Nazi officers were executed after they were trialed. There were also many more trials prosecuting other Nazi officials. (http://www.rossel.net/Holocaust14.htm). "The prosecution tried to prove that the Nazis on trial had planned the war. "They claimed that Nazis like Herman Goering, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hans Frank (who had been in charge of mass murders in Poland), Julius Streicher (an early Nazi leader and anti-Semite), and Albert Speer, had planned to conquer the world if they could"." As a minor part of its case, the prosecution presented witnesses and documents that told the story of the Holocaust". (Michael R. Marrus 207)." The defense lawyers could not claim that the Holocaust had not happened, so they concentrated on other issues" (Michael R. Marrus 207). "Hess was the deputy to the Fuhrer and Nazi Party leader. These positions endowed him with responsibilities such as handling all Party matters and gave him the authority to make decisions in Hitler's name on all questions of Party leadership". Hess signed decrees persecuting Jews and was an informed and willing participant in German aggression against Austria, Czechoslovakia, and Poland." He was one of the twenty two Nazi officers trialed and executed after the Nuremberg trials.

"The Nuremberg trial was hailed as a legal triumph". In the past leaders that were defeated in battle or war were killed after being captured." (Michael R. Marrus 211). But under United States pressure,