He was usually confrontational and argumentative with the other prisoners. Frick, one of Hitlers closest advisers during the early years of the Nazi regime, was one of those hanged. Three days on and three days off with shifts of four hours on, four hours off each day was the standard work assignment for guards. Before and during the war crimes trial, they were to be considered still innocent, Andrus drummed into the military personnel under his command. Minister of Foreign Affairs (until 1938), then Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia. [151], In order to appease concerns about fair process, the defendants were allowed a free hand with their witnesses and a great deal of irrelevant testimony was heard. --. National Archives Collection of World War II War Crimes Records (Record Groups 153, 238 and 549) The United States conducted war crimes trials in Europe under three jurisdictions: the International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuernberg (RG 238), U.S. military tribunals at Nuernberg (RG 238) and U.S. Army courts (RG 153 & RG 549). Other absent and dead men including Himmler, Reinhard Heydrich, Adolf Eichmann, and Bormann were also blamed. God have mercy on my soul. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. Later 19 other nations accepted the provisions of this agreement. [153] Midway through the trial, Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech denouncing the Soviet threat delighted the defense. The first session, under the presidency of Gen. I.T. The United States and United Kingdom refused to endorse this proposal, citing the failure of war crimes prosecutions after World War I. [27] Especially the United States wanted to avoid countenancing any rule that would give an international court jurisdiction over a government's treatment of its own citizens. Like the Nazis, he was afraid (rightly) that his "God" would kill him if he refused. Prestianni and another guard handcuffed Streicher and walked him silently to the gallows chamber, where they rapped on the door with their truncheons. Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death (Gring, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Jodl, Seyss-Inquart, and Bormann). Several were militaristically aloof and looked down upon those they considered to be the mere political element. He reportedly carried a whip during liaisons with numerous women. Some were gassed. [169][170] The judges did not agree that the conspiracy extended to anyone who participated in the affairs of the Nazi government, only taking being present at the high-level meetings discussing war plans in 1937 and 1939 as evidence of belonging to the conspiracy. [138], From March to July 1946, the defense presented its counterarguments. Cell doors were never opened when food was distributed. Schacht had been imprisoned in July 1944, under suspicion of being part of an assassination conspiracy against Hitler. The following is a brief . During the Nuremberg Trial, American guards maintain constant surveillance over the major Nazi war criminals in the prisonattached to the Palace of Justice. [229] Some defenders of the trial argued that the legal principle of nullum crimen sine lege (no crime without law) was not binding in international proceedings. [37] Nineteen states ratified the charter and were admitted as observers. All guards were forced to stand practically motionless at parade rest behind their assigned prisoner seated before them in the dock. [125], More so than other delegations, Soviet prosecutors showed the gruesome details of German mistreatment of prisoners of war and forced laborers, as well as the systematic murder of Jews in eastern Europe. This wasnt authorized, but it was done on occasion, Prestianni smiled. These visits usually were brief, and participants were separated by a screen. Ten of themHans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Alfred Rosenberg, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel, and Arthur Seyss-Inquartwere hanged on October 16, 1946. The defendants included some of the most famous Nazis, including Hermann Gring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Wilhelm Keitel. [111][112] The British case covered invasions, from that of Poland to that of the Soviet Union, which Shawcross covered in the second part of his speech;[113] these charges took three days to present, with Maxwell Fyfe detailing 15 treaties broken by Germany. [228] The most controversial charge was crimes against peace. [46], The French prosecutor, Franois de Menthon, had just overseen trials of the leaders of Vichy France;[37] he resigned in January 1946 and was replaced by Auguste Champetier de Ribes. I only patrolled there once. We needled him by saying his girls wanted to abandon the Fatherland, marry Americans, and emigrate to the United States.. John C. Woods, hangman at Nuremberg Anyone else might have been embarrassed about botching such a high-level execution. Neurath, after serving eight years of his 15-year sentence, was spirited away in clandestine fashion, without fanfare, and mysteriously set free in the dead of night on November 6, 1954, because of an alleged eye ailment. Alfried was tried in a separate Nuremberg trial (the Krupp Trial) for the use of slave labor, thereby escaping worse charges and possible execution; found guilty in 1948, pardoned and all property returned 1951. An enduring mystery of the 1946 Nuremberg trials was apparently solved yesterday when an American former prison guard claimed it was he who, as an unwitting accomplice, passed to Hermann. He was largely overlooked in prison, Prestianni said of von Papen. Prestianni, the guard contingent, and supervisors under the command of Colonel B.C. I have a brass pot, called an aspersorium, obtained by my father. All female prisoners were segregated on a third tier. [95][96] As Jackson made clear, the purpose of the trial was not just to convict the defendants but also to assemble irrefutable evidence of Nazi crimes, establish individual responsibility and the crime of aggression in international law, offer a history lesson to the defeated Germans, delegitimize the traditional German elite,[97] and allow the Allies to distance themselves from appeasement. [73] Also on trial were propagandists Julius Streicher and Hans Fritzsche; Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy who had flown to Britain in 1941; Hans Frank, governor-general of the General Governorate of Poland; Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach; Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands; and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the leader of Himmler's Reich Main Security Office. These were people, Neurath reasoned, of whom Germany was cleansing the world.. [52][46] The Soviet personnel's lack of knowledge of English, lack of interpreters, and unfamiliarity with diplomacy and international institutions also limited their influence. [84][85] The American prosecution drew on reports of the Office of Strategic Services and information provided by the YIVO Institute for Jewish Research and the American Jewish Committee. [155] In the context of the brewing Cold War, the trial became a means of condemning not only Germany but also the Soviet Union. [126] Lev Smirnov presented evidence on the Lidice massacre in Czechoslovakia, adding that such destruction of villages had occurred throughout eastern Europe. They, as a group, had no problem with their guilt. They were individually handcuffed to guards, driven by ambulance to a nearby airfield, and flown to Berlin, where they were processed at Spandau Prison. [40] Each state appointed a prosecution team and two judges, one being an alternate. Speer managed to distinguish himself from other defendants, giving the impression of apologizing, although without assuming personal guilt or naming any victims other than the German people. He was another of Prestiannis favorite checker-playing opponents. At the time, I saw these men only as individual prisoners, guilty of unknown crimes. [205] Where the prosecution was disappointed by some of the verdicts, the defense could take satisfaction. [185] Twelve military trials were convened solely by the United States in the same courtroom that had hosted the International Military Tribunal. , That used to shut him up but usually only for a few minutes, and then he would start up again with the jokes. Gring was the acknowledged leader among the prisoners. Minister of Foreign Affairs 193845. Hitler's Minister of Economics; succeeded Schacht as head of the, Hitler's Deputy Fhrer until he flew to Scotland in 1941 in an attempt to broker peace with the United Kingdom. [21] At the conference, it was debated whether wars of aggression were prohibited in existing international customary law; regardless, before the charter was adopted there was no law providing for criminal responsibility for aggression. The ensuing trial pitted U.S. chief prosecutor and Supreme Court judge Robert Jackson against Hermann Gring, the former head of the Nazi air force, whom Adolf Hitler had once named to be his. Nuremberg was chosen as the location for the trials because of its symbolic value. My dad, Frederick M. Bencriscutto, was in the field artillery in the 1st Infantry Division during WWII. The IMT focused on the crime of aggressionplotting and waging aggressive war, which the verdict declared "the supreme international crime" because "it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole". Where the convicted were housed on the ground floor, lower-tier cellblock, the main corridor was 60 meters (195 feet) long, lined by 16 cells on each side, and constantly patrolled by 1st Division guards. Popular radio commentator; head of the news division of the Nazi Propaganda Ministry. For added security outside the prison, three American Sherman tanks, manned by MPs, were positioned at the front, side, and rear entries to the prison. They were put under guard at a hotel and taken to court with armed MPs to trial each day. [101] He described the fact that the defeated Nazis received a trial as "one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason". Michael Prestianni served as a guard at Nuremberg as high-ranking Nazis stood trial for their lives. Meals were brought to the prisoners on a precise schedule each day on wheeled, double-tiered push carts by German prisoners from other sections of the prison who were being held for civil crimes. 6731 Whittier Avenue, Suite C-100 McLean, VA 22101, Stay up to date with all of our latest news, In this capacity, he was ultimately responsible for the use of slave laborers from the occupied territories in armaments production. 18008 Bothell Everett Hwy SE # F, Bothell, WA 98012. [207][208] In a 1946 poll, 78 percent of Germans assessed the trial as fair, but four years later that had fallen to 38 percent, with 30 percent considering it unfair. [54] The Soviet judges and prosecutors were not permitted to make any major decisions without consulting a commission in Moscow led by Soviet politician Andrei Vyshinsky; the resulting delays hampered the Soviet effort to set the agenda. They wanted to run the whole show. After the first trial ended in October 1946, the United States held 12 other trials at Nuremberg under the authority of the International Military Tribunal. Emilio "Leo" DiPalma, a World War II veteran and a guard for some of the most notorious Nazi prisoners during the Nuremberg trials, died Wednesday along with several other veterans who. Known as the Jew Baiter, even in the United States, he was rabidly anti-Semitic. A further 12. The small letters, tav, shin, and zayin in the list of Haman's ten sons (Esther 9), with the combined numerical value of 707, are seen as a "prophetic" code hinting to the future hanging of the ten Nazis convicted at the Nuremberg trials in the year 5707, which Julius Streicher declared as "Purimfest 1946" before he was hanged. Koch ordered skin emblazoned with tattoos to be stripped from the cadavers of prisoners and made into lampshades. [145], Despite the fact that the charter did not recognize a tu quoque defense, such arguments were repeatedly raised during the trial. Ribbentrop was held in low esteem by others close to Hitler due to his perceived ineptness in many areas. Seven others, over time, were reduced by lengthy prison sentences to hollow, shuffling shadows of their former selves. The International Military Tribunal set up by the . During watch on one bitter cold night, Prestianni contracted pneumonia and collapsed, unconscious. Institutional rivalries hampered the search. After encountering a you tube video by accident I have a different answer. [61], The problem of translating the indictment and evidence into the three official languages of the tribunal, as well as German, was severe due to the scale of the task and difficulty in recruiting interpreters, especially in the Soviet Union. But, he gave us no problem and I found him engaging to talk to and an excellent checkers player.. This brass pot held the holy water that an attending priest sprinkled on the condemned immediately before their execution. [103], Much of the American case focused on the development of the Nazi conspiracy before the outbreak of war. As a good military officer I was only following orders, he steadfastly maintained with quiet military bearing. [159] During the closing statements, most defendants disappointed the judges by their lies and denial. Without fanfare or advance warning, on July 18, 1947, the remaining prisoners at Nuremberg were told to assemble their meager belongings. Some were convicted of historys most barbaric crimes against humanity. The Nuremberg trials were a series of 13 trials carried out in Nuremberg, Germany, between 1945 and 1949 to try those accused of Nazi war crimes. [6] The Soviet Union wanted to hold a show trial similar to the 1930s Moscow trials, in order to demonstrate the Nazi leaders' guilt and build a case for war reparations to rebuild the Soviet economy, which had been devastated by the war. American guards ate in separate, enlisted mess halls and slept in segregated, barracks-like rooms, six to a room. [116] In contrast to the other prosecution teams, the French prosecution emphasized how Nazi ideology and pan-Germanism had led to the Nazis' crimes, and delved into the Sonderweg theory of Germany's development in the nineteenth century. The same routine was followed for each of the condemned prisoners. Many of the prisoners never accepted the fact that they were no longer on top of the world. [119] Unlike the British and American prosecution strategy, which focused on using German documents to make their case, the French prosecutors took the perspective of the victims, submitting postwar police reports and calling eleven witnesses. [13] Planners in the United States Department of War were drawing up plans for an international tribunal in late 1944 and early 1945. The first, held by an international tribunal (American, British, French, and Russian), was the "War. They were not to be shown disrespect. These sketches were given to guards who requested them and to prison officials. On the night he was to be hanged, Streicher gave Prestianni a signed, handwritten note after supper. Eighteen-inch rectangular holes were cut from the heavy, oaken cell doors, slightly below eye level. Today these sketches are highly prized. Former Nazi leaders were indicted and tried as war criminals for their conduct by the International Military Tribunal. [210] As the Cold War began, the rapidly changing political environment began to affect the effectiveness of the trials. Boy I wish I asked more questions of the trials. [65], Some of the most prominent NazisAdolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbelshad committed suicide and therefore could not be tried. Prestiannis assignment was over, and he was transferred to guard duty at a POW compound at Bamberg, Germany. Schirach, who had been replaced by Hitler as head of the youth movement in 1940 and drafted into Army service where he saw considerable combat on the Eastern Front, maintained his decorum and seldom responded to the teasing. While on duty, guards carried no weapons, only wooden truncheons. Ribbentrop, Prestianni related, was a man without humor. If he is American it will be easier to find some kind of information about him. [139] Some defendants denied their involvement in, or knowledge of, certain crimes,[140] even resorting to implausible lies. Answer (1 of 3): Yes, he was a German lawyer named Otto Stahmer from Kiel. Generally, I would describe the food, as I recall, quite good, Prestianni remembers. The night Gring pulled that off on October 16, 1946, now that was quite a night, he recalled. [172] All 22 defendants were charged with crimes against peace, and 12 were convicted. Three were sentenced to life imprisonment: Rudolf Hess, Walther Funk, and Erich Raeder. [48] The French judges were Henri Donnedieu de Vabres, a professor of criminal law, and alternate Robert Falco, who had represented France at the London Conference. This page was last edited on 8 October 2022, at 21:33. Thank you so much for your time and I am looking forward to getting into many discussions. Each of the governing countries, the United States, England, France, and Russia, had its own interpretation of punishment. [82], Over the summer, all of the national delegations struggled to gather evidence for the upcoming trial. Streicher had published Der Sturmer, a widely read newspaper filled with pornography, ethnic hate, and anti-Jewish cartoons to enflame the German population. Keitel was one of ten defendants hanged in the Palace of Justice in the early morning hours of October 16, 1946. I would like any information that would lead me to a more detailed understanding of what my father did while part of this undertaking. [19], The Nuremberg Charter upended the traditional view of international law by holding individuals, rather than states, responsible for breaches of international law. [87], Initially, it was planned to hold a second international tribunal for German industrialists, but this was never held because of differences between the Allies. In one report i read, it mentioned that "K" Company of the 26th Inf., 1st Div. The Subsequent Nuremberg Trials tried major war criminals, but of lower ranks than those tried in the first trial. Nikitchenko, the Soviet member, took place on October 18, 1945, in Berlin. Batya. My father was a guard in the courtroom (Palace of Justice) at the Nuremberg trials in 1946. [161][162], The International Military Tribunal agreed with the prosecution that aggression was the gravest charge against the accused, stating in its judgement that because war in general is evil, "To initiate a war of aggression, therefore, is not only an international crime; it is the supreme international crime differing only from other war crimes in that it contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole. My mother had pointed his photo out to me on several occasions but I was too young to remember. 1,148 Nuremberg Trials Photos and Premium High Res Pictures - Getty Images Images Creative Editorial Video Creative Editorial FILTERS CREATIVE EDITORIAL VIDEO 1,148 Nuremberg Trials Premium High Res Photos Browse 1,148 nuremberg trials stock photos and images available, or start a new search to explore more stock photos and images. [87] Over the course of the trial, Western judges allowed the defendants additional leeway to denounce the Soviet Union, which was ultimately revealed to be a co-conspirator in the outbreak of World War II. Home; Services; New Patient Center. [102] Jackson's focus was on the aggressive war charge, which he described as the root of the crimes against humanity and of war crimes. During his three-month tour of duty at Nuremberg prison, Prestianni was assigned to 16 different prisoners. Koch was later tried at Buchenwald and sentenced to life imprisonment. Conversation between guards was extremely limited or nonexistent. Sixteen of these captives were guarded by Pfc. Other prisoners were outspoken in their condemnation of Hess as a traitor to the Fatherland when he flew to England in May 1941, ostensibly to arrange a peace between Hitlers Germany and Great Britain. My father was an MP at The Nuremberg Trails. 1 Feb 1946. I inherited all of it. Those men who liberated the camps of the Holocau. List of Judges Francis Biddle (American) John J Parker (American) Edward Francis Carter (American) Colonel Sir Geoffrey Lawrence, Lord Justice (British, President of the Tribunal) Sir Norman Birkett (British) Henri Donnedieu de Vabres (French) Robert Falco (French) Major General Iona Nikitchenko (Soviet) In July 2020, Dey was found guilty and given a two . I had a chance to meet Mr. Christian Delage at a workshop on the . Seven defendants (Hess, Funk, Raeder, Dnitz, Schirach, Speer, and Neurath) were sent to Spandau Prison to serve their sentences. The Russians always were a problem and only cooperated with the other countries about 10 percent of the time. At the wars end, he was assigned to the guard detail at Nuremburg. [39] Besides legal professionals, there were many social-science researchers, psychologists, translators and interpreters, and graphic designers, the latter to make the many charts used during the trial. During our conversations, he often asked questions about the United States, a subject in which he appeared to be quite interested, Prestianni added. Other generals were tried in the High Command Trial for plotting wars of aggression, issuing criminal orders, deporting civilians, using slave labor, and looting in the Soviet Union. On 17 September, the various delegations met to discuss the indictment. He died 21 months later on August 15, 1956. On that date, representatives from the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the provisional government of France signed an agreement that included a charter for an international military tribunal to conduct trials of major Axis war criminals whose offenses had no particular geographic location. That was enough. [134] The second film included footage of the liberation of Majdanek and the liberation of Auschwitz and was considered even more disturbing than the American concentration camp film. Soviet prosecutors in Nrnberg, Germany brought out Friedrich Paulus and Erich Buschenhagen by surprise as witnesses in the war crimes trials. Four were convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years. Each watch was of two hours duration, standing almost motionless looking in the cell door openings. He was a rather low key person at Nuremberg who caused the guards no problems at all, said Prestianni. [81] Senior American officials believed that convicting organizations was a good way of showing that not just the top German leaders were responsible for crimes, without condemning the entire German people. Procurement is quick and merely requires an . Nuremberg Trials On November 20, 1945, six months after the surrender of Nazi Germany to allied forces, twenty-one military, political, media, and business leaders of the Third Reich filed into the dock of the Palace of Justice in the devastated and occupied German city of Nuremberg. Everyone within hearing distance knew what the hammering signified. Prestianni said of von Neurath, He looked like the movie version of a Prussian general with his mop of white hair and erect bearing. The seventh series of Ravensbrck trials was held between July 2nd and July 21st, 1948 to hear the cases of Aufseherin accused of maltreatment of prisoners and making selections for the gas chambers. Speer was a favorite of the guards. [156], On 31 August, closing arguments were presented. Prominent banker and economist. They saw the horrible films the NAZIs took and heard the case the prosecution presented with all the evidence and saw the brutal photos, It was very hard on these young women, but they did their job they were asked to do. Let us know if you have suggestions to improve this article (requires login). The Ugly Truth About the Nuremberg Tribunals. He was not tall at all and didnt really stand out in any way from the others, Prestianni said. [160] On 2 September, the court recessed; and the judges retreated into seclusion to decide the verdict and sentences, which had been under discussion since June. He always was respectful, always the consummate gentleman. Speer was convicted and served 20 years in prison. Text Size:thredup ambassador program how to dress more masculine for a woman. Ten of them Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Alfred Rosenberg, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart were hanged on October 16, 1946. [127] Evidence was presented on the murder of children, attempts to cover up atrocities,[128] systematic plunder of occupied territories, and confiscation or destruction of cultural heritage. Others subjected inmates to horrific experiments and torture. After Ley hanged himself, this strict suicide watch was instituted, Prestianni explained. Until the end of the negotiations, it was not clear that any trial would be held at all, due to acrimonious disputes over fundamental matters; the American delegation threatened to walk out. While they walked, the prisoners were separated by a prescribed number of yards. We jokingly told him the girls coveted the gifts American soldiers could offer and they had all forgotten his (Schirachs) Nazi National Socialism propaganda indoctrination. [194] Luftwaffe general Erhard Milch was tried for using slave labor and deporting civilians. Considered by some as the most intelligent and talented prisoner, he was the quintessential gentleman. Three of the defendants were acquitted. What were the verdicts of Nrnberg trials? The only part of the French charges that were accepted by the judges was the deportation of Jews from France and other parts of Western Europe. [87][149] United States admiral Chester Nimitz testified that the United States had used the same methods of submarine warfare that the German admirals were accused of; Dnitz's counsel successfully argued that this meant that such actions could not be crimes. [236][237], The trials were the first use of simultaneous interpretation, which stimulated technical advances in translation methods. The tribunal responded that such acts had been regarded as criminal prior to World War II. Prestianni guarded Streicher many times. Alfred Rosenberg, Joachim von Ribbentrop and others were condemned on 16th October, 1946. The food, prepared in an American-staffed kitchen, offered identical German menus for each prisoner. In mid-1945, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States agreed to convene a joint tribunal in Nuremberg, with the Nuremberg Charter as its legal instrument. Some, over time, even grew to despise him.

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