list of guards at nuremberg trials

Despite being accused of the same crimes, Sauckel was sentenced to death, while Speer was given a prison sentence because the judges considered that he could reform. In addition to this brass pot I have three skeleton keys to the cells that held the Nazi war criminals, as well as a pair of wooden spoons used by them. SS members were generally frowned upon and can't imagine them having anything to do with the trials except sit in the dock. [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. Later. He guarded top Nazis at Nuremberg trials; now he'll share his Some passively resigned themselves to their futures while others fought it off and never fully accepted their fates. Pre-war president of the. Everyone within hearing distance knew what the hammering signified. 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. Dnitz, who was named successor to Hitler during the waning days of the war and served 10 years in prison, remained aloof. The Nuremberg trials were held by the Allies against representatives of the defeated Nazi Germany, for plotting and carrying out invasions of other countries, and other crimes, in World War II. my father david c bergeron was a 1st LT with the guards at the war trials. There was a large clock on the wall that was above his right shoulder. Final moments of Nazis executed at Nuremberg - the Guardian I believe her rank was a corporal. In 2019, Bruno Day, who served as a SS camp guard at the Stutthof Concentration Camp, was brought to trial accused of contributing to the murder of 5230 people at the camp. In the Hostages case, several generals were tried for executing thousands of hostages and prisoners of war, looting, using forced labor, and deporting civilians in the Balkans. His name was David C. Porter from Pennsylvania. (November 1945) Sources: All photos copyright and courtesy of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum These citations refer to documents at "The International Military Tribunal for Germany". [67] Former Nazis were allowed to serve as counsel[45] and by mid-November all defendants had lawyers. It was also a way to indirectly charge crimes committed before the beginning of World War II, which the charter placed outside the court's jurisdiction. Omissions? He considered himself the senior member of the prison military fraternity., Former president of the Reichsbank Hjalmar Schacht was one of three war crimes defendants who were found innocent of all charges against them. They had a profound affect on my dad, who always said, I would never want to be killed by hanging. Yet, the constables who allegedly murdered my Dad did just that. [146] The Nuremberg Laws were compared to discriminatory laws in the United States. God have mercy on my soul. [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. I could never beat him in checkers. He was a true Nazi all the way in every way, Prestianni recalled. Nuremberg Trials - Definition, Dates & Purpose - HISTORY [33], The negotiators decided that the tribunal's permanent seat would be in Berlin, while the trial would be held at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg. The Nazis constructed 20 main concentration camps in Germany, France, the Netherlands, Poland, Estonia, and Lithuania. Minister of Foreign Affairs 193238, succeeded by Ribbentrop. Thank you so much for your time and I am looking forward to getting into many discussions. Known as the Jew Baiter, even in the United States, he was rabidly anti-Semitic. [163] Contrary to the prosecution, the verdict dated the planning of aggression to the 1937 Hossbach Memorandum and not to the founding of the Nazi Party. All I can recall is that he was standing to the left in the court room. Following the Second World War, many concentration camps such as Bergen-Belsen and Auschwitz were liberated. Several were militaristically aloof and looked down upon those they considered to be the mere political element. None outwardly felt they had done anything to warrant being in prison.. Why Were Sunglasses Worn at the Nuremberg Trials? In one report i read, it mentioned that "K" Company of the 26th Inf., 1st Div. [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. The speech was favorably received by the prosecution, the tribunal, the audience, historians, and even the defendants. Minister of Foreign Affairs (until 1938), then Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia. The prisons concrete walls, most of which were more than three feet thick, encased the solitary cell window that offered the prisoners no view of the outside world. If an organization was found to be criminal, the prosecution could bring individuals to trial for having been members, and the criminal nature of the group or organization could no longer be questioned. Nuremberg Trials Nuremberg Trials after WWII Nuremberg Trials post Second World War Categories: General news, War and unrest, Government and politics, Military and defense, Social affairs; Location: Germany Display: All Displaying 1 - 124 of 124 Results < Prev | 1 | Next > 4508300110 4508301118 4508310176 4508310168 451007142 490414058 490414049 He was not tall at all and didnt really stand out in any way from the others, Prestianni said. The Nuremberg Trials - United States Holocaust Memorial Museum [121], On 8 February, the Soviet prosecution opened its case with a speech by Rudenko that covered all four prosecution charges, highlighting both aggressive war and the devastation of Eastern Europe[122] and listing many crimes committed by the German occupiers against the Soviet people. That was until he took his own life by biting down on a cyanide capsule a few hours before he was scheduled to be hanged., Prestianni remembered vividly the night of the executions and Grings suicide. Your Moms birthday and maiden name. I asked him why that necessitated the killing of people to achieve this so-called needed land, especially the people of Poland. Four were convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years. How Gring obtained the lethal capsule has never been firmly established. [26], The final version of the charter only gave the court the ability to punish those crimes against humanity that had been committed "in connection with any crimes within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal". Yale Law School Lillian Goldman Law Library. The food, prepared in an American-staffed kitchen, offered identical German menus for each prisoner. Gallery - Nuremberg Trials- Photos - University of South Florida Home; Services; New Patient Center. Ribbentrop was held in low esteem by others close to Hitler due to his perceived ineptness in many areas. He never repented for anything he ever did. Nuremberg Trials | Encyclopedia.com The defendants at Nuremberg. Two of the six were acquitted, two given prison terms and two sentenced to death. My father Ed Rossi was also a guard at the Nuremberg trials. I did nothing to be here, he stated. Second, it rejected the argument that the trial and adjudication were ex post facto. The guards at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials | Harry S. Truman Front row, from left to right: Hermann Gring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Walther Funk, Hjalmar Schacht. Sentenced to death, Reich Law Leader 193345 and Governor-General of the, Hitler's Minister of the Interior 193343 and. Does anyone know where I can read about the nuremberg trials from the guards perspective? list of guards at nuremberg trialsdelpark homes sutton list of guards at nuremberg trials. Because of his moral corruption, the other prisoners shunned him. Two and a quarter hours before he was to be executed he took poison under the. [18], At the London Conference, held from 26 June to 2 August 1945, representatives of France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States negotiated the exact form that the trial would take. [37] Nineteen states ratified the charter and were admitted as observers. After trial, incarcerated at. Prompt medical attention was readily available to all prisoners. , That used to shut him up but usually only for a few minutes, and then he would start up again with the jokes. Movement was extremely restricted and closely monitored, even for the guards. Ambassador-Plenipotentiary 193536. [223], The International Military Tribunal, and the drafters of its charter, invented international criminal law essentially from nothing. So the court then allowed him to choose any lawyer he wanted and Stahmer was his pick. [55], The work of drafting the indictment was divided up by the national delegations. Stahmer fought hard for his clie. Nuremberg - Explore the Nuremberg Trials! He guarded the prisoners in their cells and also stood guard in the court room. He had actually tried to usurp Hitlers authority during the last days of the Reich but remained an ardent supporter of the Nazi regime during the trial, often proving himself a skilled debater. He did mention seeing the prisoners in their cells. His initial assignment was as a guard at the Nuremberg prison. US guards at the Nuremberg Trials Staff Sgt. The same routine was followed for each of the condemned prisoners. Text Size:thredup ambassador program how to dress more masculine for a woman. During the months of imprisonment, the brisk gait of some of the prisoners gradually evolved into defeatist, head-bowed shuffling as acceptance of their fate gradually wore them down and eroded their will. American guards ate in separate, enlisted mess halls and slept in segregated, barracks-like rooms, six to a room. [167] The judges were aware that both the Allies and the Axis had planned or committed acts of aggression, writing the verdict carefully to avoid discrediting either the Allied governments or the tribunal. If one inadvertently looked up at her, she arbitrarily ordered the prisoner shot. 125. By far the most attention--not surprisingly, given the figures involved--has focused on the first Nuremberg trial of twenty-one major war criminals. At the wars end, he was assigned to the guard detail at Nuremburg. List of defendants at the International Military Tribunal, William L. Shierer "The Rise and Fall of the third reich", Nuremberg-chapter of part IV. [141] The defendants tried to blame their crimes on Hitler, who was mentioned 1,200 times during the trialmore than the top five defendants combined. [12] The United States insisted on a fair trial as a means of reforming Germany. The defendants included some of the most famous Nazis, including Hermann Gring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Wilhelm Keitel. The Nuremberg Trials ended on October 1, 1946. The requested reassignments were generally granted.. End of the trial: Guardian report on the executions, 16 October 1946 Hermann Gring last night died by his own hand. Others subjected inmates to horrific experiments and torture. Nuremberg Guards | WWII Forums 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. Immediately following the end of the IMT, the American military government held twelve more war crimes trials in Nuremberg. The Nuremberg Trials: An Account - Famous Trials Again, without a word being spoken, the door was slammed shut. The first of the trials was the Major War Crimes Trial, in . [108][109], On 12 December, Shawcross gave the opening speech for the British. [62] Vyshinsky demanded extensive corrections to the crimes-against-peace charges, especially regarding the role of the GermanSoviet pact in starting World War II. [153] Midway through the trial, Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech denouncing the Soviet threat delighted the defense. She was released after four years and eventually committed suicide in a Bavarian prison. By. [47] Although the chief British judge, Sir Geoffrey Lawrence (Lord Justice of Appeal), was the nominal president of the tribunal, in practice Biddle exercised more authority. Updates? These visits usually were brief, and participants were separated by a screen. Unbelievable but true - an entire unit of former Waffen-SS Grenadiers were retrained and deployed by the Americans to help guard the Nuremberg Trials in 1946-49. Nuremberg Trials patch ? - ARMY AND USAAF - U.S. Militaria Forum [152] The defendants' witnesses sometimes managed to exculpate them, but other witnessesincluding Rudolf Hss, the former commandant of Auschwitz, and Hans Bernd Gisevius, a member of the German resistanceeffectively incriminated the defendants. When asked how the individual personalities, habits, and mannerisms differed, Prestianni responded that they were varied. However, one thread of similarity was woven among them. [4], In early 1942, representatives of eight governments-in-exile in the United Kingdom issued a declaration on Punishment for War Crimes, which demanded an international court to try the Axis crimes committed in occupied countries. 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. They write new content and verify and edit content received from contributors. They were put under guard at a hotel and taken to court with armed MPs to trial each day. In this capacity, he was ultimately responsible for the use of slave laborers from the occupied territories in armaments production. 08-12-2007, 10:07 PM. Number 5 was Albert Speer, Hitlers personal architect and confidant. Among those brought to trial were. Kaltenbrunner had perpetrated extreme barbarism in the extermination of Jews through the planning and execution of the Final Solution. 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. Nuremberg Trial Books - Goodreads U.S. veteran Gerald M. Boe, the guard for Hermann Gring during the Nuremberg Trials, shares his memories of that time. The Russians always were a problem and only cooperated with the other countries about 10 percent of the time. Noticeable dislike existed between the prisoners and most of their Soviet guards. While he was held at Nuremberg, he portrayed himself in a quiet, unassuming demeanor. Came back to the States in Jun 46. The first attempt to punish the perpetrators was conducted by the International Military Tribunal (IMT) in the German city of Nuremberg, beginning on November . He was good, real sharp, Prestianni related. Master Sgt. The trials were not fair, though not in the way you are suggesting. [230] The selectivity in trying Germans but not the Allies has garnered the most persistent criticism. My father, Jack J. All the prisoners smoked pipes, and they all tried to wheedle cigarettes from us.. The tribunal was given the authority to find any individual guilty of the commission of war crimes (counts 13 listed above) and to declare any group or organization to be criminal in character. On occasion, guards assigned to courtroom duty asked for reassignment as they became emotionally and physically sickened by the film evidence of war crimes that was presented. These parapets included watchtowers at the four corners equipped with telephones to contact or summon supervising sergeants or lieutenants, who were constantly on call to resolve problems that might develop. His face had an animal look to it, Prestianni stated. Courtesy Emily Aho Around Memorial Day of 2000, Emily Aho took her then 75-year-old father, Emilio "Leo". list of guards at nuremberg trials 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. Between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) tried 24 of the most important political and military leaders of Nazi Germany. The priest was most likely the Nrnberg prisons Lutheran chaplain, Henry F. Gerecke. I need your: His daily diary notes culminated in a book after his release. Speer was a favorite of the guards. 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. Generally, I would describe the food, as I recall, quite good, Prestianni remembers. Each watch was of two hours duration, standing almost motionless looking in the cell door openings. Only Speer stood in the courtroom showing some remorse and, in an act of contrition, admitted his guilt and knowledge of the camps. Today, he carries on his World War II and Korean War heritage in various veterans organizations. After Ley hanged himself, this strict suicide watch was instituted, Prestianni explained. [150] The judges barred most evidence on Allied misdeeds from being heard in court. Jackson. It was difficult and tiring duty. [77] Gring, the most famous surviving Nazi, headlined the trial. 18008 Bothell Everett Hwy SE # F, Bothell, WA 98012. Twelve paid with their lives. My father was an MP at The Nuremberg Trails. The Ugly Truth About the Nuremberg Tribunals. 23rd September 2021 at 5:18pm. Female Nazi war criminals - Capital Punishment U.K Nuremberg Trials: What Happened When Nazis Faced Justice? - Forces Network [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. [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. Guides: German Legal Research Guide: Nuremberg Trials Materials Proposals for how to punish the defeated Nazi leaders ranged from a . On the night he was to be hanged, Streicher gave Prestianni a signed, handwritten note after supper. The United States delegation outlined the overall Nazi conspiracy and criminality of Nazi organizations. He greeted me in the morning and that was about it. Ribbentrop, Prestianni related, was a man without humor. Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany waged war across Europe, invading Czechoslovakia, Poland, the Low Countries, France, Denmark, Norway, Yugoslavia, Greece, and the Soviet Union, among others. Three of the defendants were acquitted. However, some Russian guards who had perhaps the best reason to want to harshly punish the former German leaders in retaliation for previous atrocities and other crimes committed in the Soviet Union, were friendly and, even in some cases, considerate of the prisoners and American personnel.. [2] They were indicted for: We needled him by saying his girls wanted to abandon the Fatherland, marry Americans, and emigrate to the United States.. The Nuremberg Trials were 13 trials held in Nuremberg, Germany, after World War II. The most infamous of the female prisoners during Prestiannis tour of duty was Ilse Koch, known to guards as the Bitch of Buchenwald. With her husband, Karl Koch, the camp commander, Ilse often rode a horse through the camp compound, whipping prisoners. He was a man of some stature with flowing white hair, but he would still never be noticed much in a crowd. [132][169] Through a compromise among the judges, the charge of conspiracy was narrowed to a conspiracy to wage aggressive war. [76] Of the 24 men indicted, Martin Bormann was tried in absentia, as the Allies were unaware of his death; Krupp was too ill to stand trial; and Robert Ley committed suicide. Ambassador to the United Kingdom 193638. The Nuremberg Trials - Home | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans 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. [234][235] Further developments in international criminal law in the aftermath of the trials included the Genocide Convention (1948) and the Fourth Geneva Convention (1949). How The Nuremberg Trials Attempted To Punish The Nazis For The (Robert Ley committed suicide while in prison, and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbachs mental and physical condition prevented his being tried.) Despite this precaution, such limited, semiamicable relationships did exist. After the war, she and other WACS were asked to stay for the Nuremburg trials to serve as stenographers . It would be so greatly appreciated. The Federal Research Division (FRD) is a fee-based research and analysis unit within the Library of Congress that produces world-renowned and nonpartisan products to support research-informed policy- and decision-making. When the needling did not abate and became somewhat annoying, Prestianni said he used to give the former World War I ace his own version of a little dig in return. At least 30,000 women died here. Mark Felton Productions. [158][136] In contrast to the opening prosecution statements, all eight closing statements highlighted the Holocaust; and the French and British prosecutors made this the main charge, as opposed to that of aggression. He always was respectful, always the consummate gentleman. Speer was convicted and served 20 years in prison. [187] Pursuant to this law, United States forces had arrested almost 100,000 Germans as war criminals. [224][225][226] During the two decades after the trial, opinions were predominantly negative. StoryCorps: Nuremberg Trials Guard Dies Of COVID-19 : NPR [188] The Office of Chief Counsel for War Crimes identified 2,500 major war criminals, of whom 177 were tried. 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 mothers cousin was a WAC serving in England during WW2. Schacht had been imprisoned in July 1944, under suspicion of being part of an assassination conspiracy against Hitler. The tribunal consisted of a member plus an alternate selected by each of the four signatory countries. Proposals for how to punish the defeated Nazi leaders ranged from a show trial (the Soviet Union) to summary executions (the United Kingdom). Prestianni said of von Neurath, He looked like the movie version of a Prussian general with his mop of white hair and erect bearing. [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. [2] German aggression was accompanied by immense brutality in occupied areas and the systematic murder of millions of Jews in the Holocaust. Below are facts about what has been called the greatest trial in history. And when he spoke, it was to lash out violently at anyone close to him at the time, even the guards.. 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. [41][42], The United States' chief prosecutor was Supreme Court justice Robert H. Even before this decision, around 1,000 former Latvian Legion soldiers had served as guards at the Nuremberg trials, guarding Nazi war criminals.