""I hereby indict the following persons for crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity: Hermann Wilhelm Goring. Rudolf Hess. Joachim von Ribbentrop..." Courtroom 600 in Nuremberg's Palace of Justice was filled to capacity as Chief Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson read out a list of names, one after the other. His list was long. The Major War Crimes Trial against 24 high-ranking representatives of the Nazi state began on November 20, 1945, in the southern German city of Nuremberg."
"The choice of Nuremberg as the venue for the trial was not arbitrary. The Bavarian city had previously been the scene of the Nazi party rallies. It was here that the Nazi regime showcased its power, and it was here that the Nuremberg Laws were proclaimed the racist and antisemitic laws that paved the way for the Holocaust. And that is precisely why justice was to be administered here."
"It was the first time ever that leading representatives of a state were held personally accountable for their inhumane deeds. This was something new in the system of international law. There was one thing that those victorious over Germany the United States, Britain, France and the Soviet Union agreed on: the crimes of the Third Reich must not go unpunished."
The Major War Crimes Trial began on November 20, 1945, in Nuremberg against 24 high-ranking representatives of the Nazi state. Over 218 days more than 230 witnesses were questioned, 300,000 statements were read, producing 16,000 pages of transcripts. Nuremberg was chosen because it had hosted Nazi rallies and the proclamation of the racist Nuremberg Laws that paved the way for the Holocaust. The trial charged crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. For the first time leading state representatives were held personally accountable under international law. The United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union agreed the Third Reich’s crimes must not go unpunished, given millions of victims.
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