list of guards at nuremberg trials list of guards at nuremberg trials

At least 30,000 women died here. Those incarcerated at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg were allowed very limited and sporadic visitation rights with lawyers and family members. It was always a battle of authority. Most of the defendants had surrendered to the United States Army, but the Soviet Union also held a few top Nazis who were extradited for trial at Nuremberg. Waffen-SS Soldiers Guarded the Nuremberg Trials Mark Felton Productions 1.82M subscribers Subscribe 81K 4.3M views 2 years ago Unbelievable but true - an entire unit of former Waffen-SS. Goring had been given a list of approved lawyers by the US authorities, but rejected every name on it. While he was held at Nuremberg, he portrayed himself in a quiet, unassuming demeanor. [221] The IMT defendants required Soviet permission for release; Speer was not successful in obtaining early release, and Hess remained in prison until his death in 1987. Their voices speak directly to the reader and reflect upon the meaning of justice in the post . 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. Does anyone know where I can read about the nuremberg trials from the guards perspective? was on Court room duty. [120] Ultimately, the French prosecution was unable to convince the court that Germanization was a crime against humanity, and incidents such as the German annexation of AlsaceLorraine went unmentioned in the final verdict. After one of those accused, Robert Ley, former director of the nations Labor Front, hanged himself from a drain pipe with a torn towel, prisoners were kept under constant visual surveillance by guards, and while sleeping were forced to do so with their faces and hands exposed above their blankets at all times. Only Speer stood in the courtroom showing some remorse and, in an act of contrition, admitted his guilt and knowledge of the camps. My final wish is that Germany should recover her unity and that, for the sake of peace, there should be an understanding between East and West. Each of the governing countries, the United States, England, France, and Russia, had its own interpretation of punishment. Examine the Nrnberg (Nuremberg) trials of formerleaders of Nazi Germany for war crimes, This article was most recently revised and updated by, https://www.britannica.com/event/Nurnberg-trials, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum - Holocaust Encyclopedia - The Nuremberg Trials, Famous Trials - Nuremberg Trials (1945-49), Nuremberg Trials - Children's Encyclopedia (Ages 8-11), Nuremberg trials - Student Encyclopedia (Ages 11 and up), Konstantin von Neurath at the Nrnberg trials, Ernst Kaltenbrunner at the Nrnberg trials. [52] Initially, it was planned that Iona Nikitchenko, who had presided over the Moscow trials, would serve as the chief prosecutor, but he was appointed as a judge and replaced by Roman Rudenko, a show trial prosecutor[53] chosen for his skill as an orator. After being rotated home in 1949, he reenlisted and soon found himself on Okinawa prior to deployment to Korea. 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. Because of his moral corruption, the other prisoners shunned him. By early 1946, Western prosecutors were uneasy about the Katyn charge, although they never publicly rejected it for fear of casting the entire proceedings into question. On the night he was to be hanged, Streicher gave Prestianni a signed, handwritten note after supper. This wasnt authorized, but it was done on occasion, Prestianni smiled. List of defendants at the International Military Tribunal, William L. Shierer "The Rise and Fall of the third reich", Nuremberg-chapter of part IV. [79] Initially, the Americans had planned to try fourteen organizations and their leaders, but this was narrowed to six: the Reich Cabinet, the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, the Gestapo, the SA, the SS and the SD, and the General Staff and High Command of the Wehrmacht. I dont remember the name of the game after all these years. [153] Midway through the trial, Winston Churchill's Iron Curtain speech denouncing the Soviet threat delighted the defense. Afterwards, during the Berlin Blockade, they took part in securing Allied facilities involved in the Berlin Airlift and later also were guarding USA Army headquarters. My dad was a guard at the trials he had a Picture of himself standing behind the prisoners he died at 86 in 2015 the picture is gone and he never wanted to talk about he was a sgt and received a purple heart. This is a good documentary on the Nuremberg Trials that occurred after the end of the war. We used to argue democracy versus dictatorship, the free versus the suppressed. [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. There was no physical contact, and all conversation via microphone was closely monitored by a guard standing behind each prisoner. 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. Friedrich Jeckeln was found guilty and was executed in Riga, Latvia. To move from one corridor to another, guards carried different colored passes. It was in my family until the early 2000s. These were 60 year old Emma Zimmer, nee Mezel, and 36 year old . An anti-Semite to the end, and proclaiming that his death was a victory for world Jewry, Streichers final shouted words as he dropped through the trap door to his death were, This is the Purim Festival for 1946. Thank you so much for your time and I am looking forward to getting into many discussions. All guards were forced to stand practically motionless at parade rest behind their assigned prisoner seated before them in the dock. Four were sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years: Karl Dnitz, Baldur von Schirach, Albert Speer, and Konstantin von Neurath. He was sent to Nuremburg and stood guard at the Judges quarters. Other Units at Nuremberg were The US Constabulary, the 793rd MP . Frick was rather taciturn, not given to talking. [71][72] The military leaders were Hermann Gring, Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, Erich Raeder, and Karl Dnitz. [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. He still resides in Framingham after retiring from a 33-year career in supervisory positions with the U.S. The culmination of the unprecedented War Crimes trials in the German city of Nuremberg, where the Nazis had staged their infamous pre-war rallies. A mother of three small children, she would eventually serve as a guard at Auschwitz, Ravensbruck and Majdanek concentration camps. [55], The work of drafting the indictment was divided up by the national delegations. The purpose of the trial was not just to convict the defendants but also to assemble irrefutable evidence of Nazi crimes, offer a history lesson to the defeated Germans, and delegitimize the traditional German elite. Koch ordered skin emblazoned with tattoos to be stripped from the cadavers of prisoners and made into lampshades. 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. This is evidenced by the change of the guards uniforms back and forth from the heavier, darker, winter uniform to the lighter colored summer uniform. 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. [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". 1 Feb 1946. [233] In 1950, the International Law Commission drafted the Nuremberg principles to codify international criminal law, although the Cold War prevented the adoption of these principles until the 1990s. Besides Speer, Ribbentrop, Kaltenbrunner, and Jodl, Prestianni also guarded Luftwaffe Reichsmarshal Hermann Gring, Grand Admiral Dnitz, Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, Reich financier Hjalmar Schacht, Governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia Konstantin von Neurath, Nazi philosopher Alfred Rosenberg, virulent anti-Semite Julius Streicher, diplomat Franz von Papen, Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick, Grand Admiral Raeder, Hess, and Hans Frank, the governor general of occupied Poland. Most certainly. [130] The defense presented evidence of Soviet responsibility,[131] and Katyn was not mentioned in the verdict. When I once asked him why he had done what he was convicted of doing, he replied that he only did what the Fatherland [Germany] instructed him to do. [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. [143] Although a few defense lawyers inverted the arguments of the prosecution to assert that the Germans' authoritarian mindset and obedience to the state exonerated them from any personal guilt, most rejected such arguments. Generally, due to rivalries and animosity toward each other during their glory years, most adhered to this policy and opted to walk, stand, or sit alone, not engaged in conversations to any degree. Streicher, sentenced to death, was perhaps the most despised prisoner of all due to his complete obsession with sex. On 1 October 1946, 12 death sentences were passed down by the judges of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on some of the most high-ranking and influential members of Nazi Germany. Today I found out that most of the soldiers who guarded the high ranking Nazi prisoners during the Nuremberg trials were in fact former members of Baltic SS . 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 Dad was murdered, hanged, when I was 5 years old in 1965. It was the last thing Streicher was known to have written. 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. I would have kept my distance from them.. [187] Pursuant to this law, United States forces had arrested almost 100,000 Germans as war criminals. Answer (1 of 3): Yes, he was a German lawyer named Otto Stahmer from Kiel. The trial, which had lasted nearly 10. The Nuernberg trial records include transcripts of proceedings . The judgement argued that aggressive war had already been illegal, even if no one had been punished for it, and therefore the German leaders could not count on immunity from prosecution. William L Shierer "the Rise and Fall of the third Reich", part IV, Nuremberg-chapter, the United States committed the same breach, Last and Near-Last Words of the Famous, Infamous and Those In-Between, "The International Military Tribunal for Germany", The Avalon Project: Documents in Law, History, and Diplomacy, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=List_of_defendants_at_the_International_Military_Tribunal&oldid=1114903079, Successor to Hess as Nazi Party Secretary. The British government was still opposed, unable to see the benefit of such a trial and preferring summary execution of Nazi leaders. He just celebrated his 93 birthday, and is smart and caring as he has always been. [1] Most of the defendants were also charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. The speech was favorably received by the prosecution, the tribunal, the audience, historians, and even the defendants. My Dad Arthur Tacopino was a guard at The Nuremberg Trials. She was given the nickname "Bloody Brigette" by the camp . He died 21 months later on August 15, 1956. Prestianni and another guard handcuffed Streicher and walked him silently to the gallows chamber, where they rapped on the door with their truncheons. [132][169] Through a compromise among the judges, the charge of conspiracy was narrowed to a conspiracy to wage aggressive war. Courtesy Emily Aho Around Memorial Day of 2000, Emily Aho took her then 75-year-old father, Emilio "Leo". He was quiet by nature and spent much of his time writing his memoirs. My Dad was a guard at the Nuremberg trials. All the prisoners smoked pipes, and they all tried to wheedle cigarettes from us.. [210] As the Cold War began, the rapidly changing political environment began to affect the effectiveness of the trials. 1 They were convened under the authority of Control Council Law No.. [90][91] The bringing of conspiracy charges also slowed the trial, as the same evidence ended up being read out multiple times, when it was relevant to both substantive and conspiracy charges. The food, prepared in an American-staffed kitchen, offered identical German menus for each prisoner. Dnitz, who was named successor to Hitler during the waning days of the war and served 10 years in prison, remained aloof. Koch was later tried at Buchenwald and sentenced to life imprisonment. [9] The prosecutors attempted to substitute his son in the indictment, but the judges rejected this due to proximity to trial. [168], The judgment found that there was a premeditated conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, the goals of the conspiracy being "the disruption of the European order as it had existed since the Treaty of Versailles" and "the creation of a Greater Germany beyond the frontiers of 1914". The Nuremberg Trials: Complete Tribunal Proceedings (V. 4): Trial Proceedings From 17th December 1945 to 8th January 1946 by International Military Tribunal (shelved 1 time as nuremberg-trial) avg rating 0.0 0 ratings published Want to Read Rate this book 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars Sentenced to death, Reich Law Leader 193345 and Governor-General of the, Hitler's Minister of the Interior 193343 and. He maintained an air of superiority toward Dnitz, considering him still a subordinate officer. 08-12-2007, 10:07 PM. Movement was extremely restricted and closely monitored, even for the guards. These once powerful leaders of Nazi Germany were the accused of the Nuremberg War Crimes Tribunal. His face had an animal look to it, Prestianni stated. [217][218] The last prisoner was released in 1958. I have a brass pot, called an aspersorium, obtained by my father. The International Military Tribunal (IMT) delivered its judgment against the Nazi leaders on September 30 and October 1, 1946. Andrus, a strict disciplinarian, were constantly reminded that the prisoners should be treated with civility and objectivity at all times. Let me have that again, please. SS members were generally frowned upon and can't imagine them having anything to do with the trials except sit in the dock. Martin Bormann was tried and condemned to death in absentia, and Hermann Gring committed suicide before he could be executed. [40] Each state appointed a prosecution team and two judges, one being an alternate. [104] On 29 November, the prosecution was unprepared to continue presenting on the invasion of Czechoslovakia, and instead screened Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps. Seven others, over time, were reduced by lengthy prison sentences to hollow, shuffling shadows of their former selves. Four were convicted and sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years. [139] Some defendants denied their involvement in, or knowledge of, certain crimes,[140] even resorting to implausible lies. Proposals for how to punish the defeated Nazi leaders ranged from a . Nazi, Alfred Rosenberg, lies dead on a casket following his execution after the Nuremberg Trials. In this capacity, he was ultimately responsible for the use of slave laborers from the occupied territories in armaments production. After Ley hanged himself, this strict suicide watch was instituted, Prestianni explained. During the dead of winter, cell temperatures constantly hovered near freezing, partially due to severe coal shortages throughout most of Germany, and some prisoners were relegated to wearing stockings as gloves and wrapping their feet in underwear or any other available cloth to keep warm. They merely brushed the guilt away with self-serving claims that they were following orders from superiors or perhaps even from Hitler himself in an atmosphere where failure to do so often meant banishment to a concentration camp, Gestapo torture, or even a summary execution. [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. The guards at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials The guards at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials Accession Number 72-850 7.25x9.5 inches Black & White Printer-Friendly Version Order This Image Keywords Nuremberg Trial of Major German War Criminals, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946 Soldiers HST Keywords Nurnberg Trials; Germany - Nurnberg