Nuremberg Trials:A Milestone in International Law
The Nuremberg trials began on November 20, 1945, and with them an important chapter in the legal and historical coming to terms with the crimes against humanity in World War II. A conversation with the historian Norbert Frei.
Mr. Frei, the Nuremberg trials began a few months after End of World War II are considered a milestone of international law. From Nuremberg to The Hague:Is that a clear success story?
Norbert Frei: No, that's not a clear success story - but Nuremberg was definitely a milestone. You speak - as many do - of the Nuremberg Trials, but ultimately the central milestone was the Nuremberg Trials. That was the main trial, which was conducted internationally by the four Allies, while the follow-up Nuremberg trials, which began after the International Military Tribunal, were only conducted by the Americans alone.
Many things were new about the trials, among other things there was very broad media coverage, so that the negotiations could be followed worldwide - including by the German population. The World War II was just over, Germany was still in ruins - were the people ready for that yet? How were the processes received by you?
Free: The whole thing also indicates that Nuremberg was not just a trial, but the aim was to show the world and especially the Germans what had happened during the Nazi era and during the war with regard to the crimes of the National Socialists is. So it was about enlightenment. It was about much more than just the sentencing of these accused, although that was also a novelty:there was no short trial of the losers of the war, but they were held accountable in court, before the public, before the world.
How did the trials affect the coming to terms with the Nazi past in the Federal Republic?
Free: That's an interesting observation to make here:the occupying powers, especially the Americans, paid close attention to how the Germans reacted to the process, which lasted a good year. In the beginning there was a great willingness and a great deal of agreement for this type of punishment, based on the principle:Finally, the big ones shouldn't be let loose and the little ones shouldn't be hanged. When it later became clear that the main Nuremberg trial and what followed was more about thorough denazification and dealing with this past, an account that everyone had to make, including the little Nazis, that changed the approval of the Germans very quickly. Relatively soon, there was talk again of victors' justice in Germany - an attitude towards Nuremberg that played an important role for decades, especially among German lawyers, who were very skeptical about this attempt for a very long time.
What role has the Nuremberg judgment played beyond Germany when it comes to dealing with war crimes and crimes against humanity?
Free: First of all, it created an awareness that such events can be dealt with legally. An old dream that many lawyers and international lawyers had was realized, that crimes committed by politicians should not simply be accepted. In this respect, it is correct to speak of this milestone, even if this milestone fell into oblivion during the Cold War and the whole idea of Nuremberg could no longer be pursued due to the East-West constellation. In this respect, it is no wonder that there was a renaissance of this idea only in the early 1990s, which ultimately led to the Hague court and to the Rome Statute of 2002, which then came into force - even if the Americans who signed it on who helped get things started at the beginning, withdrew their signatures at the end. It's a long, complicated, difficult road from Nuremberg to the International Criminal Court in The Hague.
To this day, elderly Nazi criminals have to answer for their crimes more than 75 years ago. Why is it so important that these negotiations are still ongoing?
Free: This is a different level than that of international criminal law. But we Germans in particular are well advised to stick to the principle that murder is not subject to a statute of limitations. And as long as crimes can still be dealt with in this sense, this must also be done. It is not primarily about the level of punishment for old people, but about the fact that murder is not subject to the statute of limitations and that this injustice, which the German judiciary has struggled with for a long time, is dealt with and that such processes are carried out the social debate on this topic is also repeatedly affirmed and renewed.
The interview was conducted by Alexandra Friedrich .