History 11.02.10
Overview:
- 85% of deaths in WWII were from the Allies.
oMore than ½ of the deaths in the war were civilians.
- The Treaty of Versailles was seen as a massive failure. They wanted to
punish the Axis powers, but not so hard that it started a WWIII, so they
started trials for punishment.
- The Powers were tried for “crimes against speech” and “crimes against
humanity,” setting a structure for all of the following trials. Unconditional
surrender created the winning side getting their own terms for
everything. The Tokyo trials were started and were a precedent for
future national trials.
- There were four kinds of trials:
oCrimes against peace- causing war
oCrimes against humanity- targeting civilians
oCrimes of war
oConspiracy to commit other crimes- a catch-all
Allies on trial
- “Victor’s justice” caused only individuals to be tried. The Allies were not
tried on an international level.
oAn example would be the Biscari Massacre in 1943 when POWs
were killed. U.S. troops were tried individually and stripped of
their titles if found guilty.
Axis on trial
- The Nuremberg trial was held in 1943 in Nuremberg. Here, Nazi leaders
were on trial for crimes of peace.
oFrom November 1945- October 1946 there were 24 men on trial.
Post September 1, 1939, when Germany invaded Poland, the Nazi
regime and individual men went on trial. These 24 men were easy
to try because of survivors, documentary films, and paper
documents.
oHermann Goering formed the secret police and started early
concentration camps. He was called “the banality of evil.” His trial
was one of the most infamous of the Nuremberg trials. He was
Hitler’s successor and was sentenced to death by the trials, but
committed suicide before he could be killed.
- Auschwitz trial
oOn November-December 1947 in Poland, Rudolf Hoss was put on
trial for murder. He was tried and killed at the sight where he
killed others.
- Tokyo War Crime trial (1946-1948)
