Nuremberg trial- This is a trial that took place over the former leaders of the Nazi Hitlerite state. The trial took place for almost a year in the building of the International Tribunal in Nuremberg.

How did the Nuremberg trials begin?

The history of the Nuremberg Trials follows from the history of World War II. In November 1943, representatives of three allied states– The USSR, Great Britain and the USA signed a protocol that stipulated the responsibility of the Nazis for the crimes committed.

The final agreement on holding an international tribunal was reached after the war, during the London conference in June-August 1945. The document contained the agreement of the 23 participants in the London conference. The UN Assembly determined the principles of the tribunal's charter. At the end of August 1945, a list of 24 persons subject to international justice was published. The list included Nazi ideologues, politicians and military personnel.

Some features of the process were known even before it began. Thus, due to the fact that the Allies had decided in advance about the guilt of the German side, there was no question of the presumption of innocence. The whole question boiled down to determining what exactly was the guilt of a particular person and the degree of his guilt in Hitler’s crimes.

On August 2, 1945, the grounds for establishing a trial in the city of Nuremberg were officially laid out in Potsdam.

Participants in the Nuremberg Trials

The London Agreement stipulated that each Allied country had the right to appoint its own judge and accuser to the Tribunal. The members of the Tribunal included such prominent experts in criminal law as:

  • I.T. Nikitchenko – representative of the USSR, deputy. Chairman of the Supreme Court of the country.
  • F. Biddle, former US Attorney General.
  • Chief English Judge Geoffrey Lawrence.
  • Professor Henri Donnedier de Vabre, representative of the French side.

Among the main accusers were specialists such as chief prosecutor Ukrainian SSR Roman Rudenko and Robert Jackson, one of the main initiators and leaders of the process.

Hitler himself was not included in the Nuremberg trials due to his established death. For the same reason, charges were not brought against his closest supporters Goebbels and Himmler. Other Nazi subordinates, whose death was not reliably established and documented, for example, Bormann, were accused in absentia. Due to incompetence, Gustav Krupp, one of the sponsors of Nazism, was also not subject to trial.

Video about the history of the Nuremberg trials

Among the defendants were Nazi ideologists (Rosenberg, Streicher), Nazi military officers, and politicians. There are many photos of the Nuremberg trials, from which you can familiarize yourself in detail with all the participants.

The essence of the charges in the Nuremberg trials

Numerous accusations were brought against Nazism. They can be classified into four main groups:

  • Aggressive plans and actions. This included very specific operations, such as the invasion of the territory of Czechoslovakia, Poland, the USSR, etc., fighting against the USA in 1936-1941, and conducting aggressive military actions against a number of countries.
  • Crimes committed against the whole world. According to the indictment, the defendants, in conspiracy with other persons, took a direct part in the preparation and conduct of aggressive military operations that violated international agreements, obligations, and understandings.
  • War crimes. This group included numerous violations of the rights of citizens living in the occupied lands, the killing of prisoners of war, the destruction of settlements in the occupied territories without military or other necessity, and forced Germanization. In addition, the transfer of civilians to forced labor in Germany was charged.
  • Crimes against humanity. This group included accusations that the Nazis destroyed opponents of their system by any means. This also includes crimes committed against certain groups of people, such as Jews.

The date of the Nuremberg trials was set in August 1945. It began on November 20 of the same year at 10:00 am and lasted a little less than a year, until October 1, 1946.

If we talk briefly about the essence of the Nuremberg trials, then during the process, under the chairmanship of the English judge D. Lawrence, more than 400 court hearings. The court was presented with many documents and evidence. Some of them were shown publicly for the first time.

Among such documents, which constitute the secrets of the Nuremberg trials, are additions to the famous Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, shown to the court by A. Seidl, who was Hess’s lawyer.

Other Interesting Facts Nuremberg trials - the suicide of Robert Ley, committed after the indictment, but before the start of the trial, as well as strange death one of the Soviet prosecutors Nikolai Zori.

The Nuremberg trials took place against the backdrop of a worsening international situation. After Churchill's speech at Fulton, the accused could expect that in the light possible war the process will lose meaning, and someone may need their experience in combat operations against the USSR. The accused, in particular Goering, tried to drag out the process as much as possible.

Before the end of the trial, the Soviet prosecutor showed a film about German concentration camps, shot by Soviet military cameramen.

Results of the Nuremberg Trials

The results of the Nuremberg trials were quite predictable. 12 people were sentenced to death. Two managed to avoid the death penalty: Bormann was sentenced in absentia due to the lack of evidence of his death, Goering committed suicide a few hours before the execution of the sentence.

Hess, Raeder and Funk were sentenced to life imprisonment. Of these, Rudolf Hess served his entire life sentence, outliving almost all Nazi leaders.

Several other Nazi leaders were sentenced to long prison sentences. Three - the famous diplomat von Papen, the propaganda representative Hans Fritsche and the economist Hjalmar Schacht - were acquitted. They were subsequently charged in connection with other crimes by various denazification courts and were sentenced to prison terms.

Video about the secrets of the Nuremberg trials

The significance of the Nuremberg trials for the world community

The main significance of the Nuremberg trials lies in the recognition of aggression as the largest international crime. It is believed that the Nuremberg trials were a major stage in the defeat of Nazism.

The German press has repeatedly expressed doubts that these prosecutors and judges can be impartial participants in the process. For example, the Soviet prosecutor Roman Rudenko in 1937-38 was a prosecutor and a member of the “troika” in the Donetsk region.

Doubts were also expressed about the legality of bringing charges of “crimes against humanity.” According to German lawyers, similar charges can be brought against participants in the bombings in Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

The consequences of the process are still felt today. In 1950, the Nuremberg principles were developed, which later formed the basis of the International Criminal Court. There are seven principles:

  1. A person who has committed an action recognized by world law as a crime must be held accountable.
  2. If the domestic criminal law of a country does not provide punishment for a given crime, this does not relieve the accused from responsibility before an international court.
  3. If the crime was committed when the accused was the head of state or a major official, this also does not exempt him from responsibility.
  4. If the offender acted on the orders of his immediate superiors, this also does not exempt him from responsibility, provided there was a conscious choice.
  5. All those accused of international crimes can count on a fair and impartial consideration of their case, taking into account all the necessary facts.

International crimes, according to the Nuremberg principles, include crimes for which officials Hitler's regime - crimes against peace, humanity, as well as those committed during the war, but not justified by military necessity.

The Nuremberg principles are also reflected in the domestic criminal codes of a number of countries. In particular, in the Criminal Code of Russia such crimes are reflected in Art. 353-359.

The main significance of the Nuremberg trials was the creation of an international tribunal over representatives of a single state and the recognition that the world community can also pass judgment for a number of crimes. The trial against fascism won the Nuremberg trials.

Do you think the decisions of the Nuremberg trials were fair? And what do you think about this process in general? Share your opinion on

At the Nuremberg Tribunal

Nuremberg trials - international Court over the leaders of fascist Germany, the leaders of the National Socialist German Workers' Party, through whose fault it was started, which led to the death of millions of people, the destruction of entire states, accompanied by terrible cruelties, crimes against humanity, genocide

The Nuremberg Trials took place in Nuremberg (Germany) from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946

Defendants

  • G. Goering - Minister of Aviation in Nazi Germany. On trial: “The winner is always the judge, and the loser is the accused!”
  • R. Hess - SS Obergruppenführer, Hitler's deputy in the party, third person in the hierarchy of the Third Reich: "I don't regret anything"
  • J. von Ribbentrop - German Foreign Minister: 'The wrong people have been charged'
  • W. Keitel - Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces: “An order for a soldier is always an order!”
  • E. Kaltenbrunner - SS Obergruppenführer, head of the Main Directorate of Reich Security (RSHA): “I am not responsible for war crimes, I was only fulfilling my duty as the head of the intelligence agencies, and I refuse to serve as some kind of ersatz Himmler.”
  • A. Rosenberg - the main ideologist of the Third Reich, head of the foreign policy department of the NSDAP, the Fuhrer's representative on issues of moral and philosophical education of the NSDAP: “I reject the charge of ‘conspiracy’. Anti-Semitism was only a necessary defensive measure.”
  • G. Frank - Governor General of occupied Poland, Reich Minister of Justice of the Third Reich: “I view this trial as God’s highest court to understand and bring to an end the terrible period of Hitler’s reign.”
  • W. Frick - Reich Minister of the Interior of Germany, Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia: “The entire charge is based on the assumption of participation in a conspiracy.”
  • J. Streicher - Gauleiter of Franconia, ideologist of racism: "This process is"
  • W. Funk - German Minister of Economics, President of the Reichsbank: “Never in my life have I, either knowingly or ignorantly, done anything that would give rise to such accusations. If, out of ignorance or as a result of delusions, I committed the acts listed in the indictment, then my guilt should be considered in the light of my personal tragedy, but not as a crime.”
  • K. Dönitz - Grand Admiral, Commander of the Submarine Fleet, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of Nazi Germany: “None of the charges have anything to do with me. American inventions!
  • E. Raeder - Grand Admiral, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy
  • B. von Schirach - party and youth leader, Reichsjugendführer, Gauleiter of Vienna, Obergruppenführer of the SA: “All troubles come from racial politics”
  • F. Sauckel - one of the main people responsible for organizing the use of forced labor in Nazi Germany, Gauleiter of Thuringia, Obergruppenführer of the SA, Obergruppenführer of the SS: “The gap between the ideal of a socialist society, nurtured and defended by me, a former sailor and worker, and these terrible events - concentration camps- shocked me deeply"
  • A. Jodl - Chief of Staff of the Operational Leadership of the Wehrmacht High Command, Colonel General: “The mixture of fair accusations and political propaganda is regrettable”
  • A. Seys-Inquart - SS Obergruppenführer, minister without portfolio in Hitler's government, Reichskommissar of the Netherlands: “I would like to hope that this is the last act of the tragedy of the Second World War”
  • A. Speer - Hitler’s personal architect, Reich Minister of Arms and Ammunition: “The process is necessary. Even an authoritarian state does not relieve each individual of responsibility for the terrible crimes committed.”
  • K. von Neurath - German Foreign Minister and Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia (1939-1943), SS Obergruppenführer: “I have always been against accusations without a possible defense”
  • G. Fritsche - head of the press and radio broadcasting department at the Ministry of Propaganda: “This is the worst accusation of all time. Only one thing can be more terrible: the impending accusation that the German people will bring against us for abusing their idealism.”
  • J. Schacht - Reich Minister of Economics (1936-1937), Reich Minister without Portfolio (1937-1942), one of the main organizers of the war economy of Nazi Germany: “ I don’t understand at all why I’ve been charged.”
  • R. Ley (hanged himself before the start of the trial) - Reichsleiter, Obergruppenführer of the SA, head of the organizational department of the NSDAP, head of the German Labor Front
  • G. Krupp (was declared terminally ill, and his case was suspended) - industrialist and financial tycoon who provided significant material support to the Nazi movement
  • M. Bormann (tried in absentia because he disappeared and was not found) - SS Obergruppenführer, SA Standartenführer, personal secretary and closest ally of Hitler
  • F. von Papen - Chancellor of Germany before Hitler, then ambassador to Austria and Turkey: “The accusation horrified me, firstly, with the awareness of the irresponsibility as a result of which Germany was plunged into this war, which turned into a global catastrophe, and secondly, with the crimes that were committed by some of my compatriots. The latter are inexplicable psychological point vision. It seems to me that the years of godlessness and totalitarianism are to blame for everything. It was they who turned Hitler into a pathological liar."

Judges

  • Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence (UK) – Chief Justice
  • Iona Nikitchenko - Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union, Major General of Justice
  • Francis Biddle - former US Attorney General
  • Henri Donnedier de Vabre - professor of criminal law in France

Main Prosecutors

  • Roman Rudenko - Prosecutor General of the Ukrainian SSR
  • Robert Jackson - Member of the US Federal Supreme Court
  • Hartley Shawcross - UK Attorney General
  • Charles Dubost, Francois de Menton, Champentier de Ribes (alternately) - representatives of France

Lawyers

At the trial, each defendant was represented by a lawyer of his own choice.

  • Dr. Exner - professor of criminal law, defense attorney for A. Jodl
  • G. Yarrice is a specialist in international and constitutional law. government defender
  • Dr. R. Dix - head of the German Bar Association, defense attorney J. Schacht
  • Dr. Kranzbüller - judge in the German navy, defender of K. Dönitz
  • O. Stammer - lawyer, Goering's defender
  • And others

Accusations

  • crimes against peace: starting a war to establish German world domination
  • war crimes: murder and torture of prisoners of war, deportation of civilians to Germany, killing of hostages, plunder and destruction of cities and villages of occupied countries
  • crimes against humanity: extermination, enslavement of civilians for political, racial, religious reasons

Sentence

  • Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Seyss-Inquart, Bormann (in absentia), Jodl - death penalty by hanging
  • Hess, Funk, Raeder - life imprisonment
  • Schirach, Speer - 20 years in prison
  • Neurath - 15 years in prison
  • Dönitz - 10 years in prison
  • Fritsche, Papen, Schacht - acquitted

State organizations of Germany SS, SD, Gestapo and management team Nazi Party were also recognized by the court as criminal

Chronicle of the Nuremberg Trials, Briefly

  • 1942, October 14 - statement of the Soviet government: “... considers it necessary to immediately bring before a special international tribunal and punish to the fullest extent of the criminal law any of the leaders of Nazi Germany...”
  • 1943, November 1 - the protocol of the Moscow Conference of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, USA and Great Britain was signed, the 18th point of which was the “Declaration on the responsibility of the Nazis for the atrocities committed”
  • 1943, November 2 - “Declaration on the responsibility of the Nazis for the atrocities committed” was published in Pravda
  • 1945, May 31-June 4 - conference of experts in London on the issue of punishing Axis war criminals, which was attended by representatives of 16 countries participating in the work of the United Nations War Crimes Commission
  • 1945, August 8 - in London, an agreement was signed between the governments of the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France on the prosecution and punishment of major war criminals, according to which the International Military Tribunal was established.
  • 1945, August 29 - a list of the main war criminals was published, consisting of 24 names
  • 1945, October 18 - the indictment was handed over to the International Military Tribunal and, through its secretariat, transferred to each of the accused
  • 1945, November 20 - beginning of the process
  • 1945, November 25 - the head of the Labor Front, Robert Ley, committed suicide in his cell.
  • 1945, November 29 - demonstration during the tribunal meeting of the documentary film “Concentration Camps”, which included German newsreel footage filmed in the Auschwitz camp, Buchenwald, Dachau
  • 1945, December 17 - at a closed meeting, the judges expressed bewilderment to Streicher's lawyer, Dr. Marx, because he refused to satisfy the client's request to call some witnesses to the trial, in particular the defendant's wife
  • 1946, January 5 - Gestapo lawyer Dr. Merkel petitions for... a postponement of the process, but does not receive support
  • 1946, March 16 - interrogation of Goering, he admitted to minor crimes, but denied his involvement in the main charges
  • 1946, August 15 - the American Office of Information published a review of surveys, according to which about 80 percent of Germans considered the Nuremberg trials fair and the guilt of the defendants undeniable
  • 1946, October 1 - verdict for the accused
  • 1946, April 11 - During interrogation, Kaltenbruner denies his knowledge of what is happening in the death camps: “I have nothing to do with it. I did not give any orders, nor did I carry out anyone else’s orders in this regard.”
  • 1946, October 15 - the head of the prison, Colonel Andrews, announced to the convicts the results of the consideration of their petitions; at 22:45, Goering, sentenced to death, poisoned himself
  • 1946, October 16 - execution of criminals sentenced to death

International trial of former executives Hitler's Germany took place from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946 at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg (Germany). The initial list of defendants included the Nazis in the same order as I have listed in this post. On October 18, 1945, the indictment was handed over to the International Military Tribunal and, through its secretariat, transmitted to each of the accused. A month before the start of the trial, each of them was handed an indictment for German. The accused were asked to write on it their attitude towards the accusation. Roeder and Ley wrote nothing (Ley's response was actually his suicide shortly after the charges were filed), but the rest wrote what is indicated in my line: "Last word."

Even before the start of the trial, after reading the indictment, on November 25, 1945, Robert Ley committed suicide in his cell. Gustav Krupp was declared terminally ill by a medical commission, and his case was dropped before trial.

Due to the unprecedented gravity of the crimes committed by the defendants, doubts arose whether all democratic norms of legal proceedings would be observed in relation to them. The prosecution in England and the United States proposed not to give the defendants the last word, but the French and Soviet sides insisted on the opposite. These words, which have entered into eternity, I present to you now.

List of accused.


Hermann Wilhelm Goering(German: Hermann Wilhelm Göring), Reichsmarschall, Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force. He was the most important defendant. Sentenced to death by hanging. 2 hours before the execution of the sentence, he poisoned himself with potassium cyanide, which was given to him with the assistance of E. von der Bach-Zelewski.

Hitler publicly declared Goering guilty of failing to organize the country's air defense. On April 23, 1945, based on the Law of June 29, 1941, Goering, after a meeting with G. Lammers, F. Bowler, K. Koscher and others, addressed Hitler on the radio, asking for his consent for him - Goering - to assume the functions of head of government . Goering announced that if he did not receive an answer by 22 o'clock, he would consider it an agreement. On the same day, Goering received an order from Hitler prohibiting him from taking the initiative; at the same time, by order of Martin Bormann, Goering was arrested by an SS detachment on charges of treason. Two days later, Goering was replaced as Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe by Field Marshal R. von Greim and stripped of his titles and awards. In his Political Testament, Hitler expelled Goering from the NSDAP on April 29 and officially named Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz as his successor in his place. On the same day he was transferred to a castle near Berchtesgaden. On May 5, the SS detachment handed over Goering's guard to Luftwaffe units, and Goering was immediately released. On May 8 he was arrested by American troops in Berchtesgaden.

The last word: “The winner is always the judge, and the loser is the accused!”
In his suicide note, Goering wrote: “Reichsmarshals are not hanged, they leave on their own.”


Rudolf Hess(German: Rudolf Heß), Hitler's deputy for leadership of the Nazi Party.

During the trial, lawyers declared his insanity, although Hess gave generally adequate testimony. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Soviet judge, who expressed a dissenting opinion, insisted on the death penalty. He served a life sentence in Berlin in Spandau prison. After the release of A. Speer in 1965, he remained its only prisoner. Until the end of his days he was devoted to Hitler.

In 1986, for the first time during Hess’ imprisonment, the USSR government considered the possibility of his release on humanitarian grounds. In the fall of 1987, during the period of the Soviet Union's presidency of the Spandau International Prison, it was supposed to make a decision on his release, “showing mercy and demonstrating the humanity of Gorbachev’s new course.”

On August 17, 1987, 93-year-old Hess was found dead with a wire around his neck. He left behind a testamentary note, handed to his relatives a month later and written on the back of a letter from his relatives:

"A request to the directors to send this home. Written a few minutes before my death. I thank you all, my beloved, for all the dear things you have done for me. Tell Freiburg that I am extremely sorry that since the Nuremberg trial I must was to act as if I did not know her. I had no choice, since otherwise all attempts to gain freedom would have been in vain. I was so looking forward to meeting her. I actually received photos of her and all of you. Your Eldest."

The last word: "I don't regret anything."


Joachim von Ribbentrop(German: Ullrich Friedrich Willy Joachim von Ribbentrop), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany. Adviser to Adolf Hitler foreign policy.

He met Hitler at the end of 1932, when he provided him with his villa for secret negotiations with von Papen. Hitler so impressed Ribbentrop with his refined manners at the table that he soon joined first the NSDAP, and later the SS. On May 30, 1933, Ribbentrop was awarded the title of SS Standartenführer, and Himmler became a frequent guest at his villa.

Hanged by the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal. It was he who signed the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, which Nazi Germany violated with incredible ease.

The last word: “The wrong people have been charged.”

Personally, I consider him the most disgusting character who appeared at the Nuremberg trials.


Robert Ley(German: Robert Ley), head of the Labor Front, by order of which all trade union leaders of the Reich were arrested. Charges were brought against him on three counts - conspiracy to wage aggressive war, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Committed suicide in prison shortly after the indictment was presented before the trial itself began, by hanging himself from a sewer pipe with a towel.

The last word: refused.


(Keitel signs the act of unconditional surrender of Germany)
Wilhelm Keitel(German: Wilhelm Keitel), Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces. It was he who signed the act of surrender of Germany, ending the Great Patriotic War and the Second world war in Europe. However, Keitel advised Hitler not to attack France and opposed Plan Barbarossa. Both times he submitted his resignation, but Hitler did not accept it. In 1942 Keitel last time dared to object to the Fuhrer, speaking in defense of the broken Eastern Front Field Marshal List. The tribunal rejected Keitel's excuse that he was merely following Hitler's orders and found him guilty on all charges. The sentence was carried out on October 16, 1946.

The last word: “An order for a soldier is always an order!”


Ernst Kaltenbrunner(German: Ernst Kaltenbrunner), head of the RSHA - Main Directorate of Reich Security of the SS and State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of the Interior of Germany. For numerous crimes against civilians and prisoners of war, the court sentenced him to death by hanging. On October 16, 1946, the sentence was carried out.

The last word: “I am not responsible for war crimes, I was only fulfilling my duty as the head of the intelligence agencies, and I refuse to serve as some kind of ersatz Himmler.”


(on right)


Alfred Rosenberg(German: Alfred Rosenberg), one of the most influential members of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), one of the main ideologists of Nazism, Reich Minister for Eastern Territories. Sentenced to death by hanging. Rosenberg was the only one of the 10 executed who refused to say the last word on the scaffold.

The last word in court: "I reject the charge of 'conspiracy'. Anti-Semitism was only a necessary defensive measure."


(in the center)


Hans Frank(German: Dr. Hans Frank), head of the occupied Polish lands. On October 12, 1939, immediately after the occupation of Poland, Hitler appointed him head of the Office of Population Affairs of the Polish Occupied Territories, and then Governor-General of Occupied Poland. Organized the mass extermination of the civilian population of Poland. Sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out on October 16, 1946.

The last word: “I view this trial as God’s highest court to understand and bring to an end the terrible period of Hitler’s reign.”


Wilhelm Frick(German: Wilhelm Frick), Reich Minister of the Interior, Reichsleiter, head of the NSDAP parliamentary group in the Reichstag, lawyer, one of Hitler’s closest friends in the early years of the struggle for power.

The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg held Frick responsible for bringing Germany under Nazi rule. He was accused of drafting, signing and implementing a number of laws prohibiting political parties and trade unions, in creating the concentration camp system, in encouraging the activities of the Gestapo, in the persecution of Jews and the militarization of the German economy. He was found guilty on counts of crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. On October 16, 1946, Frick was hanged.

The last word: "The entire charge is based on the assumption of participation in a conspiracy."


Julius Streicher(German: Julius Streicher), Gauleiter, Chief Editor newspapers "Stormtrooper" (German: Der Stürmer - Der Sturmer).

He was charged with inciting the murder of Jews, which fell under Charge 4 of the trial - crimes against humanity. In response, Streicher called the trial "a triumph of world Jewry." According to the test results, his IQ was the lowest of all the defendants. During the examination, Streicher once again told psychiatrists about his anti-Semitic beliefs, but he was declared sane and capable of taking responsibility for his actions, although obsessed with an obsession. He believed that the prosecutors and judges were Jews and did not try to repent of what he had done. According to the psychologists who conducted the examination, his fanatical anti-Semitism - rather a product mentally ill, but overall he gave the impression of an adequate person. His authority among the other accused was extremely low, many of them openly shunned such an odious and fanatical figure like him. Hanged by the Nuremberg Tribunal for anti-Semitic propaganda and calls for genocide.

The last word: “This process is the triumph of world Jewry.”


Yalmar Shakht(German: Hjalmar Schacht), Reich Minister of Economics before the war, Director of the German National Bank, President of the Reichsbank, Reich Minister of Economics, Reich Minister without Portfolio. On January 7, 1939, he sent a letter to Hitler, pointing out that the course pursued by the government would lead to the collapse of the German financial system and hyperinflation, and demanded the transfer of financial control to the hands of the Reich Ministry of Finance and the Reichsbank.

In September 1939 he sharply opposed the invasion of Poland. Schacht had a negative attitude towards the war with the USSR, believing that Germany would lose the war for economic reasons. On November 30, 1941, he sent Hitler a sharp letter criticizing the regime. On January 22, 1942, he resigned as Reich Minister.

Schacht had contacts with conspirators against Hitler's regime, although he himself was not a member of the conspiracy. On July 21, 1944, after the failure of the July Plot against Hitler (July 20, 1944), Schacht was arrested and held in the concentration camps of Ravensbrück, Flossenburg and Dachau.

The last word: “I don’t understand why I’ve been charged at all.”

This is probably the most difficult case; on October 1, 1946, Schacht was acquitted, then in January 1947, a German denazification court sentenced him to eight years in prison, but on September 2, 1948, he was released from custody.

Later he worked in banking sector Germany, founded and headed the banking house "Schacht GmbH" in Düsseldorf. Died on June 3, 1970 in Munich. We can say that he was luckier than all the defendants. Although...


Walter Funk(German: Walther Funk), German journalist, Nazi Minister of Economics after Schacht, President of the Reichsbank. Sentenced to life imprisonment. Released in 1957.

The last word: “Never in my life have I, either consciously or out of ignorance, done anything that would give rise to such accusations. If, out of ignorance or as a result of delusions, I committed the acts listed in the indictment, then my guilt should be considered from the perspective of my personal tragedy , but not as a crime."


(right; left - Hitler)
Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach(German: Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach), head of the Friedrich Krupp concern (Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp). From January 1933 - government press secretary, from November 1937 - Reich Minister of Economics and Commissioner General for War Economic Affairs, and at the same time from January 1939 - President of the Reichsbank.

At the Nuremberg trial he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Military Tribunal. Released in 1957.


Karl Doenitz(German: Karl Dönitz), Grand Admiral of the Navy of the Third Reich, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, after the death of Hitler and in accordance with his posthumous will, President of Germany.

Nuremberg Tribunal for war crimes (in particular, waging so-called unrestricted submarine warfare) he was sentenced to 10 years in prison. This verdict was disputed by some lawyers, since the same methods of submarine warfare were widely practiced by the victors. Some allied officers expressed their sympathy to Doenitz after the verdict. Doenitz was found guilty on counts 2 (crimes against peace) and 3 (war crimes).

After leaving prison (Spandau in West Berlin), Doenitz wrote his memoirs “10 years and 20 days” (meaning 10 years of command of the fleet and 20 days of presidency).

The last word: “None of the charges have anything to do with me. It’s an American invention!”


Erich Raeder(German: Erich Raeder), Grand Admiral, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the Third Reich. On January 6, 1943, Hitler ordered Raeder to disband the surface fleet, after which Raeder demanded his resignation and was replaced by Karl Doenitz on January 30, 1943. Raeder received the honorary position of chief inspector of the fleet, but in fact had no rights or responsibilities.

Captured in May 1945 Soviet troops and was transported to Moscow. According to the verdict of the Nuremberg trials, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. From 1945 to 1955 in prison. He petitioned to have his imprisonment commuted to execution; The control commission found that it “cannot increase the penalty.” On January 17, 1955, he was released due to health reasons. Wrote a memoir "My Life".

The last word: refused.


Baldur von Schirach(German: Baldur Benedikt von Schirach), leader of the Hitler Youth, then Gauleiter of Vienna. At the Nuremberg trials he was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He served his entire sentence in the Berlin military prison Spandau. Released September 30, 1966.

The last word: “All troubles come from racial politics.”

I completely agree with this statement.


Fritz Sauckel(German: Fritz Sauckel), head of the forced deportations to the Reich of labor from the occupied territories. Sentenced to death for war crimes and crimes against humanity (mainly for the deportation of foreign workers). Hanged.

The last word: “The gulf between the ideal of a socialist society, nurtured and defended by me, a former sailor and worker, and these terrible events - the concentration camps - deeply shocked me.”


Alfred Jodl(German Alfred Jodl), head of the operational department of the Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces, Colonel General. At dawn on October 16, 1946, Colonel General Alfred Jodl was hanged. His body was cremated, and his ashes were secretly taken out and scattered. Jodl took an active part in planning the mass extermination of civilians in the occupied territories. On May 7, 1945, on behalf of Admiral K. Doenitz, he signed the general surrender of the German armed forces to the Western allies in Reims.

As Albert Speer recalled, "Jodl's precise and restrained defense made a strong impression. He seemed to be one of the few who managed to rise above the situation." Jodl argued that a soldier could not be held responsible for the decisions of politicians. He insisted that he honestly performed his duty, obeying the Fuhrer, and considered the war a just cause. The tribunal found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Before his death, he wrote in one of his letters: “Hitler buried himself under the ruins of the Reich and his hopes. Let those who want to curse him for this, but I cannot.” Jodl was completely acquitted when the case was reviewed by a Munich court in 1953 (!).

The last word: “The mixture of fair accusations and political propaganda is regrettable.”


Martin Bormann(German: Martin Bormann), head of the party chancellery, was accused in absentia. Chief of Staff of the Deputy Fuhrer "from July 3, 1933), head of the NSDAP party office" from May 1941) and Hitler's personal secretary (from April 1943). Reichsleiter (1933), Reich Minister without Portfolio, SS Obergruppenführer, SA Obergruppenführer.

There is an interesting story connected with it.

At the end of April 1945, Bormann was with Hitler in Berlin, in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery. After the suicide of Hitler and Goebbels, Bormann disappeared. However, already in 1946, Arthur Axman, the chief of the Hitler Youth, who, together with Martin Bormann, tried to leave Berlin on May 1-2, 1945, said during interrogation that Martin Bormann died (more precisely, committed suicide) before his eyes on May 2, 1945.

He confirmed that he saw Martin Bormann and Hitler's personal physician Ludwig Stumpfegger lying on their backs near the bus station in Berlin, where the battle was taking place. He crawled close to their faces and clearly distinguished the smell of bitter almonds - it was potassium cyanide. The bridge over which Bormann was planning to escape from Berlin was blocked Soviet tanks. Borman chose to bite through the ampoule.

However, these testimonies were not considered sufficient evidence of Bormann's death. In 1946, the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg tried Bormann in absentia and sentenced him to death. The lawyers insisted that their client was not subject to trial because he was already dead. The court did not consider the arguments convincing, examined the case and passed a verdict, stipulating that Borman, if detained, has the right to submit a request for pardon within the prescribed time frame.

In the 1970s, while building a road in Berlin, workers discovered remains that were later tentatively identified as those of Martin Bormann. His son, Martin Borman Jr., agreed to provide his blood for DNA analysis of the remains.

The analysis confirmed that the remains really belong to Martin Bormann, who actually tried to leave the bunker and get out of Berlin on May 2, 1945, but realizing that this was impossible, he committed suicide by taking poison (traces of an ampoule with potassium cyanide were found in the teeth of the skeleton). Therefore, the “Bormann case” can safely be considered closed.

In the USSR and Russia, Borman is known not only as a historical figure, but also as a character in the film “Seventeen Moments of Spring” (where he was played by Yuri Vizbor) - and, in connection with this, a character in jokes about Stirlitz.


Franz von Papen(German: Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen), Chancellor of Germany before Hitler, then Ambassador to Austria and Turkey. He was acquitted. However, in February 1947, he again appeared before the denazification commission and was sentenced to eight months in prison as a major war criminal.

Von Papen tried unsuccessfully to restart political career in the 1950s In his later years he lived at Benzenhofen Castle in Upper Swabia and published many books and memoirs attempting to justify his policies of the 1930s, drawing parallels between this period and the beginning of the Cold War. Died on May 2, 1969 in Obersasbach (Baden).

The last word: “The accusation horrified me, firstly, with the awareness of the irresponsibility as a result of which Germany was plunged into this war, which turned into a global catastrophe, and secondly, with the crimes that were committed by some of my compatriots. The latter are inexplicable from a psychological point of view. It seems to me that the years of godlessness and totalitarianism are to blame for everything. It was they who turned Hitler into a pathological liar."


Arthur Seyss-Inquart(German: Dr. Arthur Seyß-Inquart), Chancellor of Austria, then Imperial Commissioner of occupied Poland and Holland. At Nuremberg, Seyss-Inquart was charged with crimes against peace, planning and unleashing an aggressive war, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was found guilty on all counts except criminal conspiracy. After the announcement of the Seyss-Inquart verdict in last word admitted his responsibility.

The last word: “Death by hanging - well, I didn’t expect anything else... I hope that this execution is the last act of the tragedy of the Second World War... I believe in Germany.”


Albert Speer(German: Albert Speer), Reich Minister of Armaments and War Industry (1943-1945).

In 1927, Speer received an architect's license from the Technical High School of Munich. Due to the depression in the country, there was no work for the young architect. Speer updated the interior of the villa free of charge to the head of the headquarters of the western district - Kreisleiter NSAC Hanke, who, in turn, recommended the architect to Gauleiter Goebbels for rebuilding the meeting room and furnishing the rooms. After this, Speer receives an order - the design of the May Day rally in Berlin. And then the party congress in Nuremberg (1933). He used red banners and the figure of an eagle, which he proposed to make with a wingspan of 30 meters. Leni Riefenstahl captured in her documentary film “Victory of Faith” the grandeur of the procession at the opening of the party congress. This was followed by the reconstruction of the NSDAP headquarters in Munich in the same 1933. Thus began Speer's architectural career. Hitler was looking everywhere for new energetic people on whom he could rely in the near future. Considering himself an expert in painting and architecture, and possessing some abilities in this area, Hitler chose Speer into his inner circle, which, combined with the latter’s strong career aspirations, determined his entire future fate.

The last word: "The process is necessary. Even an authoritarian state does not absolve each individual of responsibility for the terrible crimes committed."


(left)
Constantin von Neurath(German: Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath), in the first years of Hitler's reign, Minister of Foreign Affairs, then governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Neurath was accused in the Nuremberg court of having “assisted in the preparation of war,... participated in the political planning and preparation by the Nazi conspirators for wars of aggression and wars in violation of international treaties,... sanctioned, directed and took part in war crimes... and in crimes against humanity, ...including in particular crimes against persons and property in the occupied territories." Neurath was found guilty on all four counts and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. In 1953, Neurath was released due to poor health, aggravated by a myocardial infarction suffered in prison.

The last word: “I have always been against accusations without a possible defense.”


Hans Fritsche(German: Hans Fritzsche), head of the press and broadcasting department at the Ministry of Propaganda.

During the fall of the Nazi regime, Fritsche was in Berlin and capitulated along with the last defenders of the city on May 2, 1945, surrendering to the Red Army. Appeared before the Nuremberg trials, where, together with Julius Streicher (due to the death of Goebbels), he represented Nazi propaganda. Unlike Streicher, who was sentenced to death, Fritsche was acquitted of all three charges: the court found it proven that he did not call for crimes against humanity, did not participate in war crimes or conspiracies to seize power. Like both other acquitted men at Nuremberg (Hjalmar Schacht and Franz von Papen), Fritsche, however, was soon convicted of other crimes by the denazification commission. After receiving a 9-year sentence, Fritzsche was released for health reasons in 1950 and died of cancer three years later.

The last word: “This is the terrible accusation of all times. Only one thing can be more terrible: the coming accusation that the German people will bring against us for abusing their idealism.”


Heinrich Himmler(German: Heinrich Luitpold Himmler), one of the main political and military figures of the Third Reich. Reichsführer SS (1929-1945), Reich Minister of the Interior of Germany (1943-1945), Reichsleiter (1934), Head of the RSHA (1942-1943). Found guilty of numerous war crimes, including genocide. Since 1931, Himmler was creating his own secret service - the SD, at the head of which he put Heydrich.

Since 1943, Himmler became Reich Minister of the Interior, and after the failure of the July Plot (1944) - commander of the Reserve Army. Beginning in the summer of 1943, Himmler, through his proxies, began to establish contacts with representatives Western intelligence services with the aim of concluding a separate peace. Hitler, who learned about this, on the eve of the collapse of the Third Reich, expelled Himmler from the NSDAP as a traitor and deprived him of all ranks and positions.

After leaving the Reich Chancellery at the beginning of May 1945, Himmler headed to the Danish border with someone else's passport in the name of Heinrich Hitzinger, who had been shot shortly before and looked a little like Himmler, but on May 21, 1945 he was arrested by the British military authorities and on May 23 committed suicide by taking potassium cyanide .

Himmler's body was cremated and the ashes were scattered in the forest near Lüneburg.


Paul Joseph Goebbels(German: Paul Joseph Goebbels) - Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda of Germany (1933-1945), imperial head of propaganda of the NSDAP (since 1929), Reichsleiter (1933), penultimate Chancellor of the Third Reich (April-May 1945).

In his political testament, Hitler appointed Goebbels as his successor as chancellor, but the very next day after the Fuhrer’s suicide, Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide, having first poisoned their six young children. “There will be no act of surrender signed by me!” - said the new chancellor when he learned of the Soviet demand for unconditional surrender. On May 1 at 21:00 Goebbels took potassium cyanide. His wife Magda, before committing suicide following her husband, told her young children: “Don’t be alarmed, now the doctor will give you the vaccination that all children and soldiers receive.” When the children, under the influence of morphine, fell into a half-asleep state, she herself put a crushed ampoule of potassium cyanide into the mouth of each child (there were six of them).

It is impossible to imagine what feelings she experienced at that moment.

And of course, the Fuhrer of the Third Reich:

Winners in Paris.


Hitler behind Hermann Goering, Nuremberg, 1928.


Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Venice, June 1934.


Hitler, Mannerheim and Ruti in Finland, 1942.


Hitler and Mussolini, Nuremberg, 1940.

Adolf Gitler(German: Adolf Hitler) - the founder and central figure of Nazism, founder of the totalitarian dictatorship of the Third Reich, Fuhrer of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from July 29, 1921, Reich Chancellor of National Socialist Germany from January 31, 1933, Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor of Germany from August 2 1934, Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces in World War II.

The generally accepted version of Hitler's suicide

On April 30, 1945, in Berlin surrounded by Soviet troops and realizing complete defeat, Hitler, along with his wife Eva Braun, committed suicide, having previously killed his beloved dog Blondie.
In Soviet historiography, the point of view has been established that Hitler took poison (potassium cyanide, like most Nazis who committed suicide), however, according to eyewitnesses, he shot himself. There is also a version according to which Hitler and Braun first took both poisons, after which the Fuhrer shot himself in the temple (thus using both instruments of death).

Even the day before, Hitler gave the order to deliver cans of gasoline from the garage (to destroy the bodies). On April 30, after lunch, Hitler said goodbye to people from his inner circle and, shaking their hands, together with Eva Braun, retired to his apartment, from where the sound of a shot was soon heard. Shortly after 15:15, Hitler's servant Heinz Linge, accompanied by his adjutant Otto Günsche, Goebbels, Bormann and Axmann, entered the Fuhrer's apartment. Dead Hitler sat on the sofa; a blood stain was spreading on his temple. Eva Braun lay nearby, with no visible external injuries. Günsche and Linge wrapped Hitler's body in a soldier's blanket and carried it out into the garden of the Reich Chancellery; after him they carried out Eve’s body. The corpses were placed near the entrance to the bunker, doused with gasoline and burned. On May 5, the bodies were found by a piece of blanket sticking out of the ground and fell into the hands of the Soviet SMERSH. The body was identified, in part, with the help of Hitler's dentist, who confirmed the authenticity of the corpse's dentures. In February 1946, Hitler's body, along with the bodies of Eva Braun and the Goebbels family - Joseph, Magda, 6 children, was buried at one of the NKVD bases in Magdeburg. In 1970, when the territory of this base was to be transferred to the GDR, at the proposal of Yu. V. Andropov, approved by the Politburo, the remains of Hitler and others buried with him were dug up, cremated to ashes and then thrown into the Elbe. Only dentures and part of the skull with a bullet entry hole (found separately from the corpse) were preserved. They are kept in Russian archives, as are the side arms of the sofa on which Hitler shot himself, with traces of blood. However, Hitler's biographer Werner Maser expresses doubts that the discovered corpse and part of the skull really belonged to Hitler.

On October 18, 1945, the indictment was handed over to the International Military Tribunal and, through its secretariat, transmitted to each of the accused. A month before the start of the trial, each of them was handed an indictment in German.

Results: international military tribunal sentenced:
To death by hanging: Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Seyss-Inquart, Bormann (in absentia), Jodl (who was posthumously completely acquitted when the case was reviewed by a Munich court in 1953).
To life imprisonment: Hess, Funk, Raeder.
To 20 years in prison: Schirach, Speer.
To 15 years in prison: Neyrata.
To 10 years in prison: Denitsa.
Acquitted: Fritsche, Papen, Schacht.

Tribunal recognized the criminal organizations of the SS, SD, SA, Gestapo and the leadership of the Nazi Party. The decision to recognize the Supreme Command and the General Staff as criminal was not made, which caused disagreement from a member of the tribunal from the USSR.

A number of convicts filed petitions: Goering, Hess, Ribbentrop, Sauckel, Jodl, Keitel, Seyss-Inquart, Funk, Doenitz and Neurath - for pardon; Raeder - on replacing life imprisonment with the death penalty; Goering, Jodl and Keitel - about replacing hanging with shooting if the request for clemency is not granted. All of these requests were rejected.

The death penalty was carried out on the night of October 16, 1946 in the Nuremberg prison building.

Having convicted the main Nazi criminals, the International Military Tribunal recognized aggression as the gravest crime of an international character. The Nuremberg Trials are sometimes called the "Trial of History" because it had significant influence for the final defeat of Nazism. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Funk and Raeder were pardoned in 1957. After Speer and Schirach were released in 1966, only Hess remained in prison. The right-wing forces of Germany repeatedly demanded to pardon him, but the victorious powers refused to commute the sentence. On August 17, 1987, Hess was found hanged in his cell.

The year 2015 goes down in history - the seventieth year since the end of World War II. Rodina published hundreds of articles, documents, and photographs dedicated to the holy anniversary this year. And we decided to devote the December issue of our “Scientific Library” to some of the results and long-term consequences of the Second World War.
Of course, this does not mean that along with the anniversary year it will become a thing of the past from the pages of Rodina. military theme. The June issue is already being planned, which will be dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War, analytical materials from prominent Russian and foreign scientists are waiting in the editorial portfolio, letters about native front-line soldiers continue to arrive for the column ""...
Write to us, dear readers. In our " Scientific library"There are still a lot of unfilled shelves.

Editorial "Motherland"

Public trials of the Nazis

The history of World War II is an endless list of war crimes of Nazi Germany and its allies. For this, humanity openly tried the main war criminals in their lair - Nuremberg (1945-1946) and Tokyo (1946-1948). Due to its political-legal significance and cultural imprint, the Nuremberg Tribunal has become a symbol of justice. In its shadow remained other show trials of European countries against the Nazis and their accomplices and, first of all, open trials held on the territory of the Soviet Union.

For the most brutal war crimes in 1943-1949, trials took place in 21 affected cities of five Soviet republics: Krasnodar, Krasnodon, Kharkov, Smolensk, Bryansk, Leningrad, Nikolaev, Minsk, Kiev, Velikiye Luki, Riga, Stalino (Donetsk), Bobruisk, Sevastopol, Chernigov, Poltava, Vitebsk, Chisinau, Novgorod, Gomel, Khabarovsk. They publicly convicted 252 war criminals from Germany, Austria, Hungary, Romania, Japan and several of their accomplices from the USSR. Open trials in the USSR of war criminals carried not only a legal meaning of punishing the perpetrators, but also a political and anti-fascist one. So films were made about the meetings, books were published, reports were written - for millions of people around the world. Judging by the reports of the MGB, almost the entire population supported the accusation and wanted the most severe punishment for the defendants.

At the show trials of 1943-1949. The best investigators, qualified translators, authoritative experts, professional lawyers, and talented journalists worked. About 300-500 spectators came to the meetings (the halls could no longer accommodate), thousands more stood on the street and listened to radio broadcasts, millions read reports and brochures, tens of millions watched newsreels. Under the weight of evidence, almost all the suspects admitted to their crime. In addition, in the dock there were only those whose guilt was repeatedly confirmed by evidence and witnesses. The verdicts of these courts can be considered justified even by modern standards, so none of the convicts were rehabilitated. But despite the importance of open processes, modern researchers know too little about them. the main problem- inaccessibility of sources. The materials of each trial amounted to up to fifty vast volumes, but they were almost never published 1 because they are stored in the archives of former KGB departments and are still not completely declassified. There is also a lack of culture of memory. A large museum opened in Nuremberg in 2010, which organizes exhibitions and methodically examines the Nuremberg Tribunal (and the 12 subsequent Nuremberg trials). But in the post-Soviet space there are no such museums about local processes. Therefore, in the summer of 2015, the author of these lines created a kind of virtual museum “Soviet Nuremberg” 2 for the Russian Military Historical Society. This website, which caused a great stir in the media, contains information and rare materials about 21 open courts in the USSR in 1943-1949.

Justice in time of war

Before 1943, no one in the world had experience of trying the Nazis and their collaborators. There were no analogues of such cruelty in world history, there were no atrocities of such a temporal and geographical scale, therefore there were no legal norms for retribution - neither in international conventions nor in national criminal codes. In addition, for justice it was still necessary to free the crime scenes and witnesses, and capture the criminals themselves. I was the first to do all this Soviet Union, but also not right away.

From 1941 until the end of the occupation, open trials were held in partisan detachments and brigades - over traitors, spies, looters. Their spectators were the partisans themselves and later residents of neighboring villages. At the front, traitors and Nazi executioners were punished by military tribunals until the issuance of Decree N39 of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR on April 19, 1943 “On punitive measures for Nazi villains guilty of murder and torture of the Soviet civilian population and captured Red Army soldiers, for spies, traitors to the motherland from among Soviet citizens and for their accomplices." According to the Decree, cases of murder of prisoners of war and civilians were submitted to military courts attached to divisions and corps. Many of their meetings, on the recommendation of the command, were open, with the participation of the local population. In military tribunals, partisan, people's and military courts, the accused defended themselves, without lawyers. A common sentence was public hanging.

Decree N39 became the legal basis for systemic responsibility for thousands of crimes. The evidence base was detailed reports on the scale of atrocities and destruction in the liberated territories; for this purpose, by decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Council of November 2, 1942, the “Extraordinary State Commission for the establishment and investigation of the atrocities of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices and the damage they caused to citizens was created, collective farms, public organizations, state enterprises and institutions of the USSR" (ChGK). At the same time, in the camps, investigators interrogated millions of prisoners of war.

The open trials of 1943 in Krasnodar and Kharkov became widely known. These were the world's first full-fledged trials of the Nazis and their collaborators. The Soviet Union tried to ensure a worldwide resonance: the meetings were covered by foreign journalists and the best writers of the USSR (A. Tolstoy, K. Simonov, I. Ehrenburg, L. Leonov), and filmed by cameramen and photographers. The entire Soviet Union followed the processes - reports of the meetings were published in the central and local press, and readers' reactions were also posted there. Brochures were published about the processes different languages, they were read aloud in the army and behind the lines. They were released almost immediately documentaries“The Verdict of the People” and “The Trial is Coming” were shown in Soviet and foreign cinemas. And in 1945-1946, documents from the Krasnodar trial on “gas chambers” (“gassenwagens”) were used by the international tribunal in Nuremberg.

According to the principle of “collective guilt”

The most thorough investigation was carried out as part of ensuring open trials of war criminals in late 1945 - early 1946. in the eight most affected cities of the USSR. According to the directives of the government, special operational investigative groups of the Ministry of Internal Affairs-NKGB were created on the ground; they studied archives, acts of the ChGK, photographic documents, and interrogated thousands of witnesses. different areas and hundreds of prisoners of war. The first seven such trials (Bryansk, Smolensk, Leningrad, Velikie Luki, Minsk, Riga, Kyiv, Nikolaev) sentenced 84 war criminals (most of them were hanged). Thus, in Kyiv, the hanging of twelve Nazis on Kalinin Square (now Maidan Nezalezhnosti) was seen and approved by more than 200,000 citizens.

Since these trials coincided with the beginning of the Nuremberg Tribunal, they were compared not only by newspapers, but also by the prosecution and defense. Thus, in Smolensk, state prosecutor L.N. Smirnov built a chain of crimes from the Nazi leaders accused at Nuremberg to the specific 10 executioners in the dock: “Both of them are participants in the same accomplice.” Lawyer Kaznacheev (by the way, he also worked at the Kharkov trial) also spoke about the connection between the criminals of Nuremberg and Smolensk, but with a different conclusion: “The sign of equality cannot be placed between all these persons” 3 .

Eight Soviet trials of 1945-1946 ended, and the Nuremberg Tribunal also ended. But among the millions of prisoners of war there were still thousands of war criminals. Therefore, in the spring of 1947, by agreement between the Minister of Internal Affairs S. Kruglov and the Minister of Foreign Affairs V. Molotov, preparations began for the second wave of show trials against German military personnel. The next nine trials in Stalino (Donetsk), Sevastopol, Bobruisk, Chernigov, Poltava, Vitebsk, Novgorod, Chisinau and Gomel, held by resolution of the Council of Ministers of September 10, 1947, sentenced 137 people to prison terms in Vorkutlag.

The last open trial of foreign war criminals was the Khabarovsk trial of 1949 against Japanese developers of biological weapons, who tested them on Soviet and Chinese citizens (more on this on page 116 - Ed.). These crimes were not investigated at the International Tribunal in Tokyo because some potential defendants received immunity from the United States in exchange for experimental data.

Since 1947, instead of individual open trials, the Soviet Union began to conduct closed ones en masse. Already on November 24, 1947, the USSR Ministry of Internal Affairs, the USSR Ministry of Justice, the USSR Prosecutor's Office N 739/18/15/311 issued an order, which ordered that the cases of those accused of committing war crimes be considered at closed sessions of the military tribunals of the Ministry of Internal Affairs troops at the place of detention of the defendants (that is, practically without calling witnesses) without the participation of the parties and sentence the perpetrators to imprisonment for a period of 25 years in forced labor camps.

The reasons for the curtailment of open processes are not entirely clear; no arguments have yet been found in the declassified documents. However, several versions can be put forward. Presumably, the open trials carried out were quite enough to satisfy society; propaganda switched to new tasks. In addition, conducting open trials required highly qualified investigators; there were not enough of them locally due to the post-war personnel shortage. It is worth taking into account the material support of open processes (the estimate for one process was about 55 thousand rubles); for the post-war economy these were significant amounts. Closed courts made it possible to quickly and en masse consider cases, sentence defendants to a predetermined period of imprisonment and, finally, corresponded to the traditions of Stalinist jurisprudence. In closed trials, prisoners of war were often tried on the principle of “collective guilt”, without concrete evidence of personal participation. Therefore, in the 1990s Russian authorities 13,035 foreigners convicted under Decree N39 for war crimes were rehabilitated (in total, during 1943-1952, at least 81,780 people were convicted under the Decree, including 24,069 foreign prisoners of war) 4.

Statute of limitations: protests and controversy

After Stalin's death, all foreigners convicted in closed and open trials were handed over to the authorities of their countries in 1955-1956. This was not advertised in the USSR - residents of the affected cities, who well remembered the speeches of the prosecutors, clearly would not have understood such political agreements.

Only a few who came from Vorkuta were imprisoned in foreign prisons (this was the case in the GDR and Hungary, for example), because the USSR did not send investigative files with them. There was a Cold War, and there was little cooperation between Soviet and West German justice authorities in the 1950s. And those who returned to Germany often said that they were slandered, and confessions of guilt in open trials were extracted by torture. Most of those convicted of war crimes by the Soviet court were allowed to return to civilian professions, and some were even allowed to enter the political and military elite.

At the same time, part of West German society (primarily young people who themselves did not experience the war) sought to seriously overcome the Nazi past. Under public pressure, open trials of war criminals took place in Germany in the late 1950s. They determined the creation in 1958 of the Central Department of Justice of the Federal Republic of Germany for the prosecution of Nazi crimes. The main goals of his activities were to investigate crimes and identify persons involved in crimes who could still be prosecuted. When the perpetrators are identified and it is established which prosecutor's office they fall under, the Central Office completes its preliminary investigation and transfers the case to the prosecutor's office.

Nevertheless, even identified criminals could be acquitted by a West German court. According to the post-war German Criminal Code, the statute of limitations would have expired for most World War II crimes in the mid-1960s. Moreover, the twenty-year statute of limitations applied only to murders committed with extreme cruelty. In the first post-war decade, a number of amendments were made to the Code, according to which those guilty of war crimes who did not directly participate in their execution could be acquitted.

In June 1964, a “conference of democratic lawyers” meeting in Warsaw heatedly protested against the application of a statute of limitations to Nazi crimes. On December 24, 1964, the Soviet government made a similar declaration. The note dated January 16, 1965 accused the Federal Republic of Germany of seeking to completely abandon the prosecution of Nazi executioners. Articles published in Soviet publications on the occasion of the twentieth anniversary of the Nuremberg Tribunal spoke about the same thing.

The situation seems to have been changed by the resolution of the 28th session of the UN General Assembly of December 3, 1973, “Principles of international cooperation regarding the detection, arrest, extradition and punishment of persons guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.” According to its text, all war criminals were subject to search, arrest, and extradition to the countries where they committed their atrocities, regardless of time. But even after the resolution foreign countries were extremely reluctant to hand over their citizens to Soviet justice. Motivating that the USSR's evidence was sometimes shaky, because many years had passed.

In general, due to political obstacles, the USSR in the 1960-1980s tried not foreign war criminals, but their accomplices, in open trials. For political reasons, the names of the punishers were almost never heard at the open trials of their foreign masters in 1945-1947. Even the trial of Vlasov was held behind closed doors. Because of this secrecy, many traitors with blood on their hands were missed. After all, the orders of the Nazi organizers of executions were willingly carried out by ordinary traitors from the Ostbattalions, Jagdkommandos, and nationalist formations. Thus, at the Novgorod trial of 1947, Colonel V. Findeisen 6, the coordinator of punitive forces from the Shelon battalion, was tried. In December 1942, the battalion drove all the residents of the villages of Bychkovo and Pochinok onto the ice of the Polist River and shot them. The punishers hid their guilt, and the investigation was unable to link the cases of hundreds of executioners from “Shelon” with the case of V. Findeisen. Without understanding, they were given the same sentences for traitors and, together with everyone else, were amnestied in 1955. The punishers disappeared somewhere, and only then was the personal guilt of each gradually investigated from 1960 to 1982 in a series of open trials 7 . It was not possible to catch everyone, but punishment could have overtaken them back in 1947.

There are fewer and fewer witnesses left, and the already unlikely chance of a full investigation into the atrocities of the occupiers and holding open trials is decreasing every year. However, such crimes have no statute of limitations, so historians and lawyers need to search for evidence and bring to justice all suspects still alive.

Notes
1. One of the exceptions is the publication of materials of the Riga trial from the Central Archive of the FSB of Russia (ASD NH-18313, vol. 2. LL. 6-333) in the book by Yu.Z. Kantor. Baltics: war without rules (1939-1945). St. Petersburg, 2011.
2. For more details, see the project “Soviet Nuremberg” on the website of the Russian Military Historical Society http://histrf.ru/ru/biblioteka/Soviet-Nuremberg.
3. Trial in the case of Nazi atrocities in the city of Smolensk and the Smolensk region, meeting on December 19 // News of the Soviets of Workers' Deputies of the USSR, N 297 (8907) dated December 20, 1945, p. 2.
4. Epifanov A.E. Responsibility for war crimes committed on the territory of the USSR during the Great Patriotic War. 1941 - 1956 Volgograd, 2005. P. 3.
5. Voisin V. ""Au nom des vivants", de Leon Mazroukho: une rencontre entre discours officiel et hommage personnel" // Kinojudaica. Les representations des Juifs dans le cinema russe et sovietique / dans V. Pozner, N. Laurent (dir.). Paris, Nouveau Monde editions, 2012, R. 375.
6. For more details, see Astashkin D. Open trial of Nazi criminals in Novgorod (1947) // Novgorod historical collection. V. Novgorod, 2014. Issue. 14(24). pp. 320-350.
7. Archive of the FSB department for the Novgorod region. D. 1/12236, D. 7/56, D. 1/13364, D. 1/13378.

and other sources.

Everything is clickable.

*Extremist and terrorist organizations prohibited in Russian Federation: “Jehovah’s Witnesses”, National Bolshevik Party, “Right Sector”, “Ukrainian Insurgent Army” (UPA), “ Islamic State"(IS, ISIS, Daesh), "Jabhat Fatah al-Sham", "Jabhat al-Nusra", "Al-Qaeda", "UNA-UNSO", "Taliban", "Majlis of the Crimean Tatar people", "Misanthropic" Division", "Brotherhood" by Korchinsky, "Trident named after. Stepan Bandera", "Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists" (OUN)

Now on the main page

Articles on the topic

  • Policy

    Channel "Axiom"

    Who has a spring exacerbation? Kungurov in half-decent form about Sulakshin’s program

    Popular blogger Alexey Kungurov has already written three posts sharply criticizing the Sulakshin Program. Stepan Stepanovich, of course, read these posts and expressed his opinion in the “Questions and Answers” ​​program. In his analysis, Kungurov attributed to Sulakshin: National Socialism, Neo-Stalinism...

    9.03.2019 22:47 63

    Policy

    Channel "Axiom"

    Russia is one step closer to the feudal system

    Results of the week with Stepan Sulakshin. Private security structures, armies and now also private bailiffs. The Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP) proposes to create an institute of private bailiffs who would collect debts in favor of companies and citizens. This was stated at a meeting of the RSPP Committee on Property and the Judicial System by its chairman, a member of the bureau of the board...

    9.03.2019 20:32 46

    Policy

    Channel "Axiom"

    Who are you with Russia? — Lukashenko against Russian oligarchs

    Foreign policy news block with Stepan Sulakshin. Statement by Alexander Lukashenko about Russian oligarchs at a press conference, the situation in Venezuela, protests in Montenegro and Serbia, an inconclusive meeting between Trump and Kim Jong-un. Vladimir Putin meets with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. Who will Russia support in the confrontation between Israel and Iran? Topics of analyzed news from accredited media: - Norwegian Foundation...

    9.03.2019 12:38 36

    Policy

    Channel "Axiom"

    Is the end of Putinism near? Putin's rating is at a steep peak - Data from VTsIOM and the Sulakshin Center

    VTsIOM published new data from polls of trust in politicians. Putin's rating continues to fall rapidly, despite new promises voiced in last message. According to VTsIOM, the trust rating of Russian President Vladimir Putin dropped to a new historical low and amounted to 32 percent. The Sulakshin Scientific Center held its sociological research. Sociological sample of about 1,700 respondents from different cities of Russia. AND…

    9.03.2019 12:05 47

    Economy

    Channel "Axiom"

    Golikova counted in the pension column with Putin. What came to mind and what went offshore?

    Results of the week with Stepan Sulakshin. Deputy Prime Minister Tatyana Golikova told how she calculated pensions “in a row” with Putin. What became the reason for jokes and gags in in social networks. Golikova’s words were aired on the Rossiya-1 TV channel. The video analyzes the following news from the media: - New housing has become more expensive throughout Russia - Head of the State Duma Committee on Energy: Russia will be dependent...

    3.03.2019 21:58 67

    Policy

    Channel "Axiom"

    Moody’s Forecast “The Threat of Regime Change in Russia” – “Sanctions from Hell”

    The rating agency Moody's named the main risks for the Russian economy. Among them, for the first time, the risk of “disorganized regime change” was mentioned, noting the growing dissatisfaction of Russians with the political system and potential problems with the transition of power due to “Putin’s dominance.” The US Congress published the draft “Act to Protect US Security from Kremlin Aggression” (DASKA-2019), which US senators announced two weeks ago. This is the second...