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The Nuremberg trial Against the Major War Criminals and International Law*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  20 April 2017

Hans Ehard
Hans Ehard*
Affiliation:
Bavaria
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Extract

“The trial which is now about to begin is unique in the history of the jurisprudence of the world and it is of supreme importance to millions of people all over the globe.”

Thus spoke the President of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, Lord Justice Lawrence, upon the occasion of the institution of the so-called Trial against the Major War Criminals on November 20, 1945. If his statement is correct, then the German people undoubtedly rank in first place among these millions. This also was the opinion of the chief prosecutor which recurred several times in his statements. Thus the French representative, Mr. François de Menthon, exclaimed:

This work of justice is equally indispensable for the future of the German people…The initial condemnation of Nazi Germany by your High Tribunal will be a first lesson for these people and will constitute the best starting point … of re-education which must be its great concern during the coming years…

Your judgment … can serve as a foundation for the moral uplift of the German people, first stage in its integration into the community of free countries. …

Type
Research Article
Information
American Journal of International Law , Volume 43 , Issue 2 , April 1949 , pp. 223 - 245
Copyright
Copyright © American Society of International Law 1949

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Footnotes

*

Paper read by Dr. Ehard on the occasion of the Meeting of Lawyers in Munich on June 2, 1948. Translated by E. C. Jann, Research Assistant, Foreign Law Section, Law Library of Congress. Supplied through the courtesy of the Honorable Robert H. Jackson, who recommended publication in the following terms: “It is not because I agree with it that I would like to give this to the American legal profession, but because it is a scholarly and intelligent statement of the viewpoint of a leader of German political and legal thought. Quite naturally, there are statements in it with which I do not agree. Kone the less, I think it places the discussion on a more profitable basis than some of the popular criticisms that have appeared. And at all events, the German viewpoint is worth considering in any appraisal of the trial.”

References

1 Der Prozess gegen die Baupikriegsverbrecher vor dem Internationalen Militárgerichtshof, Nürnberg 14. November 1945-1. Oktober 1946 (Nürnberg, 1947), Vol. II, p. 40 (30) Citations to the official German edition were made by the author. Corresponding citations to the English edition have been inserted by the translator in parenthesis following the German citations. The English edition is entitled Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 14 November 1945-1 October 1946 (Nürnberg, 1947).

2 2 Vol. V, p. 417 (370).

3 Ibid., p. 479 (426).

* For text of Agreement and Charter of the International Military Tribunal, see Department of State, Executive Agreement Series, No. 472 (Publication 2461); also this Journal, Supp., Vol. 39 (1945), p. 257 ff.

4 Art. 3.

5 Art. 6, par. 1.

6 Art. 6, par. 2.

7 Art. 6, par. 3.

8 Art. 7.

9 Art. 8.

10 Vol. I, p. 30 (29).

11 Vol. I, p. 45 (42).

12 Ibid., p. 46 (42-43).

13 ibid., p. 59 (55).

14 Vol. VI, pp. 58, 59 (48).

15 Vol. I, p. 59 (55).

16 Ibid., p. 60 (55).

17 Ibid., p. 47 (44).

18 Ibid., p. 56 (52).

19 Vol. I, p. 259 (232).

20 Ibid., p. 70 (65).

21 Vol. II, p. 120 (102).

22 Ibid., p. 128 (109).

23 Ibid., p. 121 (103).

24 Vol. I, p. 188 (169).

25 Vol. II, p. 173 (147).

26 Vol. III, p. 120 (103).

27 Ibid., p. 109 (94).

28 Ibid., p. 124 (106).

29 Vol. II, p. 173 (146-147). Translator’s note: The paper erroneously refers to Volume III.

30 Vol. II, p. 177 (150).

31 Vol. Ill, p. 121 (104).

32 Ibid.

33 Ibid.

34 Vol. II, p. 118 (101).

35 Vol. V, p. 418 et seq.

36 Ibid., p. 438.

37 Vol. VII, p. 168 (148).

38 Vol. I, p. 244 (218).

39 Vol. I, p. 245 (219).

40 Ibid., p. 246 (220).

41 Ibid., pp. 246, 247 (221).

42 Ibid., p. 249 (223).

43 Vol. II, 175 (148).

* This JOURNAL, Supp., Vol. 27 (1933), pp. 192, 194.

44 Vol. III, p. 121 (104).

45 Vol. II, p. 118 (101).

46 Ibid., p. 182 (154).

47 Vol. III, 124 (106).

48 Vol. III, p. 605 (543).

49 Vol. II, p. 169 (143) (Jackson).