Activities

On 29 August 1945, an official list of all those indicted was issued.  It listed 24 names as follows:

-    Bormann Martin , Head of the Reich Chancellery

-    Dönitz Karl , Admiral, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy

-    Frank Hans, Chief Civil Administration Officer for  occupied Polish territory

-    Frick Wilhelm, Reich Minister of the Interior, Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia

-    Fritzsche Hans, Head of the Press and Radio Division of the Propaganda Ministry

-    Funk Walther, Minister of Economics and President of the Reichsbank

-    Göring Hermann, Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, Air Minister, Prime Minister of Prussia, President of the Reichstag, Reichsmarshal 

-    Hess Rudolf,  Head of the Chancellery of the Nazi Party, Hitler’s designated successor

-    Jodl Alfred, Chief of the National Defense Section in the High Command

-    Kaltenbrunner Ernst, Chief of the Security Police and SD and Head of the Reich Security Head Office(RSHA)

-    Keitel Wilhelm, Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces

-    Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach Gustav, Industrialist, Director of Krupp AG group

-    Ley Robert, Leader of German Labour Front

-    Raeder Erich, Admiral, Chief of Naval Command till 1943

-   Rosenberg Alfred, National Socialist ideologist, Reich Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories

-    Sauckel Fritz, Plenipotentiary General for the Utilisation of Labour

-    Schacht Hjalmar, President of the Reichsbank, Minister of Economics

-    Seyss-Inquart Arthur, Reichs Commissioner for occupied Netherlands

-    Speer Albert, Reich Minister for Armaments and Munitions

-    Streicher Julius, Nazi Party Leader of Franconia, Editor of " Der Sturmer

-    Von Schirach Baldur, Head of the Hitler Jugend, Gauleiter of Vienna, Reich Governor of Vienna

-    Von Papen Franz, Ambassador to Vienna and Ankara

-    Von Ribbentrop Joachim, Reich minister for Foreign Affairs

-    Von Neurath Konstantin, Minister of Foreign Affairs, Reich Protector for Bohemia and Moravia,

Organizations were also indicted:

-    The Reich Cabinet

-    The Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party (NSDAP)

-  The SS (Schutzstaffeln der Nationalsozialistischen Deutschen Arbeitspartei), including the Security Service (SD)

-    The Gestapo, State Secret Police

-    The SA (Sturmabteilunggen der Nationalsozialistichen Deutschen Arbeiter Partei)

-    The General Staff and High Command of the German Armed Forces.

Two defendants could not be brought to trial: Robert Ley committed suicide before the trial started and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach was declared unfit to stand trial. For his part, Martin Borman was tried in absentia.

During 218 days of hearings, the Tribunal received testimony from close to 360 witnesses and took note of around 200’000 sworn declarations.
All of the defendants pleaded not guilty. The Tribunal issued its first verdicts on 1st October 1946. The verdicts handed down were for twelve death sentences by hanging, nine life prison sentences and three acquittals. Four organizations, namely the NSDAP, the SS, the SD and the Gestapo, were judged to be “criminal organizations”.

Ten of those sentenced to death were hanged on 16 October 1946, with Martin Bormann having been sentenced in absentia and Herman Goering having committed suicide in his prison cell on 15 October 1946. The bodies of these condemned men were incinerated and the ashes dispersed into a river. Those sentenced to prison terms were transferred on 18 July to the Allied prison at Berlin-Spandau which was reserved for war criminals.

Subsequent trials of the Nuremberg IMT were held in the different allied military zones to judge those criminals referred to as “minor”, by virtue of the Directive No 10 of the Allied Control Council. The adoption of this directive was aimed at creating a uniform legal basis for the prosecution of German leaders in the four occupied Allied zones.  By virtue of this law, the trials of those German leaders held to be responsible for crimes against the German population could be transferred to German national courts. This procedure was put into effect by the French, British and Soviet forces. Also by virtue of this law, the German Office of the Government of the United States, under its own military authority, held trials against twelve German leaders-lawyers, doctors, SS members, industrial and financial leaders , Government officials- at Nuremberg. 142 of the 185 defendants were sentenced, including 24 who were sentenced to death (11 of these being commuted later to life imprisonment), 20 others being sentenced to life imprisonment and 98 to limited term prison sentences. 35 defendants were acquitted. Furthermore, four of those accused were declared medically unfit to stand trial and four others committed suicide during the course of the proceedings.

Thousands of other trials were held in the following decades in British, French, Soviet, American and other courts. American Military Tribunals, amongst other places, held trials in Italy and the Netherlands principally against concentration camp commanders. French Tribunals were active not only in its occupied zone but also in North Africa and on French territory. Aside from trials against Nazi criminals, France also held trials against those charged with collaborating with the Vichy regime. The Soviet Union mainly brought to judgment prison camp commanders. Other States held trials against Nazi regime collaborators, namely Belgium, Denmark, Luxemburg, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Israel.