Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis went on trial in Nuremberg,
Germany, for atrocities committed during World War II began
on this day.
The Nuremberg trials were conducted by an international
tribunal made up of representatives from the United States,
the Soviet Union, France and Great Britain.
It was the first trial of its kind in history, and the defendants
faced charges ranging from crimes against peace, to crimes
of war, to crimes against humanity.
Lord Justice Geoffrey Lawrence, the British member, presided
over the proceedings, which lasted 10 months and consisted
of 216 court sessions.
Geoffrey Lawrence
(2 December 1880 – 28 August 1971
Sir Geoffrey Lawrence (left center) and Francis Biddle (right) talking at the opening session of the Nuremberg trials.
Herman Goering
The defendants at the Nuremberg trials. Front row (L-R): Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim Von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel and Ernst Kaltenbrunner. Back row (L-R):
Karl Doenitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach and Fritz Sauckel.
The Nuremberg court room as it looks today.
