In Tel Aviv, Israel, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi SS officer who
organized Adolf Hitler’s “final solution of the Jewish question,
” is condemned to death by an Israeli war crimes tribunal.
He claimed he was just following orders, but the judges
disagreed, finding him guilty on all counts on December
15 and sentencing him to die.
On May 31, 1962, he was hanged near Tel Aviv. His body
was cremated and his ashes thrown into the sea.
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.
On this day in 1970, the U.S. Army accused Capt. Ernest Medina
and four other soldiers of committing crimes at My Lai (also
known as Songmy) in March 1968. The charges ranged from premeditated murder to rape and the “maiming” of a suspect
under interrogation. Medina was the company commander of
Lt. William Calley and other soldiers charged with murder and
numerous crimes at My Lai 4 in Song My village.
Ernest Lou Medina
(August 27, 1936 – May 8, 2018)
Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis go on trial in Nuremberg,
Germany, for atrocities committed during World War II
began on November 20, 1945.
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.
Sir Frederick Geoffrey Lawrence
(5 April 1902 – 3 February 1967)
Hermann Goering in the witness box during the Nuremberg trials.
German Reichsmarschall, Commander of the Luftwaffe
Hermann Goering during cross examination at the trials.
Twenty-four high-ranking Nazis go on trial in Nuremberg, Germany,
for atrocities committed during World War II.
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.
