Nuremberg War Crimes Trial Essay

The Allies wanted to exact revenge on the Axis troops after World War II for their involvement in numerous atrocities in Europe. The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial 1945–46: A Documentary History, written by Michael Marrus, provides a thorough knowledge of the entire trial process. Marrus questioned the defendants throughout the trial and gave the initial details required to comprehend the Nuremberg case. He accurately depicted the situation prior to the creation of the International Military Tribunal and the remainder of the court process in his book. In fact, chapter by chapter the author gives the account of the trial. In chapter two the author provides a background description of series of negotiations among the Allied forces before the trial through various legal documents and agreements. Further, in chapter three the preparation taken by the Allied forces for the prosecution of war criminals. This paper will discuss the author’s argument in the two chapters.

In Chapter two Marrus explained about the background of the trial. The negotiations for the criminal proceedings were diplomatic in nature as the victors of war sought to punish the Axis forces (Marrus 20).In this respect, the three superpowers through the Moscow Declaration of 1943 decided to pursue the criminal behind the atrocities. A crucial aspect of the declaration is that the Allied forces (United States, United Kingdom, and Russia) agreed that the German who had caused massacre would be sent back to their country to stand trial (Marrus 20).This declaration set the first commitment of the Nuremberg trial. According to the author, other agreements led to the establishment of the Nuremberg trial. The Morgenthau Plan of 1944 according to the Marrus (24), sought to mitigate the possibility of German rebuilding its military strength. The main agenda of this document was the demilitarization of Germany to remove any threat during the trial. The plan also proposed to partition Germany to other countries. However, the plan was hugely opposed, and President Roosevelt condemned it too (Marrus 26).

Further, a new memorandum was proposed to replace the contested plan. Following the backlash of the earlier protocol, the American draft of the Definitive Proposal was enacted. This proposal according to Marrus (34), was to get a consensus among the European countries to go ahead with war crime trials. More importantly, it contained twenty-six articles aimed at setting the guide of the trial process. The key aspect of this proposal was the establishment of the “International military tribunal” with powers to prosecute and sentence the war criminals. According to the author the series of diplomatic negotiation by allied set the stage for Holocaust trials.

In Chapter three, Marrus (51), discussed the steps undertaken in preparation for trial. According to him, the most significant step taken was the enactment of the Charter of International Military Tribunal in 1945 (51).The charter was the most important piece of legal documents since it; first provided the procedural and substantive law to guide the Nuremberg trial. The charter sought to use the civil law procedure. Also, it defined what constituted the crimes to be charged. Finally, after the successful establishment of the International Military Tribunal, there was an indictment of the perpetrators. Essentially, the war criminals were arrested and brought before the tribunal situated in the city of Nuremberg where they were charged with different international crimes.

Work Cited

Marrus, Michael R. The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial: 1945-46: a Documentary History. Boston [u.a.: Bedford Books, 1997. Print.