20.11.1945 The Nuremberg Trial began

The Nuremberg Trial began on 20 November 1945. Göring did not live to see the verdict, but committed suicide in custody.

However,the name"Nuremberg Trial" was in fact somewhat inaccurate. There were a total of thirteen trials, the first of which, referred to as the "Nuremberg War Criminals Trial", involved the twenty-one highest echelons of the regime. The twenty-second defendant, Martin Bormann, was most likely dead and so was tried in absentia.

The first trial took place before the International Military Tribunal from 20 November 1945 to 1 October 1946 in courtroom 600 of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice. "This was a large building of 22,000 square metres, with 530 offices and 80 separate courtrooms"which, moreover, had not been seriously damaged during the war," writes Taylor Blaine in Hitler's Engineers: Fritz Todt and Albert Speer. The chief builders of the Third Reich.

The building also included a large prison in the rear wing. Soviet Judge Nikitchenko presided over the first hearing. The Allied indictment contained four charges: Participation in a conspiracy to commit crimes against peace. Then planning, preparing and waging offensive wars. Third, war crimes, and the last count contained crimes against humanity.

For example, Hitler's architect Albert Speer was charged with all four counts. "During the 218 days of the trial, the oral and written testimony of 360 witnesses was presented. Of these, 236 witnesses were heard directly by the court, while others were sent for by the judges to record their testimony," Blaine further writes.

Twelve death sentences were passed. Göring committed suicide while in custody, Robert Ley took his own life before the trial began, and Gustav Krupp was incompetent to stand trial; in addition, the U.S. occupation forces tried 1,941 people, of whom 1,517 were convicted, 324 of whom were sentenced to death.

British courts prosecuted 1,085 persons and imposed 240 death sentences. French military courts pronounced 104 death sentences in 1207 trials. In the three western occupation zones, 486 criminals were executed. On the Soviet side, according to serious estimates, some fourteen thousand trials were conducted, the number of death sentences being unknown. The Polish penal authorities followed a very strict procedure towards the end of the war. In Poland, death sentences were handed down against 1,214 Germans.

Sources:
Taylor Blaine, Hitler's Engineers: Fritz Todt and Albert Speer. Chief Builders of the Third Reich
Koop Volker, National Socialism
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