The palace of justice in nuremberg. After the 2nd world war, nearly 200. 00 defendants were brought here to be held accountable for 12 years of dictatorship, military aggression, tara and mass murder. At the heart of proceedings was the International Military tribunals which tried key war criminals from germany. The 4 victorious powers responded to the nazis once in a millennium crimes. With a once in a millennium trial, on nov 20th, 1945 some 20 high ranking nancy leaders were brought by elevator to the court in room 600. The former rights Marshall Hermann goering willingly took on the role of most senior nazi. He was followed by grand admiral carl dern, its whom hitler had appointed as president of the reich in his will. And rudolf hess, hitlers former deputy. The defendants never showed the slightest remorse. It was part of their shots, their pride to insist that they were right all the time and would do it again. They stood accused of conspiracy to carry out wars of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The defendants were ruthless ministers and fanatical ideologues, merciless military commanders and barbaric enforcers of hitlers maniacal will. They come into the dark as if this was not a fair proceeding, as if they knew they were going to hang already, why go through others . But think that the allies were being pushed unfair about this person for the 1st time in history, an entire states leadership in the dark to the high ranking nazi officials and military leaders. It was a case of the winners putting the losers on trial. Its got to go damn asli for sure. At the time. I couldnt imagine that there were any reasonable grounds on which to accuse these and their later. Of course, i understood it better to shove them no movie torrijos, nation or alliance had ever attempted anything as bold or complex as what the allies were now doing with the surviving representatives of the 3rd reich. The prosecutors goal was nothing less than a global realignment brought about through the law. This was not a trial of germans of all. This was a trial for humanity. This was a trial has to prevent terror, me from raising its head again. And the only place in the world of the nuremberg 945, the old Imperial City of the middle ages, lay in ruins. After nearly 6 years of war, nazi germany had capitulated unconditionally 60000000 people were dead. The cost of at all, fiddlers murderous quest for world domination. Germans who once zealously followed their fuehrer, now wanted to forget the main concern for most people was overcoming hunger and hardship. They werent interested in the fate of the nancy leadership in may. When rice marshall, hermann goering, was taken prisoner in austria. It became clear that this war was not going to end the way those in the history books had. Gurning had been certain the americans would accept him as negotiator, but then he had to surrender his pistol and was arrested even then, going still believed the victorious allies couldnt govern germany without him. Being charged with a crime seemed completely out of the question. American reporters were allowed to interview goering. He used his skill in chan to set himself apart from the realities of the war. He claimed to have fallen out with hitler some time earlier. If hed known what was happening in the concentration camps. He said he would have taken vigorous action. He wanted still to be now after him as a number of a nazi which of course is interesting because hitler had selected dennetts grand isle but there needs to be a successor. Never really accepted that. And you could sense sort of a feeling of upstaging. He was still the man who had perhaps chosen to be the number 2 man. And he should have been the right foot succession to i dont think like he thought he was going into exile. And i go to as a census for like napoleon, but not even his own people would accept the vein going. Is there new furer in flensburg, in may. 945 grand, admiral calderon, its as hitler successor, appointed high profile. Nazis like armaments minister, albert speer and high ranking military commanders like alfred yodel to his cabinet. They acted as if they govern Germany Holding daily meetings. But they had no power. The most important perpetrators were already dead. Both addled hitler and propaganda minister yourself gerbils had taken their own lives. In berlin, the russians displayed gerbils charred body with the help of a cyanide capsule. S. S. Leader Heinrich Himmler also evaded prosecution. He had tried in vain to join doenitz his government disguised as a regular soldier. Himmler was picked up by a British Patrol before committing suicide. At the end of the war, the nazis monstrous crimes had come to light. When the americans liberated order of concentration camp into riga, they found few survivors. The conditions were indescribable. Along with the u. S. Troops, specialists came to the liberated camps to secure evidence and to arrest potential war criminals. My mind just refused to grasp what my eyes saw. I was coming in there to prove the crimes and these people who are lying in the dirt. Mostly you couldnt tell if they were dead or alive if they stirred. It was unusual. These were objects and you cannot look upon them as human beings. They didnt look like human beings, many of them as flagrant as the nazis inhuman policies were. It was still an incredibly complicated task for investigators to bring those responsible to justice. The crime of genocide didnt exist, and there was no Legal Mechanism to prosecute the internal affairs of a terrorist state. But the majority of germanys victims came from the occupied countries of europe. That gave the allies the opportunity to criminally, prosecute the 3rd right now, but it was to bring to trial those whom we had captured because they had committed crimes against allied soldiers in war time, clear violation of the rules of war or had been captured in concentration camps liberated by the allies. You had a perfect case. There was nothing more to be said to prove that these were enormous crimes which were being systematically committed by everyone connected with that camp. And thats what we did, and it didnt take very long to do. The idea for the nuremberg trials dates back to the summer of 1944. When u. S. President Franklin Delano roosevelt told officials in washington to devise strategies for bringing war criminals to justice for a long time, the allies were divided over the best way to punish those responsible. British prime minister, Winston Churchill thought hitlers in a circle show would be shot without trial at the tehran conference, the allies didnt rule out executing 52100000, german war criminals. Soviet leader, Joseph Stalin raised the idea of an International Criminal trial. Finally, the Us Department of war develops the plan for the nuremberg trials. Nazi leaders would have to be charged as criminal conspirators who had together planned wars of aggression, then carried out countless crimes and atrocities. That was a concept that we were charged days. They didnt defend us with conspiring getting together and plotting to see as control of the German Government and subject in the german people to which dictatorial control making the german people themselves victims and eliminating freedom in germany, lebanon moccasin establishing a ruthless dictatorship. And then having done that, thats the conspiracy then committing the crimes that they did in the name of the german people. There was stamped ism in the homes of the us supreme court. It was fear the trials could become something of an internationally sanctioned lynch mob. Initially, federal judge, Robert Jackson wasnt a supporter of the trials. But when asked by president harold truman, he willingly took on the task of organizing them. He saw it as a unique opportunity to develop new International Laws that would outlaw war once and for all. Jackson hears from all of his peers and friends and contacts in the government in the bar, even colleagues on the supreme court. And he encounters a lot of skepticism from all of those people, skepticism about the precedent and the law on which this task can occur. Skepticism about the time and difficulty of accomplishing this skepticism about the benefits at the end of the process. In terms of justice, in terms of deterrents. For jackson, the focus wasnt on the crime of the holocaust, but on the military, aggression of hitler and his accomplices. In his view, the attacks on poland and the soviet union made a mockery of the principle that sovereign states have the right to wage war. The war making was not illegal justified in making war. And jackson felt that this was a woman that the time had come for the law to take a step forward. This was the right time and the right place for people to express the idea which was fundamental to jackson. That war making itself is the Supreme International crime and aggression. Aggressive war should be condemned as a crime and convention that we have an opportunity to bring to it just judgment. Oh, those who have thought it safe to wage a restive, ruthless, are on may 23rd, 1945, the puppet government of grand, admiral dune, its in flensburg was dissolved and its members arrested. The allies were compiling lists of wanted nazi figures. Gradually, the net was closing around the 3rd reich. Slade is nonsi. Germanys most prominent anti semite trying to pretend to be a painter in bavaria. But he was recognised by chance by a us officer. Robert ly. The head of the german labor front had grown a beard to avoid detection, but that didnt get him very far. The arrested nazi leaders were taken to the bad monday off internment camp in luxembourg. The americans compared the detainees in the former palace hotel to garbage. Calling it camp ash can care. Mongering was among 86, 3rd reich dignitaries, held prisoner and interrogated in bad monday off. He reportedly said that this might have been an appropriate way to treat what he called historical personages, but only he was really big enough to face judgment. It was a sentiment that hitlers other ministers, military and Party Leaders probably wouldnt have objected to. On june 22nd, investigators processed him and gearing just like any other suspected criminal in bad mond, off the drug addicted ranks, mashal was made to stop using morphine and soon regained his old strength. Those from the former right government of khaldoon its didnt recognize his claim to leadership. American lead prosecutor robot. Jackson completed his preparations in washington and then flew to london. Jackson wanted to convince the allies of his vision of an International Court while avoiding any appearance that the victims were abusing their power. Meanwhile, his team was sifting through evidence. He finds out that theres no case ready to go. And if theres really not very much evidence connected to individuals, i mean its, its one thing to have a general sense of atrocities and misconduct at the governmental level. But a prosecutor needs individual specific items of evidence, witnesses, documents, etc, to go forward into court. Investigators in berlin were making progress on that front. They discovered that the germans had dont queue minted many details of their crimes. It seems they havent been able to destroy everything in the final stages of the war. Searching for incriminating documents among the ruins of the 3rd reichs capital required initiative. I was assigned the prosecution of arabs call them. That was my individual defendant arabs color. It was a head of what is known as the r s a chair, the right seat. Right. How that agenting clothing to stop will for example, and the s. Day, id visit a medical stop or offices and i found documents lying around on the floor saying this man should be executed side by orange color burned. I picked them up, prof the floor, but it is true that there were many, many documents that were not destroyed that we obtained and were incriminating jury a visit to hitlers chancellery. Even jackson himself found useful Material Files or correspondence that soviet forces had thoughtlessly left lying around during the capture of berlin. In london, the 4 victorious powers struggled to decide on a statute for the trials. The soviet delegation rejected a fundamental criminalise ation of wars of aggression, demanding the courts jurisdiction, be limited to german crimes. The involvement of stalins lawyers was becoming a handicap to the proceedings. The soviets themselves were clearly guilty of crimes against humanity and criminal military aggression. One aspect that was completely ignored in nuremberg was bombing campaigns. The british and americans knew all too well what they had done to german cities, including nuremberg, 90 percent of the city had been destroyed. Nevertheless, Robert Jackson was determined to hold the spectacular trials there. It was located in the American Occupation zone. Itd be known around the world as the site of hitlers party rallies him and during had proclaimed the anti jewish nuremberg race laws there. In early july 945. 00, a delegation traveled to the city was devastated, totally devastated. The rubble everywhere. Buildings were. Those that were standing were, the stench of bodies was in the air buried under the rubble. However, the palace of justice think of the land of franconia, was standing and was relatively undamaged. With chosen, even though it was in the midst of considerable ok arch, the courthouse was ideal. The adjacent prison could hold 1200 prisoners, added to this was the symbolic significance of the city for the nazis. For Robert Jackson, it was the scene of the crime. The horrors of nazi germany could end where they began. Within 3 months, room 600. 00 was transformed into a perfect stage for the International Tribunal to create space needed for hundreds of spectators and journalists. The real wall was removed. The allies agreed to initially tried 24 of the most prominent suspected war criminals. They were brought to nuremberg from various internment camps while detained. They were subject to strict regulations. Speaking was only permitted during interrogations. There were also fears that fanatical nazis might attempt to free them. Back in bad mond, off hammond, during had already aligned most of his fellow prisoners to his defense strategy. We saw nothing and we knew nothing. The murdering of jews had been himmlers affair going, claimed, killing children. He said was unsportsmanlike and ungentlemanly. Lets make it brief. He added, i take responsibility for everything, the government has done. Robert jackson and his team had by now moved into offices in the palace of justice and were questioning the accused. It was a frustrating process. The nazi leaders put trade themselves as both ignorant and innocent. The prosecutors heard nothing that would be of use in the trial. The u. S. Lead prosecutor made an important decision. The whole trial would be conducted primarily with documents as evidence. Jacksons concern was that the defendants and during 1st among them would use it as a platform to stimulate some resurgence of naziism in germany. That this was a virus that was not dead, that the defeat and death of hitler did not mean forever the end of naziism. And that jackson was dealing with a very volatile, dangerous prospect of the nazi future. As he dealt with these defendants, scenes like these have not been forgotten. In many riefenstahls propaganda film triumph of the will. Hitlers deputy rudolf hess, lauding the fuehrer as the savior of the german people did not end under under nazi all then. Then it was god. This is a good god lead and was i in 1941, rudolf hess had spectacularly flown solo to scotland, apparently, to negotiate peace with churchill on his own initiative. Hitler considered him insane. Has remained in british custody for the rest of the war. On october 8th, 945, he was flown to nuremberg and reunited with old friends. Prosecutor john, a man had the task of questioning has he seemed mentally disabled and wouldnt admit to remembering anything. Back in america, i mean had made many a criminal talk, but hance wouldnt cooperate. When he arrived in nuremberg, he said hed lost his memory of the and how good it was impossible to get him to remember anything. Once even had the idea to bring hess and during together, has he already had hess upstairs in the Interrogation Room . And then we got current. And green was his old self. He came in and said, oh you know, you dont remember me. I was the rice marshal. I was the commander in chief of the loofah for which i was the interior minister of prussia and so on. And to all that has said, im very sorry. I dont remember when the hunted the former nazi foreign minister joachim fun ribbentrop, was accused of helping plan hitlers military aggression. He was also accused of involvement in war crimes and ordering deportations. He claimed not to have known about these things and took no responsibility. Ribbentrop was ambassador to britain until hitler made him foreign minister because the furor appreciated his serve iowa b. D. s. He enjoyed taking him on walks at the nazi retreat in oversells back. After the fall of the 3rd reich, ribbentrop spent weeks in hiding in hamburg before british investigators tracked him down. Yet, by late october 1905, the list of the accused was complete. But not all were present in nuremberg. The whereabouts of hitlers secretary Martin Bormann were unclear. The industrialist gustaf croup phone bolen, on how bad was unfit for travel, much to the annoyance of lead prosecutor jackson, who wanted a member of the group family to stand trial. He tried to charge crop son, alfred as a substitute. But the british stood in his way. The british officer gary neve handed over indictments in the cellblock. Ribbentrop, said the charges were directed against the wrong people. Rudolf hess wrote on his copy. I cannot remember. And gehring wrote, the victor will always be the judge and the vanquished. The accused. For khaldoon, its the trial was just a whim of the americans. None of these charges affect me in the slightest. He said he names naval judge or 2 as his defense counsel and book sheffield. I was in hamburg england, head of the Legal Department at the german mine clearance service. I was called in to see the chief of staff and english captain to this. He told me hed received a telegram. Dennetts expected me to be prepared to defend him, and would i be willing to take that on . But i immediately said, im ready. I didnt want to show the slightest hesitation on such an important question. Help shortly afterwards i wrote a letter to my wife in bavaria. I knew shed be asking herself why i did it, because i always had the greatest reservations about done. It says political statements, because i wrote to her that i did it because i wanted to maintain the loyalty that at that time had collapsed in many cases devoted over. So the accused were able to choose their Legal Counsel from lists or make suggestions themselves. The lawyers could even be staunch nazis because the court wanted to avoid any accusations of unfairness in the proceedings. From the outset, the defenders complained about the inequality of resources. She looks at 1st, we had no employees at all. But everyone had to look for employees, which wasnt easy, was the 1st you had to hire a secretary. And then we had no documents whatsoever. Wed all just been in the wars, at least most of us. We had no files, no writing materials, nothing at all. So you started with the most primitive things getting paper and pencil and so on. We didnt have personal offices either. We sat together in a big hall or for the whole defense. Thats 22 lawyers. There was a single telephone and a long corridor and 2 to 4. So you can imagine what simple tools we were working with. The palace of justice had become a high security facility. Access was only possible with a special pass in room 600. The accused sat opposite the judges table. In between, there was space for the tables of the prosecutors from 4 nations. Among the accused was albert speer. Once heedless, favorite architect should be a, had been minister of armaments and responsible for a program of slave labor should be and sought to set himself apart from the others, saying he believed the trial was necessary. As chief representative for deployment of labor for its zokol was in effect the slave driver. Hes knowledge presented the greatest danger to be as cunning defense for field marshal vilhelm kind. All the matter was black and white for a soldier, orders are orders. Hed been a useful tool to hitler. His nickname was like a little meaning. Lackey. When the indictment was handed to and the head of himmlers rank security main office, he threw himself on to his coat and cried for his family. Strike your described the upcoming trial as a triumph for world jewry writer rebecca west would one day describe him as a dirty old man of the sort that gives trouble in punks after surviving a Suicide Attempt huns frank, the butcher of warsaw, had become a catholic. He considered the tribunals kind of last judgment willed by god, robet ly went berserk when he was presented with the indictment in the cell block in nuremberg, he shouted, why dont you stand us all up against the wall and shoot us. A line had been head of the german labor front, the nazis papa trade union. Hes nickname, right, strong, can bold the imperial drunkard on the night of october 25th, 1945, all was quiet in block c. Of the nuremberg prison. The sleeping prisoners were constantly monitored by the gods. I was on duty that night was summoned by the guard. There was something going on and i had to get the guards couldnt get into the song. And i hope the sound went in and there was loud. He had strangled themself on the toilet by using the edge of a towel, wrapping it around his neck and hanging there over the standpipe with a flush button. He had ripped his underwear under the covers of his bed. Even more dard was watching him all the time. They were so it would make a noise when gag. Then they literally strength of him. So he was short enough that he could do this. You have been taller, we have been very difficult. And that was the end of robert lanza committed service. After that incident, a guard was permanently posted in front of each cell door. Cell lights were left on day and night. The accused were only allowed to sleep on their backs, with their hands over the covers. Were able to enter cells within seconds. It was hoped these measures would prevent further suicides. Strict security measures were also imposed in the courthouse. On nov 20th, 945. 00, the International Military tribunals at nuremberg began its proceedings against 22 representatives of the 3rd reich. The accused had to answer for 12 years of dictatorship. In the eyes of prosecutors, they were conspirators against civilization. As one newspaper put it, the last judgment was in session. The procedure for bringing the accused to the courtroom was precise and elevator, carried them directly from the prison to room 600. Always 3 is the time. Initially, only journalists from the victorious side were allowed in the court room. The appearance of the nazi leaders had a big impression on legendary newsman walter cronkite. Then a young reporter. They come into the dark as if this was not a fair proceeding as if they knew they were going to hang already. Why go through all this with this thing that the allies were being most unfair about this occurs during clearly the number one seed in the front row, sat there as the boss. I mean, you had no doubt that he felt that he ran the show cronkite would later write. I wanted to speak on them. I thought them lower than the dirt on the street. The stage was set. Many germans believe that the trial was merely allied propaganda. It only remains in accordance with the provisions of the indictment, summarized 85. 00 pages. It was an endless list of german crimes. Here in the respect here, and i have to said crimes against auk crimes and crimes against humanity. And i have a common plan comes to commit those crimes all as defined in the charter of the tribe. And according my name as defendant, and as indicted on the count here. And i have to set out. Im on route, i would have walked him from ribbentrop abscond hans frank frick. You loose right here. Our shot. And its erich ritter and chirac martin form on problems from for the 1st time in history into the participle tenuously translated court proceedings, he took one and a half days to read the indictment. Then the accused were told to respond to the challenges. Robert jacksons son william was assisting his father. He was in the courtroom that day at the very opening of the trial when he was read and each defendant was called upon to plead to it, plead guilty not guilty or guilty with an explanation. Tribunals call carrying is the 1st. And he stood up with a piece of paper in his hand and said, before i respond to the indictment, i wish to say the following forest. You fire the scottish focus. I thought to me, surely, what i miss church became tribal, cutting short. You were here to plead guilty not guilty or guilty with an explanation. That remonstrance shouted. Nick surely became interested. I can actually that was an indication of his ability to try to find an opening to present what he wanted to say, rather than what he was being asked. Rudolf hess heatless former deputy was briefed. Im going to repeat this because to me then it was going to step on a Training Commission spot, but what i could shift it heedless. Vicechancellor friends, fun pop and going to be kind hearted. Surely were not guilty. Well, its a criminal trial if they pleaded guilty, theyre like so out of the sense they have a they wanted to defend themselves. And many of them said not guilty in the sense of the end not healed in the sense that the entire below was aware that they were charges. They were not, they knew they were killed. He just stepped, but that was another way they responded. Jackson was satisfied in his view, the very presence of going into his codefendants was a triumph the 1st step towards a more just world with jackson himself. The orchestrator of this global justice, healing to say the proceedings were invested with melancholy. Granda, that must have been the mood when jackson addressed the court laying out the prosecutions case. It was extremely important for jackson to be the person who delivered the opening speech. That was the jobs pinnacle moment. As he understood it, what he took it to be, the prosecutor meant to stand up for the allied nations and bring this Case International lore is based on custom, jackson argued. It exists because it is followed the world over. And anyone wanting to reshape International Law must convince the whole world the privilege of opening the 1st trial in history. For crimes against the peace of the world, imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated. Some malignant, im so devastating that several hours ation cannot tolerate their being ignored because it cannot survive there being repeated. But that set the tone not only for the speech which follow but for the entire trial. This was not a trial of germans of all. This was a trial for humanity. This was a trial. It is to prevent terror raising its head again and any place in the world that far great nations. Flushed with victory. And stung with injury, stay the hand of vengeance, and voluntarily submit their captive enemies. To the judgment of the law. Is one of the most significant tributes that heart has ever paid. Stories. American journalist, william shire, i would write my spine thrall, does jackson used the power of language to build up his master lee case against the nazi barbarism . The eloquence of it, the power of it was immediate and enormous. The defendants were going to sort of knock back in the box and words of very depressed lot as they returned to their lunch room in the middle of it and to their cells at the end of the day. Because this was really their 1st experience of jackson in action in the courtroom. And they, in a new way, understood that they were up against a civilization. Jackson said, asks where the law is so legged as to be utterly helpless to deal with crimes of this magnitude by criminals, of this order of importance. All documents presented to the court had to be in 4 languages, available to all prosecutors and defense attorneys. The evidence came in a steady stream. Shara would note in his diary that no other tribunals in history came close to this one. The nazi defendants he wrote, are going to be convicted by their own words, their own records, their own foul deeds. The idiots wrote everything down, shire added that in the chaos of the wars end, they werent able to destroy the evidence. My father knew the dangers of using witnesses, particularly witnesses from the other side. And he felt the bedrock of the case had to be documentary because we had so many documents. There were all over the signatures of these defendants. And my father said, you know, you cant crossexamine a document, its there. And he felt that there was incontrovertibly evidence as to responsibility of most, if not all of these defendants in the documents that came from their own offices and over their arms. Leaders were the sensational documents, soon led to a dispute between prosecution and defense robot. Jackson wanted to speed up the proceedings by using certified summaries, but the defense lawyers insisted on complete readings in court. During the agonizingly long readings, the accused were left to their thoughts. One of them, hans frank described division. We sit opposite the court, he wrote, and the train of the dead goes endlessly by without ever being interrupted, pale and worn without sound in the diem yellow, gray, light of eternity. The stream of misery flows on to the point. Strong opinions, clear positions, international perspective. So the cost is not really settled on americas president ial election. One thing seems certain if and when joe biden enters the white house, hes going to adopt a very new and very different foreign policy. Find out more to the point to this point. You know me on t w you know that 77 percent are younger than 65. 00. Thats me and me and you and you know what . Its time all voices on the subject to 70 percent be talking about the issues that this is where you know 77 percent. This weekend are d, w from the ghetto to her every god knows probably why. Despite coming from a close family, the pop star wants to become president. That challenges or god doesnt meet the credible story of bobby starts december 10th on a double. This is d. W. News, live from berlin, from smocks, the 5th anniversary of one of the worst terrorist atrocities in its history, political leaders, the attacks by islamist militants to honor the memory of the 130 people that were killed. Also coming off of the conflict in ethiopia