The Nuremberg Trial : The Triumph of Law or Victors'Justice?

At the end of the Second World War, the world was faced with a scenario never seen before, the crimes committed were of an unprecedented atrocity and, precisely because of this criminal imprint left on the whole of humanity and the millions of victims, the crimes committed could not go unpunished. Germany was under the control of the victorious powers: the United States, Great Britain, Russia, and France who chose as their response to the Nazi regime the weapon of justice, an institution that had been denied to millions of citizens during the Third Reich, in order to put an end to Nazi legacies and, at the same time to set an example of discipline and fairness, through a court of law. The entire nature of the Trial is best illustrated in the opening statement at the Nuremberg Trials of the chief American prosecutor Justice Robert Jackson which stated “The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four 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 Power has ever paid to Reason." Thus was born the Nuremberg Trial in 1945, which soon became the most famous trial in modern history, a true landmark of justice. During the 13 Nuremberg Trials, the major powers of the Nazi regime were tried before an international court, an unprecedented event. The entire trial was characterized by innovations in the legal framework, for this reason, the ad hoc tribunal of Nuremberg was declared as an example of victors’ justice by many critics. The term “victors’ justice” has been used to describe the proceedings at Nuremberg because of many controversies associated with it, such as the issue of jurisdiction and sovereignty, the alleged violation of the principle nullum crimen, nulla poena sine lege, the enactment of ex post facto law, the tu quoque arguments and the choice of the appointed judges. The aim of this thesis is to provide a detailed legal analysis from a criminal law perspective of the Nuremberg Trials, focusing on the first one “Trial of Major War Criminals” and determining its legitimacy. It will be shown that most of the stated criticism cannot be proved as an example of victors ‘justice since the Tribunal acted in the most reasonable way considering the historical background in which it had to perform, they had to enact far more than a legal verdict, the role of the Nuremberg Trial became the milestone of justice and morality to reintegrate humanity in a destroyed world. It created a powerful legacy by setting unique precedents in the international criminal law framework.