50 Fun Facts About Nuremberg Trials

How many Allied powers jointly conducted the International Military Tribunal?

France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States each appointed prosecutors and judges.

In which occupied German city was the main trial held?

The tribunal's formal seat was Berlin, but the trial sat in the Palace of Justice, in the American zone.

How many individual defendants did the IMT actually try?

Twenty-four men were indicted, but one was too ill, one had died, and one was tried in absentia.

On what date did the main trial open?

It ran until 1 October 1946, when the verdicts were read.

How many German organisations were indicted alongside the individual defendants?

The Americans had originally planned to try fourteen.

How many further trials did the Americans run alone after the IMT?

They were held in the same courtroom and focused more heavily on the Holocaust.

Which crime did the IMT verdict call 'the supreme international crime'?

The judgment said it 'contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole'.

Which Allied power initially preferred summary execution of Nazi leaders over a trial?

Britain cited the failure of war-crimes trials after the First World War.

Which Allied power wanted a show trial with a predetermined outcome?

Moscow hoped to use it to build a case for war reparations.

Which 1943 statement vowed to pursue Nazi leaders 'to the uttermost ends of the earth'?

It was issued by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.

Which Soviet jurist developed the concept of crimes against peace?

His ideas were reprinted in the West and widely adopted.

At which 1945 conference did Truman announce the formation of an international military tribunal?

The same conference drafted the United Nations Charter.

In which city was the conference that negotiated the tribunal's charter held in mid-1945?

It ran from 26 June to 2 August, and until the end it was unclear any trial would happen.

On what date was the Nuremberg Charter signed?

It was signed in London, three days after the Hiroshima bombing.

Which US Supreme Court justice was the American chief prosecutor?

He threatened US withdrawal from the London Conference if aggression was not prosecuted.

Which article of the charter prevented defendants from claiming sovereign immunity?

Article 8 ruled out superior orders as a defence, though it could count in mitigation.

In which building was the trial held?

It was chosen partly because an attached prison could hold the defendants.

In which country's occupation zone did Nuremberg lie?

The city was symbolic as the site of the Nazi party rallies.

Who was the British chief prosecutor at the IMT?

He was Attorney General for England and Wales; his opening speech was largely written by Hersch Lauterpacht.

Which British judge served as nominal president of the tribunal?

In practice the American judge Francis Biddle exercised more authority.

Who was the Soviet chief prosecutor at Nuremberg?

Nikitchenko, who had presided over the Moscow show trials, was made a judge instead.

Who was the first French chief prosecutor, who resigned in January 1946?

He had just overseen trials of the Vichy leadership.

Which US War Department lawyer devised the conspiracy charge?

His idea may have been inspired by earlier work prosecuting securities fraud.

How many official languages did the tribunal have, besides German?

English, French and Russian, with German for the defendants.

Who was the most prominent surviving Nazi and main target of the trial?

He expected execution but hoped to be vindicated in German eyes.

Which defendant was tried in absentia because the Allies did not know he was dead?

Robert Ley died by suicide before the trial, and Gustav Krupp was too ill to appear.

Which industrialist was indicted but excused as too ill to stand trial?

A planned second international tribunal for industrialists was never held.

How many defendants were acquitted by the IMT?

Papen, Schacht and Fritzsche walked free after deadlocks between the judges.

How many defendants were sentenced to death?

Ten were hanged on 16 October 1946; Göring killed himself the day before and Bormann was absent.

How many of those condemned were actually hanged on 16 October 1946?

One sentence could not be carried out because the man had been tried in absentia.

To which prison were the seven defendants given custodial sentences sent?

Rudolf Hess remained there until his death in 1987.

Which defendant remained in prison until his death in 1987?

French media had already attacked his life sentence as too lenient in 1946.

Which judge drafted the verdict?

As British deputy judge he took part in deliberations but could not vote.

How many organisations did the tribunal rule to be criminal?

The Leadership Corps, the SS, the Gestapo and the SD; the SA, Reich Cabinet and High Command were not.

Which 1937 document did the verdict cite as the start of the planning of aggression?

Jackson had argued the conspiracy began with the founding of the Nazi Party in 1920.

Which captured German field marshal testified for the Soviet prosecution?

He pointed to Keitel, Jodl and Göring as most responsible for the war.

Which US admiral's testimony helped the defence of Karl Dönitz?

He confirmed the US Navy had waged unrestricted submarine warfare against Japan.

Which massacre did the Soviet prosecution try to blame on Germany, though the NKVD had done it?

The defence presented evidence of Soviet responsibility and the verdict did not mention it.

Which camp-liberation film did the American prosecution screen, shocking the court?

It was shown when the prosecution was unprepared to continue on the invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Which former Auschwitz commandant testified as a defence witness but bolstered the prosecution?

Resistance member Hans Bernd Gisevius had a similar effect.

Which Polish-Jewish jurist coined the word 'genocide', used in most closing statements?

Only the American prosecutors did not mention the concept in closing.

Which Latin-named defence, meaning 'you too', did the charter refuse to recognise?

Defence lawyers still tried to equate Allied conduct with the charges.

Which defence lawyer repeatedly tried to disclose the secret protocols of the German-Soviet pact?

He eventually succeeded, but the judges ruled it legally irrelevant.

Which defendant did the judges spare from death because they thought he could reform?

Sauckel, accused of the same crimes, was sentenced to death.

Which translation technique was used for the first time at the trials?

The demand stimulated technical advances in translation methods.

In a 1946 poll, what share of Germans rated the trial fair?

Four years later it had fallen to 38 percent.

Which US High Commissioner overturned most of the later trials' sentences in 1951?

The last three prisoners, from the Einsatzgruppen trial, were released in 1958.

Which permanent tribunal, proposed in 1953, was finally established in 2002?

The ad hoc tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda came first in the 1990s.

Which 1961 film starring Spencer Tracy dramatised the later Judges' Trial?

The courtroom itself drew 13,138 visitors in 2005.

How many journalists were accredited to cover the IMT?

Alongside them, 61,854 visitor tickets were issued.