Seventy years ago today the major powers who defeated the
Axis on the battlefield embarked on a novel enterprise: they put the leaders of
Nazi Germany on trial for what we’ve come to know as war crimes. The
International Military Tribunal, comprising jurists from France, the United
Kingdom, the United States and the Soviet Union, opened proceedings against 24 civilian
and military figures (one, Reichsleiter
Martin Bormann, was tried in absentia), the ones who had neither committed
suicide nor managed to escape into anonymity.
The trial was held in Nuremberg, for both practical and
symbolic reasons. Although the Allies had bombed the hell out of the city, the Palace of Justice was basically intact and had enough room for such a
massive undertaking. And Nuremberg had been the spiritual heart of Nazism,
being the home of the Party’s
annual gatherings. Where better to drive a stake into the heart of National
Socialism?
There were four charges—unprecedented in the history of
warfare and international law:
Conspiring to commit crimes against peace
Planning and waging wars of aggression
War crimes
Crimes against humanity
Ahead lay nearly eleven exhausting months of contentious testimony,
unspeakably ghastly evidence, equivocation, defiance, arrogance and
behind-the-scenes manipulation. The Soviets had never wanted to conduct a trial—their
preference was summary execution upon discovery. Even Winston Churchill had
toyed with the notion of rooting out the evil without bothering with legal
niceties. But in the end, the Allies pulled together and gave humanity a
permanent record of what happens when the rule of law surrenders to ideological
insanity.
Yes, the irony of Stalin’s minions sitting on the bench that
exposed ideological crimes does not escape me. It was a delicate dance the
Western Powers performed, condemning Nazis while turning a blind eye to Soviet
atrocities against humanity.
It was also a chancy business—not only charging elected
(in some cases) leaders and military commanders with crimes that had not been
defined as such at the time of commission, but also naming them as criminal actions. Because if they are crimes when
committed by Nazis, they are also crimes when committed by Russians, Japanese,
Syrians and Americans.
It’s a slippery slope, no doubt about it. And Lord knows
we’ve gone ass over teakettle a few times over many of the principles argued at Nuremberg.
But what a remarkable undertaking, to draw that line in
the sand, to say out loud, “This is wrong and it does not go unnoticed.” Even
if it does very often go unpunished.
In my opinion, almost more than the actual victory itself,
the Nuremberg Trials marked the triumph of good over evil. Pretty much anyone
with manufacturing capability, masses of conscripts, good commanders and the will to persevere can win
a war. It takes something more than that to turn from places like Babi Yar and
Belsen to the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg.
