The Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders began

On November 20, 1945, the International Military Tribunal opened in Nuremberg, Germany, just over six months after Germany’s surrender. Twenty-one defendants sat in the dock as the indictment was read aloud, charged with crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity.

Four Allied powers, the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union, supplied the judges and prosecutors, an unprecedented act of shared justice. Among the accused were senior figures of the Nazi state, including Hermann Goring, tried for their roles in launching aggressive war and orchestrating mass atrocities.

The tribunal established that following orders was no defense, and that individuals could be held accountable under international law.

The proceedings ran for nearly a year, drawing on captured German documents and filmed evidence. When verdicts came in October 1946, twelve defendants were sentenced to death and others to prison. The trial set lasting precedents for international criminal law and the prosecution of genocide.