The Nuremberg trial of Nazi judges (officially the “United States of America v. Joseph Altstötter and others” ) is the trial of Nazi judges, lawyers of the Imperial Ministry of Justice (Reichsjustizministerium, RMJ), prosecutors and judges working in special and people's courts of Nazi Germany. The Nuremberg trials of Nazi lawyers were the third of the twelve Subsequent Nuremberg trials . Like all previous trials, the trial in the case of Nazi lawyers took place in the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg .
Content
Tribunal
The trial was carried out by the American Military Tribunal:
- Chair - Carrington T. Marshall.
- Members are James T. Mark, B. Blair Mallory, Justin Smith Woodworth (alternate member).
Marshall resigned due to illness on June 19, 1947, Mark became president, and Woodworth became a full member of the tribunal.
Defendants
The following persons appeared before the court as defendants:
- Josef Altstötter - Ministerial Director, Head of Division 6 of the RMJ (civil law and process);
- Wilhelm von Ammon - Ministerialist, Head of the 4th Division of the RMJ (Criminal Law and Administration);
- Paul Barnikkel - Imperial Prosecutor at the People's Court of Justice ;
- Karl Westphal - Ministerial Director, Head of Division 4, RMJ;
- Rudolph Yoshi - President of the Special Court in Nuremberg;
- Gunter Joel - ministerial officer, communications officer of the RMJ with the RSHA , since 1943 - general public prosecutor in Hamm;
- Herbert Klemm - in 1940-1944 - Head of Division 2, RMJ, since January 1944 - State Secretary of RMJ. From May 7 to May 23, 1945 - Reich Minister of Justice of the Government of Karl Doenitz ;
- German Kuchorst - President of the Special Court (for cases of crimes against the regime) in Stuttgart ;
- Ernst Lautz - Attorney General in Berlin and Karlsruhe , Chief Imperial Prosecutor at the People's Court of Justice;
- Wolfgang Friedrich Wilhelm Mettgenberg - Head of Division 4, RMJ;
- Gunter Nebelung - President of the Braunschweig Higher Land Court, since 1944 - President of the 4th Senate of the People's Court of Justice;
- Hans Petersen - since June 1941 - honorary judge of the 1st Senate of the People’s Chamber of Justice, since May 1942 - member of the Special Senate;
- Kurt Rotenberger - State Secretary of RMJ;
- Oswald Rothaug - from April to May 1943 - Chairman of the Special Court in Nuremberg, then - Imperial Prosecutor at the People's Court of Justice;
- Franz Schlegelberger - State Secretary of RMJ (October 1, 1931 - April 30, 1945), from January 30, 1941 to August 24, 1942 - and. about. Reich Minister of Justice;
- Karl Engert - Ministerial Director, Head of Division 5 of the RMJ, Vice President of the People's Court of Justice and Chairman of its 2nd Senate.
Indictment
- Participation in a general plan or conspiracy to commit war crimes and crimes against humanity.
- War crimes through abuse of the judiciary, resulting in the spread of mass killings, torture, robbery of private property.
- Crimes against humanity, including the use of mass slave labor.
- Membership in criminal organizations (SS and NSDAP).
- Section 4 of the indictment applied only to Altstötter, Kuhorst, Engert and Joel ( SS membership). And also to Yoshi, Kuhorst, Nebelung, Rothaug (membership in the NSDAP ).
- 1 point of the charge was rejected by the tribunal itself.
Process
The trial took place in Nuremberg from March 5 to December 4, 1947. Karl Westphal died during the trial, and Karl Engert was released on August 22, 1947 for health reasons.
Sentence
The Nuremberg Military Tribunal sentenced:
To life imprisonment : Franz Schlegelberger, Oswald Rothaug, Rudolph Joshi, Herbert Klemm.
To 10 years in prison : Wilhelm von Ammon, Gunter Joel, Ernst Lautz, Wolfgang Mettgenberg.
By 7 years in prison : Kurt Rotenberger.
To 5 years in prison : Joseph Altstötter.
Justified : Hans Petersen, Gunther Nebelung, Hermann Kuhorst, Paul Barnikkel.
The fate of the convicted
- Franz Schlegelberger was released for health reasons in 1950.
- Oswald Rothaug term reduced to 20 years in prison, released early in 1956.
- Rudolf Yoshi, the term was reduced to 20 years in prison, released early in 1956.
- Herbert Klemm was shortened to 20 years in prison, released early in 1956.
- Wilhelm von Ammon was prematurely released in 1951.
- Gunter Joel was released early in 1951.
- Ernst Lautz was prematurely released in 1951.
- Wolfgang Mettgenberg died in Landsberg Prison in 1950.
- Kurt Rotenberger was released early in 1950.
- Joseph Altstötter was released early in 1950.
In Culture
The plot of the process formed the basis of the film , shot in 1961 by Stanley Kramer .
Literature
- Nuremberg trials. The trial of Nazi judges / under the general editorship and with an introductory article by R. A. Rudenko . - Collection of materials. - M .: Legal literature , 1970.
- The Nuremberg trial of the main German war criminals / edited by R. A. Rudenko . - A collection of materials in three volumes. - M .: Legal literature , 1965-1966. - (Additional volume without numbering).
- Zalessky K.A. NSDAP. Power in the Third Reich. - M .: Eksmo , 2005 .-- S. 648. - 672 p. - ISBN 5-699-09780-5 .
Links
- Trial proceedings from the Mazal Library.
- Description of the trial from the US Holocaust Memorial Museum .
- The justice trial