Context

Thesis Statement:

After World War Two ended, the Great Powers of Britain, France, Russia, and the United States did not know what to do with the Nazi generals who were responsible for the murders of millions of civilians. Should the men be hung? Tried? Thrown off a volcano? The Allies found it extremely difficult to come to a conclusion.

During the next four years, there were a series of trials known as the Nuremberg Trials. The 22 men and six organizations tried were accused for various reasons, including committing war crimes, corrupting of peace and committing crimes against humanity.

The trials that occurred were very harsh (the conflict); the accused could not question the judgment once their sentences were set. Many committed suicide, were hung, or were sent to prison. However, there was compromise simply because most of the Nazis tried were rightfully punished. Though the Nuremberg Trials were biased, they gave the Nazis rightful punishments and set a legal example for the entire world.

For Further Information:

“… when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new guards for their future security.”

― United States Declaration of Independence, 1776.

Even today, many professionals argue over the resolution of the Nuremberg Trials. Though some find them quite harsh, others argue that they were extremely fair.

In 1945, an idea was proposed by President Harry Truman and Chief of Justice Robert Jackson to have the Nazis tried at court in Nuremberg, Germany, one of Hitler’s favorite Nazi Party Convention sites.

The Nuremberg Trials later became known as the International Military Tribunal. The trials set a worldwide standard and example of war crime trials that is still used today.

However, all was not well:

"Attractive as this argument may sound in theory, it ignores the fact that it runs counter to the administration of law in every country. If it were true then no spy could be given a legal trial, because his case is always heard by judges representing the enemy country. Yet no one has ever argued that in such cases it was necessary to call on neutral judges. The prisoner has the right to demand that his judges shall be fair, but not that they shall be neutral... the same principle is applicable to ordinary criminal law because 'a burglar cannot complain that he is being tried by a jury of honest citizens.”

― The Legality of the Nuremberg Trials, Juridical Review, April, 1946

Yes, the Nazis were rid, but in a way that violated human rights and the Bills of the Constitution. And what of the thin line between fairness and justice? Biased and harsh as they were, the Nuremberg Trials temporarily jarred the WW2 Nazi conflict and forever changed the world.

NAZISM – What is it?

Nazism :/ n. referring to National Socialism, under the rule of Adolf Hitler and his Nazi Party. Starting after the First World War, Nazism runs under many ideals:

Racism– Africans, Gypsies, Jews, Polish, non-Germans are people below human potential

Violence – burning, torture, dissection to rid the world of people below human potential
Anti-tolerance – the beliefs that homosexuals, handicaps, and the sick and disabled are useless and that Germans should get all money, power and education.

The Party believed that in following Nazism, the world would become a place of superior beings, perfection and ideal human life.