Fotoeins Fotografie

location bifurcation, place vs. home

Posts tagged ‘Memorium Nuremberg Trials’

Nuremberg: The Landmark Trials in Room 600, 80 years on

Above: In front of the Justizpalast (Palace of Justice) at the corner of Benjamin-Ferencz-Platz and Fürther Strasse in Nuremberg, Germany.

On 20 November 1945, an extraordinary trial got under way in the German city of Nuremberg, only six months after the Nazis surrendered to the Allied nations in World War 2. For the first time in modern history, an assembled tribunal of international judges presided over trials against top leaders of a nation for crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to carry out these crimes.

What is called the “Nuremberg Trials” refers primarily to the “Major War Criminals Trial” where over 20 leaders in German Nazi high command were put on trial before the International Military Tribunal (IMT) from November 1945 to October 1946. The IMT consisted of judges from each of the four Allied nations: Great Britain, France, United States, and the U.S.S.R. Subsequently from late-1946 to 1949, 12 additional trials were held before American military tribunals to uncover and highlight the extent and depth to which additional leaders in German society supported the Nazi dictatorship.

“… The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason.”

– Opening statement by Robert H. Jackson, U.S. chief prosecutor, on the second day of the Nuremberg Trials (Major War Criminals Trial), 21 November 1945; see Sources below.

( Click here for images and more )

25T85 The Nuremberg Trials: Courtroom 600

E84, N02.

There’s a courtroom I’ve wanted to visit for a very long time. On return to Nuremberg after 22 years, I’m taking full advantage of the opportunity.

After the conclusion of World War 2, the four Allied powers agreed to put key Nazi perpetrators on trial which began in November 1945 and ended in October 1946. The Nuremberg Trials became the first international war crimes tribunal in history.

The famous venue, Schwurgerichtssaal 600 (Courtroom 600), remained an active courtroom at Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice until 2020. The courtroom is now a part of the museum Memorium Nuremberg Trials housed in the same building.

On 21 November 1945, Robert H. Jackson, the chief United States prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, gave his opening statement, which remains as one of the most influential speeches about the emergent principles and applications of international criminal law in the post-war era. His statement began with:

The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs, which we seek to condemn and punish, have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated. That four great nations, flushed with victory and stung with injury stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that power has ever paid to reason.

• US National WW Museum: 2020 article.

• Robert H Jackson Center: YouTube.

I received neither support nor compensation for the present piece. I made all images above with an iPhone15 on 31 July 2025. This post composed within Jetpack for iOS appears on Fotoeins Fotografie at fotoeins DOT com.