Nuremberg court

The first of the thirteen Nuremberg trials began at 10 am on 20 novembre1945 in the city of Nuremberg under the aegis of the International Military Tribunal II.

It was the first case of an international process, with trappings of law applied to members of the defeated nations at war, already decided by the Allied powers in 1943 after the Moscow Declaration of the 30th October 1943. German atrocities in Occupied Europe stated that those German Officers and men and members of the Nazi Party who have been responsible for or have taken a consenting part in atrocities and crimes they have been sent back to the countries in which their abominable deeds were done in order that they may be judged and punished according to the laws of the liberated countries and of the free Governments.

Then, in pursuance of the Agreement signed on the 8th day of August 1945, the Government of the United States of America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, decided to establish an International Military Tribunal for the trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis.

The constitution, jurisdiction and functions of the International Military Tribunal is contained in the Charter annexed to the Agreement.

The choice of Nuremberg was symbolic and logistics: the American prosecutor Robert H. Jackson saw the opportunity to judge the most important Nazi leaders in the city symbol of the Nazi Party rallies and the development of the racial laws of 1935 and the city was controlled by the U.S. and the district court with adjoining prison remained intact after the bombing.

On the application of Article 2 of the Charter, the Tribunal consisted of four members, each with an alternate, before any trial begins, they selected among themselves a President, that had to hold the office during the trial (Article 4b)

The President of the first process was Lord Geoffrey Lawrence.

The Tribunal established the trial and punishment of the major war criminals of the European Axis countries and persons who acted in the interests of the European Axis countries. The Tribunal Charter, on Article 6, defines as punishable crimes:

(a) CRIMES AGAINST PEACE: namely, planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of aggression, or a war in violation of international treaties, agreements or assurances, or participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of any of the foregoing;

(b) WAR CRIMES: namely, violations of the laws or customs of war. Such violations shall include, but not be limited to, murder, ill-treatment or deportation to slave labor or for any other purpose of civilian population of or in occupied territory, murder or ill-treatment of prisoners of war or persons on the seas, killing of hostages, plunder of public or private property, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity;

(c)CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY: namely, murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war; or persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds in execution of or in connection with any crime within the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, whether or not in violation of the domestic law of the country where perpetrated

In the first process, the Defendants were 24 and they were indicted for the following accusations:

Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, a Common Plan or Conspiracy to commit those Crimes.

In the first part of the process were shown in court the footage of Nazi concentration camps immediately after the liberation of the camps.