Trial of the Major War Criminals Before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremburg, 14 November 1945-1 October 1946, Volume 02

In Short

This volume presents the official English transcript of the preliminary proceedings and early trial sessions of the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, spanning November 14 to November 30, 1945. It documents the opening phase of the historic prosecution against key surviving leaders of the Nazi regime, including Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Julius Streicher. The text captures procedural motions regarding defense counsel, medical evaluations of defendants' mental capacity, the reading of the comprehensive four-count Indictment, and the initial evidentiary presentations by American prosecutors. It records the foundational arguments establishing that launching aggressive war constitutes a supreme international crime, supported by captured official documents, secret cabinet decrees, and witness testimonies detailing systemic persecution, economic plunder, and mass atrocities across occupied Europe.

The Story

The volume opens in the immediate aftermath of total war, as the International Military Tribunal convenes in Nuremberg to conduct preliminary hearings ahead of the main trial. The initial focus centers on the physical and mental fitness of individual defendants to stand trial. Defense counsel for Gustav Krupp von Bohlen requests a suspension of proceedings, presenting medical evidence that the industrialist suffers from organic brain disease and severe mental decline. The defense further resists efforts by American prosecutors to substitute Krupp's son, Alfried, onto the list of principal war criminals, arguing that such a late addition lacks proper legal basis and adequate preparation time. Meanwhile, questions surrounding defendant Julius Streicher are resolved when a panel of three medical experts unanimously declares him sane and fit to understand the proceedings and conduct his defense.

Following these preliminary motions, the formal trial begins with the reading and detailed presentation of the Indictment. Prosecutors representing the Allied powers present a four-count charge alleging a common plan or conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The prosecution lays out the underlying mechanics of the Nazi state's rise and operation. They outline how the regime systematically dismantled democratic institutions, suppressed political opposition, abolished free trade unions, and replaced labor movements with state-controlled bodies under the Leadership Principle. The trial record reveals a coordinated program to subvert religious institutions, persecute clergy, eliminate pacifist movements, and enforce totalitarian ideological control through state apparatuses and youth organizations like the Hitler Youth.

Central to the Indictment is the detailed documentation of state-sanctioned anti-Semitism and mass extermination. Prosecutors submit official statements and decrees demonstrating that anti-Semitism served as a core operational doctrine. Direct quotes from defendants such as Alfred Rosenberg and Robert Ley reveal explicit intentions to eliminate Jewish populations entirely from Europe. The prosecution introduces evidence regarding the systematic destruction of synagogues, the forced fining and economic exclusion of Jewish citizens, and the orchestration of pogroms under the guise of spontaneous public actions. The narrative moves from pre-war repression in Germany to the redoubled campaign of mass deportation, forced labor, and murder across occupied territories, specifically citing concentration camps like Buchenwald and Dachau.

The American prosecution, led in these early sessions by Chief Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson and supported by prosecutors such as Mr. Alderman and Mr. Dodd, establishes aggressive war as the heart of the entire case. They argue that all other crimes—including total war practices, economic spoliation, and human rights violations—stemmed directly from the core conspiracy to plan, prepare, initiate, and wage illegal aggressive wars in violation of international treaties. Through captured documents, the prosecution traces the step-by-step preparation for conquest: the secret rearmament programs disguised behind youth physical training, the secret Reich Defense Law of 1935, the unilateral renunciation of the Versailles Treaty, and the economic strategies managed by Hjalmar Schacht to mobilize national wealth for military expansion.

The evidentiary presentation details the sequence of pre-war territorial acquisitions and eventual invasions. The record incorporates captured minutes from high-level conferences, such as the 1939 meeting in the Reich Chancellery where Hitler outlined political aims to senior military and political figures, including Göring, Raeder, and Keitel. The court receives evidence on the diplomatic and covert operations used to destabilize Austria, leading to the Anschluss under the direction of Seyss-Inquart and Papen, accompanied by strategic assurances to Mussolini to prevent Italian intervention. The prosecution documents the subsequent aggressive actions against Czechoslovakia, Poland, Norway, Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Yugoslavia, Greece, and the Soviet Union, highlighting that invasions occurred without previous warnings or declarations of war.

As the evidentiary arc expands, the proceedings expose the brutal mechanisms of occupation and warfare. Documents and testimony reveal policies of mass hostage-taking, the destruction of entire villages, deliberate starvation of civilian populations, and the forced deportation of millions of foreign workers into slave labor under Fritz Sauckel and Alfred Rosenberg. Testimony from General Staff witness Erwin Lahousen provides direct accounts of military intelligence knowledge regarding the catastrophic treatment of Soviet prisoners of war, epidemics, and forced starvation in operational areas.

The volume reaches a dramatic procedural turning point during the evaluation of defendant Rudolf Hess. While defense counsel petitions for a suspension of proceedings based on medical reports indicating Hess's impaired memory and ability to defend himself, Hess personally intervenes. Addressing the Tribunal directly, Hess announces that he had been simulating memory loss for tactical reasons, reasserts his full responsibility for his signed acts, and declares himself fit to proceed, whereupon the Tribunal adjourns the session.

How It Unfolds

The preliminary capacity motions Counsel for defendant Gustav Krupp von Bohlen petitions the Tribunal to suspend proceedings against the ailing industrialist due to severe organic brain illness. The defense vigorously objects to prosecutor attempts to substitute his son, Alfried Krupp, onto the primary indictment.

The sanity determination of Streicher The Tribunal considers a joint medical evaluation conducted by three independent experts regarding Julius Streicher. Accepting their unanimous finding that Streicher is sane and capable of understanding the proceedings, the court orders his trial to move forward.

Reading the broad indictment Prosecution representatives read the comprehensive Indictment into the official record, detailing four counts that encompass conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The document details the destruction of trade unions, church persecution, total political suppression, and the explicit policy to exterminate the Jewish population.

Establishing aggressive war as the core American prosecutors present the legal foundation of Count One, arguing that planning and waging aggressive war is the central crime to which all atrocities and occupation abuses were subordinate. The prosecution submits secret cabinet decrees, economic financing schemes, and rearmament plans to demonstrate long-term preparation for military conquest.

Exposing the mechanics of territorial expansion The prosecution introduces captured top-secret documents and meeting minutes detailing the systematic strategy behind the takeover of Austria and Czechoslovakia, followed by the planned invasion of Poland. Phone transcripts and official communications illustrate diplomatic maneuvers and covert operations used to isolate target nations.

Witness testimony on occupation and war crimes Austrian General Staff officer Erwin Lahousen takes the stand to detail intelligence operations and administrative knowledge regarding severe war crimes. He testifies to the starvation and mistreatment of Soviet prisoners of war in operational zones, mass civilian deportations, and the execution of illegal operational orders.

The unexpected declaration of Rudolf Hess During a session devoted to medical reports regarding Rudolf Hess's reported amnesia and capacity to stand trial, Hess unexpectedly addresses the bench. He confesses to simulating his memory loss for tactical purposes, asserts his full operational responsibility, and demands to remain on trial alongside his co-defendants.

The People

• Gustav Krupp von Bohlen: An elderly German industrialist named as a principal defendant. His defense attorney, Dr. Theodor Klefisch, seeks to halt proceedings against him due to severe organic brain degradation that renders him incapable of reacting normally to his surroundings or surviving trial.
• Alfried Krupp: Son of Gustav Krupp and director within the Krupp firm. He becomes the focus of an effort by American prosecutors to add him to the principal war criminals list following his father's medical incapacity, a move resisted by defense counsel who emphasizes his lack of management control prior to 1933.
• Julius Streicher: A prominent Nazi party figure whose mental capacity is formally challenged. Following an examination by three tribunal-appointed medical specialists, he is declared legally sane, fully aware of his past acts, and fit to face trial.
• Hermann Göring: Former Reich Marshal and key defendant present throughout the proceedings. Documents and evidence cited by prosecutors place him at the center of anti-Semitic economic decrees, military rearmament decisions, and high-level strategy conferences planning aggressive expansion.
• Rudolf Hess: Former Deputy Führer whose mental state forms a major procedural battleground. After medical experts report that his memory and defensive capacity are impaired, Hess breaks his silence in open court to admit he feigned amnesia for tactical reasons, reasserting his ability to stand trial.
• Robert H. Jackson: Chief Prosecutor for the United States, whose legal framework frames aggressive war as the supreme international crime. His opening presentations assert that international law must enforce sanctions against state-level criminality to protect civilization.
• Erwin Lahousen: A former lieutenant colonel in the Austrian General Staff and key officer in the German Abwehr (military intelligence). Appearing as a witness, he provides direct evidence regarding military foreknowledge of prisoner-of-war starvation, mass atrocities, and illegal execution orders.
• Lord Justice Lawrence (The President): The presiding judge of the International Military Tribunal. He regulates courtroom decorum, manages complex procedural motions regarding defense applications, enforces trial schedules, and delivers official tribunal rulings.

In Its Own Voice

"The real complaining party at your bar is Civilization."

This statement, delivered by Chief Prosecutor Robert H. Jackson during the opening presentation for the United States, frames the moral and legal philosophy of the trial, positioning international law as a vital instrument to hold leaders accountable for catastrophic aggressive war.

"The war can only be continued if all Armed Forces are fed by Russia in the third year of war."

Extracted from top-secret German state documents regarding Plan Barbarossa and read into the trial record by prosecutor Mr. Alderman, this sentence exposes the calculated economic planning behind the invasion of the Soviet Union, explicitly accepting the resulting starvation of millions of civilians.

"Henceforth my memory will again respond to the outside world."

Spoken directly to the bench by defendant Rudolf Hess, this declaration upended days of psychiatric evaluations and legal debate by revealing that his apparent severe amnesia had been deliberately simulated as a trial strategy.

What It's Really About

The primary theme of this volume is the formal construct of legal accountability for state leaders who utilize total governmental power to commit aggressive war and mass crimes. It addresses the fundamental question of whether international law possesses the authority and structural mechanisms to punish individuals who hide behind state sovereignty while planning non-provoked invasions, economic plunder, and systematic extermination. The trial transcript demonstrates an intentional effort by the Allied prosecutors to move beyond victory-court retribution by establishing an unassailable evidentiary record composed primarily of the Nazi regime's own captured documents, secret decrees, and recorded meeting minutes.

Underneath the procedural mechanics, the text wrestles with the total subversion of civil society and legal institutions. It illustrates how an authoritarian movement systematically dismantled democratic checks, suppressed labor unions, subverted educational systems, and subjugated religious bodies to build an unchallenged apparatus capable of waging total war. The volume documents the operational transition from political terror inside Germany to unchecked, large-scale atrocities, forced labor, and racial annihilation across occupied Europe, asserting that aggressive war is the foundational crime that enables all subsequent humanitarian catastrophes.

Why Read It Today

This volume offers readers an unfiltered, primary-source view of a foundational moment in modern international law and history. Unlike retrospective histories, these transcripts capture the immediate post-war confrontation between the surviving leadership of the Nazi regime and the Allied legal teams attempting to define crimes against peace and crimes against humanity in real time. It is an essential read for anyone interested in legal history, international relations, the mechanics of total war, and the historical documentation of the Holocaust and WWII state terror.

The reading experience is intense, highly formal, and emotionally heavy. The text consists entirely of verbatim courtroom dialogue, formal legal motions, read documents, and witness examinations. It presents the raw mechanics of an unprecedented legal proceeding, where high-level legal arguments regarding jurisdiction and psychiatric fitness sit directly alongside devastating evidentiary readings detailing mass starvation, forced deportations, and state-sponsored violence.

Readers should be prepared for structural and stylistic challenges inherent to a raw judicial transcript:

• Documentary Density: Extensive portions of the text consist of prosecutors reading lengthy military orders, cabinet decrees, international treaty texts, and secret memos line by line into the record.
• Procedural Delays: Significant time is spent on administrative logistics, motion arguments by defense attorneys, translation checks, and evidentiary admissibility debates.
• Translation Mechanics: The text reflects real-time translation between English, German, French, and Russian, occasionally resulting in minor typographical variations or formal, rigid phrasing.
• Disturbing Content: The transcript contains explicit descriptions of war crimes, mass starvation, concentration camp conditions, and state-directed violence.