Robert H. Jackson Center

The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg prosecuted the leading Nazi war criminals following WWII.

The Nuremberg trial grew out of the Allied Powers’ military victory over Nazi Germany. In spring 1945, Nazi Germany surrendered unconditionally to the Allies—the German government ceased to exist. The Allies militarily occupied what had been Germany, imprisoned many Nazis as their prisoners, and began to prepare to try Nazi leaders as war criminals. In Summer 1945, the Allies created the International Military Tribunal (IMT), the world’s first international criminal court, to adjudicate these cases.

Beginning in Fall 1945, the Allies prosecuted before the IMT twenty-two Nazi leaders and six Nazi organizations. They were charged with four crimes:
(1) common plan or agreement;
(2) waging aggressive war;
(3) committing war crimes; and
(4) committing crimes against humanity.

The trial was held in Nuremberg, a city located in what had been southeastern Germany and then was located in the U.S. military occupation zone. By appointment of President Truman, U.S, Supreme Court associate justice Robert H. Jackson served as U.S. Chief of Counsel – the U.S. chief prosecutor – at Nuremberg.

The Robert H. Jackson Center is making available and organizing as resources both audio and video recordings of the Nuremberg trial proceedings. This guide, featuring links to those recordings, is organized in chronological order.

Last updated: August 2, 2021 – Collection is complete.

To access YouTube’s Closed Captioning & Auto Translate:

• Click on the closed captioning (CC) box on the bottom of the YouTube video frame. You should see closed captioning appear on the video.
• To auto-translate, turn on the closed captioning, then click the “settings” icon next to the closed captioning box.
• Click on the “subtitles/cc” and choose the language you would like YouTube to auto-translate for you.
• Click on your chosen language. You should see the captions in your chosen language. The translation will not be a direct translation but will give you an idea of what is being said.

We are in the process of finding translators for the various languages of the audio for the trial so we can have closed captioning and subtitles accessible and available. To support our efforts, donate here.