On May 2, 1945, President Harry S. Truman appointed Justice Robert H. Jackson to act as the representative of the United States and as its Chief of Counsel in preparing and prosecuting charges of atrocities and war crimes against such of the leaders of the European Axis powers and their principal agents and accessories.
The President released on May 2nd a statement that I would undertake the task. It received considerable publicity and I was immediately deluged with applications for jobs. The executive order defined my authority.
I was designated to act as representative of the United States and as its chief counsel "in preparing and prosecuting charges of atrocities and war crimes against such leaders of the European Axis ... as the United States may agree with any of the United Nations to bring to trial...." I was to receive no additional compensation, but should receive my expenses.
I was given broad authority by the executive order. One reason probably was that the other authorities were willing to get rid of the problem by delegating responsibility to me. In the second place, it was a totally unploughed field. We couldn't anticipate what we were going to meet with. So either we found it necessary to have the broadest kind of authority, or to keep running back for additional authorities from time to time. The result was that they were glad to give it, and I insisted upon having it if I was going to undertake the task.
- From "Justice Jackson's Story," transcript of tape recording taken by Harlan B. Phillips, Oral History Research Office, Columbia University, New York, N.Y., 1952-1953
Robert H. Jackson’s report to President Harry S. Truman was submitted June 6, 1945, and released to the public June 7, 1945. The report summarized his first month of work as the Chief of Counsel.
We then went to work with might and main to get out a report to the President on a plan for conducting the trials. The staff devoted itself to it almost constantly. The President revealed the report at a press conference, gave copies of it to the press, and said that he had completely approved it as expressing the American position. Many men had been very skeptical about a trial because they could see no plan for it, felt that the project hadn’t been thought through, that it was carelessly entered upon and that it was likely to run amuck. On reading this report they had a new confidence in our enterprise. It also had a very pronounced affect abroad. There can be no doubt that it was one of the decisive steps taken in connection with our trial preparations.
- The Reminiscences of Robert H. Jackson Columbia Univ. Oral History Research Office, 1955, Pages 1251-1252
The London Conference negotiations between the U.S., Soviet Union, U.K. and France began in late June 1945 at Church House at Westminster Abbey in London. The London Conference resulted in the London Agreement & Charter of the International Military Tribunal.
The conference at London was planned for June 25, 1945. We arrived and were ready for it, as were all of the other delegations but the Russian delegation did not appear until June 26th, when the conference finally got under way. Criticism of my appointment, upon the grounds that the President should not have called upon a member of the Supreme Court, would have to be weighted in the light of its affect on the choice of representatives of the other countries. There was no doubt that the position of justice of the Supreme Court carried with it great weight with foreign delegations in two ways. In the first place, the representative who held that life position of the independence and power had among the legal profession a good deal of prestige by reason of the office. In the second place, it led the governments abroad to endeavor to match that prestige by sending men high in their legal systems.
The Reminiscences of Robert H. Jackson Columbia Univ. Oral History Research Office, 1955
On August 8, 1945 the United States, England, France and the Soviet Union signed the London Agreement. The London Agreement & Charter became the basis for the Nuremberg Trials.
On August 8, 1945 we signed the agreement, as I was authorized to do on behalf of the United States, and it was announced to the world. Up to that time there had been some press rumors that we were having difficulties in arriving at it. We had frankly admitted we had, but there had been no exploitation of our differences.
I may say that the chief critics of it were a few international lawyers who simply could not adjust themselves to the idea that the world had moved since the time of the Hague Conventions and that the treaties outlawing war and renouncing it as an instrument of policy had made a change in the old doctrine that it always is legal for a country to go to war for aggressive ends if it pleased its interests to do so.
The Reminiscences of Robert H. Jackson Columbia Univ. Oral History Research Office, 1955
On October 18, 1945, the indictment against 24 leading Nazi war criminals was filed at the first public session of the International Military Tribunal. The Indictment was read again on the first day of the trial, November 20, 1945.
U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson, appointed by President Truman to serve as United States Chief of Counsel to prosecute Nazi war criminals, delivers his opening statement to the four-nation International Military Tribunal (IMT) at Nuremberg on November 21, 1945. Here are five segments of Jackson's speech, which is deemed a forensic masterpiece: (1) at the call of IMT President Lord Geoffrey Lawrence (UK), Jackson begins; defense attorneys sit in the background; (2) Jackson speaks, assisted by his secretary Elsie Douglas and his son and executive assistant, attorney William E. Jackson; the camera pans across the defense attorneys and then the 21 defendants; (3) as Jackson continues, the camera pans across UK chief prosecutor Hartley Shawcross and deputy David Maxwell Fyfe and then to the 8 judges on the bench, including U.S. judge Francis Biddle and U.S. alternate judge John J. Parker; (4) Jackson speaks and the defendants listen; (5) Jackson addresses the imperfection but sufficiency of the case that prosecutors will present.
So the task that immediately fell to me was to prepare the opening speech which I would deliver, and to get the evidence arranged for presentation in the following week to support my opening remarks. The speech seemed an important task to me because up to that time no one had disclosed to the world what the case really amounted to, what the evidence was and what law we were contending for.
The speech also seemed to have important public consequences because it would be the first full disclosure of the materials that we had captured and had at hand, and of the use we attempted to make of them. I had a rather strong sense of responsibility about the speech and recognized that it was probably the most important task of my life.
The Reminiscences of Robert H. Jackson Columbia Univ. Oral History Research Office, 1955, Pages 1390-1392
The International Military Tribunal established to hear evidence against 21 of the leading Nazis commenced in Nuremberg Germany on November 20, 1945. On the 3rd day, Col. Robert Story made initial statements regarding the methodology of gathering and presenting evidence. An excerpt shows Ralph Albrecht introducing the complex structure and organization of the Nazi Party and government apparatus. He is followed by Major Frank Wallis who was responsible for the submission of evidence against the "Nazi Conspirators."
On November 7, 1945, Dr. Walter Siemers, counsel to defendant Erich Raeder, objected to the use of interrogations of witnesses or defendants in which he was not present.This excerpt, in German, argues the issue of pre-trial interrogation. President Judge Lawrence ruled that is copies of the transcript of interrogations were used, copies should be furnished to the defense counsel. The Tribunal further ruled that if the Defense wished to submit evidence gained from interrogation of a defendant, then the defendant must be placed on the witness stand.
The International Military Tribunal established to hear evidence against 21 of the leading Nazis commenced in Nuremberg Germany on November 20, 1945. On the 6th day of the Trial (Nov. 27, 1945), Mr. Sidney Alderman began the presentation of evidence on the planning, initiating and waging of aggressive war (Count One). In this excerpt he displays charts showing the Nazi taking of Czechoslovakia. He then reads from a paper written by General Jodl entitled "Strategic Position in the Beginning of the 5th year of the War" delivered to German Reich and Gauleiters in Munich on Nov. 7, 1943.
On Nov. 29, 1945, the eighth day of the Trial, there was a dramatic change in the nature of the presentation of the Prosecution: a film on the Nazi concentration camps. Associate Prosecutor James Donovan introduced the film. Some observers thought it was perhaps the most powerful and moving evidence of the Trial. The graphic portrayal aroused strong emotions in the defendants' dock. The film was compiled from motion pictures taken by Allied military photographers as the Allied armies in the West liberated the areas in which these camps were located. The narration was taken from the military photographer's notes.
November 30, 1945, hearing before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg. Attorney Von Rohrscheidt, representing Hess, applies to suspend proceedings because of Hess's loss of memory and inability to plead. The IMT president, Lord Geoffrey Lawrence (UK), questions. Argument by the chief U.S. prosecutor, Justice Robert H. Jackson. Hess then speaks, admitting that he falsely claimed amnesia, including to his counsel, for tactical reasons, and that henceforth his comprehension will be unimpaired.
The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg conducted a Hearing on Nov. 30, 1945 to review evidence regarding Rudolf Hess' competence to stand trial. Towards the end of the Hearing and to the surprise of all in the Courtroom, Hess made a statement that would have far-reaching consequences. Here is the declaration in German.
Former German General Erwin Lahousen was one of the few survivors of the small German group which plotted an unsuccessful assassination of Hitler in July 1944. On Nov. 30, 1945 Lahousen testified as the first live witness in the Trial . He was questioned by Colonel John Harlan marshall, chief of the Interrogation Section of the American Prosecution. His testimony gained great attention given his rank as a section chief of the German Abwehr of the Armed Forces under Admiral Canaris and the fact he had Canaris' diary. Goering was incensed.
This untranslated excerpt shows his direct testimony handled by Amen, Judge Biddle and Judge Rudenko. Also, a cross examination by German defense counsel.
The third week of the Trial saw the British put on their case dealing with Count on Aggressive War and Violation of Treaties. After the opening statement by Sir Hartley Shawcross, Deputy Chief British Prosecutor, Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe on December 5, 1945, dealt with how Count Two would be handled. He outlined that the Nazis had entered into a score of treaties which had been broken. His purpose was to build a clear record concerning the fundamentals of international law applicable to the case on aggressive war (both Counts One and Two).
The International Military Tribunal established to hear evidence against 21 of the leading Nazis commenced in Nuremberg Germany on November 20, 1945. On the 12th day (Dec. 4, 1945) Sir Hartley Shawcross, the British Chief Prosecutor and the Attorney General of Great Britain presented the opening statement dealing with aggressive war and beach of treaties. The British prosecution staff focused on Count 2 of the Indictment. Sir Hartley underlined the significance of building a record which showed the suffering caused by aggression and the violation of treaties and the need for a world order with the power to hold responsible those who break the rules of law.
On the 16th day of the Trial, Dec. 10, 1945, the Defendant Ernst Kaltenbruner was brought into the dock for the first time. He had been confined in a nearby Army hospital with a circulatory illness. He was the deputy to Reichsfuehrer Heinrich Himmler. He plead not guily and said "I do not believe i have made myself guilty".
He was followed by Sidney Alderman, Counsel to the American Delegation, who presented the case on Collaboration with Italy and Japan and the Case on Aggressive War against the United States.
On Dec. 11., 1945, Thomas Dodd, deputy American prosecutor, during his presentation on "The Exploitation of Forced Labor", was introducing a memorandum dated April 17, 1943 written by Dr. Lammers, when Dr. Robert Servatius objected to the fact that this memorandum had not been provided to the Defense. Judge Lawrence ruled that the prosecution should make such documents available on a timely basis.
December 11, 1945 marked another memorable occurrence. Almost the entire day was devoted to the showing of captured German films. Commander James Donovan supervised the production of the film entitled "Nazi Plan". It was a comprehensive review of the Nazi period as portrayed by German photographers. It was divided into four parts: 1. "The Rise of the NSDAAP, 1921-33; 2. "Acquiring Control of Germany, 1933-35"; 3. "Preparation for Wars of Aggression, 1935-39"; and 4. "Wars of Aggression, 1939-1944".
The 17th day of the Trial, Dec. 11, 1945, marked another memorable day . Almost the entire day was devoted to the showing of captured German films. Commander James Donovan, an Assistant Trial Counsel, supervised the production of the film entitled The Nazi Plan". It was a comprehensive review of the Nazi period portrayed by German photographers. It was divided into four parts: 1."The Rise of the NSDAP, 1921 to 1933; 2. "Acquiring Control of Germany, 1933-1935; 3. "Preparation for Wars of Aggression, 1935-1939; 4. "Wars of Aggression, 1939-1944".The introduction to this excerpt relating to part 1 of the film is by Fred Graham of Court TV, which produced a ten hour documentary on the Nuremberg Trial.
The use of slave labor by Nazi Germany, its operation of the concentration camps , and its persecution and extermination of the Jews and Gypsies produced more tragedy for more people than any other Nazi behavior except aggressive wars. Thomas Dodd, American Trial counsel presented the case entitled "The Exploitation of Forced Labor". Dodd's presentation dealt in great detail with the activities of the Defendant Fritz Sauckel, Plenipotentiary General for Manpower, and of the Defendant Albert Speer, Reich Minister of Armaments and Munitions.
The first major submission on the concentration camps was made by Thomas Dodd on Dec. 13, 1945. "The concentration camp was one of the fundamental institutions of the Nazi regime in the battle against the Jews, the Christian Church, labor, those who wanted peace and opposition and nonconformity of any kind.
This excerpt displays evidence relating to the Mauthausen Concentration Camp, photographs of tattooed human skin taken at the Buchenwald Camp and a shrunken human head. He also presented evidence of death books kept at the Mauthausen Concentration Camp.
On Dec. 14, 1945, Maj. William F. Walsh, of the American Delegation, continued his presentation of the case of the persecution and murder of the Jews. This excerpt displays evidence regarding the use of gas vans for execution and the treatment of Jews in the Occupied Parts of the Soviet Union.
December 17, 1945 saw Col. Robert Storey commence a presentation on the Leadership Corps of the Nazi Party, the Reich Cabinet and the Storm Troops (SA). He re-emphasized the central point of the Prosecution' theory of the case: "The Nazi Party was the central core of the Common Plan or Conspiracy,...a conspiracy which contemplated and embraced the commission of Crimes against the Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity." To show the structure, Col.Storey introduced a chart from a magazine of the Nazi Party entitled "The Face of the Party".
On Dec. 17, 1945, Col. Robert Storey, the first Executive Trial Counsel of the American Prosecution, made the first submission on the plunder of art to the Tribunal. He declared that "he would bring to the attention of the Tribunal and of the world the defendants vast, organized, systematic program for the cultural impoverishment of virtually every community of Europe and for the enrichment of Germany thereby". This excerpt depicts the presentation of the confiscation of Jewish homes especially in Paris. He then presented 39 volumes of photographs of the works of art seized by Einsazstab Rosenberg.
This was the last session of the Nuremberg Trial prior to the Christmas recess (Dec. 20, 1945). Col. Robert Storey, Executive Trial Counsel of the American Delegation, presented the case against the Accused Organizations- the Gestapo and the SD. The Gestapo or Secret Police was a state organization known for its dreaded network of police agencies which operated first in Germany and then in the German-occupied countries. The SD or Security Service was an early branch of the SS. The Indictment charged that it developed "into a vast espionage and counter-intelligence system which operated in conjunction with the Gestapo". The presentation dealt with the activites of the SD before the War. Also, the simulated attack on the Gleiwitz Radio Station which was the provocation for the invasion of Poland. Col. Storey also outlined the activities of the Einsatzgruppen (Special Task Forces) of the Security Police and the SD which employed the use of "death vans" in Russia.
Dec. 20, 1945 saw the continuation of the presentation of the case against the SS. Major Warren F. Farr, an assistant trial counsel of the American Prosecution team, introduced evidence against the SS (Schutzsaffeln) of the Nazi Party which was mentioned at almost every stage of the Trial. Major Farr dealt with the General SS (Allgemeine SS), which had developed into a huge military-type organization. It was estimated that the overall number of members was probably 750,000.The Reichsfuehrer SS and Chief of the German Police in the Ministry of Interior was Himmler.
On Jan. 2, 1946, Col. Robert Storey read at length from one of the most striking pieces of evidence in the entire Trial, the affidavit of Herman Graebe, the former manager of a Josef Jung firm in the Ukraine. This affidavit was later quoted at some length by the Tribunal in it Judgment. During the reading Rudolf Hess was in extremis and left the defendant's dock. There are two different angles of Hess' illness.
The first presentation on the individual responsibility of a defendant was made by Lt. Commander Whitney Harris of the American Delegation on January 2, 1946. It dealt with the Defendant Ernst Kaltenbruner, successor of the notorious Reinhard Heydrich, Chief of the Security Police and SD and head of the Reich Security Head Office (RSHA). Harris introduced, through affidavits by a number of SS officials, the evidence that Kaltenbruner was responsible for the punishment and the execution on various pretexts of many concentration camp inmates and slave laborers.
Following the Christmas recess of the Nuremberg Trial, on Jan. 2, 1946, Col. Robert Storey continued his presentation of the The Accused Organizations-the Gestapo and the SD. His initial presentation was the affidavit of Herman Graebe, the former manager of a branch of the Josef Jung firm in the Ukraine. He described the killing of Jews in the Ukraine. Col. Storey then presented a Gestapo directive regarding the treatment of prisoners of war in Russia. Assisting Col. Storey was Lt. Whitney Harris. Shortly after the presentation, Col. Storey left the Prosecution staff.
On Jan. 3, 1946, Colonel John Amen, Associate Trial Counsel for the American Delegation, called SS General Otto Ohlendorf . He testified that for one year, beginning in June 1941, he had been chief of Einsatzgruppe D and the representative of the Chief of Sipo (Security Police)) and SD with the 11th Army. He testified that the term Einsatzgruppe first appeared in the Poland campaign. He stated that officials would have at their disposal mobile units; gas vans for killing. He testified as to the positions of Kaltenbrunner, Eichmann and Muller.
