The Nuremberg Principles from Historical, Philosophical, and Contemporary Legal Perspectives

The procedures in Nuremberg and elsewhere for the prosecution of National Socialist acts of violence are now generally recognized as fair, despite a few critical points. In addition to the principle of criminal liability for international crimes, the basics of criminal proceedings were also developed in Nuremberg. However, these principles were never applied to communist crimes. This article discusses attempts to deal with human rights violations by the communist systems in the former Eastern Bloc countries, especially with the help of the EU. In the end it has to be stated that the decommunization process was not really carried out.