Criminal Defence at the Nuremberg Trial of the Major War Criminals: Strategies and Impact

While there is an abundance of literature on the Nuremberg Trial of the Major War Criminals in general, little has been written on the role of the defence before the International Military Tribunal (IMT). The following is intended as an introduction to the situation of the defence at the Nuremberg Trial of the Major War Criminals. By way of example, some individual biographies and specific situations will be presented in order to convey an impression of the various strategies used and the difficulties the defence counsel had to struggle with. Finally, the most important arguments advanced by the defence counsel are being discussed. This investigation takes into account not only the comments made by defence counsel and other people involved in the trials, using the relevant literature, but it also refers to the official record of the Nuremberg Trials. Furthermore, it evaluates the 100 Minutes of closed sessions in which the Nuremberg judges passed decrees giving direction to the proceedings during the trial.