Main Content
ICWC-Lecture Series for the 70th Anniversary of the Nuremberg Trials
On the occasion of the 70th anniversary of the main war crimes trial before the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, the International Research and Documentation Center for War Crimes Trials (ICWC) at Philipps University Marburg organized a lecture series in the winter semester 2015/16, featuring renowned experts from various disciplines across Germany.
The “Nuremberg” topic has long been a research focus of the ICWC. The Managing Director of the ICWC, Professor Dr. Eckart Conze, PD Dr. Ken Eckstein (Faculty of Law, University of Marburg), and Dr. Wolfgang Form (Managing Director of the ICWC) were the initiators of the lecture series. The event was made possible with the kind support of the Marburg Law Society.
We are pleased to provide you on this page with a review of nine exciting presentations.
20. October 2015: Dr. Gerd Hankel (Hamburg)
The Leipzig Trials after the First World War and Their Significance for International Criminal Justice
On October 20, Gerd Hankel from the Hamburg Institute for Social Research gave the opening lecture in the seminar series. In 1921/22, criminal trials against alleged German war criminals were held before the Reichsgericht in Leipzig. Seventeen (former) German soldiers stood trial, ten of whom were sentenced to prison terms ranging from six months to five years. These trials were initiated at the request of the victorious Allies. To avoid the extradition of hundreds of potential war criminals as stipulated in the Treaty of Versailles, Germany conducted the trials independently before the Reichsgericht in Leipzig, a court with a strong international reputation.
The trials were highly controversial. In Germany, they were seen as an act of humiliation, while abroad criticism prevailed as well, with French voices in particular arguing that the court was too lenient. The lecture explored how the idea of prosecuting Germans criminally emerged among the Allies and how it was concretely realized in the first trials. It further examined the charges, the application of German and/or international law, the Allies’ criticisms of the German judiciary, and asked what legacy these trials left for Germany’s understanding of international law. Finally, it considered why the international reception of the Leipzig Trials led to the decision not to allow the German national judiciary to prosecute the most severe violations of international law during the Second World War.
17. November 2015: PD Dr. Kerstin v. Lingen (Heidelberg)
From Leipzig to Nuremberg: Debates about a World Court, 1919–1945
Before the Nuremberg International Military Tribunal, among other things, crimes against humanity were tried. The lecture focused on the development of this concept from an intellectual-historical perspective, with particular attention to the debates of international lawyers and diplomats since the Hague Peace Conferences of 1899 and 1907, the Versailles negotiations in 1919, and the discussions about a “world criminal court.” The understanding of “humanity” and “civilized war,” as outlined in the preamble of the Hague Regulations on Land Warfare, the so-called Martens Clause of 1899, sketches a conceptual world that framed the limitation of wartime violence and paved the way for the notion of “crimes against humanity,” which was formally established in the London Conference leading to the Nuremberg Charter in the summer of 1945. During the war years, this concept had been further refined in exile circles in London through various bodies, including the United Nations War Crimes Commission, with initial discussions focusing primarily on the creation of a permanent court. A central aspect of the efforts to establish this new international criminal law category was the prosecution of mass violence against civilians.
24. November 2015: PD Dr. Ken Eckstein (Marburg)
Of Law and Justice: The Trial Before the IMT in Nuremberg, 1945–1946
On August 8, 1945, the statute for an International Military Tribunal (IMT) was adopted in London. This tribunal was to try the major war criminals of the European Axis powers. The main proceedings in Nuremberg began on Tuesday, November 20, 1945.
The American chief prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson, opened his opening statement with programmatic words: “The acts we seek to condemn and punish were so perfidious, malignant, and devastating that the civilized world cannot overlook them (…). That four great nations (…) refrain from revenge and instead submit their enemies to the judgment of law is one of the greatest concessions of power to reason.”
In these concise and striking words, not only the immense achievement but also the great risk involved becomes apparent: seeking just punishment for egregious atrocities through the means of law. The lecture addressed the tension between law and justice in the trial of the major war criminals before the IMT in Nuremberg.
8. December 2015: Prof. Dr. Eckart Conze (Marburg)
History on Trial: Images of National Socialism in the Nuremberg Trials, 1945–1949
Die Kriegsverbrecherprozesse der Nachkriegszeit, allen voran der Nürnberger Prozess 1945/46, konfrontierten nicht nur die Deutschen mit den Verbrechen des Dritten Reiches, sondern sie trugen, unmittelbar nach dem Ende von Diktatur, Krieg und Völkermord, auch zur Herausbildung eines frühen Geschichtsbilds des Nationalsozialismus in der deutschen und der internationalen Öffentlichkeit bei. Bevor die geschichtswissenschaftliche Aufarbeitung des Nationalsozialismus und seiner Verbrechen einsetzte, lieferten insbesondere der Nürnberger Hauptkriegsverbrecherprozess und die unter amerikanischer Regie stattfindenden Nachfolgeverfahren schon Interpretationen der nationalsozialistischen Herrschaft, die weit in die Nachkriegsjahrzehnte hinein wirkten. Der Vortrag analysierte die Entwicklung dieser Geschichtsbilder vor, während und nach den Gerichtsverfahren. Er legte zugleich dar, wie unterschiedliche Prozessbeteiligte, einschließlich der Angeklagten und ihrer Verteidiger, bestimmte Bilder des Nationalsozialismus prägten, und fragte schließlich nach der Funktion und Wirkung dieser Geschichtsbilder.
15. December 2015: Werner Renz (Frankfurt)
Der Frankfurter Auschwitz-Prozess und seine Folgen für die Rechtsfragen im NSG-Verfahren
The verdict announced in August 1965 in the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial had far-reaching consequences not only for the further prosecution of Auschwitz perpetrators. With this verdict, a legal practice was established that differed from the jurisprudence in trials against personnel of the extermination camps of the “Aktion Reinhardt” (Treblinka, Sobibór, and Bełżec) as well as the gas van camp at Kulmhof/Chełmno.
While the trial courts and the Federal Court of Justice in the cases against personnel of the extermination camps held that any activity within the camp administration constituted legally relevant assistance to the extermination process, the Frankfurt jury court held that only the unequivocally proven individual act established the personal guilt of the defendants.
In his lecture, Werner Renz presented the legal perspective that prevailed in trials against extermination camp personnel in the 1960s and compared it with the view of the Frankfurt jury court.
12. January 2016: Film screening and discussion at the Capitol Cinema “Nuremberg and Its Lessons” (1947)
As part of the research project on the U.S. authorities’ film campaign for the Nuremberg Main War Crimes Trial, conducted by the Institute of Media Studies (Prof. Dr. Andreas Dörner) and the Research and Documentation Center for War Crimes Trials (Dr. Wolfgang Form), the largely unknown film was presented to an interested audience. Nuremberg and Its Lessons (Director: Stuart Schulberg, USA 1947) summarizes the first international criminal trial under international law and was intended to contribute to re-education in postwar Germany. After the screening, Prof. Dr. Ina Merkel (European Ethnology/Cultural Studies), Dr. Wolfgang Form, and Axel Fischer (ICWC) discussed the film with the audience.
19. January 2016: Florian Jeßberger (Hamburg)
"A Precedent and a Promise". Nuremberg and Modern International Criminal Law
The judgment of the International Military Tribunal in the trial of the major war criminals marked the conclusion of an unprecedented legal undertaking: never before had individuals been held accountable before an international court for violations of international law. At the same time, the judgment set in motion a development that, decades later, culminated in modern international criminal law. The lecture placed the Nuremberg Trials within the broader context of the emergence of international criminal law and an international justice “system.” It highlighted connections, identified ruptures, and examined the fulfillment of the “promise” of Nuremberg, most vividly expressed by U.S. Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson in his opening statement in Nuremberg: “But the ultimate step, to prevent recurring wars, is to hold statesmen accountable under the law. And let me be clear: this law is initially applied here to German aggressors, but it encompasses and must, if it is to be useful, condemn the aggression of any other nation, including those now sitting in judgment here.” Florian Jeßberger holds the Chair of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure, International Criminal Law, and Legal History at the University of Hamburg. International criminal law is one of his main research areas.
26. January 2016: Cornelius Nestler (Köln)
Against the Second Guilt: Current Nazi Trials Before German Courts
Cornelius Nestler, who has long been involved both as a victims’ counsel and academically in the prosecution of Nazi crimes by the German judiciary, presented a new, nuanced perspective on current proceedings. While the Frankfurt Auschwitz Trial was a major political success, its legal impact had, in many respects, catastrophic consequences that are still felt today. This was followed by half a century of a (so far only partially documented) systematic practice of case dismissals by German public prosecutors.
In his lecture, Professor Nestler focused in detail on this still partly problematic prosecutorial practice and did not limit himself to examining the court rulings issued to date. Only in recent years has the judiciary’s reluctance begun to dissolve—provided a proactive prosecution meets a cooperative court. Professor Nestler outlined the conditions that must converge for the prosecution of Nazi perpetrators to become a reality. The proceeding concluded in summer 2015 at the Lüneburg Regional Court exemplified this opportunity. He discussed the backgrounds and dynamics of Nazi-era cases in the 2010s, especially from the perspective of victims’ representation, and ventured an outlook on forthcoming trials and their specific challenges.
9. February 2016: Kai Ambos (Göttingen)
“International Crimes Before the Court: Analysis and Outlook”
The International Criminal Court (ICC), established in 1998 and operational since 2003 in The Hague, receives hundreds of reports of international crimes every month but has formally opened only 23 cases across 10 “situations.” How can this discrepancy be explained? The lecture addressed this question, providing a detailed and opinionated account of the ICC’s functioning, its specific challenges and achievements—especially focusing on the Office of the Prosecutor and the complex pre-trial procedures. With analysis and outlook, Professor Ambos’ lively lecture, followed attentively by the audience, concluded the forward-looking series of the seminar.