Blog by Shannon Heuston, Senior Associate

One of the prevailing myths surrounding the Holocaust is the steadfast belief many of us hold that the perpetrators were punished and good prevailed. The Americans, always fighting for freedom, descended on Europe in its darkest days, released hundreds of thousands of prisoners, restored order, and renewed the world’s hope in mankind.

Unfortunately, the reality is much darker.

Once the Allies had absorbed the shocking scale of the Nazi’s crimes, they realized worldwide cooperation was necessary to enact justice and prevent similar atrocities.[1] The Nuremburg trials, presided over by International Military Tribunals, arose from this decision, and marked the first time in history justice was ever pursued on a global scale.[2]  The televised trials held people in thrall all over the world from late 1945 through 1946.[3] However, as time passed and the world lost interest, the United States’s pledge to bring the perpetrators of the Holocaust to account for their crimes waned.[4]

On January 31, 1951, ten Nazi perpetrators condemned to death learned that they would live and be free within days, although the U.S. Supreme Court had rejected every single one of their appeals for lack of jurisdiction.[5] How did the United States go from demanding justice and accountability for the Holocaust to releasing the condemned?

Once the Nuremberg tribunals ended, the condemned or imprisoned could not appeal their sentences, which was a stark departure from American justice.[6]  Into this void stepped High Commissioner McCloy and his Advisory Board for Clemency for German War Criminals, who reviewed the cases and found that the defendants had acted under orders, that the trials were unfair, and they were denied sufficient legal counsel.[7] These same defenses were rejected at the trials.[8]  Despite this, McCloy and his advisory board decided that the verdicts of the tribunals were unjust, and released convicted war criminals back into society, thus denying justice to their victims.[9]

Although the United States played a pivotal role in establishing the first International Tribunal, holding perpetrators of atrocities accountable at the global level for the first time in history, they ultimately failed to deliver justice by dropping the ball once the world lost interest.[10] As we once again face the prospect of bring perpetrators of crimes against humanity to justice, we need to apply the  lessons learned from our earlier mistakes and develop a system that will see the process through until the end, both to hold perpetrators accountable and to deter future war crimes.

 

[1] Kristen D. Burton, War Crimes on Trial: The Nuremberg and Tokyo Trial,” The National WWII Museum (November 24, 2020) War Crimes on Trial: The Nuremberg and Tokyo Trials | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)

[2] Id.

[3] Id.

[4] Tyler Bamford, The Nuremberg Trial and Its Legacy, The National World War II Museum, (November 17, 2020)

The Nuremberg Trial and its Legacy | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org)

[5] Robert Hutchinson, The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and “American Justice”, The National World War II Museum, (September 18, 2021) The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and “American Justice” | The National WWII Museum | New Orleans (nationalww2museum.org).

[6] Id.

[7] Id.

[8] Id.

[9] Id.

[10] Efraim Zuroff, The US Record on Nazi War Criminals, Tʜᴇ Gᴜᴀʀᴅɪᴀɴ, (Nov. 15, 2010) The US record on Nazi war criminals | Efraim Zuroff | The Guardian