Nuremburg Trials

At the end of the Second World War, it was found that the Germans had committed atrocities against the Jews of Europe in what came to be known as The Holocaust. The Allies decided to prosecute the Nazi leaders in a trial of crimes against humanity. In early October 1945, the four prosecuting nations; the United States, Great Britain, France and Russia, issued an indictment against 24 men and six organizations. The individual defendants were charged not …

…with a cyanide capsule. Two hours later, the executions began. The trial of Goering, Rudolf Hess, Albert Speer and the others was part show trial and part noble effort to create new international law in the face of crimes that were horrofic and atrocious to society. Some say it was the trial of the century. In the words of Norman Birkett, who served as a British alternate judge: it was "the greatest trial in history."