When the English, the Americans and the Russians
met at Yalta, Stalin wanted 50,000 of the German staff and officers
executed, in retribution for the crimes against the Soviet people.
Stalin's position was rejected by the Allies. At the Nuremberg
Trials, those accused as criminals were judged to determine whether
they had:
committed Crimes against peace;
committed Crimes against humanity; or
waged an "aggressive war."
The trials were retribution against those who
were party to - and who committed - the systematic extermination
of an estimated 6,000,000 Jews as the Nazis cast their genocidal
shadow across the face of Europe.
The Trials were also designed to establish a
set of rules laying the foundation for future international law.
The trials concluded with the adoption of parameters that defined
the waging of "aggressive war" and made such unlawful. The Nuremberg
Trials also insured that - for the first time in history - statesmen
who lead countries into a "aggressive war" were to be held personally
responsible for their actions.
Some of the Nazis committed suicide rather than
face justice by the Allies, sometimes before capture. Others were
set free when the evidence against them was less-than-conclusive.
Some of the Nazis were convicted of war crimes,
and they were executed for their crimes. Sadly, history revealed
that some criminals - including some of the most notorious Nazis
in Germany - managed to escape justice. A number of them were
hunted down and captured during the decades following the war
-- and others are believed to still be free
today.
