November 22, 2005
A ceremony in the courtroom where the Nuremberg trials took place has to marked the 60th anniversary of the first trials against leaders of the Nazi regime. The then prosecutor Whitney R. Harris, 93, and two witnesses recounted their memories. During 218 trial days, the leading Nazis faced a panel of judges representing the victorious Allies: the United States, Soviet Union, Britain and France. The trial established the offenses of crimes against peace, waging a war of aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Its legacy can be seen in the cases under way or being prepared against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic, deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein and leaders of genocide in Rwanda. It was also a precursor to today's international system of justice, said Johann-Georg Schätzler, 84, at the time a defense attorney. "It set the precedent for the establishment of the international criminal court, which was needed," Schätzler pointed out. Prosecutors were able to rely on the Nazis' own meticulous records for much of their case, as well as hundreds of statements – with witnesses often recounting great horrors. At the end of the first Nuremberg trial, most of the accused Nazi leaders were sentenced to death and executed.
