November 20, 1945 the Allies (America, Russia, the British and the French) held a military tribunal (trial) to deal with the major Nazi war criminals.  It has been described as the greatest trial in history.  24 of the most important political and military hard core leaders of the third reich were on trial.  Hitler and Himmler had cheated justice by already commiting suicide.  Josef Goebbels and his fenatical Hitler worshipper wife, Magda, poisioned their children and themselves in the last days of the Berlin bunker.

Previously in 1943 the Allies had gotten together to agree on what to do with this vermin once they were defeated.  Ideas were tossed around about immediate execution upon capture or perhaps to execute 50,000 German soldiers as a punishment.  After Roosevelts’ death in April 1945 (he was cheated out of being alive when the Nazis surrendered in May) the new President Truman had a strong desire for a trial and the details were worked out among the Allies.  Nothing like this had ever been done in the history of man.

The Palace of Justice in Nuremburg was spacious and largely undamaged by bombing and had also bern the ceremonial grounds of the Nazi party rallies and pagentry.  It was also the home of the hateful Nuremburg Laws of 1935.  So it was a fitting place to stage the party’s demise.

Standing in Courtroom #600 where Goering, Hess, Speer, and Julius Stricher (modern day hateful journalist Hannity/Fox news is a good analogy) were tried for crimes against humanity was quite sobering.  This is the trial were films of concentration camp atrocities were first shown to the world.  In fact it was one of the earliest filmed courtroom proceedings and the first to have interpreters and headsets for all involved, which natutally slowed the proceedings down.  It lasted over a year.

Unbelievably only 12 of the 24 defendants were sentenced to death.  Some did prison time and some were acquited!  Goering was sentenced to hanging and insisted on being shot instead of being treated like a common criminal.  Odd coming from one of the worst criminals in history!  But he cheated the hangman by biting into a cyanide capsule the night before the execution was scheduled.  It is still not known where he got it.  Story goes he befriended a gullible GI who helped him.   He did have a great gift of persuasion afterall.

Crazy Rudolf Hess died in prison but Albert Speer, the architect and one who ran the armaments slave labor factories was released and later became a celebrated author and talk show circuit guest in the 70’s. I read his book “Inside the Third Reich”.  He made himself sound like a bit of a choir boy but infact was a ruthless taskmaster who caused the death of thousands of slave workers due to starvation and beatings.

There were hundreds of other war trials held after the war but this was the most famous.  The building is still in great condition and used today to trial homicide cases.  Seems appropriate.

The infamous Nuremburg Laws were made for “the protection of German blood and German honor”.  This prohibited marriage or intercourse between Jews and Aryans and excluded Jews from German citizenship; even if their families had been there for centuries or fought for Germany in WW1. They were no longer German citizens or citizens of anywhere.  Soon there were “Jews forbidden” signs on subways, busses, parks, toilets, stores, doctor offices.  Eventually they had to wear the yellow star on thier coat so they could be easily identified and harassed.  They were not allowed to own cats or dogs or radios among many, many other daily humiliations.  The Jewish kids had to leave public schools. Their Aryan friends were forbidden from playing with them.  Jews were fired from public jobs and esteemed Jewish professors were tossed out of the universities and made to clean the streets.  And on and on and on.

One of the great ironies of the idiot Hitler and his cronies is that they denounced science.  They also made it impossible for vital Jewish scientists (Einstein among others) to remain in Germany due to persecution. They ended up fleeing  to America and some worked on the secret Manhattan Project which gave us the first A bomb and made us the first superpower.  What if Hitler had let them stay?  History might have been a lot different.  So I guess the moral of that story is that maybe denying science isn’t such a good idea after all??

Another hateful new law, Law 175, was passed which made homosexuality a crime and they had to wear pink stars.  I find this hysterical because many SS guys were not so secret homosexuals including highly ranked Ernst Rohm (who Hitler soon killed after coming into full power during “the night of long knives” massacre).  Thousands of gay people were gassed for the crime of  being gay.

So this was our last day in Nuremburg.  Perhaps not most people’s idea of a good time but I am enjoying this trip immensely.  We had another great dinner and I think I might have a food hangover. Still no strudel?   Tomorrow we have a long travel day to Munster to visit the Panzer/tank museum.  OK, I guess we have to.  Some of the old guys are really excited about it!