Basic Law of Human Rights

The Second World War brought attention to the need for all nations to work together as free and equal partners. Nations, regardless of size, strength, color of skin, rich or poor, needed to operate under a basic set of human rights. It was implied that a sane person should understand the "right" or "wrong" in any given situation. With this understanding, all human beings should treat each other in a fair manner.

The Allies believed that this understanding had been broken by Germany and Japan. Therefore, the leaders and major supporters of the defeated nations must be punished. It was agreed, early in the war, that trials would be necessary once the conflict was over. Evidence was gathered during the entire war to be used in the trials.

German Leaders on Trial – Nuremberg

Some members of the ruling Nazi party were able to escape from Germany to South America, and did not face war crimes trials. A large number, however, were captured and placed on trial. Leaders and many followers of the Nazi Party, both military and civilian, were charged with a variety of charges including torture, murder and massacre. The largest of the trials was held in the German city of Nuremberg. During the trials, a vast amount of evidence was presented against the accused. The truth about concentration camps, treatment of prisoners of war, and the use of slave labor were shown to the world as proof of crimes against humanity.

The accused attempted to defend themselves by saying that they were "just following orders." In other words those on trial attempted to say that they were ordered to commit the crimes or else they would be executed for not following orders. Therefore, they should not be charged with war crimes. The argument was rejected by the Allies as a poor excuse for the crimes committed against fellow human beings.

Nuremberg was to witness 1,108 war crimes trials with the sentences to included 413 death sentences, 485 prison terms, and a further 210 acquitted. A number of smaller trials were held across Europe to handle local cases of war crimes.

As the trials began to take years to finish, some people began to argue that the process was unfair. They stated that the judges were all from the victorious side, and would not act in a fair manner. Also, no Allied troops were punished under the crimes against humanity idea used to convict Germans.

The problem was that the idea behind the laws of humanity was not written down, therefore, how could a person be charged with something they did not know legally existed? To ensure that this problem did not occur again, the United Nations wrote the Declaration of Human Rights Act in 1948. This document has been used recently during the 1990s trial of Radovan Karadzic for war crimes in Bosnia.

The Trials and the Cold War

As relations between the West and the USSR became worse after the war, distrust between the two sides lead to a reduction of sentences for German war criminals. The Western Allies wanted Germany to join them, if necessary, to resist the large armed forces of the Soviet Union. Secretly, the Americans and British began smuggling former Nazi scientists out of Germany in order to help them develop weapons to fight the Soviets.

As many as 10,000 former Nazis were moved to the United States during "Operation Paperclip," and put to work on various early Cold War projects. One of the most famous was Arthur Rudolph, who had used slave labor from concentration camps to build V-2 rockets for Adolf Hitler. The Americans brought him to the United States where he ended up working on the Saturn V rocket designed to go to the moon.

Japan On Trial

In May 1946 military tribunals were established in Tokyo to try Japanese officials and top military personal. Twenty-five major war crimes trials were established to try the main political and military leaders. All were found guilty, and seven were executed by hanging, including the former Prime Minister Tojo. The Emperor was not put on trial because of the Allied promise not to eliminate his position.

A large number of trials were also held for lesser military and political officials. Roughly 5,600 Japanese were put on trial. More than 4,400 were convicted and 1,000 were executed. The harsh nature of warfare, and the treatment of prisoners of war by Japanese led to more trials held in the Pacific theater than in Germany. Some historians suggested that it was unfair that more Japanese were tried and executed than Germans.

Anger over Pearl Harbor, and the atrocities committed during the war, drove the Allies forward with the trials. Historians also argue that there was not much need for Japan during the Cold War, so fewer Japanese were spared death sentences. The trials were wrapped up quickly to ensure that potential anger did not increase with long, drawn-out trials.