Introduction
On May 8, 1945 the Germans surrendered to the Allies. Berlin had fallen to the Soviet troops. People were celebrating all over the United States. World War II was officially over in Europe but for Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson the work was just beginning. He had recently been chosen by President Harry S Truman to be the Chief Prosecutor for the United States at military trials for the captured Nazi war criminals. The defendants at this first trial were former top-level officials in the Nazi hierarchy. Justice Jackson’s assignment was to create an International Military Tribunal (IMT) to try the Nazi criminals. He and his colleagues from Britain, France, and Russia were asked by their respective governments to create a system that would allow justice to be properly dispensed to the twenty-two defendants. Justice Jackson played a major role in the formation of the IMT and the later prosecution of the defendants. Through his vision the first international court to try war crimes was established and trials were carried out. Still, dissenters criticized the IMT and created controversy about whether the court provided the Nazis with a fair trial.
Web page by Amy Suelzle
Revised 12/8/02