The Nuremberg Trials begin - 1945

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals, held by the Allied forces of World War II, most notable for the prosecution of prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany. The trials were held in the city of Nuremberg. The first and best known of these trials, described as "the greatest trial in history" by Norman Birkett, one of the British judges who presided over it, was the Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT). Held between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946, the Tribunal was given the task of trying 23 of the most important political and military leaders of the Third Reich, though one of the defendants, Martin Bormann, was tried in absentia, while another, Robert Ley, committed suicide within a week of the trial's commencement. Not included were Adolf Hitler, Heinrich Himmler, and Joseph Goebbels, all of whom had committed suicide several months before the indictment was signed. The second set of trials of lesser war criminals was conducted under Control Council Law No. 10 at the US Nuremberg Military Tribunals (NMT); among them included the Doctors' Trial and the Judges' Trial. 

Defendants in the dock. The main target of the prosecution was Hermann Göring (at the left edge on the first row of benches), considered to be the most important surviving official in the Third Reich after Hitler's death.

The following is a list of people suspected of committing war crimes on behalf of Nazi Germany or any of the Axis Powers during World War II.

• Martin Bormann — Guilty, sentenced to death in absentia. Later proven he committed suicide to avoid capture at the end of World War II in Europe. Remains discovered in 1972 later conclusively proven to be Bormann by forensic tests on the skull in 1998. Nonetheless, Simon Wiesenthal, Hugh Thomas and Reinhard Gehlen refused to accept this. Gehlen further argued Bormann was the secret Russian double agent 'Sasha'.
• Karl Dönitz — Guilty, sentenced to 10 years’ imprisonment
• Hans Frank — Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging
• Wilhelm Frick — Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging
• Hans Fritzsche — Acquitted. Tried, convicted and sentenced to nine years imprisonment by a separate West German denazification court. Released September 1950.
• Walther Funk — Guilty, sentenced to life imprisonment (released 1957 on grounds of ill health)
• Hermann Göring — Guilty, sentenced to death, committed suicide before execution.
• Rudolf Hess — Guilty, sentenced to life imprisonment
• Alfred Jodl — Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging, Henri Donnedieu de Vabres called the verdict a mistake in 1945. In 1953, the denazification courts reversed the decision and found Jodl not guilty. His property, confiscated in 1946, was returned to his widow.
• Ernst Kaltenbrunner — Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging
• Wilhelm Keitel — Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging
• Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach — Medically unfit for trial
• Robert Ley — Committed suicide before his trial began
• Konstantin von Neurath — Guilty, sentenced to 15 years’ imprisonment (released 1954 on grounds of ill health)
• Franz von Papen — Acquitted. Tried, convicted and sentenced to eight years imprisonment by a separate West German denazification court. Released on appeal in 1949.
• Erich Raeder — Guilty, sentenced to life imprisonment (released 1955 on grounds of ill health)
• Joachim von Ribbentrop — Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging
• Alfred Rosenberg — Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging
• Fritz Sauckel — Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging
• Hjalmar Schacht — Acquitted
• Baldur von Schirach — Guilty, sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment
• Arthur Seyss-Inquart - Guilty, sentenced to death by hanging
• Albert Speer — Guilty, sentenced to 20 years’ imprisonment
• Julius Streicher — Guilty, sentenced to death by hangin

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