Date on Honors Thesis
Fall 11-2016
Department
History
Examining Committee Member
Dr. David Pizzo, Advisor
Examining Committee Member
Dr. Drew Seib, Committee Member
Examining Committee Member
Dr. Jared Rosenberger, Committee Member
Abstract/Description
The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, commonly known as the Nuremberg Trials, is credited with indictment of the major Nazi war criminals of the Second World War. But, were all of the individuals who were indicted in 1945 actually major war criminals? Or, were they minor war criminals who happened to be more well-known? Through the use of historical and legal means, my research looks to why the twenty-four defendants were chosen to be indicted in an era which hosts scores of persons who could be labelled major war criminals. Reasons including the groups that these defendants were connected with and the government positions they held both formally and informally within the Third Reich. These defendants were chosen in order to be used as a first impression which would be used as legal precedent against the rest of post-Nazi Germany in the criminal cases that followed the fall of the Third Reich by both international and national powers.
Recommended Citation
Root, Delia, "Setting Precedents for a Nation on Trial: Selection of Defendants for the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg" (2016). Honors College Theses. 18.
https://digitalcommons.murraystate.edu/honorstheses/18