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The Holocaust History Project.
The Holocaust History Project.

Nuremburg Trials

Question:

I am trying to find out some information on the second Nuremburg trials. Also I am trying to find out about one of the accused in this second trial by the name of Franz Gajewski. Thank you for you help.

Yale F. Edeiken answers:

After the main Nuremberg Trial there were many trials of people accused of war crimes perpetrated in behalf of the Nazis. Unlike the the famous trial they were held by individual countries rather than before an international tribunal. Additionally many criminals responsible for particular atrocities were returned to the countries where those crimes took place. Rudoph Hoess, the commander of Auschwitz, was, for example, returned to Poland where he was tried and executed. Other trials were held by military courts of the allies.

The doctors who participated in medical experiments, for examaple, were tried by the Americans. Additionally some of the accused was tried by German national courts as late as the 1960's. Many of the American trials were held at Nuremberg.

Unfortunately there is no central source that lists all of those tried for the crimes of the Nazis. I looked through a list of men tried by American military tribunals and Gajewski was not listed as a defendant.

If you could provide more information about Gajewski, it is possible that we may be able to help you.

--Yale F. Edeiken

The Holocaust History Project.

Patrick Groff answers:

There was a Fritz( Friedrich) Gajewski who was a scientist for IG Farben, his Indictment and trial are in the below two books, that I have found so far in my limited research. Should you need more information please feel free to ask.

NMT Vol 13 seems to deal with his indictment.

NMT Vol 06 seems to deal with the actual trial.

Thank you

Patrick Groff

Question:

I am a psychiatrist who is writing a dissertation for a law degree and my subject is related to the use of psychiatric/psychological evidence used in international humanitarian law. Given the pre-eminence of the Nuremburg trials in this field, I am looking into these trials, although my focus is more on the current Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

Your web site is an excellent source of information about the Holocaust and its sequelae. In relation to my subject: I note that Hess was examined by a psychologist for the Trial. Do you have any further information about the use of psychiatric or psychological examinations of the defendants at Nuremburg, or any involvement of psychiatrists or psychologists with the defendants? I would be very grateful for any info or leads that you can give me.

Gordon McFee answers:

Hi, I am one of the volunteers who answers these questions. For a starter, could I point you to two books:

- G.M. Gilbert, Nuremberg Diary, Da Capo Press, New York, 1995. Dr. Gilbert was the prison psychologist at Nuremberg and had extensive contact with the accused.

- Kelley, Douglas M., 22 Cells at Nuremberg, Greenberg, New York, 1947. Dr. Kelley was the prison psychiatrist.

Hope this helps.

--

Gord McFee

Question:

Dear Sirs/Madams: I would appreciate your recommending a book which deals with the post-war Nuremberg Trials. Are there one or two which are deemed the best? TRhank you for your assistance? (Please do not use my name if you wish to save this request. Thank you.)

Yale F. Edeiken responds:

Hello. I am one of ther people who answers questions for The Holocaust Hisotry Project and I have a special interest in the Nuremberg Trials. While there is a wealth of information about the trials, most of the books concentrate on the famous trial of 22 defendants beofre the International Miliatary Tribunal. Few works also cover the "subsequent trials" at Nuremberg held under American law. The most significant of these was the "doctor's trial" which delat with, among other things, the medical experiments at the concentration camps. Assuming you are interested in the IMT trial we would suggest the following two books as good histories of that trial:

Robert E. Conot, Justice at Nuremberg, Harper & Row (1983)

Telford Taylor, The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials, Little Brown (1992)

Additionally the following is an excellent summary of the evidence presented by the prosecution:

Whitney Harris, Tyranny on Trial, Southern Methodist University Press (1954)

Also of interest and highly recommended are the following:

Bradley F. Smith, Reaching Judgment at Nuremberg , Basic Books (1977)

Bradley F. Smith, The Road to Nuremberg , Basic Books (1981)

G. M. Gilbert, Nuremberg Diaries , DeCapo Press (1995) Airey Neave, On Trial at Nuremberg, Little, Brown (1978)

I hope this helps you in your research.

--Yale F. Edeiken

The Holocaust History Project

Question:

Thank you for this wonderful and informative website!

After reading the short essay about the Nuremberg trials, I was perplexed by the following statement:

"Today there are very few legal scholars who accept the technical arguments about whether the trial should have been held. Even those reputable scholars who disagree base their objections on their legal philosophy."

Please explain why most legal scholars do not feel the trials should have been held. Was there something specific about these war crime trials that was different from the current trials of the wars in former Yugoslavia?

Yale F. Edeiken responds:

Thank you very much for your question. I am one of the volunteers who answers questions for the The Holocaust History Project, Inc, and the author of the short essay in question.

Apparently my writing is not as clear as it could be. The intent of the passage you quote was to state that there is no question among legal scholars of the legitimacy of the trial. The technical questions have long ago been dismissed as a minority opinion rarely given serious consideration except as debating points.

In fact, the Nuremberg trials -- especially the subsequent trial held under the aegis of the American authorities at Nuremberg -- form the legal cire of the current trials. Benjamin Ferencz, the prosecutor at the Einsatzgruppen Trial -- has written briefs for the current trials. Also of importance are the "Hostages" trial and the Milch Trial. These trials are especially important as they dealt with actual perpetrators of the crimes. This is quite a bit more analogous to the present trials than the main trial (IMT) where the accused were the leaders who planned and conspired to commit the crimes.

Yale F. Edeiken
The Holocaust History Project, Inc.

Question:

To Whom it May Concern,

We are high school students in Bakersfield, California working on a history day project. The theme this year is Frontiers in History, and we have chosen the Nuremburg Trials for our topic. We believe that these trials were a benchmark for international war crimes. We are presently looking for information, witnesses, and video of this time period. If you could help, or know someone that could, could you please send us the names and addresses. We would really appreciate any help you might be able to give us. Thank you very much,

Harry W. Mazal OBE answers:

I am one of the volunteers who responds to questions by our readers. It is possible that you will receive other answers from my colleagues.

You have taken on a very ambitious project. The Nuremberg Trial is actually a composite of a number of trials held in Nuremberg:

The International Military Tribunal (IMT) dealt with the so-called Major War Criminals. The collection of books on this trial consists of 42 volumes. You may see the first four of these in an easy-to-read version on our web-site:

http://www.holocaust-history.org/works/imt/

or you can view twenty-two of these in a different format on the web-site at Yale University:

http://www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/imt.htm

There were also another series of war crime trials held in Nuremberg by the Nuremberg Military Tribunal (NMT). This collection consists of fifteen huge (1000+ pages each) volumes. NMT deals with some absolutely vicious crimes and criminals. The first volume and part of the second one dealing with medical atrocities can be seen on my personal web-site:

http://www.mazal.org/NMT-HOME.htm

I have a duplicate video covering significant portions of the IMT as well as a book or two on the subject that I would be happy to donate to your school.

Yours sincerely,

Harry W. Mazal OBE

Question:

Do you know where can I find the tranlation of the proceedings of Nuremberg's trial into french?

Harry W. Mazal OBE answers:

Thank you for your recent question addressed to the Holocaust History Project.

I am one of the volunteers who responds to questions from our readers. It is possible that you will receive other answers from my colleagues.

Our library has a complete set of the 69 volumes comprising the Nuremberg Trial proceedings, and over 500,000 of the documents used by the prosecution in the various trials.

The books are:

International Military Tribunal (known as the "blue" series due to of the color of the covers) consisting of 42 volumes.

Nuernberg Military Tribunal (known as the "green" series due to the color of the covers) consisting of 15 volumes.

Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression (known as the "red" series due to the color of its covers) consisting of 12 volumes.

All of the above were published in English by the United States Printing Office.

A condensed version of the "blue" books consisting of approximately 20 books, was published by His Majesty's Stationery Office. Many of these are also found in our library.

A 24-volume edition in German entitled "Der Nürnberger Prozess" was recently published by Delphin Verlag.

The only version in French that has come into our library is a very condensed four-book edition entitled:

Le Procés de Nuremberg
Presenté par Bernard Michal
c. Francois Beuval - Paris - Editeur
1969.

It is possible that a full edition of the trial books was issued in France, but I have never seen it.

Yours sincerely,

Harry W. Mazal OBE

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