International Human Rights: Exam 2Monday, October 3What we are looking at in this section (both in the notes and books)?- How do we prosecute human right’s violators - What do we do when there are terrible human right violations and what do we do to prosecute thesepeople?- Stalin has a quote that says killing one or two people is a crime, but killing millions is a statisticNuremburg Trials- They had essentially conquered Germany; it had an American zone, a Russian zone, and a French zonewhile they tried to figure out what to do with Germany- They had a terrible dilemma on their hands: what Patent had found in Buchenwald, Germany (peoplestarving to death and thousands of bodies of those they had killed); he realized that it was not only aconcentration camp, but also a crime scene- They were determined that this would NEVER happen again; they realized that they would need tocomplete some form of prosecution- it was evident that millions of people had been killed; over 12 million European Jews, 100,000 Germans(found people who were physically or mentally handicapped and would send them to concentrationcamps), 3.5 million Russian prisoners of war (subjected to horrendous scientific experiments), 500,000gypsies, killed homosexuals (seen as psychologically inferior, they had to wear pink triangles to identifythem as enemies)- Because of the rumors that had occurred in WWI they did not really believe this was going on until theGermans and the Americans liberated the camps Humanitarian Law – the laws of war- First time we ever hear about it was in 1474- First time a commander was tried; took place in the Holy Roman Empireo He allowed his soldiers to run rampant in the cities/townso He was tried by 27 judges; he was never committed of actually committing the raping or thepillaging but he knew about it and didn’t stop it - Command/Control Theory – lies at the heart of humanitarian lawso Commanders are responsible for the actions of their troops- 1863 – Union troops were already invading the South which was going to lead to the defeated of theConfederate o Lincoln enacted the Code of Conduct They were not to rape or pillage or do unnecessary damage - 1899 – Hague Convention (1st international treaty)o Prohibited of civilians o Prohibited killing soldiers outside of combat - 1918 – Call to prosecute the Kaisero Germany loses WWIo Britain and France wanted to prosecute him as a war criminal but the US and PresidentWoodrow Wilson said they did not trust international law - 1945 – The US, Great Britain, Russia, and France have to decide what to do with Nazi Germany Page 1 of 22International Human Rights: Exam 2o How many people do you prosecute? Do you prosecute the civilian leaders or the militaryleaders? Or do you prosecute this like a normal crime and prosecute everyone who committedthe crimes? o Churchill: Round up the biggest Nazi leaders and execute them without a trial; publicallyexecute themo Stalin: Round up the 50,000 officers and execute them without trial o US: we had to have an actual trial and try the Nazi leaders The US controlled the zone of Germany where most of the Nazi’s were captured We also had the most money because we had not been devastated by the war; France andGB were in near ruins What model of a trial should there be?- France & Britain: European Modelo One judge, who is both the judge and prosecutoro Didn’t necessarily rely too much on eye witnesses o It was going to be shorter and more efficient - US: Adversarial Systemo Prosecuting attorney and defense attorney and they are adversaries in the courtroomo A judge is an independent 3rd party o Wanted cross examination - Decided to have a hybrid modelo Four judges Each of the countries would provide one judge o It would take ¾ votes to find someone guilty of a crime, but that there would be prosecutors anddefense attorneys o Each one of the countries would nominate one prosecutor 1945-1946: Nuremburg Trials- About 22 different defendants - There was a great advantage to the US in this system: they were pretty much using our system (the USfocuses on cross examination while the other countries do not)- The US sent two people: (the chief prosecutor, a supreme court justice) Robert Jackson (onlycompleted one year of Law school but read the law and became one of the leading attorneys), FrancisBiddle (sent to be the judge, former attorney general) o They did not have good chemistry: Francis had a big Ego - Called the most significant trial ever - Established how we prosecute people who commit horrendous human rights violations- 24 Nazis are tried (both civilians and military leaders); they felt people who were part of the civiliangovernment were also equally responsible; they also tried people who had been economic leadersbecause they made money off of these war time crimes- November 1945 to October 1946- 200 witnesses that were called in (US Model)- 300,000 affidavits - Film was used for the first time evero Used at an amazing moment in the trial when the prosecutors felt that the true gravity of whathad happened in the concentration camps had really happened; mainly the video used fromPage 2 of 22International Human Rights: Exam 2Patent, the Nazi also kept meticulous records because they did not think that the third Reichwould ever end - IBM figures out a way to do simultaneous translation - Basic Charge: War Crimes o A crime that happens during a time of war by members of a military against the militaryor civilians of a hostile power (came to us from 1474) Wednesday, October 5- Crime committed during a time of war by members of a military against the military or civilians of a hostile power – War Crimes- Things that Justice Jackson could prosecute the Nazis for: o Killing Civilians in occupied territories o Killing Prisoners of war (not only the Russians but also American soldiers too)o Enslaving civilians for forced labor o Killing apostates o Senseless destruction of population centers - Justice Jackson realized that there were a lot of crimes that did not fall into the classic definitions of a war crime o Crimes committed against German Jews It was not a war crime because they were not at war with their own citizenso Killing civilians in countries that were allies of Germany Italy or Austria … Germans would go in an kill especially Jews This definition did not
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