The Nuremberg Trials

The idea of accountability for war crimes has been a major issue in the twentieth century. There have been many trials dealing with the personal responsibility of war criminals. The military tribunal in Tokyo after WWII, the trials to persecute war criminals in the former Yugoslavia, and the trials in Rwanda are all examples of such trials. Since the Nuremberg trials of 1945, which dealt with the responsibility of Nazi war criminals, the denial of personal …

…killers manage to avoid justice, yet there is one common ground. The desire to prosecute those who assault and besiege society and its people. What the Nuremberg judges and lawyers really achieved has never been more important. By rejecting group guilt and insisting on accepting personal accountability, the Nuremberg judges defied hatred and spite and paved the road for peace that may yet, half a century later, help alleviate the severity and madness of war.