1. Oktober 1946 – Naziführer werden in den Nürnberger Prozessen verurteilt.

The Nürnberg trials were a series of trials held in Nürnberg, Germany, in 1945–46, in which former Nazi leaders were indicted and tried as war criminals by the International Military Tribunal.

The indictment lodged against them contained four counts:

(1) crimes against peace (i.e., the planning, initiating, and waging of wars of aggression in violation of international treaties and agreements),

(2) crimes against humanity (i.e., exterminations, deportations, and genocide),

(3) war crimes (i.e., violations of the laws of war), and

(4) “a common plan or conspiracy to commit” the criminal acts listed in the first three counts.

The authority of the International Military Tribunal to conduct these trials stemmed from the London Agreement of August 8, 1945. On that date, representatives from the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and the provisional government of France signed an agreement that included a charter for an international military tribunal to conduct trials of major Axis war criminals whose offenses had no particular geographic location.

Later 19 other nations accepted the provisions of this agreement.

The tribunal was given the authority to find any individual guilty of the commission of war crimes (counts 1–3 listed above) and to declare any group or organization to be criminal in character.

The first session, under the presidency of Gen. I.T. Nikitchenko, the Soviet member, took place on 18 October 1945, in Berlin. At this time, 24 former Nazi leaders were charged with the perpetration of war crimes, and various groups (such as the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police) were charged with being criminal in character. Beginning on 20 November 1945, all sessions of the tribunal were held in Nürnberg.

After 216 court sessions, on 1 October 1946, the verdict on 22 of the original 24 defendants was handed down. (Robert Ley committed suicide while in prison, and Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach’s mental and physical condition prevented his being tried.)

Three of the defendants were acquitted: Hjalmar Schacht, Franz von Papen, and Hans Fritzsche.

Four were sentenced to terms of imprisonment ranging from 10 to 20 years: Karl Dönitz, Baldur von Schirach, Albert Speer, and Konstantin von Neurath.

Three were sentenced to life imprisonment: Rudolf Hess, Walther Funk, and Erich Raeder.

Twelve of the defendants were sentenced to death by hanging. Ten of them—Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Julius Streicher, Alfred Rosenberg, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Wilhelm Keitel, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart—were hanged on 16 October 1946.

Martin Bormann was tried and condemned to death in absentia, and Hermann Göring committed suicide before he could be executed.