scholarly journals The Nuremberg Justice Trial 1947: Vengeance of the Victors?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jan Schnitzer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Military Tribunal ◽  
Post War ◽  
Nuremberg Trials

<p>Nuremberg became famous for the 13 Nuremberg Trials against the leading German officials after World War II. Following the first trial against the remaining Nazi leaders before the Allied International Military Tribunal in 1945-1946, the United States initiated 12 subsequent proceedings against leading members of all areas of Germany's society. The Justice Trial against 16 representatives of Nazi Germany's judicial system was the third of these trials and held before US Military Tribunal III in 1947. Organised and held under the aegis of the United States as one of the war's victors, the trials were seen by many as simple acts of vengeance, hidden behind a smokescreen of legality. Therefore, especially in post-war Germany, the trials were often described as victor's justice. Yet, besides investigations relating to specific aspects of this allegation, a profound analysis of this issue has not been done for the Justice Trial. This study aims to help in closing this gap. Focussing on the issue of victor's justice, the work analyses and evaluates all stages of the Justice Trial, from its legal basis, to the planning and preparation, to the proceedings and judgments, to the enforcement of the sentences after the trial. In the end, it is concluded that only two aspects, the violation of the principle of separation of powers and the restriction to initiate trials only against German nationals, can be seen as examples of victor's justice. All other aspects cannot be proved as examples of victor's justice; whether Germany's state sovereignty was violated, whether the judges were impartial, whether the ex post facto principle was violated, whether the defendants could be held individually responsible, whether the defendants received a fair trial, whether the trial was justified from a moral point of view, whether the defendants were selected for appropriate reasons, whether the Tribunal analysed and evaluated the Nazi legal system and the defendant's role therein reasonably, whether the US judges and prosecutors were qualified enough, and whether the early release of the convicted defendants in the 1950s was arbitrary. The Justice Trial and all other Nuremberg Trials, in many ways, set unique precedents for international criminal law. The legacy, therefore, is primarily a positive one. Thus, overall, it is concluded that the limited examples of victor's justice within the Justice Trial do not ultimately undermine these achievements.</p>

scholarly journals The Nuremberg Justice Trial 1947: Vengeance of the Victors?

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
◽  
Jan Schnitzer
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Separation Of Powers ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Ex Post ◽  
Military Tribunal ◽  
Post War ◽  
Nuremberg Trials

<p>Nuremberg became famous for the 13 Nuremberg Trials against the leading German officials after World War II. Following the first trial against the remaining Nazi leaders before the Allied International Military Tribunal in 1945-1946, the United States initiated 12 subsequent proceedings against leading members of all areas of Germany's society. The Justice Trial against 16 representatives of Nazi Germany's judicial system was the third of these trials and held before US Military Tribunal III in 1947. Organised and held under the aegis of the United States as one of the war's victors, the trials were seen by many as simple acts of vengeance, hidden behind a smokescreen of legality. Therefore, especially in post-war Germany, the trials were often described as victor's justice. Yet, besides investigations relating to specific aspects of this allegation, a profound analysis of this issue has not been done for the Justice Trial. This study aims to help in closing this gap. Focussing on the issue of victor's justice, the work analyses and evaluates all stages of the Justice Trial, from its legal basis, to the planning and preparation, to the proceedings and judgments, to the enforcement of the sentences after the trial. In the end, it is concluded that only two aspects, the violation of the principle of separation of powers and the restriction to initiate trials only against German nationals, can be seen as examples of victor's justice. All other aspects cannot be proved as examples of victor's justice; whether Germany's state sovereignty was violated, whether the judges were impartial, whether the ex post facto principle was violated, whether the defendants could be held individually responsible, whether the defendants received a fair trial, whether the trial was justified from a moral point of view, whether the defendants were selected for appropriate reasons, whether the Tribunal analysed and evaluated the Nazi legal system and the defendant's role therein reasonably, whether the US judges and prosecutors were qualified enough, and whether the early release of the convicted defendants in the 1950s was arbitrary. The Justice Trial and all other Nuremberg Trials, in many ways, set unique precedents for international criminal law. The legacy, therefore, is primarily a positive one. Thus, overall, it is concluded that the limited examples of victor's justice within the Justice Trial do not ultimately undermine these achievements.</p>

scholarly journals Czesław Miłosz’s Migrant Perspective in Rodzinna Europa [Native Realm]

2017 ◽  
Vol 1 (1) ◽  
pp. 342-349
Author(s):  
Ewa Kołodziejczyk
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
William Faulkner ◽  
Religious Diversity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
European Perspective ◽  
Central European ◽  
New Perspective ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Impact

Abstract The article traces the impact of Czesław Miłosz’s first American stay on his image of Central Europe in Rodzinna Europa [Native Realm]. In the United States, the post-war immigrant from Vilnius learned to perceive, understand and evaluate American culture; he also gained a new perspective on his region of Europe and Slavic immigrants. This experience enabled him to adopt an American point of view in his autobiographical essay. Following William Faulkner, Miłosz carries on an analysis of Eastern and Central Europe’s history and identities. The uses Western historical and sociological glossary to describe processes that formed his “native realm.” Analogically, the poet from pre-war Vilnius reflects on American multi-ethnicity and religious diversity from a Central European perspective. In Rodzinna Europa, Miłosz takes the position of a migrant translator and a two-way mediator between East and West.

scholarly journals Advancing American Art and Intercultural Confrontations in Germany, 1945–1948

2019 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 971-990
Author(s):  
Frank Mehring
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
American Art ◽  
The United States ◽  
Early Years ◽  
Military Government ◽  
Art Exhibitions ◽  
Cultural Mediator ◽  
Post War

This article critically addresses the multivalent function of American art exhibitions in the period of de-Nazification and re-democratization. What kind of cultural and political parameters shaped the perception of American Art in Germany during the early post-war years? I investigate intercultural confrontations surrounding the project of advancing American art and the critical response of German audiences by first looking at the exhibition Advancing American Art from 1947. I then analyze the role of the transatlantic cultural mediator Hilla von Rebay to understand developments in the German perspective on American art. The German-born artist von Rebay emigrated in 1927 to the United States and organized the German tour of Zeitgenössische Kunst und Kunstpflege in U.S.A. (Contemporary Art and the Promotion of Arts in the U.S.A.) authorized by the Office of Military Government, United States (OMGUS) in 1948. The project of ‘advancing American art’ resembles a struggle with many setbacks due to lack of official support and finding a larger public in the early years after World War II.

scholarly journals United States and the Middle East after the Cold War

2018 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-4
Author(s):  
Yusuf Ibrahim Gamawa
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Middle East ◽  
Region Of Interest ◽  
The United States ◽  
Short Paper ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Post War ◽  
The Cold War ◽  
The U.S

The United States emerged as the most powerful country after World War II and as such found itself in an influential position to be involved in the future and destinies of many countries across the globe. The U.S. played a major role in the post War economic reconstruction in Europe and rendered assistance to many European states. American power at this time was seen to have extended to other parts of the globe, including the Middle East, which has been a region of interest to outside powers. This short paper tries to look at U.S. ambitions in the region and how far the U.S. has gone in achieving these ambitions. The paper argues that U.S. policies in the Middle East were in the long run, a failure, despite whatever successes achieved, following certain developments in the region, beginning with the 1979 revolution in Iran.

scholarly journals The Optimism of Absence: An Archaeology of Displacement, Effacement, and Modernity

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Paul R. Mullins
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Urban Renewal ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
Global Projects ◽  
Post War ◽  
The 1960S ◽  
The University ◽  
American Cities

In the 1960s Edward J. Zebrowski turned the razing of Indianapolis, Indiana into a compelling show of forward-looking community optimism illuminating the power of displacement. When Zebrowski’s company toppled the Knights of Pythias Hall in 1967, for instance, he installed bleachers and hired an organist to play from the back of a truck as the twelve-storey Romanesque Revival structure was reduced to rubble. Two years later, the ‘Big Z’ hosted a party in the Claypool Hotel and ushered guests outside at midnight to watch as the floodlit building met its end at the wrecking ball (Figure 12.1). Zebrowski’s theatricality perhaps distinguished him from the scores of wrecking balls dismantling American cities, but his celebration of the city’s material transformation mirrored the sentiments of many urbanites in the wake of World War II. The post-war period was punctuated by a flurry of destruction and idealistic redevelopment in American cities like Indianapolis just as the international landscape was being rebuilt from the ruins of the war. In 1959 the New York Times’ Austin Wehrwein (1959: 61) assessed the University of Chicago’s massive displacement in Hyde Park and drew a prescient parallel to post-war Europe when he indicated that ‘wrecking crews have cleared large tracts, so that areas near the university resemble German cities just after World War II’. Indeed, much of Europe was distinguished less by ruins and redevelopment than demolition and emptied landscapes removing the traces of warfare that states wished to reclaim or efface; in the United States, urban renewal likewise took aim on impractical, unappealing, or otherwise unpleasant urban fabric and the people who called such places home (see also Ernsten, Chapter 10, for this process associated with the policies of apartheid in Cape Town). These global projects removed wartime debris and razed deteriorating prewar landscapes, extending interwar urban renewal projects that embraced the fantasy of a ‘blank slate’ as they built various unevenly executed imaginations of modernity. However, many optimistic development plans in Europe and the United States alike were abandoned or disintegrated into ruins themselves, simply leaving blank spaces on the landscape. Consequently, the legacy of urban renewal and post-war reconstruction is not simply modernist architecture; instead, post-war landscape transformation is signalled by distinctive absences dispersed amidst post-war architectural space and traces of earlier built environments.

Outside the Panel – Race in America's Popular Imagination: Comic Strips Before and After World War II

1998 ◽  
Vol 32 (1) ◽  
pp. 39-61
Author(s):  
BRUCE LENTHALL
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
The United States ◽  
World War ◽  
Comic Strips ◽  
Popular Imagination ◽  
Before And After ◽  
American Way ◽  
Post War ◽  
Unanimous Consent

In the wake of World War II, the unofficial cartoonist laureate of the war, Bill Mauldin, turned the focus of his comic art to life within America's borders. In a 1946 panel, he portrayed two men talking in the shadow of the United States Capitol building. The listener was clearly a slick senator; the speaker looked to be a well-groomed tramp. His question no doubt left the senator fumbling for an answer: “Do you mean your American Way or my American Way, Senator?”Mauldin did not provide us with the senator's response, but it hardly matters. The tramp's question all but answers itself. The supposed post-war consensus, the shared American Way, had not been achieved by unanimous consent, the tramp was suggesting, but by leaving out those who did not fit into it. The popular imagination of America might have attained a single, clean vision of the nation, but only by cropping out anything that could blur the picture. The imagined American Way would not admit it, but there were others trying to climb into the frame.

scholarly journals The Statute for an International Criminal Court and the United States: Peace Without Justice?

1999 ◽  
Vol 12 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marten Zwanenburg
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
The United States ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Point Of View ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Major Step

The adoption of the Statute of an International Criminal Court in July 1998 is widely regarded as a major step forward in international criminal law. The United States, however, does not share this point of view in all respects. It particularly fears that the Statute will allow prosecution of American peacekeepers for political instead of legal reasons. This article examines the provisions of the Statute in the light of that fear. It concludes that not only is such a fear unjustified, the United States position may have disastrous consequences for efforts in peacekeeping.

scholarly journals Transformations of the US European Policy in the 2nd Half of the 20th Century

2019 ◽  
pp. 9-19
Author(s):  
Marharyta Lymar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
European Integration ◽  
20Th Century ◽  
The United States ◽  
American Interest ◽  
The Us ◽  
The Usa ◽  
Post War ◽  
Eastern European Countries

The article deals with the European aspects of the US foreign policy in the 2nd half of the 20th century. It also includes studies of the transatlantic relations of the described period and the exploration of an American influence on European integration processes. It is determined that the United States has demonstrated itself as a partner of the Western governments in the post-war reconstruction and further creation of an area of US security and prosperity. At the same time, it is noted that the American presidents have differently shaped their administrations’ policies towards Europe. The greatest supporter of the European integration processes was President Eisenhower. Among other things, the US President believed that Europe would become a key ally of the United States, thus, he considered the union of Sweden, Greece, Spain and Yugoslavia as a solid foundation for building a “United States of Europe”. After Eisenhower administration, European affairs, to a lesser extent, were taken up by such Presidents as Johnson, Carter, Reagan and Clinton. Showing no personal interest, Kennedy, Nixon and Bush-Sr. were forced to support the transatlantic dialogue, understanding the inevitability of European integration and the need for the United States to cooperate with the new consolidated actor. The United States aimed to strengthen its position in the European space, moving to that purpose by using NATO mechanisms and applying the policies of American protectionism against the communist threat. The main competitor of the United States for strengthening national positions in Europe was France led by General de Gaulle, who believed that the affairs of Europe should be resolved by European governments without the American intervention. However, NATO continued to serve as a springboard for the U.S. involvement in European affairs. At the end of the 20th century, through the close links between the EU and NATO, the USA received new allies from Central and Eastern European countries. It is concluded that after the end of World War II, Europe needed an assistance that the United States willingly provided in exchange for the ability to participate in European issues, solving and partly controlling the integration processes. The study found that, despite the varying degree of the American interest in transatlantic affairs, Europe has consistently been remaining a zone of national interest for the United States.

scholarly journals European integration in the foreign policy of Dwight Eisenhower

2019 ◽  
pp. 27-36
Author(s):  
Margaryta Lymar
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
Foreign Policy ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
European Integration ◽  
Western Europe ◽  
The United States ◽  
Priority List ◽  
Post War ◽  
European Partner ◽  
The U.S

The article deals with European integration processes through the prism of the President Eisenhower foreign policy. The transatlantic relations are explored considering the geopolitical transformations in Europe. It is noted that after the end of World War II, Europe needed assistance on the path to economic recovery. Eisenhower initially as Commander in Chief of NATO forces in Europe, and later as the U.S. President, directed his foreign policy efforts to unite the states of Western Europe in their post-war renovating and confronting the communist threat. For that reason, Eisenhower deserved recognition by the leading European governments and became a major American figure, which symbolized the reliable transatlantic ally. Eisenhower’s interest in a united Europe was explained by the need for the United States in a strong single European partner that would help to strengthening the U.S. positions in the international arena. The United States expected to control the European integration processes through NATO instruments and mediated disputes between the leading European powers. Germany’s accession to the Alliance was determined as one of the key issues, the solution of which became the diplomatic victory of President Eisenhower. The U.S. government was building its European policy based on the need to integrate the Western states into a unified power, and therefore endorsed the prospect of creating a European Economic Community (EEC). It was intended that the union would include Italy, France, Germany and the Benelux members, and form a basis for the development of free trade and the deeper political and economic integration of the regional countries. It is concluded that, under the Eisenhower’s presidency, Europe was at the top of priority list of the U.S. foreign policy that significantly influenced the evolution of the European integration process in the future.

scholarly journals An Examination of American Diplomacy During the Tehran and Yalta Conferences

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Ariel Davis
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
World War Ii ◽  
Soviet Union ◽  
The United States ◽  
The Other ◽  
World War ◽  
Liberal Internationalism ◽  
The United Kingdom ◽  
The Soviet Union ◽  
Post War

Since the end of World War II, the United States has been a leading proponent of liberal internationalism and Western democratic values around the world. Modern historians generally agree that the post-war order, which produced multi-national institutions and promoted democracy, free trade, and peace, was largely shaped by the United States and the other two Allied powers, the United Kingdom and the Soviet Union. This paper explains how the Tehran and Yalta Conferences served as early examples of President Franklin Roosevelt’s vision for international cooperation and American global leadership. Specifically, this essay analyzes how Roosevelt used these conferences to unite the other Allied powers in an effort to end World War II and establish the foundations for the liberal international post war order. To demonstrate the significance of these conferences and their role in the development of the liberal post-war order, conference minutes between the leaders of the Allied powers and their respective foreign policy experts are analyzed. Academic writings from military and international historians are also used to evaluate the execution and outcomes of the agreements reached during these conferences.

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