Building a Case against the War Criminals

Humanitarian Law ◽

World War ◽

War Criminals ◽

Post War ◽

Long before the Second World War ended, the Allies were planning to prosecute Axis war criminals, including both those in positions of leadership and the perpetrators of individual crimes. There was no standing war crimes court at the end of the Second World War, however, and the post-war trials were a watershed in international law. For the trials at Nuremberg and Tokyo, Allied planners drew on the development of international humanitarian law and international agreements signed by the combatants over the decades preceding the war. The vast majority of war criminals who were prosecuted did not face the court at Nuremberg or Tokyo: they appeared before national military tribunals which were conducted according to each prosecuting country’s war crimes law. The Australian War Crimes Act passed through the parliament in October 1945, shortly before trials began.

Appointment

10.1017/s0020860400063282 ◽

1969 ◽

Vol 9 (102) ◽

pp. 491-491 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Keyword(s):

International Committee ◽

Second World War ◽

Prisoners Of War ◽

Humanitarian Law ◽

World War ◽

East European ◽

Middle East Countries ◽

Wide Experience ◽

Mr. Raymond Courvoisier has since 1 August 1969 taken over the appointment of special assistant to the President of the International Committee, thus bringing it his wide experience in the field of international humanitarian law. It should, in fact, be recalled that from 1936 to 1945 he undertook a large number of missions in ICRC service as delegate in Spain, Turkey, in East European and Middle East countries. Furthermore, he was in charge of a section in the Central Prisoners of War Agency in Geneva during the Second World War.

Amnesties in the Light of Developments in International Law and the Establishment of the International Criminal Court

International and Comparative Law Quarterly ◽

10.1093/iclq/51.1.91 ◽

2002 ◽

Vol 51 (1) ◽

pp. 91-117 ◽

Cited By ~ 14

Author(s):

Jessica Gavron

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Second World War ◽

Criminal Court ◽

World War ◽

Military Tribunal ◽

War Criminals ◽

The First World War ◽

The Impact ◽

Second World ◽

First World

Amnesties presuppose a breach of law and provide immunity or protection from punishment. Historically amnesties were invoked in relation to breaches of the laws of war and were reciprocally implemented by opposing sides in an international armed conflict. The impact of the two world wars in the first half of the twentieth century, however, had considerable implications not only for the use of amnesties, but also for their legality under international law. The scale of the First World War precipitated a new phase of unilateral amnesty for the victors and prosecutions of war criminals for the defeated aggressor states.1 This precedent was followed after the Second World War,2 with the establishment of the first ‘international’3 criminal court, the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. However, the horrors perpetrated during the Second World War also prompted the development of a branch of international law aimed at recognising and protecting human rights in an attempt to prevent such atrocities being repeated.

THE INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW APPLICABLE IN THE NEW TYPES OF ARMED CONFLICTS

Agora International Journal of Juridical Sciences ◽

10.15837/aijjs.v8i4.1619 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 8 (4) ◽

pp. 184-193

Author(s):

Nicolae David Ungureanu

Keyword(s):

Second World War ◽

Armed Conflicts ◽

Humanitarian Law ◽

World War ◽

Modern Period ◽

The international humanitarian law applicable in armed conflicts has evolved continuously since antiquity until today, its doctrinal writings pointing out during the modern period the influence that the progress of the concepts and the practices of war has had on the development of the normative conventions, especially the first and second world war, resulting in texts that are applicable even today.

Making Killers: Hate Training and the US Army’s War in Europe, 1942-5

Journal of Contemporary History ◽

10.1177/0022009420911080 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 002200942091108

Author(s):

Benjamin M. Schneider

Keyword(s):

War Crimes ◽

Second World War ◽

World War ◽

Us Army ◽

Military Justice ◽

German Army ◽

War Criminals ◽

The Us ◽

Marginal Effectiveness ◽

During the Second World War, the US Army was faced with the problem of turning average civilians into soldiers capable of destroying the German army. To ease their adjustment to their new duties and overcome what US officers saw as the unsuitability of Americans for soldiering, the Army Ground Forces adopted a training regimen designed to produce an ‘induced urge to hate the enemy’. This training would make soldiers into enthusiastic killers by portraying the enemy as brutal and ruthless and warfare as a fundamentally lawless activity. As the war went on, hate training increasingly emphasized German atrocities, breaking down the distinctions between soldier and civilian and painting all Germans as potential threats. This antinomian approach achieved only marginal effectiveness in getting US troops to kill, but had dire results for military justice. Blurring the lines between lawful killing and murder, the army’s hate training program crippled its ability to police its soldiers. As violence against German civilians and POWs mounted, many officers felt these war crimes were the natural and inevitable result of the army’s training regimen. Unwilling to hold soldiers responsible, confessed war criminals were only lightly punished, explicitly because the Army believed they had only acted on their training.

Public international law in the context of post-German cultural property held within Poland’s borders. A complicated situation or simply a resolution?

Leiden Journal of International Law ◽

10.1017/s0922156520000461 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 33 (4) ◽

pp. 953-968

Author(s):

Bartłomiej Sierzputowski

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Legal Status ◽

Second World War ◽

Cultural Property ◽

World War ◽

Public International Law ◽

Post War ◽

Polish Government ◽

Second World ◽

Complicated Situation

AbstractThe article discusses the complicated situation of post-German cultural property held within Poland’s borders after the Second World War. On 2 August 1945, ‘the Big Three’ decided a new layout of power within Europe. They reached an agreement that Silesia, Pomerania, the Free City of Danzig (Gdańsk), and part of East Prussia (Regained Territories) along with all the property which had been left on site, should be a part of Poland. One of the post-war priorities of the Polish Government was to regulate the legal status of post-German cultural property left within these newly-delineated borders. Although the Second World War ended in 1945, there was still a threat that the majority of post-German property could be devastated, destroyed, or even looted. There are some documented cases where such cultural property was seized inter alia by the Red Army and then transported to Russia. Since 1945, Russian museums have exhibited many of these pieces of art. This article addresses the question concerning the legal status of post-German cultural property in light of public international law. Furthermore, the article responds to the question, whether Poland is entitled to restitution of post-German cultural property looted from the Regained Territories.

The contribution of the Emperor Asoka Maurya to the development of the humanitarian ideal in warfare

10.1017/s0020860400090604 ◽

1995 ◽

Vol 35 (305) ◽

pp. 192-206 ◽

Cited By ~ 3

Author(s):

G.I.A.D. Draper

Keyword(s):

War Crimes ◽

Second World War ◽

Red Cross ◽

Humanitarian Law ◽

World War ◽

The United Kingdom ◽

War Crimes Trials ◽

The University ◽

Legal Staff ◽

Gerald Draper (1914–1989) was the foremost specialist in humanitarian law of his generation in the United Kingdom, and was well-respected in the law of war community worldwide. He was a Military Prosecutor in the war crimes trials in Germany after the Second World War, and following his retirement from the Army Legal Staff became a distinguished academic, finishing as Professor of Law at the University of Sussex. Draper was a delegate to many International Conferences of the Red Cross as well as to the Diplomatic Conference which drafted the Additional Protocols of 1977.

As Condições para uma Paz Duradoura. Uma Leitura de "A Paz pelo Direito", de Hans Kelsen

Cadernos do Programa de Pós-Graduação em Direito – PPGDir /UFRGS ◽

10.22456/2317-8558.44604 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 9 (1) ◽

Author(s):

Arnaldo Bastos Santos Neto ◽

Ricardo Martins Spindola Diniz

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

International Criminal Court ◽

International Criminal ◽

Second World War ◽

Criminal Court ◽

World War ◽

War Criminals ◽

Lasting Peace ◽

Hans Kelsen ◽

AS CONDIÇÕES PARA UMA PAZ DURADOURA. UMA LEITURA DE "A PAZ PELO DIREITO", DE HANS KELSEN CONDITIONS FOR A LASTING PEACE. A READING OF HANS KELSEN’S “PEACE THROUGH LAW” Arnaldo Bastos Santos NetoRicardo Martins Spindola DinizRESUMO: O pensador central da Escola Vienense de Direito, Hans Kelsen, dedicou-se ao exame de questões fundamentais do Direito Internacional, especialmente, após a eclosão da Segunda Guerra Mundial. Entre os seus textos mais interessantes da nova fase internacionalista, destaca-se "A paz pelo Direito", cujas teses mais importantes, como a defesa de um Tribunal Penal Internacional, a punição dos criminosos de guerra tanto dos lados vencidos como dos vencedores e ainda o papel propugnado por ele para os princípios do Direito Internacional, analisamos no presente artigo. PALAVRAS-CHAVE: Tribunal Penal Internacional; Crimes de Guerra; Teoria Pura do Direito. ABSTRACT: The central thinker of the Viennese School of Law, Hans Kelsen, devoted himself to the examination of the fundamental questions of International Law, especially after the break of the Second World War. Among his most interesting texts of this new internationalist phase, "Peace through Law" stands out, whose most important thesis, such as the defense of an International Criminal Court, the punishment of war criminals both for losers and winners, and also the role advocated by him to the principles of International Law, are analyzed in this article.KEYWORDS: International Criminal Court; War Crimes; Pure Theory of Law.SUMÁRIO: Introdução 1. O pacifismo jurídico kelseniano. 2. Além da soberania dos estados nacionais. 3. Por um tribunal penal internacional. 4. A questão da soberania. 5. O papel dos princípios. Considerações finais. Referências.

International criminal jurisdiction, international humanitarian law and humanitarian action

10.1017/s002086040007772x ◽

1997 ◽

Vol 37 (321) ◽

pp. 623-634

Author(s):

Jacques Stroun

Keyword(s):

Second World War ◽

Fundamental Rights ◽

Armed Conflicts ◽

Humanitarian Law ◽

World War ◽

Humanitarian Action ◽

Geneva Conventions ◽

The Individual ◽

Shortly after the Second World War the community of States, still shocked by the explosion of violence that had torn the world apart for more than five years, ratified an updated version of the Geneva Conventions in the hope of acquiring a sound legal instrument which would preserve human dignity even in times of war. They undertook to respect the fundamental rights of the individual in armed conflicts, whether international or otherwise, and to limit the use of force to what was strictly necessary to place an enemy hors de combat. Their resolve found confirmation in the two Additional Protocols of 1977.

Germany is No More: Defeat, Occupation, and the Postwar Order

10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199237395.013.0026 ◽

2012 ◽

Author(s):

Stefan-Ludwig Hoffmann

Keyword(s):

International Law ◽

Legal Status ◽

Second World War ◽

World War ◽

Sovereign State ◽

Southern States ◽

History Of ◽

Post War ◽

The Cold War ◽

This article focuses on a completely back lashed Germany after the Second World War. More people died in the Second World War than in any other conflict before or since. Particularly between the Elbe and the Volga, the Nazi war of extermination left a wasteland of death. This article traces the gradual transformations that came over Germany post 1945. After the ‘unconditional surrender’ of 8 May, 1945 — the formulation was initially coined for the defeated Southern states in the American Civil War — German territories came under the control of the four Allied Powers, creating an ambiguous legal status unprecedented in the history of modern international law. Divided into four major territories, each under the control of the allied forces, Germany was no longer a sovereign state. This article further traces the effects of the post-war era followed by the gradual embracing of democracy. The Cold War and the final descending of peace in the German territory winds up this article.

Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law — Alike yet Distinct

10.1017/s0020860400071527 ◽

1993 ◽

Vol 33 (293) ◽

pp. 89-93 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Jacques Meurant

Keyword(s):

Human Rights ◽

Public Law ◽

Second World War ◽

Humanitarian Law ◽

Human Rights Law ◽

World War ◽

Common Goal ◽

The Individual ◽

International humanitarian law and human rights law share a common goal, namely to protect the individual and to ensure respect for human dignity. Yet these two branches of international public law each have their own characteristics and origins and have evolved in different ways.Nevertheless, the troubled aftermath of the Second World War, the unchecked rise of violence and poverty in recent decades and the resulting need for improved protection of the ever-growing number of victims of violations of fundamental human rights have all contributed not only to the evolution of the two branches of law but also to their convergence, like “two poor crutches on which disarmed victims can lean simultaneously”, to quote an expressive image by Karel Vasak. This expert went so far as to estimate in 1984 that “the convergence of the two branches has led to an overlapping both on paper and, increasingly, in practice as well”.