Nuremberg trials

The Nuremberg trials were held between 1945 and 1946 in the German city of Nuremberg. Twenty-three senior Nazis who had survived World War II were tried for war crimes committed under the Third Reich during the war. (PROSE: Just War ^[+]Loading...["Just War (novel)"], AUDIO: Just War ^[+]Loading...["Just War (audio story)"])

A common defence from the defendants, one that was common enough for Fitz Kreiner to call it the "Nuremberg defence", was that they were doing what they had been told to do. (PROSE: Hope ^[+]Loading...["Hope (novel)"]) Others were so indoctrinated by the Nazi ideology that they were unable to think of killing Jews as anything other than "just common sense." (PROSE: The Turing Test ^[+]Loading...["The Turing Test (novel)"])

Albert Speer was the only Nazi to plead guilty. A 1997 documentary, The Last Days of Hitler?, said he had integrity. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass ^[+]Loading...["The Shadow in the Glass (novel)"]) Chris Cwej, after watching a BBC2 documentary on the trials, felt Speer was trying to look regretful in order to avoid a twenty-year prison sentence. (PROSE: Dead Romance ^[+]Loading...["Dead Romance (novel)"])

Oskar Steinmann was found guilty and sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released in 1969 on medical grounds and died in 1972 of spine cancer. (PROSE: Just War ^[+]Loading...["Just War (novel)"])

Heinrich Himmler was among those who committed suicide before they could be tried. (PROSE: The Shadow in the Glass ^[+]Loading...["The Shadow in the Glass (novel)"])

Behind the scenes

• In the real world, twenty-two Nazis were tried at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. In the Doctor Who universe, Oskar Steinmann is the twenty-third. The glossary at the end of Just War ^[+]Loading...["Just War (novel)"] acknowledges this.
• Albert Speer actually pleaded not guilty to all charges at the Nuremberg trial. Speer did, however, appear to give the impression of apologising to the court while stopping short of admitting personal responsibility. He was ultimately found guilty of two of the four charges against him, and sentenced to twenty years' imprisonment. Speer's subsequent attempts to deflect responsibility and portray himself as the "good Nazi" led rise to what is known as "the Speer myth".
• Other senior Nazis who exist within the DWU were tried at Nuremberg in the real world, including: Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Martin Bormann (in absentia), Karl Doenitz, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Alfred Rosenberg and Franz von Papen.