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Nuremberg Trials Timeline

(November 20, 1945 - October 1, 1946)

The Nuremberg Trials were a series of military tribunals held by the Allied forces after World War II to prosecute prominent members of the political, military, and economic leadership of Nazi Germany for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace. Held in Nuremberg, Germany, these trials established groundbreaking precedents in international law and accountability. Less

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Road to Justice

Germany invades Poland, Denmark, Norway, and Western Europe

Sep 1, 1939

Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded many European countries, including Poland, Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Yugoslavia, Greece, and the Soviet Union.

Image source: Nuremberg trials

Germany invades Poland, Denmark, Norway, and Western Europe

Nazi Germany invades Europe

Sep 1, 1939 - May 8, 1945

Between 1939 and 1945, Nazi Germany invaded many countries across Europe, inflicting 27 million deaths in the Soviet Union alone. These aggressions and atrocities would later form the basis of the charges brought at the Nuremberg Trials.

Governments-in-exile demand an international court

Jan 1, 1942

In early 1942, representatives of nine governments-in-exile from German-occupied Europe issued a declaration demanding an international court to try the German crimes committed in their occupied countries.

United Nations War Crimes Commission first meets

Oct 1, 1943

The London-based United Nations War Crimes Commission—without Soviet participation—first met in October 1943 and became bogged down in the scope of its mandate, with Belgian jurist Marcel de Baer and Czech legal scholar Bohuslav Ečer arguing for a broader definition of war crimes that would include 'the crime of war'.

Image source: United Nations War Crimes Commission

United Nations War Crimes Commission first meets

Moscow Declaration warns Nazi leadership

Nov 1, 1943

On 1 November 1943, the Soviet Union, United Kingdom, and United States issued the Moscow Declaration, warning Nazi leadership of the signatories' intent to 'pursue them to the uttermost ends of the earth' and deliver them to justice.

US War Department plans an international tribunal

Oct 1, 1944 - Mar 31, 1945

The United States Department of War was drawing up plans for an international tribunal in late 1944 and early 1945, laying groundwork for the eventual prosecution of Nazi leaders.

Yalta Conference leaves retribution unresolved

Feb 4, 1945 - Feb 11, 1945

At the Yalta Conference in February 1945, the Allied leaders discussed how Nazi criminals would face justice, but the form that retribution would take was left unresolved.

Image source: Yalta Conference

Yalta Conference leaves retribution unresolved

Germany surrenders unconditionally

May 8, 1945

Germany surrendered unconditionally on 8 May 1945, bringing an end to the war in Europe and clearing the way for the Allies to prosecute captured Nazi leaders.

Image source: German Instrument of Surrender

Germany surrenders unconditionally

Four powers agree to convene a joint tribunal

Jun 1, 1945 - Aug 31, 1945

In mid-1945, France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States agreed to convene a joint tribunal in Nuremberg, occupied Germany, with the Nuremberg Charter as its legal instrument.

London Conference negotiates the form of the trial

Jun 26, 1945 - Aug 2, 1945

At the London Conference, held from 26 June to 2 August 1945, representatives of France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom, and the United States negotiated the form that the trial would take.

Image source: Nuremberg trials

London Conference negotiates the form of the trial

US and USSR resist broad tribunal jurisdiction

Jun 26, 1945 - Aug 2, 1945

During the 1945 London Conference, both the United States and the Soviet Union explicitly resisted giving the International Military Tribunal broad jurisdiction over a state's peacetime treatment of its own citizens, seeking to protect their own domestic affairs from international scrutiny.

The Trial

Vyshinsky demands corrections to charges

Nov 20, 1945 - Jan 31, 1946

Vyshinsky demanded extensive corrections to the charges of crimes against peace, especially regarding the role of the 1939 German–Soviet pact and its secret protocols in starting World War II.

IMT trial of major Nazi war criminals begins

Nov 20, 1945 - Oct 1, 1946

Between 20 November 1945 and 1 October 1946, the International Military Tribunal (IMT) tried 22 of the most important surviving leaders of Nazi Germany in the political, military, and economic spheres, as well as six German organizations.

Propagandists and Nazi officials among the accused

Nov 20, 1945 - Oct 1, 1946

Also on trial were propagandists Julius Streicher and Hans Fritzsche; Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy who had flown to Britain in 1941; Hans Frank, governor-general of the General Government of Poland; Hitler Youth leader Baldur von Schirach; Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands; and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, leader of Himmler's Reich Security Main Office.

Trial opens after Soviet postponement requests rejected

Nov 20, 1945

The International Military Tribunal began trial on 20 November 1945, after postponement requests from the Soviet prosecution, who wanted more time to prepare its case, were rejected.

Nuremberg hosts a thousand delegation employees

Jan 1, 1946

In early 1946, there were a thousand employees from the four countries' delegations in Nuremberg, of which about two thirds were from the United States.

French prosecutor de Menthon resigns

Jan 1, 1946

The French prosecutor, François de Menthon, had just overseen trials of the leaders of Vichy France; he resigned in January 1946 and was replaced by Auguste Champetier de Ribes.

Image source: François de Menthon

French prosecutor de Menthon resigns

French prosecution traces Germany's nineteenth-century development

Jan 17, 1946 - Feb 7, 1946

In contrast to the other prosecution teams, the French prosecution delved into Germany's development in the nineteenth century, arguing that it had diverged from the West due to pan-Germanism and imperialism.

France presents its charges and evidence

Jan 17, 1946 - Feb 7, 1946

From 17 January to 7 February 1946, France presented its charges and supporting evidence before the International Military Tribunal.

Defense presents its counterarguments

Mar 1, 1946 - Jul 31, 1946

From March to July 1946, the defense presented its counterarguments against the charges leveled by the four Allied prosecution teams.

Churchill's Iron Curtain speech colors the trial

Mar 5, 1946

In the context of the brewing Cold War—for example, in early March 1946, Winston Churchill delivered the Iron Curtain speech—the trial became a means of condemning not only Germany but also the Soviet Union.

Image source: Iron Curtain

Churchill's Iron Curtain speech colors the trial

Legacy

German public opinion on the trial shifts

Jan 1, 1946 - Dec 31, 1950

In a 1946 poll, 78 percent of Germans assessed the trial as fair, but four years later that had fallen to 38 percent, with 30 percent considering it unfair.

UN affirms principles of the Nuremberg Charter

Dec 11, 1946

On 11 December 1946, the United Nations General Assembly unanimously passed a resolution affirming 'the principles of international law recognized by the Charter of the Nuremberg Tribunal and the judgment of the Tribunal'.

Image source: Nuremberg principles

UN affirms principles of the Nuremberg Charter

Genocide Convention adopts restricted definition

Dec 9, 1948

The 1948 Genocide Convention was much more restricted than Raphael Lemkin's original concept, and its effectiveness was further limited by Cold War politics.

West Germany supports pardons for convicted war criminals

May 23, 1949

The pardon of convicted war criminals also had cross-party support in West Germany, which was established in 1949, pressuring the occupying powers to show leniency.

International Law Commission drafts Nuremberg principles

Jan 1, 1950

In 1950, the International Law Commission drafted the Nuremberg principles to codify international criminal law, although the Cold War prevented the adoption of these principles until the 1990s.

Permanent International Criminal Court proposed

Jan 1, 1953

A permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) was proposed in 1953, building on the precedent set at Nuremberg, though it would take decades to become reality.

Image source: International Criminal Court

Permanent International Criminal Court proposed

Trial depicted in books and films

Dec 14, 1961 - Jan 1, 2025

The IMT is one of the most well-studied trials in history, and it has been the subject of an abundance of books and scholarly publications, along with motion pictures such as Judgment at Nuremberg (1961), The Memory of Justice (1976), Nuremberg (2000), and Nuremberg (2025).

Image source: Judgment at Nuremberg

Trial depicted in books and films

Verdict and Sentences

Judges rule conspiracy to commit crimes against peace

Sep 30, 1946

The judges ruled that there had been a premeditated conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, whose goals were 'the disruption of the European order' and 'the creation of a Greater Germany beyond the frontiers of 1914'.

Verdict dates aggression planning to the Hossbach Memorandum

Sep 30, 1946

Contrary to Jackson's argument that the conspiracy began with the founding of the Nazi Party in 1920, the verdict dated the planning of aggression to the 1937 Hossbach Memorandum.

Pre-1939 crimes against Jews ruled outside jurisdiction

Sep 30, 1946

The judges determined that crimes against humanity concerning German Jews before 1939 were not under the court's jurisdiction because the prosecution had not proven a connection to aggressive war.

Speer denied early release; Hess imprisoned until 1987

Oct 1, 1946 - Aug 17, 1987

The IMT defendants required Soviet permission for release; Albert Speer was not successful in obtaining early release, and Rudolf Hess remained in prison until his death in 1987.

Image source: Rudolf Hess

Speer denied early release; Hess imprisoned until 1987

Americans begin early releases of NMT convicts

Jan 1, 1949

The Americans satisfied these wishes to bind West Germany to the Western Bloc, beginning early releases of Nuremberg Military Tribunal convicts in 1949.

Image source: Subsequent Nuremberg trials

Americans begin early releases of NMT convicts

McCloy overturns most sentences

Jan 1, 1951

In 1951, High Commissioner John J. McCloy overturned most of the remaining sentences of convicted war criminals, commuting many death sentences and ordering releases.

Image source: John J. McCloy

McCloy overturns most sentences

Last three Einsatzgruppen trial prisoners released

Jan 1, 1958

After McCloy's clemency decisions, the last three prisoners, all convicted at the Einsatzgruppen trial, were released in 1958.

Image source: Einsatzgruppen trial

Last three Einsatzgruppen trial prisoners released

Key Facts

  1. The Nuremberg Trials were the first international trials in history to prosecute individuals for crimes against humanity, setting a lasting precedent for international criminal justice.
  2. Twenty-four major Nazi leaders were tried in the initial trial, with twelve sentenced to death, including Hermann Göring and Joachim von Ribbentrop.
  3. The trials introduced key legal concepts such as 'crimes against peace' and established that following orders is not a valid defense for committing atrocities.
  4. Nuremberg was chosen as the location partly for symbolic reasons, as it had been the site of major Nazi Party rallies and the passage of the anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws in 1935.
  5. The trials led to the creation of subsequent tribunals and directly influenced the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC) decades later.

Source

This Nuremberg Trials timeline was generated with the help of AI, using information found on the internet.

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