Global Studies
The Holocaust
7. Nuremberg Trials
Objective
Students will debate what should be done with the Nazis responsible for the Holocaust.
Activities
Warm-Up: Have students work as a table to brainstorm what war crimes are. They will make a list of war crimes that could be prosecuted. Have each group of students create a chart of their war crimes. Then discuss as a class the War Crimes that came under the jurisdiction of the Tribunals.
Nuremberg Trials:Explain that after the horrors of the Holocaust were exposed, many of the leaders of the Nazi regime were put on a series of trials for the following war crimes:
Crime against the peace
Crime against humanity
These Nuremberg Trials were held in Germany. It is important to understand that crimes against the peace and crimes against humanity had no legal precedence. Never before had the world prosecutednational leaders for these types of war crimes.
War Criminals: As a group, have students determine which people should be put on trial for war crimes as a direct result of the Holocaust.Have group put each defendant on a sticky note with the charges and rationale. They will then place the defendant sticky notes on the war crimes chart they created during the warm-up.
Overview of Nuremberg Trials: Give each table a copy of the Nuremberg Trials overview that discusses the defendants, charges, and verdicts of each of the major cases. Have groups look these over. Do they agree with the trials and the verdicts?
Legacy of War: Play a short Nuremberg Trial excerpt from the PBS documentary Legacy of War. Have students share their reaction to the trials. What does the scholar mean when he says “Nuremberg is a work in progress”? Emphasize the importance of the Nuremberg Trials in establishing precedence for prosecuting the leaders of nations for crimes against the peace and crimes against humanity.
Holocaust Journal: Write the final journal entry in response to the horrors of the Holocaust from the perspective of a survivor. What do the victims want the world to learn and remember from the Holocaust?
Assignment
Write the final journal entryin response to the horrors of the Holocaust from the perspective of a survivor. What do the victims want the world to learn and remember from the Holocaust?