Nuremberg Trials begin, November 20, 1945
Twenty of Nazi Germany’s most brutal leaders sit in the dock in Courtroom 600 in the Palace of Justice, Nuremberg, Germany. Eight judges, two each from the United States, Britain, Russia, and France, form an International Military Tribunal that weighs charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes against peace. Of the twenty-four defendants ultimately tried at Nuremberg, twelve will be sentenced to death by hanging, seven will receive prison sentences, and three will be acquitted. One was declared medically unfit for trial and another committed suicide before the trial began. Martin Bormann, Hitler’s private secretary, was tried and sentenced to death in absentia.