Atrocities on trial : historical perspectives on the politics of prosecuting war crimes / edited by Patricia Heberer and Jürgen Matthäus ; foreword by Michael R. Marrus.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Heberer, Patricia.

Matthäus, Jürgen, 1959-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War crime trials--Germany.

War crime trials.

Germany.

Physical Description:

xxx, 327 pages ; 23 cm

Place of Publication:

Lincoln : University of Nebraska Press ; [Washington, DC] : Published in association with the United States Holocaust Museum, [2008]

Summary:

Since the Nuremberg trials following World War II, there has been considerable debate about the nature and effects of war crimes with regard both to the Nazis and to modern-day perpetrators. What constitutes a "war crime," and how has the concept changed over time? How do victors and vanquished deal with crimes that have universal as well as national dimensions? How is the historical reality of war crimes related to their judicial treatment? How are perpetrators portrayed during investigations and trials?

These timely and provocative essays make use of newly available archival sources and a wide range of case studies to provide in-depth analyses of war crimes within a broad historical framework. The essays are organized into four sections: the history of war-crime trials from Weimar Germany to just after World War II; the sometimes diverging Allied efforts to come to terms with the Nazi concentration camp system; the ability of postwar society to confront war crimes of the past; and the legacy of war-crime trials in the twenty-first century. Atrocities on Trial illuminates a dark and timely subject and helps us to understand the ongoing struggle to hold accountable those who perpetrate crimes against humanity.

Contents:

The lessons of Leipzig : punishing German War criminals after the First World War / Jürgen Matthäus

Early postwar justice in the American zone : the "Hadamar murder factory" trial / Patricia Heberer

U.S. Army war crimes trials in Germany, 1945-1947 / Lisa Yavnai

Law and politics in the subsequent Nuremberg trials, 1946-1949 / Jonathan Friedman

The Nuremberg doctors' trial and the limitations of context / Michael R. Marrus

"The scars of Ravensbrück" : medical experiments and British war crimes policy, 1945-1950 / Ulf Schmidt

The Sachsenhausen trials : war crimes prosecution in the Soviet occupation zone and in West and East Germany / Jonathan Friedman

"No ordinary criminal" : Georg Heuser, other mass murderers, and West German justice / Jürgen Matthäus

Tainted law : the West German judiciary and the prosecution of Nazi War criminals / Rebecca Wittmann

Justice in Austrian courts? The case of Josef W. and Austria's difficult relationship with its past / Patricia Heberer

Crimes-against-humanity trials in France and their historical and legal contexts : a retrospective look / Richard J. Golsan

Milestones and mythologies : the impact of Nuremberg / Donald Bloxham

Prosecution, condemnation, and punishment : ethical implications of atrocities on trial / John K. Roth.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 305-308) and index.

ISBN:

9780803210844

0803210841

OCLC:

170058022