The Mauthausen trial : American military justice in Germany / Tomaz Jardim.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Jardim, Tomaz, 1974-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

War crime trials--Germany--Dachau.

War crime trials.

Trials (Genocide)--Germany--Dachau.

Trials (Genocide).

World War, 1939-1945--Atrocities.

World War, 1939-1945.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945)--Austria.

Holocaust, Jewish (1939-1945).

Mauthausen (Concentration camp).

Physical Description:

1 online resource (301 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

Cambridge, Mass. : Harvard University Press, 2012.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

Shortly after 9:00 a.m. on May 27, 1947, the first of forty-nine men condemned to death for war crimes at Mauthausen concentration camp mounted the gallows at Landsberg prison near Munich. The mass execution that followed resulted from an American military trial conducted at Dachau in the spring of 1946-a trial that lasted only thirty-six days and yet produced more death sentences than any other in American history.The Mauthausen trial was part of a massive series of proceedings designed to judge and punish Nazi war criminals in the most expedient manner the law would allow. There was no doubt that the crimes had been monstrous. Yet despite meting out punishment to a group of incontestably guilty men, the Mauthausen trial reveals a troubling and seldom-recognized face of American postwar justice-one characterized by rapid proceedings, lax rules of evidence, and questionable interrogations.Although the better-known Nuremberg trials are often regarded as epitomizing American judicial ideals, these trials were in fact the exception to the rule. Instead, as Tomaz Jardim convincingly demonstrates, the rough justice of the Mauthausen trial remains indicative of the most common-and yet least understood-American approach to war crimes prosecution. The Mauthausen Trial forces reflection on the implications of compromising legal standards in order to guarantee that guilty people do not walk free.

Contents:

Frontmatter

Contents

Introduction

CHAPTER 1. War Crimes Trials and the U.S. Army

CHAPTER 2. American Investigators at Mauthausen

CHAPTER 3. The Prosecution Crafts Its Case

CHAPTER 4. The Defendants in the Dock

CHAPTER 5. Judgment at Dachau

Conclusion

APPENDIX: The Mauthausen Trial Charge Sheet

Notes

Bibliography of Primary Sources

Acknowledgments

Index

Notes:

Bibliographic Level Mode of Issuance: Monograph

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780674264731

0674264738

9780674063129

0674063120

OCLC:

768761303