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From Liberation to the Pursuit of Justice Days of Remembrance, May 1-8, 2005 “The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated.” — Justice Robert Jackson, Chief U.S. Counsel to the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Germany, November 21, 1945 The United States Holocaust Memorial Museum is mandated by Congress to educate Americans about the history of the Holocaust and to annually commemorate its victims in the national Days of Remembrance observance. The Museum has designated "From Liberation to the Pursuit of Justice" as the theme for the 2005 Days of Remembrance in memory of the 60th anniversary of the liberation of Nazi concentration camps and the subsequent prosecution under international law of major Nazi war criminals at Nuremberg, Germany. Reflection on the liberation of thousands of Jews and other prisoners from Nazi camps and the prosecution of Nazi perpetrators reminds us that we must take action to prevent atrocities and vigorously pursue justice for the victims of such acts of hatred and inhumanity.
Combat-hardened soldiers were unprepared for what they found in the camps: stacks of dead bodies lying around, and barracks filled with dead and dying prisoners. The stench of death was everywhere. Although the Germans had attempted to evacuate them, the camps still housed thousands of emaciated and diseased prisoners, a sight that shocked the liberating soldiers. Those prisoners who survived resembled skeletons because of forced labor and lack of food. Many were so weak that they could hardly move. Disease remained an ever present danger and the liberators had to burn down many of the camps to prevent the spread of epidemics. General Dwight D. Eisenhower made a deliberate visit to the Ohrdruf camp in order to witness personally the evidence of atrocities that "beggar description." Publicly expressing shock and revulsion, he urged others to see the camps first-hand, lest "the stories of Nazi brutality" be forgotten or dismissed as merely "propaganda." Like all survivors of the camps, Jews were plagued by illness and exhaustion. But, unlike those from other victim groups, Jewish survivors emerged from concentration camps and hiding places into a Europe in which they felt they no longer had a place. They had not only lost their families, but also their homes and in most cases, their entire communities, during the Holocaust. Many Jews were reluctant to return to their home countries because of continuing antisemitism and fear of Communist rule. They faced a long and difficult road to recovery. After the war, military tribunals in Poland, the Soviet Union, occupied Germany, and elsewhere prosecuted captured Nazi officials under a variety of charges, many of which paralleled what were later defined as "crimes against humanity." While several Nazi leaders, including Hitler, Himmler, and Goebbels, committed suicide in the final days of the Nazi regime, representatives of the victorious Allies prosecuted other major offenders in the best-known war crimes trial, the Nuremberg Trial, held at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany, between November 1945 and August 1946. Under the auspices of the International Military Tribunal (IMT), prosecutors and judges from the four occupying powers (Great Britain, France, the Soviet Union, and the United States), tried some of the leading officials of the Nazi regime on four counts, including a newly defined count of "crimes against humanity," in which significant evidence relating to the Nazi effort to murder the European Jews was introduced. Several prominent Nazis were sentenced to death, others received prison sentences, and a few were acquitted. In the three years following this major trial, the IMT conducted 12 subsequent trials before U.S. Military Tribunals and presided over by U.S. judges. The proceedings were directed at second- and third-ranking officials of the Nazi regime. They included concentration camp administrators, commanders of the mobile killing units of the Security Police (Einsatzgruppen), Nazi physicians, and public health officials. Ultimately, only a minority of the perpetrators were indicted. And, in the end, many Nazis escaped judgment or were treated with leniency. Nonetheless, the Nuremberg trials have had a major impact on international law over the last 60 years. The International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the recently created International Criminal Court are all part of the legacy of Nuremberg and of ongoing efforts of the world community to prevent and punish the crime of genocide.
Speeches at the ceremony:
Chronology
Bibliography Abzug, Robert H. GIs Remember: Liberating the Concentration Camps. Washington: National Museum of American Jewish History, 1994. Ball, Howard. Prosecuting War Crimes and Genocide: The Twentieth-Century Experience. Lawrence: University of Kansas Press, 1999. Bridgman, Jon. End of the Holocaust: The Liberation of the Camps. Portland: Areopagitica Press, 1990. Bosch, William J. Judgment on Nuremberg: American Attitude Toward the Major German War-Crime Trials. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1970. Conot, Robert E. Justice at Nuremberg. New York: Harper & Row, 1983. Marrus, Michael R. The Nuremberg War Crimes Trial, 1945-46: A Documentary History. Boston: Bedford Books, 1997. Taylor, Telford. The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir. New York: Knopf, 1992. USHMC. In Pursuit of Justice: Examining the Evidence of the Holocaust. Washington, D.C. USHMM, 1997. Film/Video Nazis...Lest We Forget! [videorecording]. Sandy Hook, Conn.: Video Yesteryear, 1991. Liberation [videorecording]. New York: First Run/Icarus Films, 1995. Liberation 1945: Testimony [videorecording]. Washington: United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, 1995. The Last Days of World War II [videorecording]. [New York]: A&E Home Video, 1995. Murderers Among us: The Simon Wiesenthal Story [videorecording] HBO Pictures, 1988. Web Resources USHMM: The Doctors Trial: The Medical Case of the Subsequent Nuremberg Proceedings USHMM: Holocaust Encyclopedia: Honoring American Liberators Web Links: Holocaust Commemoration and Days of Remembrance Worldwide Follow the links below for some examples of past and upcoming remembrance activities worldwide (note that some countries observe Holocaust Remembrance Day on January 27, the date of the liberation of Auschwitz). Yad Vashem Yad Vashem (schedule of events) Ride to Remember: International Ride of Jewish Motorcyclists to United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Holocaust Memorial Day in the United Kingdom Liverpool, United Kingdom Prague, Czech Republic Montgomery College, Maryland, United States Chicago Public Library, Illinois, United States Florida Holocaust Museum, St. Petersburg, Florida, United States Southwest Florida Holocaust Museum, Naples, Florida, United States University of Utah, Salt Lake City, Utah, United States Bergen Community College, Paramus, New Jersey, United States Washington State Holocaust Education Resource Center, Seattle, Washington, United States |
