What role should the international community play in pursuing justice after a nation has been through genocide or mass violence? What are the benefits as well as limitations of trying key perpetrators of genocide in an international court of law?
When a nation has been decimated by genocide, it may be unable to take on the responsibility of pursuing justice. This may be because the government in power participated, on some level, in the genocide, and is therefore incapable of objectively determining what is just. Or, a government simply might not have the resources to adequately take on the task. The Nuremberg Trials following World War II and the Holocaust was a precedent-setting event when, for the first time in history, an International Military tribunal challenged the world to apply law to mass violence and to recognize crimes against humanity. This page provides testimony of prosecutors and defendants from the first trial. Used in conjunction with the Nuremberg Fact Sheet, these resources provide a brief introduction to the trials.