Before a packed courtroom and the with the world watching, the President of the Tribunal began the reading of the Judgment of the Court on the morning of Monday, 30 September 1946.
On 8 August 1945, the Government of the United Kingdom, of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, the Government of the United States of America, the Provisional Government of the French Republic, and the Government of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics entered into an agreement establishing this Tribunal for the trial of War Criminals whose offenses have no particular geographical location. In accordance with Article 5, the following Governments of the United Nations have expressed their adherence to the Agreement:
Greece, Denmark, Yugoslavia, the Netherlands, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Belgium, Ethiopia, Australia, Honduras, Norway, Panama, Luxembourg, Haiti, New Zealand, India, Venezuela, Uruguay, and Paraguay.
By the Charter annexed to the Agreement, the constitution, jurisdiction and functions of the Tribunal were defined.
The Tribunal was invested with power to try and punish persons who had committed Crimes against Peace, War Crimes, and Crimes against Humanity as defined in the Charter.
The Charter also provided that at the trial of any individual member of any group or organization the Tribunal may declare (in connection with any act of which the individual may be convicted) that the group or organization of which the individual was a member was a criminal organization….
and so began the beginning of the end. The reading continued throughout the morning addressing each charge of the original indictment. At it’s conclusion, the Court adjourned until 9:30 am the following morning at which time the verdicts for the 21 individuals charged would be read.
Tuesday, 1 October 1946
The German Nazis were charged with any one or all of the following crimes:
Count One: Common Plan or Conspiracy / Count Two: Crimes against Peace
Count Three: War Crimes / Count Four: Crimes against Humanity
The verdicts determined by the International Military Tribunal, based on the evidence and testimony presented to the Court, were as follows:
Defendant Verdict Sentence
Bormann Guilty on Counts Three and Four Hanging
Donitz Guilty on Counts Two and Three 10 years in prison
Frank Guilty on Counts Three and Four Hanging
Frick Guilty on Counts Three and Four Hanging
Fritzsche Not Guilty on Counts One, Three and Four
Funk Guilty on Counts Two, Three and Four Life in prison
Goring Guilty on all Counts Hanging
Hess Guilty on Counts One and Two Life in prison
Jodl Guilty on all Counts Hanging
Kaltenbrunner Guilty on Counts Three and Four Hanging
Keitel Guilty on all Counts Hanging
Neurath Guilty on all Counts 15 years in prison
Papen Not Guilty on Counts One and Two
Raeder Guilty on Counts One, Two and Three Life in prison
Ribbentrop Guilty on all Counts Hanging
Rosenberg Guilty on all Counts Hanging
Sauckel Guilty on Counts Three and Four Hanging
Schacht Not Guilty on Counts One and Two
Schirach Guilty on Count Four 20 years in prison
Seyss-Inquart Guilty on Counts Two, Three, Four Hanging
Speer Guilty on Counts Three and Four 20 years prison
Streicher Guilty on Count Four Hanging
The news report was delivered on the air in the United States on 8 October 1946.
With the Trial at Nuremberg concluded, Tom Dodd returned home to his wife and family in Connecticut to start the next stage of his career but his experiences in Nuremberg stayed with him and, like others associated with the Trial, had a life long impact on his life.
The majority of the letters from Tom Dodd to his wife Grace have been published and can be found in Letters from Nuremberg, My father’s narrative of a quest for justice. Senator Christopher J. Dodd with Lary Bloom. New York: Crown Publishing, 2007.
Images available in Thomas J. Dodd Papers.