Unit 2: Nuremberg

Overview: 

Students begin the unit by reviewing the atrocities of the Holocaust by watching the documentary Night and Fog and reviewing some key information about the process by which millions of people were systematically murdered throughout Europe. students then conduct a role play, where they are given a biography of a member of the Third Reich, and it is on them to determine the guilt of each Nazi member based on their actions and the crimes they are accused of.  

Students will also participate in a series of activities that will help establish the difficult nature of establishing the Nuremberg trials and will subsequently look at the trials and their results. Students will ultimately be asked to evaluate the trials success by assessing reflections from participants in the trials as well as historians. 

Essential questions:

1. Should those who participated in the atrocities committed during the war be punished? If so, who ought be held accountable? 

2. Should those individuals be tried before a court of law? What is the purpose of a trial? Is it to punish evil-doing? Or is to set a precedent for the future? 

3. Who should be tried? Are individuals responsible for their crimes if they have obeyed the laws of their nation? Or are there higher laws? If so, what are those laws? 

4. How does one determine punishment? Is everyone equally guilty? Or do some bear more responsibility than others? Can an entire nation be guilty?

Final Task: 

Students will choose one of the following tasks for their final essay centered on the following question: After mass violence what needs to happen for there to be justice?

Great Success – Were the Nuremberg Trials successful? Evaluate the goals and intentions the prosecutors set out for the trials along with the goals of others like Lemkin to decided whether or not justice was served? How does one determine punishment? Are all equally guilty or do some bear more responsibility than others? You can use the ideas presented by prosecutor Robert Jackson to compare to the reflections you read from other people involved with the trial to evaluate whether or not you think the trials were a success or if there were aspects that could have been improved.

Foreign Intervention – What role should other countries play in the wake of genocide? Who should be tried? Are individuals responsible for their crimes if they obeyed the laws of their nation? Or are there “higher laws” that should be dictated by an international organization? Discuss different attempts to address the issue of national sovereignty to create international laws to define the proper time for intervention. Think as well about different political leaders and their attempts and frustrations to involve themselves in the affairs of other states.

Trials as Access to Truth – What is the purpose of a trial? Is it to punish “evil-doing”? Or is it to set a precedent for the future? What role does a trial play in the search for justice after genocide? To what extent are trials a deterrent for future atrocities? Think about the purpose of trials as defined by the Anglo-American Justice system. Use the ideas presented by prosecutor Robert Jackson to compare to the reflections you read from other people involved with the trial to evaluate whether or not you think the trials were a success or if there were aspects that could have been improved.

Power of One – Can an individual make a difference in the face of Genocide? You may choose to focus on the story and actions of some of the people who tried to develop solutions to the crimes they saw perpetrated abroad. Consider one of the following: (Raphael Lemkin, Henry Morgenthau, Robert Jackson) to discuss their influence on international understandings of mass crimes.