At the end of World War II, the victorious Allies demanded unconditional surrender from both Germany and Japan.
In 1939, the majority of German citizens supported the Nazi party led by Adolf Hitler. By 1945, the situation had changed dramatically. German cities had been bombed into piles of rubble, Russian troops had entered Berlin, and millions of Germans were either dead or in captivity. With defeat imminent, Hitler committed suicide. The Nazi dream of a thousand-year Reich was over.
The revelations of the systematic mass extermination by the Nazis of over six million Jews shocked the world. The victorious Allies decided that the perpetrators of these barbaric crimes against humanity needed to face justice.
On November 20, 1945, the Nuremberg trials began. This signaled the beginning of the concept of international law that 50 years later would lead to the establishment of the International Criminal Court in The Hague. The Nuremberg trials lasted for nearly 11 months. Some 199 defenders were accused of crimes against humanity. Of these, 161 were convicted, and 37 were sentenced to death. It is interesting to note that not a single one of the accused claimed that the Holocaust did not take place. They all claimed that they were following orders.
What did not happen at Nuremberg is probably even more important than what actually occurred. None of the civilians who mass murdered thousands of Jews all over Eastern Europe was charged at Nuremberg.
None of the civilians who voluntarily assisted the Nazis in rounding up Jews to be deported to the death camps was charged. Tens of thousands of people, especially in Eastern Europe, seized the homes and assets of Jews that had disappeared. It was as if their Jewish neighbors decided one day to suddenly move somewhere else and leave all their possessions behind for them to take.
None of them was ever charged at Nuremberg. All would later claim that they had purchased the houses that they were living in.
Collections of paintings in Jewish homes by many of the greatest artists in the world were either confiscated by the Nazis or bought at a tiny fraction of their real value under the threat of death. No one was charged at Nuremberg with these crimes.
Executives of IBM were never charged with directly colluding with the Nazis to provide punch-card machines to Germany. The data provided by the IBM machines provided the information to calculate where Jews lived and how many Jews should be rounded up each day for the most efficient transport to the death camps. While IBM made a fortune, many died because of IBM.
The executives of American companies that supplied Nazi Germany with oil and other equipment through Swiss and other foreign subsidiaries were never charged with any wrongdoing. They colluded directly with Nazi Germany to enable the Nazi war machine to function.
Swiss bankers turned a blind eye to what was going on in Germany and made fortunes from the war. They are 100% complicit in helping the Nazis during the war. No bankers were charged at Nuremberg.
The Roman Catholic Church was not charged with colluding with the Nazis during the war or with assisting Nazis to escape to South America toward the end of the war. The Vatican denied and concealed all its antisemitic actions during the entire war, and claimed that it actually helped thousands of Jews to survive the war. For decades, the Vatican refused to open its archives to anyone trying to discover the truth.
Fortunately, there were also thousands of non-Jews who acted morally and saved the lives of Jews. They did this with the full knowledge that they were putting their own lives and the lives of their family in mortal danger. Yad Vashem, the Holocaust museum in Jerusalem, has bestowed over 26,000 people and groups from 44 countries with the honor of being named as Righteous Among the Nations. They exhibited a level of moral courage that will be remembered and honored forever.
The Shoah was the greatest crime ever committed. After the war ended, there were millions of men and women who did not want to be asked “What did you do during the war?” Only 199 Nazis were charged at Nuremberg. The world accepted that justice was served at Nuremberg, and all those not charged felt free to carry on with their lives as if nothing had happened. It is a damning condemnation of how pervasive antisemitism is in the world.
In a different part of the world, another trial took place. It never received the publicity of the Nuremberg trials but, nevertheless, it was also an important trial. It has been called Japan’s Nuremberg.
Japan was a great Asian power that had never in its long history surrendered. To surrender was simply unthinkable. Japan had initiated the war by attacking the American military naval base at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941. Over 2,400 Americans were killed in the attack in Hawaii. Japan would pay a very high price for attacking America. Less than four years later, approximately three million Japanese were dead. Tokyo was firebombed. Hiroshima and Nagasaki were obliterated by nuclear bombs, and hundreds of thousands of civilians were dead. Thousands more were suffering the effects of nuclear radiation. Japan had to face the reality of the overwhelming power of America. On August 14, 1945, emperor Hirohito addressed the nation on radio. He announced to a stunned country that on the following day, Japan would surrender unconditionally.
The signing ceremony of unconditional surrender took place aboard the USS Missouri on September 2, 1945. America did not seek revenge. It sought to end the war and bring about a peaceful and prosperous future for the defeated countries and for the world. One of the key decisions of the Americans was not to prosecute emperor Hirohito. General MacArthur stated, “The emperor is a symbol which unites all Japanese.” Hirohito was saved.
On May 3, 1946, some 28 Japanese military and civilian leaders were placed on trial in Tokyo. The trial was actually an international military tribunal in front of 11 judges from several Allied countries. The defendants were accused of 55 counts of transgressing wartime military accepted practices. The trial would last almost three years.
No one was charged with the horrific medical experiments that Japan had performed in China. Japan had deliberately released the bubonic plague into Chinese cities that killed 250,000 people. America decided that a lot could be learned from general Ishi Shiro, who was in charge of the medical experiments. The same idea was applied at the Nuremberg trial for German scientists, who were given sanctuary in America in exchange for sharing their advanced knowledge with American scientists
The Tokyo trial was meant to play a vital educational role in changing Japanese society. Japanese citizens were shocked to learn that up to 200,000 Korean women were forced into becoming “comfort women” for Japanese soldiers. The trial also exposed numerous Japanese human rights abuses against prisoners of war. The trial helped to establish rules for the behavior of countries that would be enshrined as part of international law on warfare. The Tokyo trial ended with seven sentenced to death and 16 sentenced to life in prison.
One of the things that did not happen in either the Nuremberg or the Tokyo trial was the prosecution of anyone from the Allies for committing crimes during the war. The fact that both Germany and Japan had initiated the war was sufficient reason to exonerate the Allies from facing any charges whatsoever.
After both Germany and Japan had surrendered unconditionally, their leaders were tried for crimes against humanity, and those found guilty were executed or given long prison sentences. The vast majority of Germans and Japanese realized what a massive error they had made in waging war, and they wanted to live in peace. America would provide billions of dollars for rebuilding not only Germany and Japan but also those countries in Europe that had been devastated by the war. The time for peaceful coexistence seemed possible.
In 1948, a new word was coined to describe what had taken place. The word was “genocide.” Genocide was defined as the systematic intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial, or religious group.
The ICC and the violation of Nuremberg, Tokyo trial lessons
The International Criminal Court (ICC) was established as part of the Rome Statutes in 1998 and entered into force in July 2002. It was set up to try individuals for committing the gravest crimes against humanity such as genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and crimes of aggression. It is meant to be a court of last resort where individuals committing the above crimes are not facing the possibility of being prosecuted in their own countries. At present, 124 countries are party to the ICC. Israel and the United States are not parties to the ICC.
In the case of the current conflict with Hamas, all the lessons of the trials in Nuremberg and Tokyo have been cast aside and turned upside down. A new protected species called “innocent civilians” has suddenly emerged in Gaza as the essence of the new morality of mankind. Every terrorist who hides his weapon is instantly transformed into an innocent civilian. The UN and the EU are in agreement that Israel should not be allowed to win the war.
In complete contradiction to everything that happened at the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials, Karim Kahn, the chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, decided that he wants the court to issue arrest warrants against Israel’s prime minister and the defense minister, and three leaders of Hamas. By doing this, he is equating the genocidal leaders of a terrorist group that initiated a war of monstrous barbaric proportions with the actions of the leadership of a democratic country in trying to defend itself. This takes double standards to a completely new level.
Since 1979, the leaders of Iran have called for death to Israel, death to America, and have killed thousands of their own citizens. Iran has financed, trained, and promoted proxies all across the Middle East to attack Israel and recently fired over 300 rockets, missiles, and armed drones at Israel. None of these actions have resulted in any arrest warrants being issued by the ICC. The double standards of the ICC reek of hypocrisy and antisemitism.
Israel is a democracy that has an independent Supreme Court that has consistently held people accountable for their actions and misdeeds. The recent actions of the chief prosecutor of the ICC to want to issue arrest warrants against two leaders of Israel are against the very foundational principles of the mandate of the ICC. The leaders of the country that was attacked are being portrayed as having committed crimes against humanity, and the initiators of terrorism find themselves acclaimed as heroes across the world. The fact that Hamas has promised to continue to attack Israel again and again does not seem to bother the West or the ICC. Rewarding a terrorist organization that has a genocidal policy of destroying its neighbor and aims to kill all Jews around the world should be unthinkable. Unfortunately, this is exactly what is now being contemplated. A more insane situation is hard to imagine.
The decision of the chief prosecutor of the ICC has undermined the very credibility of the court itself. It is a strategic misjudgment of the greatest significance. Instead of helping to eradicate terrorism, it will lead to greater lawlessness and a tsunami of chaos and destruction throughout the world.
Let us conclude by looking at some quotes from president Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech after the attack on Pearl Harbor:
“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.”
“We will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make it very certain that this form of treachery shall never again endanger us.”
“There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory, and our interests are in grave danger.”
“With confidence in our armed forces, with the unbounding determination of our people, we will gain the inevitable triumph, so help us God.”
In the case of the surprise attack on Israel by Hamas of October 7, there should be no doubt that Israel has the moral, ethical, and legal right to defend itself as stated by Roosevelt.■
The writer, who was born in South Africa, is an accountant who lives in Ra’anana with his Israeli-born wife.