After the end of World War II, the Allied victors, Britain, France, Russia and the United States held a conference to decide how to deal with the Holocaust and other Nazi war crimes. The War had begun on September 1, 1939 for most of the world but Russia was late to the alliance since it had a non-aggression pact with Hitler until he invaded her on June 22, 1941.
When the Allies conferred, it was decided to convene a War Crimes Tribunal to prosecute those officials in the Nazi regime that were responsible for the conduct of the war. While Hitler and his inner circle had committed suicide in his bunker as the Allies closed in, there were still a number of high -ranking Nazi officials.
Criminal culpability would not be limited just to those that directed the extermination of the Jews and other targeted groups but would be extended to those who waged “aggressive war” and provided the industrial capability to arm the war machine and spread its propaganda.
Twenty major figures from the Nazi regime were chosen for prosecution. The Chief of Staff of the High Command, Command officers of the German Army, Navy and Air Force were selected. The three major propagandists were also included. Similarly, central economic planners, Minister of War Economy and Minister in charge of forced slave labor were charged. The Nazi Foreign Minister was included along with the Minister in charge of Occupied Territories who presided over the killing, looting and theft of property belonging to those that had been conquered. The Minister in charge of security which included the Gestapo and the head of the Hitler Youth were also in the prisoner’s dock.
After a lengthy trial spanning two years, seventeen of them were found guilty with one in absentia.
Ten of the war criminals were sentenced to death. They included the Chief of Staff High Command, Chief of the Armed Forces, Chief of the Air Force, the Foreign Minister, the Minister of Occupied Territories, the Minister of occupied Austria, The Minister who supplied forced slave labor, the Minister in charge of security and the Gestapo, and all of the ministers that furnished propaganda for the Nazi regime.
Hitler’s Deputy was sentenced to life imprisonment along with his Economic Czar and the Chief of the Navy.
The head of the Hitler youth was sentenced to twenty years imprisonment along with the Minister for Central Planning and Armament.
The least sentence imposed was ten years for one of the Naval admirals.
At this writing the Russian invasion of Ukraine is in its sixty-fifth day. Throughout this time, the world has seen Russia commit war crime after war crime. Russian troops have bombed civilians, shelled hospitals, targeted children and executed the elderly. They have raped women and children. They have looted museums and people’s homes. They have attempted to cover up these atrocities through the use of mass graves and mobile crematories.
The world has not seen this national depravity since the fall of Berlin in 1945.
At this writing there is no end in sight. Stymied by the Ukrainian defense of its country, Putin has appointed General Aleksandr Dvornikov as the commander of the Russian Forces invading Ukraine. Dvornikov is known as the “Butcher of Syria” for the war crimes and atrocities he committed there. Putin’s selection of Dvornikov signals that the worst atrocities are yet to come.
When this travesty concludes, accountability must occur. A War Crimes Tribunal like that held in Nuremberg is required or this criminality will become the new normal.
Putin, Dvornikov, Sergei Lavrov, the Russian Foreign Minister, Dmitry Medvedev, Deputy Chairman of the security Council, Defense Minister Sergei Shoigu, Army Chief of Staff, Valery Gerasimov and any other ministers or oligarch who made this atrocity possible need to join Putin in the Prisoners Dock at a War Crimes Tribunal.
After they have set foot in the Prisoners Dock, they need to set their feet on gallows.