THE GUILT

Although the Allies finally managed to crush

Hitler's attempt for world-rule, the aftermath of WWII was

devastating. For the victims, the Allied victory marked the

end of a nightmare and the beginning of a new life; for

Hitler's armies and right-hand men, it was time for pay for

their actions; for the rest of the world, it was time to

return to normalcy and heal emotional and psychological

wounds. The Nuremberg Trials was an explosive and emotional

case for all involved.

The trials were produced in order to try and punish

persons who had committed crimes against peace, war crimes,

and crimes against humanity which were previously defined

in a 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.

The various indictments that were made charged the

defendants with crimes against peace by the planning,

preparation, initiation, and waging of wars of aggression,

which were also wars in violation of international treaties,

agreements, and assurances; with war crimes; and with crimes

against humanity. The defendants are also charged with

participating in the formulation or execution of a common

plan or conspiracy to commit all these crimes.

These crimes, that were so heinously committed, were

not committed by Germany as a whole. This, however, does not

mean that they are not responsible. Throughout the war there

was a theme of, "Obey or be killed." Even if an average

citizen did not agree with what his country officials were

doing it was out of his/her power anyway. The people had no

say. Fascism prevailed.

To punish every German citizen is mistake. The true

officials who initiated a government in which the gruesome

ideas of the holocaust were generated are the ones to blame.

The men who give the orders are the ones to blame. It is

impossible to blame the army, or even the citizens. The men

who gave the orders created the problem and without them no

problem would have arisen and, therefore, the men who

followed them would have had nothing to follow.

Although the German soldiers were the ones who did

the actual killing, it would be unjust to punish them as a

whole. To put all of Germany on trial was wrong. To put the

men who instigated the fight was the correct and just thing

to do. However, this is not the case when discussing World

War II issues outside the Holocaust.