3: Trial of the Century | courtroom600

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TRIAL OF THE CENTURY

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Credit: Photos - National Archives and Records Administration; Design: Descendants Media Group

Security outside the entrance to Courtroom 600

Allies military guards rotated shifts outside the Palace of Justice – which was one of the busiest buildings in Europe, as approximately 2,800 people came and went each day during the trial.

All badge credentials are inspected at multiple checkpoints. No bags or briefcases were allowed in the courtroom.

The ornate marble doorway inside Courtroom 600

Nov. 20, 1945: Office of the Chief Council (OCC) daily memo from Administrative Head Arthur Kimball on the first day of trial

The eight judges, two from each Allied country: from left, Russia, Britain, USA, and France

Presiding Judge, Sir Geoffrey Lawrence of Britain, during a session of the International Military Tribunal trial of war criminals at Nuremberg. Visible in the background are U.S. Justice Francis Biddle and French Justice Donnedieu de Varbes.

United States Chief Prosecutor, Robert H. Jackson delivers the opening address on Nov. 20, 1945:

“The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored because it cannot survive their being repeated.”

Press gallery in Courtroom 600. Over 250 international journalists descended upon Nuremberg to report the trial via newspaper, periodical or radio – the only mediums available in 1945

A photographer shoots the trial from one of eight photo booths used to capture images from every conceivable angle

Looking down at the defendants dock and press gallery beyond, from a photo booth

Photo booths were also used as radio broadcast centers. Here you can see the second floor visitor's section through this window.

Photo ID Badge for American Forces Network (AFN) correspondent Harold Burson

Harold Burson's radio script for the opening day of trial, Nov. 20, 1945. Harold wrote but did not record his reports.

Courtroom proceedings being documented by a BBC recorder

Karl Anders, British war correspondent, broadcasting to London

One of the rare color photographs of defendants in the dock. Court proceedings began at 10am every day for 216 days of trial, 403 sessions total over 10 months.

Defendants in the dock, front row from L to R: Hermann Goering, Rudolph Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel. Second row, L to R: Karl Doenitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel.

Soviet photographer Yevgeny Khaldei waits for an opportunity to photograph Herman Goering, who is consulting with his defense counsel

Trial graphics were created by the OSS Presentation Branch, a group that designed everything from wayfinding signage to letterhead and security badges for all staff, guests and press. The OSS (Office of Strategic Services) was disbanded after the war ended, but re-emerged as the CIA.

Photographers get briefed outside the courtroom

US Prosecutor Thomas J. Dodd displays a shrunken head used in the atrocities exhibit

Thomas J. Dodd with the shrunken head of a concentration camp prisoner

Shrunken head evidence, skull removed

© 2021 Descendants Media Group NFP, Inc.