THE NUREMBERG TRIAL OF JULIUS STREICHER: The Crime of Incitement to Genocide
| Author: | Eastwood, Margaret | |
| Year: | 2012 | |
| Pages: | 292 | |
| ISBN: | 0-7734-1544-0 978-0-7734-1544-7 | |
| Price: | $199.95 + shipping | |
| (Click the PayPal button to buy) | ||
In a total rational world, you would expect new offences to be enacted through a process of reflection, research or various programs of reform, undertaken deliberately, by planned law reform commissions, or through comparative analysis with other legal systems. This research proposes that the emergence of one particular offence, 'incitement to genocide', was
not the result of a deliberate attempt to create new offence, nor that its origins came from a rational process of planned codification. Rather, it argues that the creation of this offence was an unintended side effect of the trial and pre-trial process, during the first major war crimes trial held in Nuremberg after World War II in 1945/6.
This reconstruction provides the first comprehensive study that gives an in depth analysis, which explores how the defendant, Julius Streicher's anti-Semitic propaganda published in a private newspaper, Der Stunner could, though a process of selective reinterpretation by the Nuremberg Tribunal, be classified as inciting mass murder through words alone, under the remit of crimes against humanity in Article 6(c) of the Nuremberg Charter, In 1945, the crime of inciting mass murder through words alone was not recognized or classified as a criminal offence by international criminal law, no precedents existed for its definition, nature, scope, or, its prosecution, defense, or determination of an appropriate sentence, should defendants be found guilty. This study fills a gap in existing literature by focusing on the legal dilemmas and interpretations faced by all parties 'behind the scenes' involved in the prosecution and 'birth' of' incitement to genocide' prior to its legal recognition as an offence by the 1948, Genocide Convention.
This reconstruction provides the first comprehensive study that gives an in depth analysis, which explores how the defendant, Julius Streicher's anti-Semitic propaganda published in a private newspaper, Der Stunner could, though a process of selective reinterpretation by the Nuremberg Tribunal, be classified as inciting mass murder through words alone, under the remit of crimes against humanity in Article 6(c) of the Nuremberg Charter, In 1945, the crime of inciting mass murder through words alone was not recognized or classified as a criminal offence by international criminal law, no precedents existed for its definition, nature, scope, or, its prosecution, defense, or determination of an appropriate sentence, should defendants be found guilty. This study fills a gap in existing literature by focusing on the legal dilemmas and interpretations faced by all parties 'behind the scenes' involved in the prosecution and 'birth' of' incitement to genocide' prior to its legal recognition as an offence by the 1948, Genocide Convention.
Reviews
“…provides us with what can only be described as the authoritative study of the Streicher case. It fills an important gap in the literature and in our knowledge of the Nuremberg trial.”
-Prof. William A. Schabas, National University of Ireland
“Issues of comparability and context are carefully related to the legal analysis of the trial evidence and its relationship to the development of ‘incitement to genocide’ as an international criminal offence.”
-Prof. Ralph Henham, Nottingham Trent University
“…adds a vital institutional dimension to our knowledge of this topic: one that rightly emphasizes the interplay of political, organizational and discretionary factors, whilst recognizing that factors other than the faithful application of given rules to self-evident facts can often play a decisive role in international criminal trials.”
-Prof. Michael Salter, University of Central Lancashire
-Prof. William A. Schabas, National University of Ireland
“Issues of comparability and context are carefully related to the legal analysis of the trial evidence and its relationship to the development of ‘incitement to genocide’ as an international criminal offence.”
-Prof. Ralph Henham, Nottingham Trent University
“…adds a vital institutional dimension to our knowledge of this topic: one that rightly emphasizes the interplay of political, organizational and discretionary factors, whilst recognizing that factors other than the faithful application of given rules to self-evident facts can often play a decisive role in international criminal trials.”
-Prof. Michael Salter, University of Central Lancashire
Table of Contents
Preface by Professor William Schabas
Acknowledgements
Chapter One – Back ground to Nuremberg and Pre-trial preparations
Who was Julius Streicher, Hitler’s notorious ‘Jew-baiter’?
Jurisprudence of the Tribunal
Incitement as a common law offence
The Mens Rea for an International Crime
Background to the Interrogations
Chapter Two – Submission of Evidence by the Prosecution
The Prosecution’s Trial Brief
Presentation of Evidence against Streicher
Streicher’s Early Anti-Semitic Propaganda
Anti-Jewish Boycott April 1, 1933
‘Ritual Murder’ Propaganda
‘Aryanization’ of Jewish Property in Franconia
Nuremberg Laws of 1935/Blood and Race Propaganda
Extracts from Streicher’s Speeches and Writings: 1933 – 1937
Increasing Propaganda and Persecution: 1938
The Kristallnacht Demonstrations of 1938
Streicher’s Position in the Nazi Party/Gauleiter
The Prosecution’s Final Submission
Concluding Remarks
Chapter Three – Julius Streicher’s Defence Arguments
Defendant’s Early Years 1933 – 1937
Anti-Jewish Boycott April 1 1933
Concentration Camps – Release of Communists
The Nuremberg Laws 1935
‘Blood and Race’ Propaganda
The Consequences of Inciting Mass Murder
‘Ritual Murder’ Propaganda
Propaganda and Persecution 1938 – 1940
The anti-Jewish Demonstrations 1938
The Escalation of Persecution
Streicher’s Unpopularity
The Development of Der Stürmer
‘Aryanization’ of Jewish Property
Events in Streicher’s Gau
Acquisition of the Mars Works
Streicher’s Relationship with Leading Nazis
Propaganda in Der Stürmer / 1940 – 1945
The Jewish State
The Jewish Question
Concluding Remarks
Chapter Four – Streicher’s Cross-Examination
New Evidence Relating to Lebensraum/Foreign Policy
The anti-Jewish Boycott– 1933
The Nuremberg Laws1935 – The ‘Jewish Problem’
Kristallnacht Demonstrations – 1938
‘Aryanization’ of Jewish Property
New Evidence Relating to Der Stürmer
Foreign Newspaper Reports / the Israelitisches Wochenblatt
Further Evidence from the Israelitisches Wochenblatt
Evidence for ‘Incitement to Murder’
Concluding Remarks
Chapter Five – Final Defence Pleadings
The ‘Jewish Question’/Aims of the Nazi Party
Persecution of the Jews
Streicher’s Attitude to the ‘Jewish Question’
Education to Encourage Hatred of the Jews
Der Stürmer 1933 – 1939
Der Stürmer 1940 – Collapse
Kristallnacht Demonstrations
German Knowledge of Exterminations
Active Extermination of Jewry
The Chief Persons Responsible for the Extermination of Jewry
Einsatzgruppe and Extermination Kommandos
Defence Summations
Concluding Remarks
Chapter Six – Pre-judgment statements / the tribunal’s judgment
Julius Streicher’s Final Statement
Pre-Judgment Deliberations
Examination of the Judgment
Crimes against humanity
Damming Articles in Der Stürmer
Concluding Remarks
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgements
Chapter One – Back ground to Nuremberg and Pre-trial preparations
Who was Julius Streicher, Hitler’s notorious ‘Jew-baiter’?
Jurisprudence of the Tribunal
Incitement as a common law offence
The Mens Rea for an International Crime
Background to the Interrogations
Chapter Two – Submission of Evidence by the Prosecution
The Prosecution’s Trial Brief
Presentation of Evidence against Streicher
Streicher’s Early Anti-Semitic Propaganda
Anti-Jewish Boycott April 1, 1933
‘Ritual Murder’ Propaganda
‘Aryanization’ of Jewish Property in Franconia
Nuremberg Laws of 1935/Blood and Race Propaganda
Extracts from Streicher’s Speeches and Writings: 1933 – 1937
Increasing Propaganda and Persecution: 1938
The Kristallnacht Demonstrations of 1938
Streicher’s Position in the Nazi Party/Gauleiter
The Prosecution’s Final Submission
Concluding Remarks
Chapter Three – Julius Streicher’s Defence Arguments
Defendant’s Early Years 1933 – 1937
Anti-Jewish Boycott April 1 1933
Concentration Camps – Release of Communists
The Nuremberg Laws 1935
‘Blood and Race’ Propaganda
The Consequences of Inciting Mass Murder
‘Ritual Murder’ Propaganda
Propaganda and Persecution 1938 – 1940
The anti-Jewish Demonstrations 1938
The Escalation of Persecution
Streicher’s Unpopularity
The Development of Der Stürmer
‘Aryanization’ of Jewish Property
Events in Streicher’s Gau
Acquisition of the Mars Works
Streicher’s Relationship with Leading Nazis
Propaganda in Der Stürmer / 1940 – 1945
The Jewish State
The Jewish Question
Concluding Remarks
Chapter Four – Streicher’s Cross-Examination
New Evidence Relating to Lebensraum/Foreign Policy
The anti-Jewish Boycott– 1933
The Nuremberg Laws1935 – The ‘Jewish Problem’
Kristallnacht Demonstrations – 1938
‘Aryanization’ of Jewish Property
New Evidence Relating to Der Stürmer
Foreign Newspaper Reports / the Israelitisches Wochenblatt
Further Evidence from the Israelitisches Wochenblatt
Evidence for ‘Incitement to Murder’
Concluding Remarks
Chapter Five – Final Defence Pleadings
The ‘Jewish Question’/Aims of the Nazi Party
Persecution of the Jews
Streicher’s Attitude to the ‘Jewish Question’
Education to Encourage Hatred of the Jews
Der Stürmer 1933 – 1939
Der Stürmer 1940 – Collapse
Kristallnacht Demonstrations
German Knowledge of Exterminations
Active Extermination of Jewry
The Chief Persons Responsible for the Extermination of Jewry
Einsatzgruppe and Extermination Kommandos
Defence Summations
Concluding Remarks
Chapter Six – Pre-judgment statements / the tribunal’s judgment
Julius Streicher’s Final Statement
Pre-Judgment Deliberations
Examination of the Judgment
Crimes against humanity
Damming Articles in Der Stürmer
Concluding Remarks
Conclusion
Bibliography
Index