{"id":833,"date":"2015-08-26T13:00:54","date_gmt":"2015-08-26T17:00:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/?p=833"},"modified":"2015-09-11T13:40:16","modified_gmt":"2015-09-11T17:40:16","slug":"70-years-after-nuremberg-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/2015\/08\/26\/70-years-after-nuremberg-2\/","title":{"rendered":"August 1945 [70 Years after Nuremberg]"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Nuremberg<\/a>

Nuremberg Palace<\/p><\/div>\n

With the establishment of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) to be held in N\u00fcrnberg, Germany, the real work of creating an appropriate space for the court and the necessary supporting operations began.\u00a0 Thomas J. Dodd, a Connecticut lawyer on the staff of the FBI, was selected by Justice Robert Jackson, the lead prosecutor for the United States, to participate in\u00a0the herculean task of collecting and\u00a0sorting through the available documentation to begin formulating\u00a0the U.S. team’s legal plan for\u00a0the upcoming trial.\u00a0 Arriving in London in late July 1945, Dodd began gathering information.\u00a0 Writing to his wife, Dodd recounts the devastation of London as a result of bombing and his travels to some of the more well-known sights before moving on to Paris in early August following the finalization of the British, French and Soviet legal teams.<\/p>\n

\"Portion<\/a>

Portion of letter dated 7 August 1945<\/p><\/div>\n

Although frustrated with his assignment, he writes \u201cI have thought of it but have decided to give myself and the job a better chance by way of time.\u00a0 You see it is a Colonel\u2019s clique\u2014from top to bottom\u2014and it is provokingly unpleasant for civilians.\u00a0 I believe a terrible mistake has been made in this respect.\u00a0 It should be run by civilians in the name of the civil population and in the interest of peace by way of contributing to the prevention of war.\u201d [p. 79, 8\/7\/1945].<\/p>\n

\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/3rd_Infantry_Division_(United_States)#\/media\/File:3._US_Inf.-Div._in_N%C3%BCrnberg,_20.04.1945.jpg\"<\/a>

Soldiers of the US 3rd Infantry Division in Nuremberg, Germany on 20 April 1945<\/p><\/div>\n

Two weeks later, Dodd arrived \u201cin the dead city of N\u00fcrnberg…I saw for the first time in my life the awful ruin that comes with war.\u00a0 This city is devastated–the buildings, houses and streets are a complete mess.\u00a0 Streetcars piled up, a mass of burned and twisted steel, the rubble is everywhere.\u00a0 Soldiers in helmets and armed on patrol.\u00a0 Nothing but army vehicles on the roads and streets…\u201d [p. 90, 8\/14\/1945]<\/p>\n

He journeyed through the ruins of the city, exploring many places including his quarters at Hitler’s own Grand Hotel.\u00a0 Severely damaged, the hotel was missing most of the glass in the windows, the walls and floors compromised and made passable with planking, no hot water or heat and yet, \u201cthis is the best in this city that was once home to 400,000 people.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Portion<\/a>

Portion of letter dated 14 August 1945<\/p><\/div>\n

Having settled in as much as was possible, Dodd began the interrogation of the prisoners who had been transferred to the city for the coming trial. Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, and Karl Doenitz were transferred from Luxembourg, having been held there until the 10,000 prisoners of war finished reconstructing the courtroom in which the trial would be held.<\/p>\n

Between August 14th<\/sup> and 27th<\/sup>, Dodd met with and deposed Alfred Rosenberg (minister of culture and occupied countries), Field Marshall Wilhelm Keitel (chief of staff of the German army), Lieutenant General Alfred Jodl (military operations), and Joachim von Ribbentrop (foreign minister).<\/p>\n

\"http:\/\/www.usarmygermany.com\/Communities\/Nuernberg\/Partials_Grand%20Hotel.htm\"<\/a>

Grand Hotel, Nuremberg, Germany<\/p><\/div>\n

Interspersed with the legal preparations, Dodd toured the city and on a brief excursion to Munich, he observed that the \u201cendless procession of refugees goes on\u2014mile after mile on foot, on horse, in wagons.\u00a0 We passed on wagon train a mile long. It looked just like the pictures of covered wagon days in America\u2014even the rounded tops on the wagons\u2014horses and oxen doing the hauling, the men walking, the women and little ones riding.\u00a0 All heading back to Czechoslovakia, to Romania, to Bulgaria, to Austria, to places they call home.\u00a0 Believe me Grace, this movement across Europe is a pitiful thing\u2014and it wrings my heart to see it day after day.\u201d [p. 104-105, 8\/25\/1945]\u00a0 Dodd was concerned for the refugees, how would they survive throughout the coming winter and could they overcome illnesses or succumb to the cold, exposed to the harsh reality of winter?<\/p>\n

Life in Europe had been greatly altered by war and many hoped that justice would prevail as a result of the upcoming trial which would begin once the courtroom was finished; new beginnings and hope in a city damaged almost beyond recognition.<\/p>\n

–Owen Doremus and Betsy Pittman<\/p>\n

——————————————————————————————————————<\/p>\n

[Owen Doremus, a junior at Edwin O. Smith High School, is supporting this blog series with research and writing as part of an independent study.]<\/p>\n

The\u00a0letters from Tom Dodd to his wife Grace have been published and can be found (page numbers are noted) in Letters from Nuremberg, My father\u2019s narrative of a quest for justice<\/em>.\u00a0 Senator Christopher J. Dodd with Lary Bloom. New York: Crown Publishing, 2007.<\/p>\n

Interrogations introduced into evidence are available online as part of the Thomas J. Dodd Papers (http:\/\/archives.lib.uconn.edu\/islandora\/object\/20002%3A20<\/u><\/a>)<\/p>\n

Images (other than those available in Dodd Papers):<\/p>\n

Soldiers of the US 3rd<\/sup> Infantry Division in Nuremberg, Germany on 20 April 1945 (https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/3rd_Infantry_Division_(United_States)#\/media\/File:3._US_Inf.-Div._in_N%C3%BCrnberg,_20.04.1945.jpg)<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n

Grand Hotel, N\u00fcrnberg, Germany (http:\/\/www.usarmygermany.com\/Communities\/Nuernberg\/Partials_Grand%20Hotel.htm<\/u><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the establishment of the International Military Tribunal (IMT) to be held in N\u00fcrnberg, Germany, the real work of creating an appropriate space for the court and the necessary supporting operations began.\u00a0 Thomas J. Dodd, a Connecticut lawyer on the … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,75],"tags":[33,31,20],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NL7Z-dr","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=833"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":856,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/833\/revisions\/856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=833"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=833"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.lib.uconn.edu\/humanrights\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=833"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}