Of the many surprising documents in the UNWCC’s archive, one of the most striking would be the indictment for Adolf Hitler.
The idea that ‘ordinary foot soldiers’ were accused in detailed, secret, well-documented files is one thing; seeing the preparatory trial documents for infamous high-ranking Nazis (many of whom never stood trial) is quite another. With this in mind, here’s some of the sample indictment documents for Adolf Hitler:
As might be expected, Hitler was listed as a defendant for a great many Nazi crimes – most accused war criminals only have one or two entries – but it’s striking that Hitler’s actions were addressed in the same regularised legal system.
Let’s take a closer look at one (or at least, its front page).
Like with the index above, a few thinks are striking about this page. It is an extremely ambitious case – addressing several leading Nazis, for a wide range of crimes – but it is also a very ‘normal’ one by the standards of the UNWCC. Hitler’s crimes – great as they were – were recognised to be prosecutable within the framework of complementary international/domestic law, even while the war in Europe was still raging.