Beginning in the winter of , the governments of the Allied powers announced their intent to punish Nazi war criminals. The declaration stated that at the time of an armistice, Germans deemed responsible for atrocities, massacres, or executions would be sent back to those countries where they had committed the crimes. There, they would be judged and punished according to the laws of the nation concerned. Major war criminals, whose crimes affected more than one country, would be punished by joint decision of the Allied governments.
In the words of US Secretary of State Cordell Hull, "a condemnation after such a proceeding will meet the judgment of history, so that the Germans will not be able to claim that an admission of war guilt was extracted from them under duress.
The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. 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.
Jackson Opening statement before the International Military Tribunal. Each of the four countries that created the International Military Tribunal IMT supplied one judge, one alternate judge, and a prosecution team. The Nuremberg Charter charged the IMT to conduct a fair trial and to afford the defendants certain rights.
These included the right to speak and present evidence and witnesses in their own defense. It also included the right to cross-examine witnesses for the prosecution. This position gave him the tie-breaking vote, even though convictions and sentences required a majority vote by the four judges who heard the case. John J. Parker served as alternate judge. Major General I. Nikitchenko served as the Soviet judge. Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Volchkov served as his alternate.
