
The Trial of the Germans
An Account of the Twenty-two Defendants before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg
Eugene Davidson(Author)
University of Missouri Press
Published on 14. October 1997
Book
Paperback/Softback
696 pages
978-0-8262-1139-2 (ISBN)
Description
The issues raised by the Nuremberg trials are dealt with in this book. These include: was it a necessary response to the crimes of the Third Reich?; how were Germany and the Germans capable of such extraordinary evil?; was the trial just, given the claims that the defendants were simply serving their country, doing as they had been told to do?; and if not just, was it nonetheless necessary as a warning to prevent future crimes against humanity? The author's approach to these and other questions of justice is made through examination of each of the defendants in the trial. His conclusion is: ""In a world of mixed human affairs where a rough justice is done that is better than lynching or being shot out of hand, Nuremberg may be defended as a political event if not as a court"". Some sentences may have seemed too severe, but none was harsher than the punishments meted out to innocent people by the regimes these men served. ""In a certain sense"", says Davidson, ""the trial succeeded in doing what judicial proceedings are supposed to do: it convinced even the guilty that the verdict against them was just"".
Reviews / Votes
"The [Nuremberg] trial has never been reviewed with the scholarship, the thoroughness, and the advantages of hindsight that Eugene Davidson now brings to it in this absorbing and important book. . . . More than an analysis of the trial . . . [the biographies] build into a total picture of Nazi Germany. . . . A major contribution to history and to understanding."-Walter Millis "Well researched and compelling."-Boston Globe "As complete a study as one could hope to have . . . will not be easily dislodged from its high position of authoritative testimony."-Chicago Tribune "A masterly, detailed study of the defendants and their prosecutors at Nuremberg. . . . It raises disturbing questions and provides even more disturbing answers."-Detroit Free Press "A study of the individual defendants and their innocence or guilt . . . fascinating . . . vastly superior in scholarship and detail."-St. Louis Globe-Democrat "The presentation is scholarly, well-organized, smoothly written. The pen portraits, sketched in acid, are sharp and illuminating."-L. L. Snyder, Saturday ReviewMore details
Language
English
Place of publication
Missouri
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Professional and scholarly
US School Grade: Ninth Grade and over, Interest Age: From 0 to 99 years
Illustrations
46 illustrations, bibliography, index
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
Thickness: 41 mm
Weight
966 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-8262-1139-2 (9780826211392)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Person
Eugene Davidson, who lives in Santa Barbara, California, is on President Emeritus of the Conference on European Problems and former President of the Foundation for Foreign Affairs.