Soviet Judgment at Nuremberg: A New History of the International Military Tribunal After World War II

The Nuremberg trials, or the International Military Tribunal, in which 24 political and military leaders of the Third Reich were tried for war crimes, remain a significant example of postwar Allied cooperation. More far reaching, the Nuremberg principles have shaped subsequent international law. Hirsch (history, Univ. of Wisconsin-Madison; Empire of Nations) realizes a masterful command of declassified archives to provide a stunning narrative of the trial from a Soviet perspective. The result effectively demonstrates how Moscow's objectives were hindered by a lack of qualified translators, efforts to conceal evidence of Nazi-Soviet cooperation, and expectations of a judicial scenario similar to the Moscow trials of the 1930s. Hirsh deftly shows how the Soviet prosecution was tethered to the writ of politician Andrey Vyshinsky, and she offers insightful analysis of the four allied delegations and the role of U.S. prosecutor and Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson. This skillful work also includes several lesser-known details, including Soviet promotion of a second trial of Nazi industrialists.