“Rage, Rage Against the Dying of the Light:” Nuremberg, the Holocaust, & A Post-Survivor World

• In Event: Revisiting the Holocaust

Abstract

Nearly eight decades have elapsed since the Holocaust in which 6 million Jews, or 2/3 of European Jewry, were systematically murdered by the Nazi regime and their collaborators. According to a 2024 estimate, there are still 245,000 living survivors around the world; this number unfortunately declines every day. Survivors, their families, Jewish communities, and Holocaust museums are understandably concerned as to how memory of the Shoah will be maintained in coming years, especially after the final survivor has passed into history. While preservation and dissemination of survivor testimony is crucial, along with utilizing cutting-edge technology (3-D equipment is in place in several Holocaust museums), this paper recommends a renewed educational emphasis upon the legacy of the Nuremberg Trials. During World War II, the Allies issued declarations announcing that war crimes trials would be held after they achieved victory. The International Military Tribunal (IMT) in Nuremberg commenced in November 1945 when Chief American Prosecutor Robert Jackson – a sitting US Supreme Court Justice – delivered his opening statement in the Palace of Justice. The highest ranking Nazi leaders were prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and aggression. The devastation across Europe was colossal and the genocide of the Jewish people was unprecedented; an extraordinary response was thus mounted to ensure legal accountability and to provide a record for posterity. The IMT relied largely upon Nazi documentary records, films, and newsreels. The US held subsequent trials of key groups (e.g., lawyers, doctors, industrialists, and Einsatzgruppen) complicit in this factory of death, which created a model for the Eichmann trial. Through examining a few noteworthy participants, trials, and books, the ultimate legacy of the Nuremberg Trials is shown to be not only a legal precedent (timelier now than ever) but also a remarkable record to stand the test of time. As the era of survivors draws to a close, publicizing these trials (in written and online formats) will strengthen Holocaust awareness efforts against the forces of minimization, denial, and oblivion.

Author

• Isaac Amon, Washington University School of Law