Nuremberg Re-trial

Julius Streicher was sentenced to death in 1946 for crimes against humanity. He was charged with “authorizing, directing and participating in inhumane crimes, including specifically the incitement of the persecution of Jews.” As editor and owner of a Nazi publication called Der Sturmer, he certainly promulgated anti-Semitic attitudes, but was there some scape-goating in holding him responsible for the horrific cruelty of the holocaust?

Following the initiative of Bella Wellbery who recommended a role play devised by the Vancouver Holocaust Education Centre, last month first year IB students re-enacted the trial as part of TOK and evaluated the arguments used by both sides. Haakon Fougner bravely took on the role of the Nazi Streicher, ably defended by Bella, Mariana Baguenier and Rachel Howe. In their cross-questioning of witnesses they encouraged many to think afresh about issues of free speech, responsibility and free will.

Lawyers for the prosecution - Max Paulus, Miriam Eimannsberger and especially Rufus Lunn - used their witnesses to make a strong case for Streicher's guilt. After some discussion, the large jury (nearly a hundred students and a few staff) voted by approximately 3:1 that Streicher was guilty. However, when the death penalty was announced there were gasps of horror showing that the ethical, political and psychological issues of the case now appeared more complex than they had seemed initially.

April