Nuremberg Charter

The Nuremberg Charter, formally the Charter of the International Military Tribunal, established the tribunal and defined its jurisdiction to prosecute major Nazi war criminals after World War II.

International Military Tribunal: The court established by the Allies to try major German war criminals after World War II. The Charter created this tribunal and set its authority and procedures.
London Agreement: The 1945 agreement among the United States, United Kingdom, Soviet Union, and France establishing the International Military Tribunal. The Charter was annexed to this agreement, which provided its legal and diplomatic basis.
Nuremberg principles: Principles of international criminal responsibility distilled from the Nuremberg trials and affirmed by the United Nations. The Charter’s rules became a foundation for principles applied beyond the original tribunal.
Morgenthau Plan: A 1944 proposal to weaken Germany after the war by dismantling much of its heavy industry. It illustrates a punitive postwar approach that differed from trying leaders in court.
Crimes against peace: The planning, preparation, initiation, or waging of a war of aggression under the tribunal’s Charter. The Charter made aggressive war a distinct charge at Nuremberg.
Moscow Declaration: The 1943 Allied declaration on prosecuting war criminals after the defeat of Nazi Germany. It set out Allied commitments that the Charter later put into legal form.
Genocide Convention: The 1948 United Nations treaty requiring states to prevent and punish genocide. The Charter’s treatment of atrocities formed part of the postwar setting for defining genocide in treaty law.
Moscow Declaration on Atrocities: The 1943 Allied declaration that distinguished local punishment of war criminals from joint prosecution of major offenders. It anticipated the distinction between domestic prosecutions and the international tribunal created by the Charter.
War crimes: Serious violations of the laws and customs of war that entail individual criminal responsibility. The Charter included established wartime offenses among the tribunal’s charges.
Henry L. Stimson: U.S. secretary of war from 1940 to 1945 and an advocate of judicial trials for Nazi leaders. His support helped advance the policy of trying defendants rather than executing them summarily.

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