Today marks the 70th anniversary since the world stopped to listen to the opening statement of the trial against major Nazi war criminals before the International Military Tribunal at the Palace of Justice in the city of Nuremberg, Germany.

The opening address was delivered by Justice Robert H. Jackson as Chief U.S. Prosecutor. Assembled in the courtroom that day were four teams of prosecutors, an international group of judges representing the Allied nations – the United States, Great Britain, France and Russia, 21 German defendants and dozens of officials and media representatives from across the globe. The trial began on Nov. 20, 1945, and ended on Oct. 1, 1946. The IMT was tasked to try 23 of the most important political and military leaders of the Third Reich; although defendant Martin Bormann was tried in absentia, and defendant Robert Ley committed suicide within a week of the trial’s commencement.

Months before Jackson entered the courtroom of the trial at Nuremberg, he had worked through the rough draft of the opening statement to clearly articulate his acute sense of responsibility as a prosecutor and to exercise just the right tone of restraint. It was his primary objective to hold Nazi leaders, accused of the devastating crime of “aggressive war-making,” accountable within the reckonable framework of the law. To do so, it was his decision that the trial be based on documentary evidence rather than eyewitness testimony. While the decision would rely less on potentially dramatic witness testimony, it provided an irrefutable record of the Nazi’s calculated plan to annihilate all Jewish individuals from the face of the earth.

So, as Jackson stood at the podium in the courtroom of this historic trial, he formally acknowledged the bench, and then recognized “the privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world “. Jackson then captured both the honor and the grave responsibility he felt in this single, remarkable phrase: “That four great nations flushed with victory and stung with injury, stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily submit their captive enemies to the judgment of the law is one of the most significant tributes that Power has ever paid to Reason.”

The full text of the speech is available through this link to the Jackson Center’s website: www.roberthjackson.org/speech-and-writing/opening-statement-before-the-international-military-tribunal.

Described as “the greatest trial in history” by Sir Norman Birkett, one of the British judges who presided over it, the trial against major war criminals before the IMT set a precedent for the structure of international criminal law. The formation of the IMT has influenced the world with subsequent trials from Sierra Leone to the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, The Hague, and Rwanda. International prosecutors who have attended the Jackson Center’s annual International Humanitarian Law Dialogs at Chautauqua Institution each August readily attest to the important role Jackson’s Nuremberg legacy has played in their own work to apply the rule of law to perpetrators of war crimes.

In commemoration of the 70th anniversary of the trial, the Memorium Nuremberg Trials in the city of Nuremberg invited some of the last eyewitnesses of the trial to the historic Court Room 600 on Nov. 20, 2015. The witnesses, Dr. Yves Beigbeder, former assistant of the French judge, Henri Donnedieu de Vabres, Father Moritz Fuchs, former body guard of Justice Jackson and Dr. George Sakheim, former interpreter, will talk about their experiences in the years 1945 and 1946. The panel discussion was introduced and moderated by John Q. Barrett of the St. John’s School of Law in New York and Elizabeth S. Lenna Fellow professor.

In addition to the event in Nuremberg, the Jackson Center is recognizing the 70th anniversary of the trial in many exciting ways. On Thursday, Gregory L. Peterson, Jackson Center co-founder and board member, spoke at the Warren County Courthouse on Robert H. Jackson: Opening Greatest Criminal Trial in 20th Century. In December, the center will offer a preview of its new exhibit, Justice Matters: the Road to Nuremberg, with a grand opening in January 2016. The exhibit focuses on Justice Jackson’s pretrial work; in particular, the drafting of the London Agreement and Charter in August 1945.

On Wednesday, Dec. 22, WNED Buffalo/Toronto will air, for the first time on PBS, the documentary film Liberty Under Law: The Robert H. Jackson Story at 10 p.m. The inaugural airing will be followed by several additional screenings of the documentary on other PBS stations across the country in 2016.

Beginning in December 2015 and ending in October, the Jackson Center will provide a monthly series of articles in The Post-Journal relying on Justice Jackson’s personal oral history and diary during that period of time. Readers will also be provided a link to view companion video footage to deepen their engagement with Jackson’s diary reflections. Additionally, the center’s website will feature video clips on relevant days in history when a particular event occurred, so visitors can experience the trial over the course of the year as it mimics the unfolding of the event itself. Additional video, interviews, highlights of Jackson Center events, will be available on the center’s YouTube channel.

In 2016, the center will partner with local businesses and attractions to feature a number of different initiatives centered on From Jamestown to Nuremberg, which would include a showcase of what life was like during the period of the trial in Jamestown from 1945 to 1946. In October 2016, the Jackson Center and the Reg Lenna Theater will partner to bring the world-renowned L.A. Theater Works’ production of Judgement at Nuremberg to the Reg Lenna stage. Additional films and lectures will be provided to underscore the significance of Jackson’s work in Nuremberg and how his framework of justice addresses international conflicts today.

Finally, the 10th annual International Humanitarian Dialogs will be held in Nuremberg, Germany, on Sept. 30, 2016, through Oct. 3, 2016. The trip is open to all Friends of the Jackson Center and a Master Class will also be offered by Professor John Q. Barrett during the tour. For more information on the trip, call the Jackson Center.

On the 70th anniversary of the greatest trial in history, it is the hope of the Jackson Center that the commemoration will mark the beginning of collaborative dialogue, driven by the profound wisdom of Justice Jackson. In his opening statement, Jackson chose the following words to characterize the meaning of the trial and the importance of extinguishing what fostered the creation of the Nazis: “What makes this inquest significant is that these prisoners represent sinister influences that will lurk in the world long after their bodies have returned to dust. We will show them to be living symbols of racial hatreds, of terrorism and violence, and of the arrogance and cruelty of power. They are symbols of fierce nationalisms and of militarism, of intrigue and war-making which have embroiled Europe generation after generation, crushing its manhood, destroying its homes, and impoverishing its life. Civilization can afford no compromise with the social forces which would gain renewed strength if we deal ambiguously or indecisively with the men in whom those forces now precariously survive.”