What is the legacy of Nuremberg? Many concepts that we take for granted today are associated with the Nuremberg Trials: the development of human rights, respect for the rule of law, or the fairness of trials. Contemporary witnesses, politicians and experts look back to the historic event in 1945 and talk about their personal interpretation of the Nuremberg Trials.
We cannot undo the suffering of the past and the horrors of history, but we have a joint responsibility not to repeat them.
This anniversary allows us to reflect on our history. But it also holds a mirror to the lessons we’ve learned and the progress we’ve made.
Let’s continue to learn the lessons of history and of Courtroom 600.
These trials were indispensable because it was essential to publicly document the Nazi crimes and to confront them with the demands of law and justice, whose absolute, methodical and radical negation they represented.
The history of the Nuremberg trials, the largest political and legal achievement of that period, is unique.
I believe in laws.
If history’s darkest chapters are erased, their hard won lessons will be lost.
In a world of modern international criminal justice, all roads lead to Nuremberg and all roads lead to Courtroom 600.
I know that this world needs a lot of changes, and the change of heart will have to precede the change of mind to outlaw war and any instrumentality to settle any disputes.