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Witnessing History

The press workroom at the International Military Tribunal. Pictured is June McFettridge, secretary to Gordon Dean, the public relations counsel to US Chief Proscutor Robert Jackson. Nuremberg, Germany, December 1945.

The press workroom at the International Military Tribunal. Pictured is June McFettridge, secretary to Gordon Dean, the public relations counsel to US Chief Proscutor Robert Jackson. Nuremberg, Germany, December 1945.

— Imperial War Museum - Photograph Archive

"Those of us who witnessed the Nuremberg trials, as well as those who organized and participated in them, were highly conscious of the fact that history was being made."
Walter Cronkite, then chief correspondent for United Press

The International Military Tribunal (IMT) employed hundreds of people. In addition, many journalists and private citizens observed the trial from the visitors' gallery. These men and women realized that they were onlookers at a watershed historical event. Many of the prison guards, some as young as 18 years old, were so impressed by the notoriety of the defendants that they asked for their autographs as a memento of these proceedings.

IMT staff members shared their courtroom entry passes on a rotating basis. Drexel Sprecher, a member of the American prosecution team, recalls that by doing this “[almost] the entire staff could say they had witnessed some part of the beginning of the greatest criminal trial in history.”

 


Related Links:

NPR, All Things Considered—"Listening in on the Nuremberg Trials" by Walter Cronkite (external link) »


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Encyclopedia Last Updated: May 11, 2012