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Lecture

Judge Dennis Davis and Professor David Peimer
The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials, Part 2

Saturday 5.06.2021

Summary

The Nuremberg trials were a historical moment where there was a possibility of conceiving a cosmopolitan vision of the world and a different global value system. Remarkable features of the trial include the opening address by Robert Jackson, a US Supreme Court Justice, which lasted for hours, and the presentation of the “Hossbach Memorandum,” Adolf Hitler’s document considered his last will and testament. Part 2 of 2.

Judge Dennis Davis

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Dennis Davis is a judge of the High Court of South Africa and judge president of the Competition Appeals Court of South Africa. He has held professorial appointments at the University of Cape Town and University of the Witwatersrand, as well as numerous visiting appointments at Cambridge, Harvard, New York University, and others. He has authored eleven books, including Lawfare: Judging Politics in South Africa.

Professor David Peimer

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David Peimer is a Professor of Literature, Film and Theatre in the UK. He has worked for the University of the Witwatersrand, Johannesburg, New York University (Global Division) and was a Fulbright Scholar at Columbia University. Born in South Africa, David has won numerous awards for playwriting and directing in New York, UK, Berlin, EU Parliament (Brussels), Athens, Budapest, Zululand and more. He has most recently directed Dame Janet Suzman in his own play, Joanna’s Story, at London Jewish Book Week. He has published widely with books including: Armed Response: Plays from South Africa, the digital book, Theatre in the Camps. He is on the board of the Pinter Centre (London), and has been involved with the Mandela Foundation, Vaclav Havel Foundation and directed a range of plays at Mr Havel’s Prague theatre.

If you looked at the four charges, a couple of them such as Schacht who had run the finance side, but had departed before the war began. It was difficult to find them guilty of any of the crimes as charged.

I think the answer is yes, if I recall correctly.

That depended on the weight of the conviction against them. Speer, as an example, said that he personally was not responsible, but they should have known and should have done something, but he didn’t know the details of slave labour and the camps, which later proved to be a complete lie.