Hey folks,
Nuremberg buffs, I am looking at you here. I participated in a grueling mock Nuremberg trial for my high school. It was very serious and took place in the actual cook country courthouse. Lots of people attended and my school is infamous for hosting it. The whole class I took was solely based on the mock trial. I was defendant Karl Doenitz. The trial itself was around 2 hours long, but the work up to that point totaled around 30 hours. Here is a synopsis of what happened during that trial. A day or so before the trial, the justices on my case ruled that the argument of tu quoque was invalid (I knew this was going to happen, I prepared my case with my defense attorney around that happening). Where they really caught me with my pants down, was when they ruled necessity of war invalid. If you know Doenitz, you know without those you are screwed. I believe, along with most people, that the justices decision not to allow necessity of war under any circumstances is wrong. So, even though my defense attorney and I had a great trial, I was sentenced to life in prison without parole because our whole argument was invalid. The sad part is the prosecution did an awful job, but they still managed to get lucky because of the justices pre-trial ruling (even they have admitted this). The justices stated that if they had allowed necessity of war, I would have received a five-year prison sentence. Needless to say, I was infuriated with the IMT. Here is where So, a day later, I submitted a formal proposal to my teacher to have another trial, with the same justices. You are thinking that you cannot request to have another trial about the same case. Well, this trial I requested is not about Admiral Doenitz. It is about Chester Nimitz. Since the IMT decided that necessity of war is invalid, that means Chester Nimitz can be tried. So, after an hour or so of discussing, my teacher agreed. This trial will only be 30 minutes or so and less work. And this is where I need your help. Guess who is the lead prosecutor? It is me.
So, on to my question...
Where do I start? Where do I find evidence about the crimes Nimitz committed? What should my general argument be to get him hung? Is it realistic to get him hung? What should my argument be based around? I need all the information you have. I would like to let you know this is a serious trial
Thank you very much.
Edit: spelling, grammer, minor stuff.
Where do I start? Where do I find evidence about the crimes Nimitz committed? What should my general argument be to get him hung?
Unfortunately, you've picked a poor target in choosing Nimitz as a "Allied Doenitz." You probably would have done better to have targeted Admiral Harold Stark, Chief of Naval Operations at the start of WWII, as he is "where the buck truly stopped."
The only comparable "war crime" argument for Nimitz would be the unrestricted submarine warfare against Japanese shipping, which was undertaken "By order of the highest naval authority, the chief of naval operations, dated December 7, 1941" (quote from the book "Nurenburg" by Joseph Persico). BY contrast, it was Doenitz himself who gave the same order to the Kriegsmarine.
Doenitz was also somewhat more of an easy target since he was Hitler's hand-selected successor as Germany's Head of State, which in many ways opens him up as the direct representative of all the badness Nazi Germany committed, a Hitler-In-Absentia if you will.
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