Presenting the prosecution's case at the International Military Tribunal

US Major Frank B. Wallis (standing center), a member of the trial legal staff, presents the prosecution's case to the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. A chart (top left) shows where the defendants (bottom left) fit into the organizational scheme of the Nazi Party. At right are lawyers for the four prosecuting countries. Nuremberg, Germany, November 22, 1945.

The trials of leading German officials before the International Military Tribunal are the best known of the postwar war crimes trials. They formally opened in Nuremberg, Germany, on November 20, 1945, just six and a half months after Germany surrendered. Each of the four Allied nations—the United States, Great Britain, the Soviet Union, and France—supplied a judge and a prosecution team.