Nazi Crimes and Their Punishment, 1943-1950

Selected by CHOICE Magazine as an Outstanding Academic Title for 2021  

"Michael Bryant provides what might be the most concise, yet inclusive, treatment available today of both Nazi crimes and their punishment. The bulk of this brief work comprises a solid selection of primary sources, including criminal indictments, trial verdicts, and court materials from Nuremberg, military courts, Poland, the Soviet Union, and various postwar German courts. The heart of the book, though, is an 84-page essay that details and analyzes the offenses and complex deliberations that according to Bryant sought with more success than failure to adjudicate crimes unimaginable at the time in the realm of criminal and international law. The author's careful exploration of Allied discord is richly informative as it recounts the various parties’ struggles to compromise over the precise nature of the crimes to be judged and the legal foundation needed to establish a four-power tribunal. However, Bryant also covers far more than the trial of the so-called 'major war criminals.' As someone who has taught separate courses on Nazi Germany, WW II, and the Holocaust, this reviewer would recommend this excellent book to anyone offering such courses to either graduate or undergraduate students. Summing Up: Highly recommended."
     —C. P. Vincent, emeritus, Keene State College, in CHOICE

"With this timely book in Hackett Publishing's Passages series, Michael Bryant presents a wide-ranging survey of the trials of Nazi war criminals in the wartime and immediate postwar period. Introduced by an extensive historical survey putting these proceedings into their international context, this volume makes the case, central to Hackett’s collection for undergraduate courses, that these events constituted a ‘key moment’ that has influenced the course of history. Appended to Bryant's analysis is a substantial section of primary sources that should stimulate student discussion and raise questions that are pertinent to warfare and human rights abuses today."
     —Michael R. Marrus, Chancellor Rose and Ray Wolfe Professor Emeritus of Holocaust Studies at the University of Toronto

"An excellent text for students. Cutting through the vast literature on Nazi criminality and efforts to bring the culprits—not just the 'major perpetrators,' as these are usually understood, but ordinary professionals as well—to justice, Bryant's masterful study boils down the essential facts and complex historiography. The inclusion of the actual indictments, court verdicts, and laws upon which the trials were based shows students how the legal scaffolding of modern international criminal law was constructed."
     —Michael Bazyler, The 1939 Society Scholar in Holocaust and Human Rights Studies and law professor, Fowler School of Law, Chapman University

"Bryant’s Nazi Crimes and Their Punishment 1943-1950 is a significant contribution to not only our understanding of the Holocaust, but the punishment of those responsible for these monstrous crimes in the aftermath of the Second World War. It should prove a welcome text to undergraduate courses in both areas as well as a ready reference for those also interested in this important topic. Its value is further enhanced by its historiographical essay and the selection of key documents."
     —Steven Leonard Jacobs, Emeritus Aaron Aronov Endowed Chair of Judaic Studies, The University of Alabama

About the Author:

Michael S. Bryant is Professor of History and Social Sciences, Bryant University.