Trial of German war criminals of the First World War, held in 1921 before the German supreme court, as part of the penalties imposed on the German government under the Treaty of Versailles.
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During the First World War, the Allied leaders came up with a new concept, that as soon as their victory was achieved, defeated enemy leaders should face criminal charges for international law violations made during the war. On 25 January 1919, during the Paris Peace Conference, the Allied governments established the Commission of Responsibilities to make recommendations to that effect. As a result, articles 227-230 of the Treaty of Versailles stipulated for the arrest and trial of German officials defined as war criminals by the allied governments. Article 227 stipulated for a special tribunal to be established, presided by a judge from each one of the major allied powers - Great Britain, France, Italy, United States and Japan. It also defined the former Kaiser Wilhelm II as war criminal and demanded an extradition request to be addressed to the Dutch government, which had given him asylum in Holland since he abdicated in November 1918. Article 228 allowed the Allied governments to try in their military tribunals any German war criminal they deemed necessary, nothwithstanding any proceedings taken against the same persons in German courts. The German government was demanded to comply with any extradition order issued by the Allied powers to that effect.
Following the conclusion of the treaty, the Allied government began their legal and diplomatic efforts to bring the former Kaiser to justice. On 28 June 1919, the same day the treaty was signed, the President of the Paris Peace Conference addressed a diplomatic note to the Dutch government, requesting the extradition of the ex-Kaiser. On 7 July came the Dutch reply that any extradition of the former Kaiser would be a violation of Dutch neutrality.[1] Eventually the issue of trying the ex-Kaiser was dropped, and he remained in Holland until his death on 4 June 1941. In addition, the German government refused to extradite any German citizens to Allied governments, and suggested instead to try them in the German justice system, i.e. the German Supreme Court in Leipzig. This the Allied leaders accepted, and handed the German government a list of 45 persons to be tried.[2]
The trials were held before the German Supreme Court in Leipzig from 23 May to 16 July 1921.
The cases tried were as follows:
The Leipzig trial was the first attempt to devise a comprehensive system for prosecution of violations of international law. This trend was renewed during the Second World War, as Allied governments decided to try after the war defeated Axis leaders for war crimes committed during the war.
Following the end of the Cold War, the same trend led to the establishment of the International Criminal Court in 2002.