The road to Nuremberg / Bradley F. Smith.

Includes bibliographical references (pages [287]-290) and index.

The Nuremberg trials were an affront to all those who believe in the criminal justice system. Witnesses had been tortured in order to obtain confessions, details which would never have been allowed in any other criminal trial were admitted as evidence and high ranking military officials who were merely doing their job were taken out and shot simply because they were on the losing side. In The Road To Nuremberg, author Bradley F. Smith shows us in step-by-step fashion how this military tribunal came into being. In America, there were those who wanted Germany reduced to nothing more than an agricultural state capable of barely feeding its citizens. Other countries wanted mass shootings of anyone who had anything to do with the Nazi Party or the war. Saner minds prevailed and the tribunal went forward. As keen as some were to inflict heavy punishment upon the perpetrators of war crimes and the entire population of Germany, in the end, they had to be restrained. America realized that Joseph Stalin and the Soviets now controlled all of Eastern Europe and that they Allies would need Germany on their side. Thus, the thirst for revenge had to be cooled and justice had to be tempered with mercy or at the very least political expedience. If you've watched the film, "Judgement At Nuremberg" you need to read this and other books to get a balance view of what really happened.