Nuremberg & Its Legacies in International Criminal Law

(2 credits)
This 2-credit course covers developments in international law relating to war, war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity across the 20th century and to the present. The centerpiece of the courts is the 1945-46 International Military Tribunal proceedings and its judgments at Nuremberg against the principal Nazi war criminals. The course will consider antecedents to Nuremberg, including the Versailles Treaty, Leipzig trials, League of Nations and Kellogg-Briand Pact; Nuremberg itself, including the IMT trial and judgment and the subsequent American trials of German defendants; other national prosecutions arising from World War II national prosecutions; subsequent related developments, such as the Genocide Convention; and contemporary legal responses to war crimes and other human rights violations, including the International Criminal Tribunals for the Former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda and the International Criminal Court.
Grades will be based on class participation and a final examination.