Courtroom 600 - Project "Memorial Nuremberg Trials"

The new exhibition

The exhibition space provided for the future permanent exhibition will comprise four rooms on the attic floor above Court Room 600. The first and largest room (350 square metres) will be dedicated to the trial of the main war criminals by the International Military Tribunal (IMT). Apart from the genesis of the trial, its course and outcome, those involved in the trial will be introduced. Short biographies will provide information about the role of the 24 defendants in the National Socialist hierarchy, and the crimes for which they were indicted.

In addition, the first room will explain the special legal aspects of the trial. This includes information about the Anglo-American legal traditions on which the trials were based, and on the importance of the trial of the main war criminals as a legal first - the first time in world history that individuals were sentenced on the basis of international law.

The three smaller adjacent rooms will present examples of the follow-up trials which were also held in Nuremberg, as well as further legal proceedings dealing with the Nazi regime. This section will also describe the development started in Nuremberg which eventually led to an International Criminal Court. The ICC was inaugurated as an ad-hoc tribunal for former Yugoslavia in 1993, and has existed as a permanent institution in The Hague since 2003.

On days without trials, the exhibition tour will finish with a visit to the Court Room. If a trial is in progress, the glazed openings in the wall will permit a view of the court room's interior.