At the end of my WWII unit with my freshman World History class, I have a two-day project which launches us into the Nuremberg Trials and the legal ramifications of the trials on international law and medical ethics. We started with watching the scene from HBO's "Band of Brothers" miniseries where Easy Company discovers and liberates a concentration camp. We talked about the potential emotions of Allied troops who witness the devastation of Hitler's attempts to conquer Europe through the Final Solution, treatment of prisoners of war and political dissidents, and the cities devastated by bombings. Briefly we discussed issues with trying those held responsible; where should the trial be held? Who could possibly serve on a jury or as judges? On what charges can they be indicted? Is "murder" strong enough? Which country has the right to prosecute? How do we handle the different languages?
Students were randomly assigned one of the 22 defendants accused of War Crimes. We went to the computer lab for two days. They used a tutorial I created on Sophia.org:
Students were randomly assigned one of the 22 defendants accused of War Crimes. We went to the computer lab for two days. They used a tutorial I created on Sophia.org: