November 20, 1945

Nuremberg trials

First Nuremberg major-war-criminal trial opens

Twenty-two men were legally on trial, but only 20 sat in the dock: one was missing, and another lay in hospital after a brain haemorrhage.

20 November 1945, 10 a.m., Palace of Justice

At 10 a.m. on 20 November 1945, in Nuremberg's Palace of Justice, the British judge Geoffrey Lawrence opened the public trial of the major Nazi war criminals before the International Military Tribunal.

Lawrence identified the tribunal as the creation of the London Agreement of 8 August among the United States, United Kingdom, France and Soviet Union, and directed that the indictment be read.

The prison shared a complex with the courthouse, so the defendants could be moved directly from their cells to Courtroom 600.

Four counts, six organizations

The indictment contained four counts: conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. It also asked the tribunal to declare six Nazi state, party and military groups criminal organizations.

Twenty-four people had been indicted and 22 remained subject to trial, but only 20 were in the dock. Martin Bormann was being tried in absentia, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner was hospitalised after a cerebral haemorrhage.

The whole first day was the indictment

Reading the indictment occupied the entire day's proceedings, and the tribunal adjourned at 5:05 p.m.

Pleas followed on 21 November, along with Robert H. Jackson's opening address for the prosecution — the famous speech was not delivered on the 20th. Kaltenbrunner entered his plea in December, after recovering enough to attend.

This was the opening of the evidentiary trial rather than the tribunal's first act: the IMT had held a public organizational session in Berlin on 18 October.

Sources

Researched 23 Aug 2026 7 sources 2 audit passes

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What the sources leave uncertain

The November 20 opening date is secure.
Counts and defendant totals are often expressed inconsistently. Twenty-four people were indicted, 22 remained on trial, and only 20 were physically present on opening day.
The IMT held an earlier public organizational session in Berlin on October 18. November 20 was the opening of the evidentiary trial in Nuremberg, not the tribunal's first institutional act.