Nazi Atrocities, International Criminal Law, and Soviet War Crimes Trials

This chapter analyses the Soviet Union’s role in the global moment of post-Second World War justice. It examines the extent to which Moscow’s participation at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, its war crimes trials of Axis soldiers, and its treason (or collaboration) trials of Soviet citizens were linked, but also when and why these different-level processes remained separate. Although the Soviet side made productive contributions to the history of international criminal law, its war crimes and treason trials continued to lack basic rule of law. In one crucial respect, though, the Soviet trials of Axis soldiers were distinct from Soviet prewar show trials. The difference lay in fabricated or imagined versus actual and visible acts, and in the extent to which almost everyone in occupied territory had suffered under the Germans. This, in turn, not only affected public perception of the trials, it also accounted for differences within illiberal justice.