>> oliver: tonight, on war stories tonight on "war stories." legendary war crimes in tokyo. >> you'll meet the colorful prosecutors. >> he was very brusque, crude individual. he had a taste of drinking too much. >> we'll take you inside the courtroom dramas. >> it's a struggle for final justice. that's next on "war stories." this is room 600 in the

palace of justice in germany. i'm oliver north. welcome to "war stories." this courtroom still in use today is where the nazi party and 21 german war criminals world war ii.in the aftermath from november 1945 until october 1946, an internaaional tribune com prized of american, british, french, judges were tried for the crime. it was called the greatest trial in history. you'll see tonight it was imperfect, tainted with politics. 5,000 miles away, the other trials of 28 japanese war criminals that got underway in tokyo in january '46. these military trials were called international tribunals were overseen by the military in the pacific, douglas mccarthy.

tokyo had the behind the scenes drama not the decision not to prosecute the emperor. you'll meet two prosecutors tonight from trials and hear -pstories from those that suffed at the hands of our enemies. >> this guu came back. >> december 1944, the tide of war finally turned, hell on earth continued for pow's. >> to abuse them, to kill them was not. >> they tortured them 36 hours then took them out, made them dig a trench and shot them. >> the two horrors would be

revealed. the war ended first in europe. hitler's so called thousand year riot made demise nine days before he shot himself and poisoned his mistress turned wife. many of nazi chief leaders were captured alive by the allies. >> how does it come about that we end up with international tribunal? >> the war was an allied joint effort from beginning to end. that was reflected in the conclusion of the war as well. >> as professor of military law, he is an expert on wartime prosecutions. >> we couldn't proceed as we saw fit. we had to console with major allies. >> meeting in 1945, roosevelt,

church hill and stallin argued about how to punish the nazi leadership in the post war europe. they didn't always see eye to eye. p> church hill said find these guys within six hours. >> church hill had a fiery temperament. in this case i think he was wrrng. >> instead of church hill's way, they found the regime and looked to history as a guide. >> we've had rules for literally thousands of years frchlt around the turn of the 20th century, we've had laws of war that progress to world war i where we had a number of accused war criminals. we allowed germans to trial their own which proved to be unsatisfactory. we determined then we wouldn't make that mistake again, letting the enemy try their own. >> not to let the war criminals

be tried in germany itself. >> the author of the preclaimed book, famie book. >> each had a judge and prosecution team. >> just weeks after hitler's suicide, 32-year-old lawyer from independence, wisconsin asked to join the prosecution team. >> i had written a paper at the university of wisconsin and that dealt with the nazi regime. so i immediately wanted to get on board. neurom berg was a good name to associate with the trial. >> he played host to hitler's great party rallies. here in 1935 the nazis announced to series of laws. >> today a judge at the palace of justice spoke to us about the

emphasis laws. >> to have sexual relationship at since the loss of 1935. >> what was the reaction to german people to trials held in this room? >> in the beginning they mistrusted the trial. they regarded this as a weak trial. a atrocities became known. they learned what had happened in their name. they in the court accepted the trials as well as residing of >> most major german cities had been reduced to rubble. neuroemburg survived most. >> there was a balcony intended for journalists. >> bbhind it waa a grim prison where there was accomodation for all major war criminals.

>> the list of 21 defendants read like a who's who of evil. her man indicted on four counts of conspiracy, waging war crimes against humanity. albert spear, hitler's brilliant architect also indicted on those four counts. one of hitler earliest followers rudolph. in 1923 he followed him into prison to help him write the laws. the right man after hitler's >> robert jackson was a justice on the u.s. supreme court at the time the trials were contemplated. he was extraordinary. he did not have a law degree. he had one year of legal training at albany law school in new york.

he proved a very effective prosecutor. he won the heart of franklin roosevelt. >> how had jackson been chosen? >> he was a good looking man. hitler started talking to him. >> how did you go about collecting the evidence presented in these trials? >> the germans had a history of writing things up, making notes the amount of documents we found was amazing..o cf1 o we were able to rely on memos themselves as prepared. >> interestingly the nazis did very little about destroying records. there was a death camp, an outhouse in austria. they kept death books where they

recorded every person who was murdered. so and so died at 12:01. so and so died at 12:02. they all died of heart attacks. >> as the court takes shape, the war still rages in the pacific. japanese watched the fate of

>> oliver: summer, 1945, wars still summer 1945, war still raged in the pacific. after an epic battle for okay -pfor final invasionnof japan. nazi leaders sat behind bars in a prison, japanese war were well aware they could suffer the same fate. the center holds thousands of documents a a testing to japanese war crimes. >> the destruction of a hundred thousand civilians kill there had. japanese take prisoners on that a march. everybody knew trials were going to take place. >> why did you volunteer for

duty in china? >> you heard the china marine. he's an icon. >> the china marines were known for adveeture and braveryy burke from harrisburg, illinois went to be stationed. >> i got caught out there. there was 40,000 of them right down the road from us. >> kirk and 203 other ma a reens captured in china were sent to work as slave laborers. there were 36 of us sent to japan. >> only 90 pounds, kirk and fellow pow slaves moved metal to the industrial giant seven days a week. those too weak wereebeaten or

never seen again. >> i saw kids dying. i mean, they were so young and strong. it was surprise. american youth. >> in the midst of this, he designed a camera to document mistreatment of pows. >> i decided is somebody, anybody in the world should know. that's why i built the camera. >> these pictures secretly taken by kirk were proof of japanese war crimes. -pthey had been wwapped in mysty for decades. more on that later. it took two atomic bombs to drive the japanese war lords to surrender a a board the uss in september 1945. mccar thur moved headquarters

into the heart of the building. >> it looked like a schoolboy coming to see the master. it's a matter f psychological effect. it showed the japanese people they had lost. back in washingtoo, president trueman struggled to find a prosecutor wrestling with the ghoss of fzr. >> he had been an appointee to the department of justice, a successful attorney. he was rude. >> i think truman wanted to get rid of this. >> he was 29 years old when he was called today house 1945. opportunity to you?ike a good >> i didn't have a grasp on it. i knew it had to be bigger than anything. i was sworn to secrecy on what i

knew. >> he accepted. in december, the prosecution team of 16 lawyers took off to washington in a c 54 headed for tokyo. >> we'd arrive in pearl harbor. we wanted to make the point we were not there for fun and games. >> soon after they were there, mcarthur made a decision to stand the war. he would not stand trial. >> he was one of the most hated men in the world. >> who makes the decision ultimately not to try him? mcarthur, truuan? >> the real decision was made by the president. >> he had to have the everyo everyone -- the emperor under

his wing. war criminal. class a were crimes against peace that a initiated the war. they picked the initial 28 and dropped down to 26. they picked those because they felt with those they had a very good, strong case going againss them. >> among the 26, the prime minister. despite a botched suicide attempt, he was known as the razer. he was indicted for raising aggressive war and inhummne treatment against pows and civilians. >> this man helped plan tte attack on pearl harbor and ran the country's drug trafficking. initially japanese people were skeptical of the trial process. as the drama unfolded, a seat in

the courtroom became the hottest ticket in town. more than 150,000 spectators would eventually attend the two and a half year trials. early on there was trouble. kennon was called back to the u.s. >> kennon was an alcooolic. rumors boiled out. i guess he did come back. he was mean when he wasn't boiled a little bit. >> the prosecution teams struggled with another huge problem, a lack of paper evid surrender in mid august until the time of our arrival, the japanese had been burning everything at the army headquarters. when we came to japan, a great deal was with involved. >> coming up, in this courtroom, the trials get underway as chief prosecutor robert jackson wh

for during the in yonuremberg t? >> were they man kals? >> no. hands were free. they had american soldiers by the first infantry division. wintertime. they had heavy coats. >> the first battalion of the first infantry division. >> the doors were solid..o cf1 o

there was a hole in the door. there was a guard on each door looking through the hole watching prisoners 24 hours a day. >> to make sure defendants had nothing they could stand on to hand hang themselves from bars on windows. >> using his past to the prison wing, the lieutenant couldn't resist looking at remnants of hitler's elite in their cells. >> i looked primarily at goering. he was the furor. there was a little hole in the door. that's all the light they had. >> the defendants are brought here. >> are those actual cells? >> these cells are used. you could put a military person here from first infantry division that guarded defendant. >> november 1945, the trials in

nuremberg get underway. >> it was comprised of four judges, u.s., britain, france soviet union. >> great peeple came to work under him. >> the privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world, imposes a grave responsibility. >> in the first week of the trial, the 22 defendants heard the charges against them. >> you must plead guilty or not guilty. >> rudolph hess's plea was one word. >> he had no apologies for his role in the regime. when he was in the stand he was questioned by the chief

prosecutor. >> when justice jackson interviews hermann goering, he gets mad. >> jackson was not a great cross-examiner. he gottthing sos directly that the person being questioned would see a way of bending away from the truth a. >> if you want the people killed you had to have organization to kill them didn't you? i'm not asking. >> goering was thought in some quarters to be something of a bahfoom. he was a brilliant plan. he was a graduate of the german equivalent of west point. goering proved very clever and adaptive. >> the drama in nuremberg would be repeated in japan. when "war stories" continues, the courtroom erupts in tokyo as one department physically

attacks another. >> that's next on "war stories".

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"war sries with oliver nortcontininues right w. >> oliveon the fourth on the fourth anniversary of pearl harbor, evidence of brutality playeddbefore the shocked courtroom. 5,000 miles away, robert donihi

and keenan touched down to start the job as prosecutors for the international military tribunal of the far east. >> we were invited the other nations to join us. they were against inviting the soviet union. >> that same day mac arthur received word that five members delivered a guilty verdict against the general separate frrm the tokyo trials. this was the first war crimes conviction of world war ii. >> i knew nothing about mistreatment of civilians in manila. >> it was probably a flawed case. the general had been the commander in manila only a few weeks before the invasion. he was tried not for committing

war crimes himself but failure to control troops. >> douglas mcarthur didn't wait for justice in the philippines tribunal. >> 20 october 1944, for mac arthur this was personal. this had been his home many years. for the brutal treatment of pows and civilians in the philippines, mac arthur issued this order for japanese forces under the command of the general. i shall during the course of the present campaign hold the japanese authorities in philippines any hard against prisoners of war, civilians and non combatants proper treatment to which they're entitled.

>> mac arthur had the belief of the code of the soldier and safety of scivilians. >> in the bloodshed that followed, 100,000 civilians died as a japanese troops went on a pam rage of rape, looting and murder. there were additional orders to kill all pows like bruce elliott imprisoneddon the island. >> they killed kids, women, everything. >> he goes to be sentenced on the charge of responsibility for bar bareties committed by his troops. he faces the judge. >> commission finds you guilty as charged and sentences you to death by a hanging. >> 1846, the sentence was carried out. stability would resinate in tokyo and nuremberg. was there a difference in rules of evidence? >> they were the same rules of evidence and same charges.

you see military commission far are from what we in the western world are used to seeing in a court. there's also argument those that have been sworn enemies are though the necessarily entitled to protections of our constitution and citizens. >> isn't that one of the problems we're having now trying combatants from the war on terror? >> it surely is. i think today the world community is not prepared to accept the procedures that in 1945 no thought was given to. >> who picks who's going to be prosecuted? does oth keenan do that? >> no. >> keenan would negotiate with mac arthur. keenan's opponents were critical for ttat reason. they were saying this is supposed to be an international trial, but you're turning it into a a military trial with the

united states being in charge. british were angry abiliout tha. >> japanese had burned thousands of incriminating documents. suddenly a break. after his arrest, this man stunned the prosecution team with his diaries details 6,000 entries covering the expansion of war. >> tokyo had a good handle on things. he tried to commit suicide. >> about to be arrested as a war criminal, he hot himself with a pistol. he failed to kill himself and is treated by an american army doctor and receives blood transfusions from american army sergeaats. >> it was deliberately blundeeed. >> 3 may, 1946, outside the

building guarded by mp's, defendants are brought to justice in blacked out buses. shiny limousines delivered nine of the judges. two on the bench don't arrive in time for the proceedings. it started off with a bang. >> i heard noise and laughter in the gallery. i looked down to see if i had my shirt tail hanging out. i turned around. tokyo is laughing and other accused were laughing. he was hauled off. he was eliminated after that as being insane. >> then the language problem. no being easily translated in english. the service was assigned to the tokyo trial. >> it was my job to act as a monitor both for the defense and

prosecution has monitors. if we felt interpretations were inadequate or biassed, we would then have a meeting and come up with an acceptable solution. >> it was terrible on the prosecution. >> there was more disorder in the courtroom. why did so many of the defense attorneys quit? >> there were resignations primarily because of conduct of the senior judge, the australian. he was a very brusque, crude, individual. much like keenan only web was arrogant on the bench. he would belittle not only witnesses but defense council as well. that eventually took its toll. >> so much so many defense attorneys threatened to quit. meanwhile the secret pictures

taken by kirk were used to provide definitive evidence of japaaese atrocities. >> i gave the army, navy and fbi each a set. these are pictures that ended up in war crime trials. >> as the prosecution team tried to keep the tokyo trials on track, sentences are handed down in nuremberg. in nuremberg. one nazi

there's one thing you can never have sex without. in nuremberg. one nazi it's consent. because sex without it... isn't sex. it's rape. it's on us to stop sexual assault. learn how and take the pledge at itsonus.org.

>> oliver: for nearly a yar the 22nazi defants s in for nnarly a year, the defendants sat in room 600 in the palace of justice as sprecher and the team presented their evidence. >> he was somewhat intimidating of other defendants. i think some of them had complained that he was pushing them around a bit. >> sometimes he would put on headphones and listen a while, take them off and make a noise. or he'd throw up his hands if he heard something he didn't like. he was animated. >> he had a magnetic quality about him. he began to sway some of them.

realizing this, prison officials had to spike him and make sure he was in isolation. >> on 29 november, 1945, the most damming evidence was presented in court. camps. f nazi extermination >> couldn't believe how some of the prisoners looked. starved to death. it was atrocious, really upsetting. >> goering was unrepentant. >> he denied he had anything to do with the actual murder of people. he said it was somebody else's job. >> one of the defendants on the docket were albert speer. he was a genius. >> speer had qualms about some

of the things that were going on and had more knowledge about what was happening in some of the concentration camps than he wanted to admit even to himsell. >> there comes a time in this when the principle defense becomes, i was simply following orders. >> the argument would be, it was not my initiitive. i was carryyng out initiative of someone who had authority over me. >> the military court marshals can't -- >> you can mention in attempt to get mitigation by indicating you were in a position you'd be penalized if you didn't do something. >> as the trial continuecontinu robert became impressed. >> i presented evidence against

the hitler leader. he had been given superior powers by hitler directly to influence the education of young people. >> he had a role in seeding 40,000 jews to their deaths. >> he admitted then and later a good deal of evidence we had against him. >> i think that we felt that all of them would be found guilty of something or another. >> sentences are now imposed. this film record brings the voice of british heat justice lauren laurence. >> defendant goering, on the count of the indictment on which you have been convicted, the international military tribune sentences yoo to death by

hanging. >> 11 of the 22 were sentenced to death. 12 is received prison terms including rudolph hess who refused to wear headphones. >> defendant hess, sentences you to imprisonment for life. >> in the end, goering cheated the hang man. >> they were allowed to withdraw items from their baggage. goering developed a friendship with the young american tenant who was the prison officer. on the last day in which hermann goering was sto be hanged, he hd a cyanide capsule to his cell. he bit it one hour before he was to be hanged. >> how he was able to take it with the guard standing there

all the time i don't know. there was a courtyard inside the prison walls where the prisoners were allowed to exercise occasionally. it had been constructed in the pourtyard for the hang a -- hang ago. the hang man for the army was test it. they had sandbags putting weight on it and making sure everything was fine. >> 16 october in the dark of night, 10 nazi criminals were led in. one hour and 45 minutes later, all were pronounced dead. >> i feel proud of having been part of the first efforts to try the leaders of the sovereign nation of the evils committed in the name of sovereign nation. p> tokyo verdicts come in. is justitititititi

>> oliver:hile nurmberg took jus ten months for verdicts tbe reached, the tokyo trial dragg on for two and a half years. >> they wre bendi over backwards to give the best advantage to the japanese lawyers. heand them to have he portunityf really getting throug with their points. >> oliver: but for many american.o.w.', their day in court woud never come. instead, the were served a gagrder, issued by the u.s miltary. >> i was told, you don't be talking wh thee media,the newspers. he said,f you d ande fin out about it, he id y'll be court-martialed. >> the original gag order was drawn up on ordersrom washingn to gener

marthur as the philippines wereliberaed inanuary, february 1945. >> oliver: ahoof the book unjus enrihment, he's done exexpensive research on ameran p.w.'sn th pacifi >> what puzes me is whyhis order w then updated to septemr 5th, is the 1945. prisoners being recvered from japan were being als forced to sign this order. . >>liver: they had y sign a gag order that you woun't talk abo what happened to u as a p.o.w.. >>hat's right. >> oliver:hy? >> now, i never could figure that out. and o en a marine, i did what i was told. >> oliver: this is thegag order he sigd on 13 seember, 1945. itovered the pictu he'd risked his life to take. >> trence had been told, you kehese home, you put them in a dwer, don't'tw them to anyone or you'll be court

rtal joo despihe threat, e photographs did end ups evince in t tokyo trials. >> herbert markowic w the navy doctor w was the.o. camp doctor. >> olir: imprisoned with kirk at ippsteel, docor markowiczelped tak the picres and aearsn this one. markowicz testified at the tokyo trialsnd brought copies of kirk photogrphs wi them. and they aske him wh took the pitues. he said heidn't kw. the dmy-- he was in the picture! >> dr.arwicz kne about this g order and i am quit re tht he mad that statemeninrdero protect terrnce. r government began taking stepso porray jap as our democratic ally insia, our bulwark againstommunism. >> of the 8 tt were initially in th dock, in t the

end you had 25 for whom verdictct were hded down. >> oliver: on 4 november, 1948 stimony, 419itnesses, and 7 p 9 affidavits, the japanese public waid anxiously for th verdicts. >> tojo, the counts of been convicted, the teational military tribunal sentences you to death b hanging. >> oliver: bides tojo, the general and five others were sennce today death. 16 received life in ison including prince kito, the man who's diaries provided astound evidence accding to army procedure, th prison had to be weighed for theirhangs, tojo would have tdrop fe 7 inches one afer midnight in 3 decemb 1 1948 the stepses were rried out.e in terms of prosecuting tse who served it? >> i would say that it looked

to me fro what i had done myself in the courtroom, as thoh justice was done. >>oliver: nuremberg and tyo were certainly the most famous warrimes tris, but the years after world war i, thousands of other wr ciminals were prosecuted in ciminals were prosecuted in places like manila,ul rays will show up on your skin. time may not be on your side. learn how to protect your skin at spotskincancer.org

>> >> roger man sell runs the nter f resrch o allied w's under the janese. the plias aware only of the tokyo trials. they weren't aware of the hundreds and hundreds and hundds in guam, manila, sing hong ong and for

example in guam we executed 900 of them. >> prosecutor's work wasn't done. he left tokyo fo ermanyor th trials of the class b german criminals but this te for th defee. >>e had been prsonally chon by hiter. no question h had to be. >> the man drexel sprker st to prison. >> got an acquittaln th cas. if i had ben on the other side he woul have been hung. were never prosecued ts man shiro ishi there lethal medical experimen were performed on living prez ners includi americans. >> the head of this unit is allowed togo free? >> yes >> think at that te te decision w mde to stop the war crimerials. it was realy more towards the nee to have a new ally in e pacific. i think both tokyo and eure

taht the world there is persnal responsibility for war ime. certainlyt was far from ideal justice but it a pobay as close to just as one could get in those circumstances. >> oliver: todayin th hague the w crims tal of former yugosv president milosevic dragged onto the third year more than 210,000 wer killed in what's been called a genide. in iraq the iterim governent has begun the arduous prss trying sadam hussein and guantanao bay cuba more han 500islam radicals are bng held as ene combatants pendig their militar tribunals. as weearned in germanynd as we learned in nurmberg and o tokyo, however difficult the process, when the shooting stops, the courtroom is the best hope for future generations in

meting out final justice. theirs is a war story that deserves to be told. i'm oliver north. good night. tonight on "war stories" jihad in the jungles of southeast asia, and for two american missionaries. >> island resort. >> the dream became a nightmare. >> we were sure we would die. >> and a special operations commander enters the fray. >> unconventional warfare and unconventional operations. >> the philippines operations have had successful operations. >> hunting terror in paradise. that is next on "war stories." for years, islamic radicals have used this canopy as a safe