of the 22 who you tried in the einsatzgruppen case, about a dozen were given death sentences.executed. the others remained in prison, but only for a few years, until an agreement, a deal, was made between the american and german governments, and they were released. so it wasn't... it wasn't that formalistic. the political atmosphere had changed. general george patton, who was my commander, made a speech in london to a group before the war was over, in which he said we have fought the wrong enemy. we should not have been fighting the germans, we should have been fighting the russians. while the war was on, an american general! americans were still being killed in battle, and the russians were being slaughtered — indicated the change of political scene in the united states. a conservative group was saying, why we are getting involved in this, this action against the germans? we need the germans. the british were particular keen about not executing some of the german generals that the british army wanted. so the political pressure was such, together with some feeling of amnesty,

it's very hard for the public today to understand, the special extermination squads, einsatzgruppen,n word that means "action groups", were 3,000 men. i selected of this 3,000, all of whom are complacent mass murderers, i selected those based on several factors. first of all, we had to have them in captivity. if you've got the evidence and you haven't got the prisoner, you've got nothing. i want a list of everybody who was an einsatzgruppen member from all of our intelligence sources sent out immediately to nuremberg. i went over the list. i picked those of the highest rank, and then checked out their background from their nazi party records, which were captured in berlin. those who had doctor degrees, and were generals, they got priority. and from these, i picked out 22. why not 28? because we only had 22 seats in the dock. is that absurd ? of course it's absurd, there were only 22 seats in the dock for herman goering and company, so you have a selection of a sampling, that's all it is. of the 22 who you tried in the einsatzgruppen case, about a dozen were given death sentences, fou

so you became the chief prosecutor for the united states at one case in nuremberg, the einsatzgruppencribed by the associated press news agency as the biggest murder trial in history. 22 nazi war criminals who were part of these death squads, shooting more than1 million people, most of them civilians. it was quite a responsibility for a young man, you were only 27, to take. and in fact, just before you talk to me about that, i just want to show you, this is you at the nuremberg trials. the leading judge, michael musmanno, pre—recorded in pennsylvania. these are the defendants. 22 defendants. each one charged with mass murder. all of them pleaded not guilty. no—one ever showed any sign of remorse whatsoever. i remember very well what i said. may it please your honours, it is with sorrow and with hope that we here disclose the murder of over a million innocent and defenceless men, women and children... file: vengeance is not our goal. nor do we seek merely just retribution. we ask this court to affirm, by international penal action, man's right to live in peace and dignity, regardless o