The story of this place
In Courtroom 600 of Nuremberg's Palace of Justice, from November 1945 to October 1946, an international tribunal tried 21 surviving Nazi leaders for crimes the world had no precedent to name. Prosecutors led by American Robert H. Jackson established that 'following orders' was no defence and that individuals could be held liable for crimes against humanity — the foundation of modern international criminal law. Twelve defendants were sentenced to hang; Hermann Göring cheated the noose by swallowing cyanide hours before execution. The city was chosen partly for its symbolism as the Nazis' ceremonial capital. The courtroom, still in use, now anchors a memorial exhibition on the birth of accountability for state crime.