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Russian official spotlights journalists’ contribution to victory over Nazi ideology

Chairman of the Russian Historical Society and Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin stressed that the Nuremberg Trials were a key legal mechanism for summing up the results of World War II
Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin Sergei Fadeichev/TASS
Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service Sergei Naryshkin
© Sergei Fadeichev/TASS

MOSCOW, November 23. /TASS/. The final victory over Nazi ideology won in the minds of the German people became possible not only thanks to efforts by lawyers but also the press, Chairman of the Russian Historical Society and Director of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service (SVR) Sergei Naryshkin said on Monday in an online interview with TASS First Deputy Director General Mikhail Gusman devoted to the lessons of the Nuremberg Trials.

According to Naryshkin, "the last line of defense" of Nazi Germany was broken, and the victory for the minds of the German people was won during the Nuremberg Trials. "Although not immediately, but gradually they [the Germans] realized the criminal nature of the Nazi regime and ideology, and it’s not only leading lawyers, attorneys but also the press who deserve credit for that. It is known that there were 350 seats in the hall of the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, and 250 of them were intended for journalists, including Soviet ones, in particular, journalists of the Telegraph Agency of the Soviet Union," he said.

Naryshkin stressed that the Nuremberg Trials were a key legal mechanism for summing up the results of World War II. "Its significance also lies in the fact that it marked the restoration of the reign of law in post-war Europe and made a huge contribution to the development of international criminal law. For the first time, individuals convicted of war crimes who argued that they just obeyed their commanders’ orders failed to evade responsibility," he added.

The international trial of former leaders of Nazi Germany was held from November 20, 1945, to October 1, 1946, in Nuremberg’s Palace of Justice. That was the first international tribunal that condemned military aggression as the worst crime against humanity and brought criminals to justice. The principles enshrined in its Charter were upheld by the UN General Assembly in its resolution of December 11, 1946, as universally recognized norms of international law.