News of the story
"On Point"
MINSK, 28 January (BelTA) – In a recent episode of BelTA’s YouTube project On Point. History Svyatoslav Kulinok, Candidate of Historical Sciences, explained how the 1946 Minsk trial differed from the Nuremberg Trials.
Eighteen Nazi criminals sat in the dock during the Minsk trial. Among them were individuals who had served in both SS units and the Wehrmacht. This was one of the key distinctions between the Minsk trial and the Nuremberg one. The Nuremberg Trials did not convict the Wehrmacht. It was the SS, the Gestapo, the Nazi Party, and its ideology that were condemned there.
“From the materials of the Minsk trial, we can see that Wehrmacht soldiers directly participated in genocidal practices. They were aware of what was happening, they themselves issued orders… In other words, the Wehrmacht was integrated into the practice of exterminating civilians,” the historian emphasized.
Furthermore, the Nuremberg trials prosecuted the top leadership of Nazi Germany. “While Nuremberg tried the key figures of the Reich, the Minsk trials presented a cross-section from rank-and-file soldiers to generals. After all, the crimes committed by ordinary soldiers or mid-level commanders were no less horrific, and sometimes even more cruel and brutal,” the historian said.
Another distinctive feature of the trials, according to Svyatoslav Kulinok, was the fact that among the witnesses was an archpriest. The reason is that for a long time, his apartment housed the headquarters of a police regiment. One of the defendants was the commander of this regiment, and the archpriest was a direct witness to his crimes.
Follow us on:
