Why go
The trials matter beyond their verdicts. They made individual conduct, rather than only state action, central to international criminal law. At the Palace of Justice, that legacy connects a specific courtroom to later efforts to define and prosecute war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The full story
The Nuremberg trials left a legal and institutional legacy that extended beyond the defendants heard in the Palace of Justice. The tribunal emphasized that individuals could bear responsibility for crimes under international law, including acts carried out through a state. Subsequent Nuremberg proceedings addressed other groups of defendants, including doctors and judges. The main tribunal also influenced later attempts to formulate principles of international criminal law. In 1950, the United Nations' International Law Commission set out principles recognized in the tribunal's charter and judgment. Later courts and proposals for a permanent international criminal court drew on the example of a multinational prosecution, while also confronting problems the first tribunal had exposed. Its legacy should not be treated as a straight line from one trial to every later convention or court. Different institutions arose through different decisions and conflicts. The lasting point for a visitor is more precise: the Nuremberg courtroom became a reference point for asking how leaders and officials can be judged for crimes that cross national borders.