Athenia, or the Nuremberg Trial at Midpoint

Athenia, or the Nuremberg Trial at Midpoint

From LCIL International Law Centre Podcast by LCIL, University of Cambridge

March 9, 2026 · 44 min

About this episode

This episode discusses the midpoint of the Nuremberg Trials and highlights the inclusion of diverse participants in the proceedings.

Lecture summary: Early March 1946 marked a rough midpoint in proceedings before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. The prosecution had closed its case, with France and the USSR just having presented most of the trial’s eyewitnesses – two of them women. The defense opened just as Churchill gave his Iron Curtain speech. Elsewhere in Palace of Justice, personnel were going home even as others arrived, to prepare subsequent proceedings. These new ‘Nurembergers’ included more women, more people of colour, and more people who had not served in the world war then on trial. By centring such developments, this talk will offer a less-travelled account of the first international criminal trial. An expert in international law and its subfields, including legal history and international criminal law, Diane Marie Amann has served as Regents’ Professor, Emily & Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law, and Faculty Co-Director of the Dean Rusk International Law Center at the University of Georgia School of Law, and is an Academic Affiliate at University College London Faculty of Laws. She was Special Adviser to International Criminal Court Prosecutor Fatou Bensouda on…

People in this episode

Guest: Diane Marie Amann

Topics covered

  • international law
  • history
  • criminal justice
  • politics
  • society

Keywords

  • Nuremberg Trials
  • International Military Tribunal
  • eyewitnesses
  • women in law
  • diversity in trials
  • Diane Marie Amann
  • international criminal law
  • legal history

Mentioned in this episode

Books & works: Nurembergers

Places: France, USSR, Nuremberg

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