Americans, Germans, and War Crimes Justice

James J. Weingartner

This ground-breaking comparative perspective on the subject of World War II war crimes and war justice focuses on American and German atrocities.Almost every war involves loss of life of both military personnel and civilians, but World War II involved an unprecedented example of state-directed and ideologically motivated genocide-the Holocaust. Beyond this horrific, premeditated war crime perpetrated on a massive scale, there were also isolated and spontaneous war crimes committed by both German and U.S. forces.The book is focused upon on two World War II atrocities-one committed by Germans and the other by Americans. The author carefully examines how the U.S. Army treated each crime, and gives accounts of the atrocities from both German and American perspectives. The two events are contextualized within multiple frameworks: the international law of war, the phenomenon of war criminality in World War II, and the German and American collective memories of World War II. Americans, Germans and War Crimes Justice: Law, Memory, and "The Good War" provides a fresh and comprehensive perspective on the complex and sensitive subject of World War II war crimes and justice.

This ground-breaking comparative perspective on the subject of World War II war crimes and war justice focuses on American and German atrocities.

Introduction1 War Crimes and the Law of War2 Building a Case3 A Town Brought to Trial4 "Worms on the Ground"5 Divided Counsel6 Fed to the Lions7 Germans as Victims8 Posttrial Drama9 Two Kinds of Justice?10 Memory11 August 4, 2003EpilogueBibliographyIndex