Fascism accused: on the 80th anniversary of the Nuremberg trials
On November 21, 2025, the director of the Center for Historical and Cultural Heritage, Leonid Sumarokov, spoke about the history of the preparation and holding of the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, which became the first precedent in history for the condemnation of crimes of a national scale. Then representatives of state power (senior political and military leaders) of Hitler's Germany appeared in court, making the entire state with its institutions, structures, punitive bodies, ideology and propaganda machine the instrument of their monstrous crimes. The historical mission of the Nuremberg Tribunal was to administer justice to the main initiators and perpetrators of fascist atrocities. As a result, the true face of fascism was demonstrated to the whole world. The trial of fascism exposed its essence and plans for the destruction of entire states and peoples, monstrous mass crimes against peace and humanity. The main task of the trial was not only to deservedly retaliate and punish the criminal leaders of Nazi Germany, but also to create an international legal basis for the criminal liability of all individuals and organizations guilty of the gravest crimes and mass atrocities. His experience and decisions later formed the basis for the activities of national courts in prosecuting and punishing Nazi criminals. In fact, the court completed the military defeat of Hitlerism with a legal and moral defeat.
