ABSTRACT
The first assessment of how the Allied forces should deal vvith the crimes that vvere committed during the Third Reich vvas a legal one and not a moral or psychological one. The initial deliberations centered around vvho vvas a vvar criminal, vvhat constituted a vvar crime, and hovv vvar criminals should be brought to justice. As vve see here, the forces shaping the question of legal responsibility vvould have a significant impact on the issue of moral responsibility for Nazism as vvell. The legal deliberations set the tone for the Nuremberg trials and served as a directory for hovv the general public vvould perceive the participants of the Third Reich for decades to come.
