How Czechoslovak Radio reporter František Gel brought Nuremberg trials coverage to Czechoslovaks
Eighty years ago, the world watched as the Nuremberg trials began. More than 20 Nazi war criminals stood trial before judges of the International Military Tribunal, composed of representatives of the victorious powers—the USA, the Soviet Union, France, and the United Kingdom. People in Czechoslovakia received news from the Palace of Justice firsthand, thanks to Czechoslovak Radio reporter František Gel.
After the war, the USA, the USSR, France, and the UK agreed to establish an International Military Tribunal to prosecute and punish the major Nazi perpetrators. The tribunal first convened in Nuremberg on November 20, 1945, and continued until October 1, 1946.
Twenty-four war criminals and Nazi organizations such as the NSDAP, SS, SA, and Gestapo sat on the defendants’ bench. Only those who had taken their own lives were missing: Adolf Hitler, Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, and Martin Bormann.
Journalists from Czechoslovakia were present in the press room in the Palace of Justice. Among them were František Gel (Czechoslovak Radio), František Sachs (Právo lidu), Rostislav Kocourek (ČTK), and Vincenc Nečas (Rudé právo). Other reporters, photographers, and filmmakers frequently came.
In particular, the journalist, radio reporter, writer, diplomat, and translator, František Gel, sent 800 reports and news items from the Nuremberg trials.
Unfortunately, only a short fragment of Gel's extensive coverage of the Nuremberg trials has been preserved in the radio archives. Moreover, it is of poor technical quality.
It captures moments when the judge calls on the defendants to state whether they consider themselves guilty. Hermann Göring, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, and Wilhelm Keitel all answered “no.”
Thanks to a direct telephone connection to Prague, Gel's reporting was quick. Listeners tuned in to their receivers in large numbers at regular intervals. But Gel’s recollection of the experience was modest:
"The trial was closely followed not because it was covered by František Gel, but because after six years of terrible oppression, it was the first voice of justice."
He also became famous as the author of radio programs in which he presented scientific findings in an engaging way and introduced important scholars.
"If the programs were successful or interested people, it was because I approached these things as a curious and not very educated person, who differs from other people who have immediately useful professions in that he can indulge his curiosity and ask questions. If I understand it, then in the end everyone really understands it," Gel described.
In addition, he also wrote non-fiction and trained young journalists. He died in 1972.
Prosecution and Justice
On top of this invaluable journalistic work, Czechoslovak prosecutors prepared crucial evidence for the trial. The lead prosecutor was JUDr. Bohuslav Ečer, later head of the Czechoslovak delegation in Nuremberg. He drafted the first indictment regarding the illegality of the Munich Agreement and the subsequent occupation on March 15, 1939.
To prepare the indictment, JUDr. Ečer interviewed Nazi officials in the US POW camp in Wiesbaden, including Ribbentrop and Marshal Keitel, who had planned the attack on Czechoslovakia. For the first time in judicial history, film documents were included as evidence. Footage showed the signing of the Munich Agreement, German troops occupying the border regions, Hitler at Prague Castle, and Czech Germans performing the Nazi salute in Prague.
Another key document presented by the American prosecution on behalf of Czechoslovakia detailed plans for the Germanization of the Czech people.
Czechoslovakia was also represented among witnesses. MUDr. František Bláha, a prison doctor, testified about experiments on prisoners that caused suffering and death. He was imprisoned in Dachau for experiments, contracted typhus, but survived. He also confirmed visits to concentration camps by high-ranking Nazis, refuting defense claims that the accused were unaware of extermination practices.
The massacre of Lidice was repeatedly mentioned during the trial. The tribunal viewed shocking footage filmed by the Nazis during the village’s destruction. The massacre was named in Nuremberg as a crime that would never fade from human memory.
Sentences by the International Tribunal
The verdict, agreed upon by eight judges:
Death by hanging: Hermann Göring, Julius Streicher, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Alfred Rosenberg, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Alfred Jodl, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Fritz Sauckel, Martin Bormann.
Life imprisonment: Rudolf Hess.
Other prison sentences: Baldur von Schirach and Alfred Speer—20 years; Konstantin von Neurath—15 years; Karl Dönitz—10 years.
Acquitted: Hjalmar Schacht, Franz von Papen, Hans Fritzsche.
Before execution, most of the condemned expressed faith in Germany. Only Streicher shouted “Heil Hitler!” for the last time.
Hermann Göring avoided execution by taking a lethal dose of cyanide the day before. NSDAP leader Robert Ley hanged himself in his cell before the tribunal began. Martin Bormann, sentenced to death, was missing at the time. Later skeletal remains confirmed by DNA in 1998 were identified as his.
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