The Allies selected the 24 highest German leaders they had captured and charged them with war crimes:

1. Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring (Goering), the # 2 man in the Reich (state), head of the Wehrmacht, formerly called the Reichswehr (armed forces); head of the Luftwaffe (Air Force); President of the Reichstag (Legislature):

2. Rudolf Hess, Deputy Führer and # 2 man in the Nazi Party from 1933 to 1941;

3. Joachim von Ribbentrop, Foreign Minister from 1937 to 1945; 

4. Martin Bormann, Hitler's personal secretary from 1943;

5. Franz von Papen, chancellor in 1932, ambassador to Austria from 1934 to 1938 and Turkey from 1939 to 1944;

6. Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel, head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) (High Command of the Armed Forces);  

7. General Alfred Jodl, Chief of the Operations Staff of the High Command;

8. Grand Admiral (Grosadmiral) Karl Dönitz (Doenitz), commander of the Reich submarine force from 1939 to 1943, head of the Kriegsmarine (Navy) from 1943 to 1945;

9. Baldur von Schirach, head of the Hitler Jugend (Hitler Youth);

10. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Reich Commissioner in the Netherlands;

11. Albert Speer, Minister of Armaments and War Production;

12. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, owner of the Krupp industries;

13. Alfred Rosenberg, Minister for the Occupied Eastern Territories;

14. Hans Frank, Governor-General of Poland;

15. Wilhelm Frick, Minister of Interior;

16. Hans Fritzsche, Director of Propaganda;

17. Walther Funk, Minister of Economic Affairs;

18. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the Reich Main Security Office;

19. Baron Konstantin von Neurath, Foreign Minister till 1937;

20. Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, head of the Kriegsmarine (Navy) till 1943;

21. Fritz Sauckel, General Plenipotentiary for Labour Deployment;

22. Hjalmar Schacht, President of the Reischsbank (Central Bank) in the 1920s and 1930s and Minister of Economics from 1934 to 1937;

23. Julius Streicher, publisher of the private weekly tabloid Der Stürmer, and

24. Robert Ley. head of German Labour.

The best known   -   at the time, or before the war, or later   -   were Göring, Hess, Speer, Bormann, Von Ribbentrop, Krupp, Keitel, Doenitz and Von Papen.

In the above photo, Hermann Goering and Rudolf Hess sit on the far left of the front row. Albert Speer sits in the back row, third from right. American military policemen stand guard behind the defendants.

The trial began on November 19, 1945 and ended on October 1, 1946.

The 24 defendants were charged on four counts:

1. Planning and waging war against peace

2. Planning and waging war of aggression

3. Committing war crimes

4. Crimes against humanity

Of the 24 selected to stand trial, 21 were present for the trial.

One defendant, Ley, committed suicide before the trial began.

One defendant, Krupp, was too ill to attend the trial and not prosecuted.

One defendant, Bormann, could not be found and was tried in absentia.

Of the twenty-two tried, twelve, including the absent defendant, Bormann, were sentenced to death by hanging.

The executions were carried out in Nuremberg on October 16, 1946.

Goering, who was to be hanged first, committed suicide by cyanide poisoning in his cell two to three hours before his scheduled execution.

The ten others were hanged, between 1:11 and 2:45 a. m., in the following order: Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Jodl and Seyss-Inquart. The bodies, including Goering's, were cremated and the ashes tossed into a river.

Three defendants   -   Hess, Funk and Raeder   -   were sentenced to life in prison.

Raeder and Funk were released on grounds of ill-health   -   Raeder in 1955, nine years after sentencing, and Funk in 1957, eleven years after sentencing.

Hess died in prison in 1987, forty-one years after sentencing.

Von Schirach and Speer were sentenced to twenty years in prison.   

Von Neurath was sentenced to fifteen years in prison and released after eight years.

Doenitz was sentenced to ten years in prison.

Fritzsche, Von Papen and Schacht were acquitted of all charges. Fritzsche and Von Papen wee subsequently tried in German denazification courts.