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50 free Nuremberg Trials trivia questions with answers — history quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
The Nuremberg trials were the first time the leaders of a defeated state were put in the dock by an international court. Between November 1945 and October 1946, judges from France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States tried 22 of the most senior surviving figures of Nazi Germany, plus six organisations, in the city that had hosted the Nazi rallies. Twelve further trials, run by the United States alone, followed in the same courtroom. These 50 questions cover how the tribunal came about, from the Moscow Declaration and the London Conference to the charter signed in August 1945; who prosecuted and who judged; the four charges and which ones held up; the films and documents entered as evidence; the defence arguments the court refused to hear; and the sentences, from the ten hangings to the seven men sent to Spandau. There are also questions on the later US trials, the first use of simultaneous interpretation, and the afterlife in the Tokyo tribunal and the International Criminal Court. Easy questions cover the city and the powers involved; the hardest ask about individual judges. Every answer is cited to the page we checked, with a short explanation so you learn something even when you miss.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01How many Allied powers jointly conducted the International Military Tribunal?
Four
France, the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States each appointed prosecutors and judges.
Q 02In which occupied German city was the main trial held?
Nuremberg
The tribunal's formal seat was Berlin, but the trial sat in the Palace of Justice, in the American zone.
Q 03How many individual defendants did the IMT actually try?
22
Twenty-four men were indicted, but one was too ill, one had died, and one was tried in absentia.
Q 04On what date did the main trial open?
20 November 1945
It ran until 1 October 1946, when the verdicts were read.
Q 05How many German organisations were indicted alongside the individual defendants?
Six
The Americans had originally planned to try fourteen.
Q 06How many further trials did the Americans run alone after the IMT?
Twelve
They were held in the same courtroom and focused more heavily on the Holocaust.
Q 07Which crime did the IMT verdict call 'the supreme international crime'?
Waging aggressive war
The judgment said it 'contains within itself the accumulated evil of the whole'.
Q 08Which Allied power initially preferred summary execution of Nazi leaders over a trial?
Britain
Britain cited the failure of war-crimes trials after the First World War.
Q 09Which Allied power wanted a show trial with a predetermined outcome?
Soviet Union
Moscow hoped to use it to build a case for war reparations.
Q 10Which 1943 statement vowed to pursue Nazi leaders 'to the uttermost ends of the earth'?
Moscow Declaration
It was issued by the Soviet Union, the United Kingdom and the United States.
Q 11Which Soviet jurist developed the concept of crimes against peace?
Aron Trainin
His ideas were reprinted in the West and widely adopted.
Q 12At which 1945 conference did Truman announce the formation of an international military tribunal?
San Francisco
The same conference drafted the United Nations Charter.
Q 13In which city was the conference that negotiated the tribunal's charter held in mid-1945?
London
It ran from 26 June to 2 August, and until the end it was unclear any trial would happen.
On what date was the Nuremberg Charter signed?
Q 21Who was the Soviet chief prosecutor at Nuremberg?
Roman Rudenko
Nikitchenko, who had presided over the Moscow show trials, was made a judge instead.
Q 22Who was the first French chief prosecutor, who resigned in January 1946?
Francois de Menthon
He had just overseen trials of the Vichy leadership.
Q 23Which US War Department lawyer devised the conspiracy charge?
Murray Bernays
His idea may have been inspired by earlier work prosecuting securities fraud.
How many official languages did the tribunal have, besides German?
8 August 1945
It was signed in London, three days after the Hiroshima bombing.
Q 15Which US Supreme Court justice was the American chief prosecutor?
Robert H. Jackson
He threatened US withdrawal from the London Conference if aggression was not prosecuted.
Q 16Which article of the charter prevented defendants from claiming sovereign immunity?
7
Article 8 ruled out superior orders as a defence, though it could count in mitigation.
Q 17In which building was the trial held?
The Palace of Justice
It was chosen partly because an attached prison could hold the defendants.
Q 18In which country's occupation zone did Nuremberg lie?
United States
The city was symbolic as the site of the Nazi party rallies.
Q 19Who was the British chief prosecutor at the IMT?
Hartley Shawcross
He was Attorney General for England and Wales; his opening speech was largely written by Hersch Lauterpacht.
Q 20Which British judge served as nominal president of the tribunal?
Geoffrey Lawrence
In practice the American judge Francis Biddle exercised more authority.
Three
English, French and Russian, with German for the defendants.
Q 25Who was the most prominent surviving Nazi and main target of the trial?
Hermann Göring
He expected execution but hoped to be vindicated in German eyes.
Q 26Which defendant was tried in absentia because the Allies did not know he was dead?
Martin Bormann
Robert Ley died by suicide before the trial, and Gustav Krupp was too ill to appear.
Q 27Which industrialist was indicted but excused as too ill to stand trial?
Gustav Krupp
A planned second international tribunal for industrialists was never held.
Q 28How many defendants were acquitted by the IMT?
Three
Papen, Schacht and Fritzsche walked free after deadlocks between the judges.
Q 29How many defendants were sentenced to death?
12
Ten were hanged on 16 October 1946; Göring killed himself the day before and Bormann was absent.
Q 30How many of those condemned were actually hanged on 16 October 1946?
Ten
One sentence could not be carried out because the man had been tried in absentia.