A T Williams

After the horror of the Second World War, the Nuremberg Tribunal became a symbol of the ‘free world’s’ choice of justice in the face of tyranny, aggression and atrocity. But it was only a fragment of retribution as, with their Allies, the British embarked on the largest programme of war crimes investigations and trials in history.

Williams exposes the deeper truth of this controlled scheme of vengeance. Moving from the scripted trial of Göring, Hess and von Ribbentrop, to the makeshift courtrooms where ‘minor’ war criminals (the psychotic SS officers, the brutal guards, the executioners) were prosecuted, he tells the story of the extraordinary enterprise, the investigators, the lawyers and the perpetrators and asks the question: was justice done?

A T Williams is a professor of law at the University of Warwick, where he directs the Centre for Human Rights in Practice. He has been involved in human rights work nationally and internationally for more than 15 years. His first book, ‘A Very British Killing’ won the 2013 Orwell Prize.