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Donnelle
Conti
08
Project
Summary
Jamestown High
School
Robert H. Jackson: Icon of American
Law
“The privilege of opening
the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world
imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn
and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so
devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored,
because it cannot survive their being repeated.”
-Robert H Jackson’s
opening statement at the Nuremberg trials
Scope:
Grades 8-11
Module 3:
US/World History/Global Studies: Nuremberg – Causes and
effects
Curriculum:
History
Background information and time
line:
May 1945: President
Truman appoints RHJ to be chief US prosecutor in the trial against
Nazi war criminals. Germany surrenders. War in Europe ends.
August 1945: Allies sign
the London Agreement, establishing the International Military
Tribunal. Japan surrenders. WWII ends.
November 1945: Nuremberg
war crimes trial begins in Germany.
April 1946: Chief
Justice Harlan Stone dies while RHJ is in Nuremberg.
October 1946: Nuremberg
trials end. Defendants are sentenced. RHJ returns to his duties at
the Supreme Court after one-year absence.
3 Guiding Questions:
1.
How did a small town lawyer become such an integral part of
US/International politics?
2.
What role did RHJ play in the Nuremberg trials?
3.
How did RHJ’s role at the Nuremberg trials affect the
future handling of crimes against humanity?
3 Learning Objectives:
At the end of these
lessons, students will be able to:
1.
Describe the personality traits that made RHJ a successful
lawyer.
2.
Explain the significant role that RHJ played in the Nuremberg
trials at the end of WWII.
3.
Discuss the impact that RHJ and the Nuremberg trials had on
human rights violations and war crimes that have occurred since
WWII.
Vocabulary:
Prosecutor
Propaganda
Concentration camps
Nazi
Weimar republic
Nuremberg trials
War crimes
International military
tribunal
Suggested Activities:
Activity 1:
Historical head
Activity 2:
Scavenger hunt
Activity 3:
Cause-effect skill
Activity 4:
Analysis of quotes
Activity 5:
Human rights violations
Activity 1: Historical
Head
After the students have
read the Jarrow book, each student will be given the Historical Head
worksheet. This activity concentrates on the entire book and
Jackson as a person. Each student must create four images, symbols,
pictures, that represent Robert H. Jackson and include them inside
the Historical Head. Each image must be numbered 1-4. On the back
of the paper, the student must write at least two sentences per
image discussing the relevance of each image to RHJ. This activity
helps the students to critically think about Jackson’s life and
character. This introductory activity will enhance their
understanding as they continue through the remaining activities.
Activity 2: Robert H.
Jackson Center Scavenger Hunt
As a supplement to the
reading of the Jarrow book, students will set up a tour of the
Robert H. Jackson Center. As part of the tour, they will be given a
Scavenger Hunt activity to complete based on the Jackson Center.
This activity will direct them to different exhibits and areas
within the Center to research more information on Jackson’s life and
the Center.
Activity 3: Cause-effect
skill
This activity allows the
students to chain the causes and effects of the Nuremberg trials and
draw conclusions. Divide students into teams of three or four.
Give each team the eliciting question: What were the causes and
effects of the Nuremberg trials? What makes each a cause or
effect? Give them ten minutes to work on this and then refocus by
telling them to think about – human rights violations, war crimes
tribunals, Holocaust, Hitler, and the Nazis. After another ten
minutes, have the students discuss their chain of causes and
effects. At that point, they may add any information to their
chains. As a class, what conclusions can we draw about the
Nuremberg trials? Were the prosecutors involved in the Nuremberg
trials successful in achieving the purposes of serving justice and
identifying the definition of war crimes?
Activity 4: Analysis of
quotes (see attached sheet)
Students will be given a
choice of four quotes taken from the Jarrow book. These are quotes
taken from RHJ and his thoughts on the Nuremberg trials. Each
student must choose one quote and using evidence from the Jarrow
book and one more source (students may choose from the bibliography
in the back of the book), they must discuss the relevance of the
quote. The response should include the historical context of the
quote and the relevance to Jackson’s role at Nuremberg. This
response should be 2 pages in length and there should be a Works
Cited entry for the Jarrow book and the additional source.
Activity 5: Human Rights
Violations
This activity may be done
as a review of human rights violations. As a class, students should
review post WWII human rights violations including Apartheid,
Cambodia, Rwanda, the Kurds in Iraq, Yugoslavia, and Darfur.
Students should discuss the causes, the events of each violation,
and actions taken. Using the outcome of the Nuremberg trials,
students should discuss how Jackson’s legacy impacted future War
Crime Tribunals that followed WWII. Following the activity, as a
concluding thought: Students should predict (speculate on) how
Robert H. Jackson would have dealt with these human rights
violations.
Assessment tools
Document-based question:
January 2008 Global History exam
Bibliography (see back of Jarrow
book)
Gerhart, Eugene C.
America’s Advocate: Robert H. Jackson.
Indianapolis: Bobbs-Merrill, 1958.
Harris, Whitney R.
Tyranny of Trial: The Trial of the Major
German War Criminals at the End of World War II at Nuremberg,
Germany, 1945-46. Dallas: Southern Methodist University Press,
1999.
The Nurnberg Case, as
Presented by Robert H. Jackson, Chief
Counsel for the United States, Together with Other Documents.
New York: Cooper Square Publishers, 1971. First published 1947 by
Alfred A. Knopf.
Report of Robert H.
Jackson, United States Representative to
the International Conference on Military Trials, London, 1945.
Washington, DC: Department of State, 1949.
“The Nuremberg Trials.”
VHS. Produced and directed by
Michael Kloft. American Experience. PBS Home Video, 2006.
The Nuremberg War
Crimes Trials. The Avalon Project at Yale
Law School.
www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/imt.htm.
Persico, Joseph E.
Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial. New York:
Viking, 1994.
Robert H. Jackson
Center. Jamestown, New York.
www.roberthjackson.org
Taylor, Telford. The
Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A
Personal Memoir. Boston: Little, Brown, 1992.
“The Nuremberg Trials.”
Columbia Law Review 55 (April 1955):
489-525.
Web Links (see back of Jarrow book)
Avalon Project at Yale
Law School.
www.yale.edu/lawweb/avalon/imt/imt.htm.
Contains the
complete transcript of the International Military Tribunal at
Nuremberg.
“The Nuremberg Trials.”
American Experience.
www.pbs.org/wgbh/amex/nuremberg.
Web site for
the PBS program provides timeline, photographs, and lists of WWII
books and Web sites.
Famous Trials.
www.law.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/ftrials.htm.
Includes an
account of all Nuremberg trials, 1945-1949, by Douglas O. Linder,
professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City School of
Law. Has links to additional resources.
United States Holocaust
Memorial Museum, Washington, D.C.
www.ushmm.org
Features
extensive information about the Holocaust, including the doctors’
trial at Nuremberg. Lists research sources.
International Criminal
Court.
www.icc-cpi.int
Discusses the
ICC’s history, organization, and recent cases.
NYS Standards Alignment
Standard 1 – History of
US and NY
Standard 2 – World
History
Standard 5 – Civics,
Citizenship, Government
Activity 4: Analysis of
quotes
Pg. 10
“These prisoners
represent sinister influences that will lurk in the world long after
their bodies have returned to dust. We will show them to be living
symbols of racial hatred, of terrorism and violence, and of the
arrogance and cruelty of power.” -Robert H. Jackson’s opening
speech at Nurember.
Pg. 77
“We must establish
incredible events by credible evidence.”
-Jackson in a report to President Truman
Pg. 77
“I did not think men
would ever be so foolish as to put in writing some of the things the
Germans did put in writing.”
-Jackson on
the German’s meticulous records
Pg. 82
“We must never forget
that the record on which we judge these defendants today is the
record on which history will judge us tomorrow. To pass these
defendants a poisoned chalice is to put it to our own lips as well.”
-Jackson on
the fairness of the Nuremberg Trial
Robert H.
Jackson Center Scavenger Hunt
Answer these questions as
you tour the RHJ Center.
Drawing Room:
1.
Who donated the furnishings for this room and is pictured
with Chief Justice Rehnquist in a photo located on the table?
2.
Name three interesting objects in the room.
Hall:
1.
Who donated and signed a picture of RHJ located on the
mantel?
2.
Who were RHJ’s law clerks? (See photo)
Dining Room:
1.
How did Ulysses S. Grant get to The Chautauqua Institution
from Jamestown?
2.
What is the original use of the two banded chairs in the
room?
Large Display Board:
1.
What is the date of a portrait of RHJ and his family?
2.
Where did RHJ go to school and retell the story of the flag
on the bell tower?
3.
Where did the nickname “Mark You” Jackson come from?
4.
What sport did RHJ and his family share?
5.
What was the name of Jackson’s home near Washington, DC?
6.
Who is the author of the biography of RHJ that was written
for adults?
7.
Who came to RHJ’s funeral in Jamestown?
8.
Where is RHJ buried?
Entry to Auditorium:
1. The two desks represent what parts of
Robert H. Jackson’s professional life?
a.
b.
2. Why is this called the Carl M. Cappa
Theater?
Photo Display of Nuremberg in Auditorium:
1.
Who took these photos?
2.
How were the prisoners guarded?
3.
What do the court records consist of?
4.
How many defendants were on trial?
5.
Who were the four prosecutorial teams?
6.
On what date was the photographer in Nuremberg for the first
time?
7.
Who was Jackson’s assistant at the trial?
8.
What happened to Nuremberg during WWII?
Dining Hall
(downstairs)
1.
Who donated these posters?
2.
Read the fifth poster from the right titled “National Theatre
of the Opera-July 24, 1945.” What city was “after Berlin”?
3.
In what language are most of the posters written?
Answers to Robert H. Jackson
Scavenger Hunt
Drawing Room:
-
Stanley and Sarita Weeks
-
Fireplace, large mirrors,
chandelier, sconces (Students may notice other objects as well.)
Hall:
1. Raymond
D’Addario
2. William
H. Rehnquist and C. George Niebank Jr.
Dining Room:
1. Josie
Bell (steamship)
2. Chair
used by RHJ as Solicitor General, Chair used by RHJ in US Supreme
Court
Large Display Board:
-
1927
-
Frewsburg High School, roof
-
Young orator, debater
-
Softball or horseback riding
-
Hickory Hill
-
Eugene Gerhart
-
All of the Supreme Court
Justices at the time, national and state dignitaries
-
Maple Grove Cemetery in
Frewsburg, NY
Entry to Auditorium:
-
Desk from RHJ’s law office in
Jamestown and desk used by RHJ in Nuremberg
-
Carl Cappa’s hero was RHJ
because of his ideals: model for leadership, integrity, strong
feelings for fairness & justice and love of community
Photo
Display of Nuremberg in Auditorium
-
Ray D’Addario
-
One guard outside each cell
-
Paper & paper duplicates, still
& moving film and phonographic records
-
21 defendants (excluding Martin
Borman who was tried and convicted in absentia.)
-
The French, British, Russian, &
American representatives of France, Great Britain, Soviet Union
& US
-
November 14, 1945
- Elsie Douglas
assisted RHJ as his secretary. Also in photo - Senator Thomas
Dodd who also assisted RHJ. Note: On the large display board is
a photo RHJ’s son William, who is seated behind Jackson and
assisted him at the Nuremberg Trial..
-
It was bombed, & 90 % of the
city was destroyed
Dining Hall (downstairs)
-
Terry Jonethis Collection
-
Tokyo
-
French
Conti
Project Doc in Word
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