The prosecution team in the Milch trial. Front right is Telford Taylor, across from him Clark Denny

The Milch Trial (or officially, The United States of America vs. Erhard Milch) was the second of the twelve trials for war crimes the U.S. authorities held in their occupation zone in Germany in Nuremberg after the end of World War II. These twelve trials were all held before U.S. military courts, not before the International Military Tribunal, but took place in the same rooms. The twelve U.S. trials are collectively known as the "Subsequent Nuremberg Trials" or, more formally, as the "Trials of War Criminals before the Nuremberg Military Tribunals" (NMT).

In the Milch trial, former Field Marshal of the Luftwaffe Erhard Milch was accused of having committed war crimes and crimes against humanity. The judges in this case, heard before Military Tribunal II, were Robert M. Toms (presiding judge) from Detroit, Michigan, Fitzroy Donald Phillips from North Carolina, Michael A. Musmanno from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and John J. Speight from Alabama as an alternate judge. The Chief of Counsel for the Prosecution was Telford Taylor, the Chief Trial Counsel was Clark Denny. The defense counsels were Friedrich Bergold and Werner Milch, the brother of the defendant.

The indictment was presented on November 14, 1946; the trial lasted from January 2, 1947 until April 17, 1947. The charges against Milch were:

1. War crimes by participating in the ill-treatment and use for forced labor of prisoners of war and the deportation of civilians to the same ends;
2. War crimes by participating in or ordering medical experiments on humans without the subjects' consent, in particular high altitude (asphyxiation) experiments and freezing experiments;
3. Crimes against humanity by participating in the murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, and use for slave labor of civilians who came under German control, German nationals, and prisoners of war.

Milch pleaded "not guilty" on all charges on December 20, 1947. The tribunal found Milch guilty on counts 1 and 3, but acquitted him on count 2 of the indictment because his involvement could not be proven beyond reasonable doubt. Milch was sentenced to life imprisonment. The sentence was reduced to 15 years of imprisonment in 1951, but he was released already in June 1954.

References

• Trial proceedings (http://www.mazal.org/archive/nmt/02/NMT02-T0355.htm) from the Mazal Library.
• Description of the trial (http://www.ushmm.org/uia-cgi/uia_doc/photos/10393?hr=null) from the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum.

External links

• A sourced collection of excerpts from documents relating to medical experiments (http://fcit.coedu.usf.edu/holocaust/resource/document/DocMedEx.htm), in particular low pressure (high altitude) and freezing experiments.