Skip to main content Accessibility help
×
  1. Home
  2. Search

Refine search

Refine search

Access:
Content type:
Publication date:
Apply   From and To filters
Subject: Show more
Journals Show more
Publishers: Show more
Societies Show more
Series: Show more
Collections: Show more

Actions for selected content:

Select all | Deselect all
  • View selected items
  • Export citations
  • Download PDF (zip)
  • Save to Kindle
  • Save to Dropbox
  • Save to Google Drive

Save Search

You can save your searches here and later view and run them again in "My saved searches".

Please provide a title, maximum of 40 characters.
Cancel
×

1 results

  • 5 - Caged Justice

  • from Part III - War Criminals
  • Artemis Photiadou, London School of Economics and Political Science
  • Book:
    Interrogating Nazism
    Published online:
    08 October 2026
    Print publication:
    01 October 2026, pp 155-179
    • Chapter
      • You have access
      • Open access
    • PDF
    • HTML
    • Export citation

  • Summary

    This chapter examines Britain’s efforts to identify, interrogate and prosecute perpetrators of war crimes in the aftermath of the Second World War. While public memory tends to focus on the major figures tried before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, the vast majority of prosecutions concerned those who had directly committed atrocities, including guards, policemen and soldiers of all ranks. Britain faced a uniquely complex challenge, with more than half a million German prisoners of war held on its soil, many of whom had witnessed or participated in crimes across Europe. To address this, specialist teams were tasked with gathering the evidence needed for trial. The chapter focuses on the main team based in Britain, known as the War Crimes Interrogation Unit. Their work illustrates the sheer scale and unevenness of post-war justice. In some cases, their efforts led directly to prosecutions; in others, equally thorough investigations never resulted in a trial. This chapter considers what those outcomes reveal about the limits of post-war justice.