Inside the Nuremberg Trial; A Prosecutor's Comprehensive Account
Lanham, MD: University Press of America, Inc., 1999. Presumed First Edition/First Printing. Hardcover. 2 volumes. Volume I has xvii, [1], 712, [6] pages. Volume II, vi, 713-1580, [6] pages. Illustrations. Notes and References. Chronological Listings of Important Events. Special Terms. Bibliography. Index. Inscription signed by the author on front flyleaf of Volume I. Publisher's ephemera laid in. Mr. Sprecher was the only assistant prosecutor to present cases against two defendants at the first Nuremberg trial, in which a court created by the United States, the Soviet Union, Britain and France indicted 24 of the most important captured leaders of Nazi Germany. Before the trial, one defendant hanged himself and another was considered too frail to stand trial. Three of the 22 tried were acquitted, 8 went to prison and the rest were executed. Mr. Sprecher became one of the few original prosecutors to go on to subsequent Nuremberg trials conducted by the United States in its zone of occupied Germany. At these 12 trials, Mr. Sprecher at different times led four different divisions of the American prosecution team and was top deputy to Telford Taylor, chief counsel. Mr. Sprecher's successful case against Baldur von Schirach, Hitler Youth leader from 1931 to 1940, involved arguing that the militarization of millions of youths, including rifle-shooting drills by 7,000 instructors, was "a central thread" of the Nazi conspiracy. In the other case Mr. Sprecher presented, he contended that Hans Fritzsche, a deputy to the propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, incited Germans by broadcasting lies on the radio. More