Calendar

Author Noel Marie Fletcher discusses her new book.

For the first time, journalists who shared details about Nazi crimes from the International Military Tribunal, better known as the Nuremberg Trial, have their own story told.

As World War II in Europe drew to a close in 1945, the Allies prepared to hold Nazi leaders accountable for crimes against humanity and selected Nuremberg as the site for the trial. The U.S. military took the lead in refurbishing a courtroom and making accommodations for 325 journalists and 23 defendants plus Allied judges, prosecutors, translators and administrative staff. Because publicity was a main consideration, the latest innovations and technology were incorporated into the courtroom to enhance news coverage of the trial. Press passes were in demand worldwide for courtroom seats. A press pool was selected to witness the executions in which 10 criminals were hung on Oct. 16, 1946.

Famous war correspondents and young journalists who later became household names were headquartered in a castle, explored bombed ruins and faced dangers as a lingering spirit of Nazism seethed within the city. The lengthy trial became an excruciating endurance test for journalists by the time it ended (far longer than expected) on Oct. 1, 1946, setting a precedent for coverage of subsequent justice at Nuremberg.

The author, a long-time journalist and former foreign correspondent, provides an insider’s look at how the news was gathered and conveyed. The book is based on extensive research and insights gathered from Nuremberg, including at the location where the journalists were housed and at the courtroom itself.

Noel Marie Fletcher is a career journalist and award-winning author living in Washington, D.C. She earned her B.A. in journalism from San Francisco State University and completed all Master’s coursework at the Missouri School of Journalism in Columbia, one of the oldest formal journalism schools in the world. She started her journalism career in California and moved to Hong Kong where she covered the High Court for the HongKong Standard newspaper. She became a foreign correspondent for The Journal of Commerce, America’s oldest daily business paper, and traveled throughout Asia before being posted to Beijing as China Correspondent. She is a founding member of the Foreign Correspondents’ Club of China and has written extensively for newspapers, magazines and wire services. In 2017, she wrote briefly in Berlin for The Times (London) before returning to the U.S. to cover business and government in D.C. Fletcher is the author of several books, two of which have won awards by the National Federation of Press Women. She serves on a chapter board of the Santa Fe Trail Association.