This week in History: Revolution, Retribution, Justice?

This week in history, a lot went down.  While there were plenty of fun and interesting things that happened -- the rules of American football were made official and Jacqueline Kennedy married Aristotle Onassis -- the common thread in this week's anniversaries seems to me to be one of retribution and justice.  On the days between October 14th and October 20th, the world has seen in particular, a number of attempts at bringing about justice through the execution of deposed leaders.

On October 15th:

In 1945,  Pierre Laval was executed by a firing squad for his colllaboration with the Germans during the war.  Laval had been Prime Minister of France for about a year in 1931, and again in 1935 and 1936.  Although he began his political career as a socialist, his views drifted radically to the right, and he later served the Vichy regime after France's 1940 surrender to the Nazis.  He was the head of this government from 1942 to 1944.  Laval was deeply involved in the persecution of France's Jews, and signed the orders which deported French Jews to Germany and death camps.

Laval's portrait, and a sign bans Jewish children from a French playground.

On October 16th:
 In 1793, Marie Antoinette was beheaded by guillotine as part of the French Revolution.  For a little more on her, take a look at this list of "Ten things you might not know about Marie Antoinette," posted on the History Channel's website yesterday.

 

A 1779 portrait, and Marie Antoinette being led to the gallows

In 1946, ten Nazi leaders were hanged for war crimes in Nuremberg, Germany.  The ten men were Hans Frank, Governor-General of Occupied Poland; Wilhelm Frick, Minister of the Interior;  Hermann Goering, commander of the German air force and Hitler's designated successor; Alfred Jodl, leader of the army; Wilhelm Keitel, de facto defense minister; Joachim Von Ribbentrop, Foreign Affairs Minsiter; Ernst Kaltenbrunner, the highest-ranking SS leader remaining; Alfred Rosenberg, Minister of the Eastern Occupied Territories; Friz Sauckel, head of the slave labour program; Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Commissioner for the Occupied Netherlands; and Julius Streicher, Gauleiter of Franconia and publisher of the anti-semitic newspaper Der Stuermer.  Martin Bormann, Nazi Party Secretary, was sentenced to death, although he was not present for the trial.  His remains were found in 1972, and it is believed that he committed suicide in 1945.

The Nuremberg "Palace of Justice," where the trials took place, and the defendants at trial.

On October 19th:

In 2005, Saddam Hussein's trial for crimes against humanity began in Baghdad.  The trial, conducted by the interim Iraqi government, was deemed "unfair" by Amnesty International, and was marked by Human Rights Watch as a significant step away from the rule of law in Iraq.  Hussein was hanged on December 30th of that year.

   

Hussein at his trial, and his famous statue in Baghdad is torn down.

On October 20th:

In 2011, Libyan rebels captured the overthrown dictator Muammar Gaddafi in his hometown, and killed him.  Photos of Gaddafi dead in a ditch were circulated immediately after.  The fact that I won't repost those photos here tells you something about my opinion on how much justice is really served by assassination, and the justification of distributing such images for general consumption.  

Was the execution of these former leaders justice, or vengeance?  Is the execution of a figure deemed to have acted in a way which is either murderous or treasonous always justified?  Is it appropriate and necessary action following a trial, or is a trial unnecessary?  What legitimises the decision, or even the trial itself?  Or is execution never an appropriate way of dealing with criminals, of any proportion?  I don't have any answers.  Given the anniversaries we see this week, it seems like an appropriate time to take a few minutes to ponder what you think on what justice means.