Justice at Nuremberg: Leo Alexander and the Nazi doctors' trial

In 1945, after the collapse of the Third Reich, Leo Alexander worked as an Allied investigator and exposed murderous medical experiments and other atrocities of the Nazi regime. His 'top secret' mission, documented in recently discovered diaries, provided the United States with evidence to prosecute 20 German doctors and three administrators for war crimes and crimes against humanity in the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial held in 1946-47. The legacy of Nuremberg was profound. In the Nuremberg Code - a landmark in the history of modern medical ethics - the judges laid down for the first time international guidelines for permissible experiments on humans. One of those who helped to formulate this code was Alexander. Ulf Schmidt's discoveries reveal how modern medicine became the subject of greater accountability. He provides insight into the origins of human rights in medical science and into the changing role of international law, ethics and politics.