Just Following Orders: Difference between revisions

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* Famously used by Nazi defendants during the post World War 2 Nuremberg Trials. AKA the [[wikipedia:Nuremberg defense|"Nuremberg Defense"]].

** At the Nuremberg trials, it was established that "just following orders" is a valid defense, but only below the rank of lieutenant, and only if the orders in question are not clearly illegal. Many times the accused said that they followed orders because it was either work in the camps or the front line.

***One interesting [[Zig-Zagging Trope|Zig-Zag]] of this was [[SOE]] agent Yeo-Thomas. He appeared at Nuremberg as witness for the defense ~~for~~ Otto Skorzeny from the charge of [[The Laws and Customs of War|perfidy]] ~~and~~ pointed out that he had done it ~~too~~ for the British: [[Captain Obvious|he was a spy.]] He also appeared for the prosecution to identify the staff of Buchenwald (for some reason the Nazis had a habit of dumping [[What an Idiot!| trained insurgency experts]] among desperate prisoners). Apparently he thought Skorzeny did not quite deserve to be called a war criminal even if he was definitely a Nazi, but the staff of Buchanwald, kind of were.

***One interesting [[Zig-Zagging Trope|Zig-Zag]] of this was [[SOE]] agent [[w:F. F. E. Yeo-Thomas|Forest Frederick Edward Yeo-Thomas]]. He appeared at Nuremberg as a witness for the defense of Otto Skorzeny from the charge of [[The Laws and Customs of War|perfidy]]. He pointed out that he had done it for the British, too: [[Captain Obvious|he was a spy.]] He also appeared for the prosecution to identify the staff of Buchenwald (for some reason the Nazis had a habit of dumping [[What an Idiot!| trained insurgency experts]] among desperate prisoners). Apparently he thought Skorzeny did not quite deserve to be called a war criminal even if he was definitely a Nazi, but the staff of Buchanwald kind of ''were''.

** The US Military specifically states that following an order you know to be illegal (such as shooting civilians) denies you the use of this defense: you knew it was wrong and failed to refuse the order.

* The New York City Police Department (NYPD) marched to protest a few of their fellow cops being charged with sweeping crimes under the rug. The slogan on their sign was the name of this very trope. Analogues to [[Godwin's Law|Nazi Germany]] were [http://gawker.com/5854503/dear-nypd-just-following-orders-is-not-a-good-slogan not far behind].