Walter B. Beals

Walter B. Beals (2nd from left) as presiding judge at the Nuremberg Doctors Trial (1946)

Walter B. Beals (born July 21, 1876 in Saint Paul , Minnesota ; † September 18, 1960 ) was an American lawyer who, among other things, with a one-year break between 1928 and 1951 and from 1933 to 1935 and again in 1945 as well 1946 President (Chief Justice) of the Supreme Court of the State of Washington (Washington Supreme Court) was. From December 9, 1946 to August 20, 1947, he was chairman of the Nuremberg Doctors Trial , the first of twelve Nuremberg follow-up lawsuits against those responsible for the German Reich at the time of National Socialism in the Nuremberg Palace of Justice .

Life

Family background, studies and lawyer

Beals, son of James Burrill Beals and his wife Katherine McMillan Beals, was a descendant of Roger Williams , who is considered the father of American Baptism and a champion of religious freedom and an early advocate of the separation of church and state and in 1636 the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations founded. His ancestors belonged also James Burrill , the 1816-1817 president of the Supreme Court of Rhode Iceland (Rhode Iceland Supreme Court) and then from 1817 to 1820 US Senator for Rhode Iceland was. He attended schools in Saint Paul and graduated from high school there in 1895 . He then began studying law there with a lawyer, but had to break it off due to illness and then moved to Bellingham on the Pacific coast . After his recovery he worked as a clapboard maker in a sawmill before continuing his law studies at the University of Washington in 1899 . In 1901 he graduated with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) and then took up a position as a lawyer in the law firm of Fred Rice Power.

After Powers death, Beals opened his own law firm in Seattle and joined the Republican Party as a member , although he initially did not seek public office. In 1904 he married his fellow student Othilia Gertrude Carroll, who until then had worked as a lawyer in her father and brother's law firm in Seattle.

World War I and Superior Court Judge

Beals joined the Washington National Guard in 1909 as a private in the infantry , where he was last promoted to major . After the United States entered the First World War in 1917 , he joined the US Army and in August 1917 became a member of the Judge Advocate General's Corps . In the following period it was used in France until the end of 1918 and also took part in the Meuse-Argonne offensive of the American Expeditionary Forces . For his services there he was promoted to lieutenant colonel and made a member of the Legion of Honor . After the end of the war, he initially stayed in Europe and acted as a liaison officer to the French government.

After his return to the United States, Beals ran for one of the three vacant seats in the Supreme Court of Washington in September 1919, but was defeated by more than 30,000 votes. In November 1919, he was one next to Theodore Roosevelt, Jr. of the founders of the American Legion . In 1923 the Seattle City Council named him First Assistant Corporate Counsel of the city. Three years later he was in 1926 by the Republican governor of Washington , Roland H. Hartley , a judge at the Superior Court of King County (King County Superior Court) called to his many years of pursuit which, after a career in the judiciary met.

Washington Supreme Court and Nuremberg Medical Trials

Two years later, in April 1928, Beals was appointed by Governor Hartley to the Supreme Court Justice of the State of Washington (Washington Supreme Court) and was a member of it from April 16, 1928 to October 1, 1946. During this time he was from January 9, 1933 to January 14, 1935, from January 8 to December 18, 1945 and for the third time from May 7 to October 1, 1946 Chief Justice and thus President of the Supreme Court of Washington.

In October 1946, Beals, who had meanwhile been Colonel of the Reserve, was ordered back into active military service to take over the function of presiding judge at the Nuremberg Doctors Trial, the first of twelve Nuremberg follow-up trials against those responsible for the German Reich at the time of National Socialism in the Nuremberg Palace of Justice . 20 concentration camp doctors as well as a lawyer and two administrative experts were charged as organizers of medical crimes. 14 of the defendants had already been named as responsible in the trial against the main war criminals. Some offenders had died, had suicide committed or were already in the Dachau Trials convicted. The whereabouts of some of the perpetrators were unknown and evidence was not yet available. The final selection of the accused was therefore geared towards the goal of indicting leading representatives of the “state medical services” of the National Socialist state in order to demonstrate the workings of the criminal system and not just criminal individuals. Of the 23 defendants, seven were sentenced to death on August 20, 1947, five to life imprisonment and four to imprisonment between 10 and 20 years. Seven defendants were acquitted.

After completing the Nuremberg Doctors' Trial, Beals returned to his post as judge at the Washington Supreme Court on September 10, 1947, and remained in this position until September 10, 1951.

Background literature

CS Reinhart: The History of the Supreme Court of the Territory and State of Washington , p. 81
Lloyd Spencer / Lancaster Pollard: A History of the State of Washington , Volume 4 (1937), p. 526

Web link

Justice Walter B. Beals ( memento of October 9, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) on the Temple of Justice homepage . The history, people, and cases of the Washington State Supreme Court

Individual evidence

↑ After the marriage, Othilia Gertrude Caroll initially gave up her legal practice, but after the United States entered the First World War in 1917 she succeeded her brother as justice of the peace in Seattle until the end of the war. She was involved in various organizations and was among other things co-founder of the Milk Fund of Seattle, member of the local council of Girls Scouts , President of the American Legion Auxiliary of Washington and Vice-President of the American Legion Auxiliary of the USA and also an active member of the Red Cross .
↑ Prior to his appointment as judge in the King County Superior Court, Beals had announced his application against one of Hartley's original candidates. However, after another judge resigned, Beals was appointed by Governor Hartley.
↑ Alexander Mitscherlich, Fred Mielke (ed.): Medicine without humanity. Documents of the Nuremberg Medical Trials 16th edition, revised new edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-596-22003-3 .
↑ Wolfgang U. Eckart: Case 1: The Nuremberg Doctors Trial. 1999, p. 73 ff.

personal data
SURNAME	Beals, Walter B.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	American judge
DATE OF BIRTH	July 21, 1876
PLACE OF BIRTH	Saint Paul , Minnesota
DATE OF DEATH	September 18, 1960

[1] After the marriage, Othilia Gertrude Caroll initially gave up her legal practice, but after the United States entered the First World War in 1917 she succeeded her brother as justice of the peace in Seattle until the end of the war. She was involved in various organizations and was among other things co-founder of the Milk Fund of Seattle, member of the local council of Girls Scouts , President of the American Legion Auxiliary of Washington and Vice-President of the American Legion Auxiliary of the USA and also an active member of the Red Cross .

[2] Prior to his appointment as judge in the King County Superior Court, Beals had announced his application against one of Hartley's original candidates. However, after another judge resigned, Beals was appointed by Governor Hartley.

[Mitscherlich356ff.-3] Alexander Mitscherlich, Fred Mielke (ed.): Medicine without humanity. Documents of the Nuremberg Medical Trials 16th edition, revised new edition. Fischer-Taschenbuch-Verlag, Frankfurt am Main 2004, ISBN 3-596-22003-3 .

[Eckart73ff.-4] Wolfgang U. Eckart: Case 1: The Nuremberg Doctors Trial. 1999, p. 73 ff.