Charles F. Wennerstrum (October 11, 1889 – June 1, 1986) was an American

lawyer A lawyer is a person who practices law. The role of a lawyer varies greatly across different legal jurisdictions. A lawyer can be classified as an advocate, attorney, barrister, canon lawyer, civil law notary, counsel, counselor, solic ...

who presided over and sharply criticized some of the Nuremberg war crimes trials after World War II. Wennerstrum was born in Cambridge, Illinois and studied at

Drake University Drake University is a private university in Des Moines, Iowa. It offers undergraduate and graduate programs, including professional programs in business, law, and pharmacy. Drake's law school is among the 25 oldest in the United States. Hi ...

, where he graduated in law in 1914. Elected county attorney of Lucas County in 1916, he served as a lieutenant of the U.S. Army in

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. From January 1, 1941, until December 31, 1958, he served on the

Iowa Supreme Court The Iowa Supreme Court is the highest court in the U.S. state of Iowa. The Court is composed of a Chief Justice and six Associate Justices. The Court holds its regular sessions in Des Moines in the Iowa Judicial Branch Building located at 1111 E ...

, where he was chief justice for two years. During that time, he also served as the presiding judge in the

Hostages Case The Hostages Trial (or, officially, ''The United States of America v. Wilhelm List, et al.'') was held from 8 July 1947 until 19 February 1948 and was the seventh of the twelve trials for war crimes that United States authorities held in their oc ...

at the

Subsequent Nuremberg Trials The subsequent Nuremberg trials were a series of 12 military tribunals for war crimes against members of the leadership of Nazi Germany between December 1946 and April 1949. They followed the first and best-known Nuremberg trial before the Int ...

Nuremberg Nuremberg ( ; german: link=no, Nürnberg ; in the local East Franconian dialect: ''Nämberch'' ) is the second-largest city of the German state of Bavaria after its capital Munich, and its 518,370 (2019) inhabitants make it the 14th-largest ...

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

in 1947/48, where some Generals of the German army were tried for having committed war crimes. He assailed what he saw as the biased approaches of some prosecutors to the trials, suggesting that they were more interested in furthering their own careers than in seeing justice done; and asserting that far too many of them were Jews and consequently of suspect loyalty to the United States; "The whole atmosphere here is unwholesome.... Lawyers, clerks, interpreters and researchers are employed who became Americans only in recent years; whose backgrounds were embedded in Europe's hatreds and prejudices." 'The trials were to have convinced the Germans of the guilt of their leaders,' he said in 1948. 'They convinced the Germans merely that they lost the war to tough conquerors.'Charles F. Wennerstrum, 96; Served on Iowa's High Court
/ref> After retiring from the Supreme Court of Iowa, he opened a private law practice in

Des Moines Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

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* {{DEFAULTSORT:Wennerstrum, Charles F. 1889 births 1986 deaths Iowa lawyers Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court Judges of the United States Nuremberg Military Tribunals People from Cambridge, Illinois 20th-century American judges Chief Justices of the Iowa Supreme Court 20th-century American lawyers