To anyone setting out to explore the entanglement of international criminal justice with the interests of States, Germany is a particularly curious, exemplary case. Although a liberal democracy since 1949, its political position has altered radically in the last 60 years. Starting from a position of harsh scepticism in the years following the Nuremberg Trials, and opening up to the rationales of international criminal justice only slowly - and then mainly in the context of domestic trials against functionaries of the former East German regime after 1990 - Germany is today one of the most active supporters of the International Criminal Court. The climax of this is its campaigning to make the ICC independent of the UN Security Council - a debate in which Germany took a position in stark contrast to the United States. This book offers new insight into the debates leading up to such policy shifts. Drawing on government documents and interviews with policymakers, it enriches a broader debate on the politics of international criminal justice which has to date often been focused primarily on the United States.

Introduction 1 The Politics of 'Historical Truth': An Outline 1. 'Historical Truth' as a Goal and a Problem 2. Extreme Selectivity and Slices of Truth 3. The Need for Representative Case Selections4. Are Objective Selections Possible? The Gravity Test 5. The Critical Systemic Role of the Prosecutor 6. Checks on the Prosecutor? The 'Accountability v Independence' Debate 7. Conclusion 2 German Objections to the Nuremberg Trials after 1949 1. The Allies in Control 2. Allied Priorities: Shaping the Historical Narrative 3. Germany and the nullum crimen Debate 4. Germany and the tu quoque Debate 5. Germany's Opposition to New Tribunals 56. Conclusion 3 Germany's Own GDR Trials after 1989 1. West Germany in Control 2. West German Narrative Interests 3. The U-Turn on nullum crimen 4. Conclusion 4 German Support for the UN Ad Hoc Tribunals in the 1990s 1. The UN Security Council in Control 2. Germany's Narrative Interests on the Balkans 3. Western Priorities: Shaping the Historical Narrative 814. Germany's Interests in New Tribunals 5. Conclusion 5 Germany's Role (and Stake) in the Creation of the ICC 1. Who Should Be in Control? 2. Originally, Germany Favoured UN Security Council Control 3. Then, Germany Argues for 'Independence' Instead 4. Remarkably, Idealist and Realists in Germany had Joined Hands 5. German Realists had Nothing to Lose from the Shift Towards Independence 6. More Importantly However, They had a Lot to Gain 7. Independence and the Crime of Aggression 8. Conclusion 16 Cosmopolitan Ideals and National Interests: Concluding Remarks