In 1946, Nazi leaders including Marshal Göring were tried at the Nuremberg Tribunal for war crimes committed during World War II. The trial, which lasted nearly a year and involved 22 defendants, aimed to document and punish German atrocities, though its jurisdiction was limited to avoid implicating Soviet crimes.
Han van Meegeren, a Dutch artist rejected by critics, became Europe's premier art forger in the 1930s–40s by creating counterfeit Vermeer paintings that fooled experts and collectors. After selling a forged Vermeer to Nazi official Hermann Göring, he was arrested but spared execution by successfully painting a forgery before court witnesses, becoming a national hero in the Netherlands.