Editing High Command Trial (section)

==Aftermath==
The German public opinion was against the trial. Many denied the facts found by the U.S. judges, extolled the defense of obedience to [[superior orders]] and praised the soldierly qualities of the defendants. Particularly active were the Protestant and Catholic Churches.{{sfn|Hebert|2010|pp=185–186}}

After the emergence of the [[West Germany|Federal Republic]], [[Chancellor of Germany|German Chancellor]] [[Konrad Adenauer]] and the [[Bundestag]] weighed in on the side of the defendants. German leverage increased as the urgency of [[Wiederbewaffnung|rearming Germany]] grew. Under these intense pressures, in 1950, U.S. High Commissioner John McCloy established a review panel chaired by Judge David Peck of New York and, on its recommendation, reduced the sentences of three of the six High Command defendants who were still in prison. After further proceedings by mixed commissions composed of Allied and German members, the last of the High Command defendants returned home in 1954.<ref>See Detlev F. Vagts, Book Review, American Journal of International Law vol. 104 (2010), p. 548, at 549; reviewing Valerie Geneviève Hébert, [[Hitler's Generals on Trial|Hitler's Generals on Trial: The Last War Crimes Tribunal at Nuremberg]]. Lawrence, KS: University Press of Kansas, 2010.</ref>