The Study presents the Nuremberg defense lawyers as "political actors", having an independent role from the accused in the trial. The first part of the study examines, for the first time based on a wide array of sources, the biographies of the defense lawyers of the Nuremberg trials, as well as the structure of the defense teams. The second part analyses the Nuremberg defense lawyers as "political lawyers", a term introduced by Otto Kirchheimer. Based on various documents, the study shows explanations and justifications for the "Third Reich" and its aftermath, provided by prominent Nuremberg defense lawyers such as Otto Kranzbuhler, Rudolf Dix or Alfred Seidl. As a last point it looks into the role of these defense lawyers in the reappraisal of the Nazi past in German society and in cases against National Socialist perpetrators in the Federal Republic of Germany.