Nuremberg Trial proceedings: summation and verdict

Identifier
irn1003755
Language of Description
English
Alt. Identifiers
  • 2006.350.1
  • RG-60.4292
Dates
1 Jan 1946 - 31 Dec 1946, 1 Jan 1948 - 31 Dec 1948
Level of Description
Item
Languages
  • English
Source
EHRI Partner

Creator(s)

Scope and Content

Part 4 of ENGLISH language version [corresponds to NARA reels 7 & 8] Courtroom scenes, questioning various defendants, showing various views of the courtroom and trial proceedings. Questioning Jodl and von Ribbentrop. Prosecutor asks Goering: "Do you still say that neither Hitler nor you knew of the policy to exterminate the Jews?" Goering: "I already had said that not even approximately did I know to what degree this thing took place." Prosecutor: "You did not know to what degree, but you knew there was a policy which aimed at the liquidation of the Jews?" Goering: "No, not liquidation of Jews, only knew that certain perpetrations had taken place." Prosecutor cross-examining Speer. Final statements of defendants. Frank, "I myself speaking from the very depths of my sentiments...say this: now that I have gained a last insight into all that which has been committed in the way of dreadful atrocities, I feel a terrible guilt within me." Funk, "...When measures of terror and violence against Jews were put to me, I suffered a nervous breakdown...I feel ashamed and guilty." Final statements of Schirach, Schacht, Speer: "The tremendous danger contained in this totalitarian system only became really clear the moment we were approaching the end....This trial must contribute to the prevention of such distorted wars in the future and to the establishment of principles of human cooperation." Final statements of Keitel, Frank, and Fritzsche. The defense and prosecution sum up their arguments. 01:06:54 Chief US prosecutor Robert Jackson delivers his summation. Courtroom scenes, showing defendants testifying and prisoners' dock, "...to say of these men that they are not guilty, it would be as true to say that there has been no war, there are no slain, there has been no crime." Sir Hartley Shawcross delivers summation, "This trial must form a milestone in the history of our civilization..." Gen. Rudenko delivers summation, "...their crimes have been proven...the truth cannot be challenged." French prosecutor de Ribes delivers his summation, "...the fate of these men lies within your conscience..." The justices deliberate, shots of the conference room, narrator identifies judges as they discuss the verdict. "1 October 1946" Judges deliver verdict. Flashbacks are shown as the sentences are read. Goering: guilty, scenes of 1933 boycott in Berlin, window painted with "Jude", Lvov massacre. Hess: guilty, scenes of Hess delivering lecture to Nazi crowd heiling. von Ribbentrop: guilty, shots of buildings on fire and German soldiers. Keitel: guilty, Keitel signing agreement, forced labor scenes. Kaltenbrunner: guilty, footage of survivors "dying" as "gas" is released into a gas chamber [see Reel 6]. Rosenberg: guilty, Rosenberg delivering speech into microphone, bookburning scenes. Frank: guilty, showing Mogilev gassing experiment of mental patients, including a brief additional shot of a naked boy being lead by a woman and man in white coats into a basement. The people in white coats (probably local Soviet doctors) are more clearly seen. There is a German uniformed man in background. [These scenes are clearer than the sequence in Reel 5.] Frick: guilty, survivors in hospital beds, Frick watching a military parade with Hitler in BG. Streicher: guilty, scene of a SS men dragging a Jew across cobblestones in the ghetto. Funk: guilty, shots of piles of gold extracted from victims' teeth. Schacht: not guilty. Karl Doenitz: guilty, showing German advance at harbor, speaking behind a podium. Raeder: guilty, seen talking to Hitler. Schirach: guilty, with Hitler Youth, speaking to youth. Sauckel: guilty, forced labor scenes, men with shovels. Jodl: guilty, scenes of military advances, fighting. von Papen: not guilty. Speer: guilty, scenes of German industry. Neurath: guilty, showing Nazis marching in the street. Seyss-Inquart: guilty, mob scenes in Austria after the Anschluss. Fritzsche: not guilty. Bormann: guilty in absentia. Prison where defendants await sentencing, showing various chambers, guards. Text superimposed on screen from Jackson: "This trial is part of the great effort to make the peace more secure. It constitutes juridical action of a kind to ensure that those who start a war will pay for it personally." Film ends with "Nuremberg stands as a warning to all those who plan and wage aggressive war." End Credit: This film was produced by the Documentary Film Unit / Information Services Division / OMGUS Followed by 3 logos: AFIFA / ZEIT IM FILM / FILMSTUDIO TEMPELHOF

Note(s)

  • See departmental files for English language transcript of film narration. See Film IDs 67 and 2388, and Film ID 2794 for additional copies of this film obtained from different archives. See Film IDs 2749 to 2758 for the remaining reels of this film in English and German donated by Mr. Headen. See Film IDs 2388 and 2750 [Stories 3007, 3008, and 4292] for duplicate footage of this particular segment of the film. Film ID 2388 (from NARA) is much superior in visual quality than this version. It seems that this German version is several generations away from whatever served as a 'master' for the English version on Film ID 2388. Rights: While this film is a production of the US government and is therefore in the public domain, it contains German newsreel footage, the rights to which are held by the German state archive (Bundesarchiv) through their agent, Transit Film. Researchers should exercise caution when using newsreel clips from this film, and consider clearing the rights with Transit, especially if broadcast in Europe.

  • Details from Dr. Albert Widmann's 1967 trial in Stuttgart include his personal description of actions corresponding to the scene of gassing by vehicle exhaust, in the company of Arthur Nebe, and the presence of one male Soviet doctor and two female Soviet doctors (in German-occupied territory in the vicinity of Mogilev, Belarus, mid-September 1941). Widmann also mentions the presence of a "Polizeigeneral" and several SS officers of varying ranks. See "Archives of the Holocaust: An International Collection of Selected Documents" Vol.22, edited by Henry Friedlander and Sybil Milton.

  • This is a documentary about the war crimes trial administered by the International Military Court of Justice in Nuremberg against the main Nazi war criminals from November 14, 1945 to October 1, 1946. The film documents footage of the trial from the prosecutor's opening to the verdict. The dramaturgy includes a chronological account of the founding of the National Socialist state, the unleashing of the world war, and the Nazi crimes against humanity and is accompanied with historical footage. This material is occasionally only used for illustration and does not necessarily portray the facts being commented upon. The film is also called "Nuremberg."

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This description is derived directly from structured data provided to EHRI by a partner institution. This collection holding institution considers this description as an accurate reflection of the archival holdings to which it refers at the moment of data transfer.