On ‘Nuremberg’ the Movie

‘Nuremberg’ examines and presents the importance and role of the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials in terms of Superior Might versus Superior Reality. In the Allied perception of ‘Superior Reality’ Allied officials portray the trial as creating a change in the perception of ‘criminal acts’ committed during war, forcing Nazi leaders to face trial and be held responsible.
In the German or Nazi perception of the trials the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials is simply a ‘trial by victors’ and a mockery. The judges are by no means impartial and are viewed by former Nazi leaders as vengeful victors seeking retribution.
The prosecution emphasizes the human cost of acts committed by Nazi leaders by exhibiting the horrors of war and the atrocities committed in Jewish concentration camps whereas Goering and other Nazi leaders in their defense emphasize their roles as part of the machinery of Nazi Government during war. In the prosecution of Goering, in the movie Goering is portrayed as essentially pleading negligence and defending the laws of the Nazi government. The prosecution’s emphasis on the atrocities committed shows the actions of the Nazi government as the sole cause of guilt ,however, the actions and the principles of the Nazi government were inherently flawed. The removal of ‘democratic systems’ of government and the beliefs espoused by Hitler in Mein Kempf were important and in many ways at the root of the action of Nazi government.
Ultimately on the basis of the trial and espoused ‘democratic principles’ the Nazi leaders could be found ‘guilty’ of war crimes ,however this declaration would not only create an immediate contradiction and friction in Allied treatment of and relationships with Russia ,but would also create inherent problems in the U.S.’s role in war in that U.S. or Allied forces war atrocities might go unprosecuted.
The legacy of the Nuremberg Trials is complex because of the contradictions and hypocrisies it immediately created, the bias of the court, the inherent problem of defining war crimes and the difficulty of fairly administering justice in crimes committed during war. However, the trials as presented in ‘Nuremberg’ the movie nevertheless show the importance of principle and action in government, placing the actions of government as inherently greater and more significant in the judgment of that government and its leaders. As a viewer and student, one is called to recognize the principles of government as at the root of the functioning of government and as centrally important in the actions of government.