All language subtitles for Nuremberg.1948.WEBRip.x264-iNTENSO

Subtitles by explosiveskull

It was 1945.

The war was over.

Slowly, painfully,

life came back to
the ruins of Europe.

The war was over, but
there was no peace.

Despair crouched
over the continent.

Hopelessness circled
Europe like a bird of prey.

Why?

What were the forces?

What were the issues in
a war that turned nations

into rubble heaps and
populations into beggars.

The people wanted the answers.

They wanted to know
what happened and why.

In the Palace of
Justice in Nuremberg,

the people of the
world came together,

for there sat the
international military tribunal

to judge the chief
Nazi war criminals.

Justice Robert H. Jackson,
the chief American prosecutor

makes the opening statement
for the prosecution.

The
privilege of opening

the first trial in history.

The privilege
of opening the first trial

in history for crimes against
the peace of the world

imposes a grave responsibility.

The wrongs, which we seek
to condemn and punish

have been so calculated, so
malignant and so devastating

that civilization cannot
tolerate their being ignored,

because it cannot survive
their being repeated.

That four great nations,
flushed with victory

and stung with injury,
stay the hand of vengeance

and voluntarily submit
their captive enemies

to the judgment of the law is
one of the most significant

tributes that power has
ever paid to reason.

This inquest represents
the practical effort

of four of the most mighty
of nations with the support

of 15 more to utilize
international law to meet

the greatest menace of
our times, aggressive war.

The common sense of mankind
demands that law shall not stop

with the punishment of petty
crimes by little people.

It must also reach men who possess
themselves of great power

and who make deliberate
and concerted use of it

to set in motion evils,
which leave no home

in the world untouched.

In the prisoner's dock
sit 20 odd broken men,

reproached by the humiliation
of those they have led,

almost as bitterly
as by the desolation

of those they have attacked.

Their personal capacity
for evil is forever past.

Merely as individuals,
their fate

is of little consequence
to the world.

What makes this inquest significant
is that these prisoners

represent sinister influences
that will lurk in the world

long after their bodies
have returned to dust.

They are living symbols of
the arrogance and cruelty

of power, of racial hatreds,
of terrorism and violence.

They are symbols of
fierce nationalisms,

and of militarism, of intrigue

and war-making, which
have embroiled Europe

generation after generation,
crushing its manhood,

destroying its homes and
impoverishing its lives.

They have so
identified themselves

with the philosophies
they conceived

and with the forces they
directed that any tenderness

to them is a victory and an
encouragement to all the evils

which are attached
to their names.

What these men stand
for we will patiently

and temperately disclose.

We will give you undeniable
proof of incredible events.

The catalog of crimes
will omit nothing.

It may be that these men
of troubled conscience

do not regard a
trial as a favor,

but they do have a fair
opportunity to defend themselves,

a favor which they
rarely extended

to their fellow countrymen.

We will not ask you
to convict these men

on the testimony of their foes.

There is no count
of the indictment

that cannot be proved
by books and records.

And we will show you the
defendants' own films.

You will see their own conduct
and hear their own voices,

as they re-enact for
you, from the screen,

some of the events in the
course of the conspiracy.

The acts of the defendants
have bathed the world in blood.

And set civilization
back a century.

They have subjected
their European neighbors

to every spoliation
and depravation.

They have brought
the German people

to the lowest ebb
of wretchedness.

They have stirred
hatreds and incited

domestic violence
on every continent.

These are the things
that stand in the dock,

shoulder to shoulder
with these prisoners.

The real complaining party
at your bar is civilization.

The United
States of America

present count one
of the indictment;

that all the defendants
participated as organizers

or accomplices in a
common plan or conspiracy

to commit crimes against
peace, war crimes

and crimes against humanity.

The aims of this conspiracy
were open and notorious.

The aims
of this conspiracy

were open and notorious.

It was far different
from any other conspiracy

ever unfolded before
a court of justice.

Its history is
the history of the Nazi party,

which grew from the brawling
streets of Munich in the 20s.

And from the beginning, Adolf
Hitler and his followers

were committed to
the use of any means,

whether or not they
were legal or honorable.

Their aim was the
highest degree of control

over the German community.

Their intentions were
blatantly put forth

in Mein Kampf and
the party program.

And they preached
their favorite doctrine

up and down the land.

They said that persons of
a so-called German blood

were a master race
entitled to subjugate

or even exterminate other races.

They said that the
German should be ruled

under the Fuhrer Principle
or leadership principle

by which each sub-leader
owed unconditional obedience

to his superior and so on
right up to Adolf Hitler.

They said that war was a noble

and necessary
activity of Germans.

And they said that
the Nazi Party alone

had the right to rule
Germany and the right

to destroy the party's enemies.

Their rise to power
was based on fraud,

deceit, intimidation
and coercion,

culminating finally
in terror and flame.

Into that flame went the
Democratic constitution

of the Weimar Republic and the
freedom of the German people.

For the fire set by the Nazis

extended to the very Reichstag.

Hans Gisevius, a witness who
formerly held a high position

in the Berlin Police
Administration,

tells of his investigation
of the Reichstag fire.

To speak briefly
and to state the facts.

First of all, we ascertain
that quite generally,

Hitler had stated the wish

for a large scale
propaganda campaign.

Goebbels took on the job of
making the necessary proposals

and it was Goebbels
who first thought

of setting the
Reichstag on fire.

A group of 10 reliable
S.A. men was made ready

and now Goering was informed
about every detail of the plan.

It was expected from Goering
and he gave his assurances

that he would do so, that the
police would be instructed,

while still suffering from
shock, to take up a false trail.

Using
the Reichstag fire

as a pretext for seizing power,

the Nazi conspirators
lost no time in tearing

Germany away from
a policy of peace.

Late in 1933, they
led their nation

out of the Disarmament
Conference,

quit the League of
Nations and embarked

on a course of
secret rearmament.

By 1934, the new armaments
program, designed by defendants

Goering, Schacht and Funk,
was going full blast.

German industry was again
turning out the tools of war.

The plants hummed and one year
later Goering could announce:

From
the strong foundation

of the National Socialist
Ideology today rises once again

the German Armed Forces.

A few days
later, General von Blomberg

announced the new law for
compulsory military service.

The law was signed by
defendants Goering, Hess, Frank,

Frick, Schacht and Von Neurath.

The training began.

Finally, in the spring
of 1936, the Nazis

sent their new troops
marching into the Rhineland.

Mein Fuhrer,
on March 7th, 1936,

soldiers of the army,
which was created

by order of the Fuhrer,
crossed the sacred river

of German history and occupied
their former garrisons.

They pledged the Fuhrer,
whatever decisions he may make,

unbreakable faith and
obedience and they vow

to follow him and to
prove their sincerity,

by their never ending
love for Germany.

The
columns grew longer.

The sound of boots grew louder
on the streets of Nuremberg.

But Hitler said:

The German
people is not a people,

which welcomes a war today,

tomorrow or the
day after tomorrow.

That is not in the
character of the Germans.

He is by nature not only
peaceful and peace loving,

but above all conciliatory.

He wants to work.

In our country are
millions of peasants,

they want to till their fields.

They want to bring
in their harvests.

There are millions of workers,

they want to perform their work.

But the
Nazi conspirators,

in the name of Lebensraum,
continued to plot

new aggressions against peace.

In November 1937, Hitler
called a special meeting

with defendants Goering,
Von Neurath and Raeder

and Generals von
Blomberg and von Frick.

The meeting was secret but
Lieutenant Colonel Hossbach,

Hitler's personal adjutant,

faithfully recorded
Hitler's words:

The German
question can be solved

only by way of force.

For the improvement of our
military-political position,

it must be our first aim, in
every case of entanglement

by war, to conquer
Czechoslovakia

and Austria simultaneously.

The annexation of the
two states to Germany,

militarily and politically,
would constitute

a considerable relief.

This meeting set
the stage for Nazi expansion

and Act One came only three
months later at Berchtesgaden

where a defendant von Papen
finally engineered a meeting

between Schuschnigg,
the Austrian Chancellor,

and Hitler and defendants
Keitel and von Ribbentrop.

Guido Schmidt, who was
Austrian Foreign Minister

at the time, also
attended the meeting.

And now he takes
the witness stand.

Did Hitler demand
that Seyss-Inquart

be made Minister of Security?

That was one of
the demands on that program.

Where
there also demands

made with regard to currency
exchange and customs?

There were demands

of an economic
nature of every kind.

Hitler
told you that you

had until February 15th to
accept his terms, didn't he?

And he told you that if you
didn't do so he would use force.

The ultimatum
as Hitler stated it

was that he intended, as
early as February, to march

into Austria and that,
for the last time,

he was prepared to postpone it.

Faced
by these threats,

the Austrians carried
out all Hitler's demands.

But the Nazi conspirators
weren't satisfied.

A month later when Schuschnigg
announced a plebiscite

on Austrian Independence,
Hitler and defendant Goering

demanded the
plebiscite be canceled.

Another ultimatum demanded
Schuschnigg resign

within three hours.

Fearing invasion,
Schuschnigg resigned

and finally defendant
Seyss-Inquart was appointed

the new Chancellor of Austria.

That same day Goering in Berlin

called Keppler of the
German Embassy in Vienna.

The conversation
was transcribed.

Kepler spoke first:

Well, we
represent the government now.

Yes, that's it,
you're the government.

Listen carefully, the
following telegram

should be sent here
from Seyss-Inquart.

Take the notes.

The provisional
Austrian Government

sends to the German
Government the urgent request

for support in its task
to help prevent bloodshed.

For this purpose, it asks
the German Government

to send German troops
as soon as possible.

Well, SA and SS

are marching
through the streets.

Everything has collapsed
with the professional groups.

Seyss-Inquart
is the only one

who still has power in Austria.

Yes, there are troops who
have crossed the border today.

The act was written
joining Austria to Germany

and signed by defendant
Seyss-Inquart, Goering,

Frick, von Ribbentrop and Hess.

Hitler, of course, had said:

Germany neither
intends no wishes to interfere

in the internal affairs of
Austria, to annex Austria

or to conclude an Anschluss.

21st of May 1935, Adolf Hitler.

The
curtain fell on Act One,

but already the Nazi conspirators
prepared for Act Two

with this 1938 memorandum from
Hitler to his High Command.

It is my
unalterable decision to smash

Czechoslovakia by military
action in the near future.

It is the job of the
political leaders

to bring about the politically

and militarily suitable moment.

Konrad Henlein was
designated political leader.

The plan was labeled
Operation Green

and defendant Jodl issued
another memorandum reading:

Operation Green
will be set in motion by means

of an incident in Czechoslovakia
which will give Germany

provocation for
military intervention.

The fixing of the exact
time for this incident

is of the utmost importance.

A few months
later, Germany signed

the Munich Pact with
England, France and Italy.

This pact involved the transfer

of the Sudetenland to Germany.

The conspirators called it
their last territorial demand.

But before the ink was dry,

they were making other
plans for Hitler's goal

was the complete absorption
of Czechoslovakia.

And now the Czech
president Hacha

was called to a
meeting with Hitler

and defendants Goering
von Ribbentrop and Keitel.

They gave him the ultimatum.

Bohemia and Moravia
would be incorporated

into Germany immediately
or Czechoslovakia

would be invaded and Prague
destroyed from the air.

Hacha was helpless.

Defendants von Ribbentrop
and Frick signed the decree

making Bohemia and Moravia
a German Protectorate.

Speaking some months before

about the Sudetenland,
however, Hitler had said:

I have
promised and repeated here

that there will be
no more territorial

problems for Germany in Europe.

I will be no longer
interested in the Czech State

and I will guarantee it.

26 September 1938, Adolf Hitler.

Now,
according to more

of his adjutants' notes,
Hitler reviewed the Nazi plan

of violence and treachery
from 1934 to 39.

The notes read:

First rearmament.

In 1935 the introduction of
compulsory military service.

After that militarization
of the Rhineland.

One year later Austria came.

It brought about a considerable
reinforcement of the Reich.

The next step was
Bohemia and Moravia,

then followed the erection
of the Protectorate

and with that the basis for
action against Poland was laid.

Basically, I did not
organize the Armed Forces

and order not to strike.

The decision to strike
was always in me.

In the name
of the United Kingdom

of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland,

Sir Hartley Shawcross
presents count two,

crimes against peace charging
that all the defendants

participated in the
planning and waging of wars

of aggression, was in violation
of international treaties,

agreements and assurances.

The first
step was the Rhineland

and the next step was Austria.

The
Rhineland is occupied.

Austria and Czechoslovakia
are seized by Germany

and now the Nazi conspirators
turned to the next problem

a conquest of Poland.

Again, an adjutant,
lieutenant-colonel Schmundt

transcribed Hitler's words.

The solution of
the problem demands courage.

It is impossible without
invasion of foreign States

or attacks on foreign property.

There's, therefore, no
question of sparing Poland

and we are left with the
decision to attack Poland

at the first
suitable opportunity.

We cannot expect the
repetition of the Czech affair.

There will be war.

Meanwhile,
according to their

well-established practice,
the conspirators stirred up

the Danzig issue to
furnish frontier incidents

which could justify
an attack on Poland.

Then on 23 August,
the Nazis signed

their non-aggression
pact with Russia.

There Hitler told
his High Command:

Now, Poland
is in the position

in which I want her.

I am only afraid that at the
last moment some Schweinehund

will make a proposal
for mediation.

Appeals were made

twice by the Pope and
by President Roosevelt.

Finally, Mr
Roosevelt asks an assurance

be given him that the German
armed forces will not attack

and, above all, not invade
the territory or positions

of the following
independent nations.

He then names as those
coming into question:

Finland, Letland,
Litauen, Estland, Norway,

Sweden, Denmark,
Netherlands, Belgium,

Grossbritannien, Ireland,
Frank Reich, Portugal, Spanien,

die Schweiz, Liechtenstein,
Luxembourg, Poland.

On 1 September
1939, the Nazis sent

the Wehrmacht smashing into
Poland and into a new world war,

for France and England,
faithful to their mutual

assistance pact with Poland,

immediately declared
war on Germany.

The Luftwaffe
opened mass attacks

on Polish towns and cities.

And Hitler, according to
Schmundt's notes, said:

Destruction of
Poland in the foreground.

I shall give a propagandist
cause for starting the war,

never mind whether it
be plausible or not.

Have no pity.

Take a brutal attitude.

But as usual,
before the attack on Poland,

Hitler told the world:

During the troubled
months of the past year,

the friendship between
Poland and Germany

has been one of the
reassuring factors

in the political life of Europe.

30th of January
1939, Adolf Hitler.

The path of
destruction started in Poland

but soon it led north and
south across all Europe

and each new aggression was
based on Hitler's principle

that, in war, victory not
right is what matters.

Non-aggression treaty,

it is firmly resolved
to maintain peace

between Denmark and Germany
in all circumstances.

31st of May in 1939, Ribbentrop.

But
on 9 April 1940,

German troops invaded Denmark.

The German Reich
government is determined,

in view of the friendly
relations which exists

between Norway and Germany,
under no circumstances

to prejudice the
inviolability and integrity

of the Norwegian state.

2nd of September 1939,
Das Deutsche Reich.

But
on 9 April 1940,

German troops invaded Norway.

I assure
the governments

of Belgium, Holland
and Luxembourg,

that Germany will not
violate their neutrality.

6th of October
1939, Adolf Hitler.

But
on May 10th 1940,

German troops invaded Belgium,
Holland and Luxembourg.

The firmly
established reliable relationship

of Germany to Yugoslavia
will represent an element

of calm on a wrecked continent.

This peace is the goal
of all who are disposed

to perform really
constructive work.

1st of June 1939, Adolf Hitler.

But
on 6 April 1941,

German troops
invaded Yugoslavia.

These criminal methods
of the Nazi conspirators

brought them early
success and, by 1941,

they had most of Europe
under their heel.

Now, an evil ambition for power

and more power drove them on.

But two of the world's
mightiest nations,

the United States and Soviet
Russia, remained to block

the Nazi drive for
world supremacy.

They had to be dealt
with firmly, immediately,

and now Germany
asked for cooperation

from her full partner in
aggression to the east

and from her junior
partner to the south.

In Berlin, they drew up the
Axis Pact - the blueprint

of the new order and
parceled out the continents

of the world for
Axis domination.

Italy was to get the
Mediterranean sphere.

Japan was to get the
Orient and, to Germany,

would go the rest of the world.

In June 1941, in violation
of their non-aggression pact,

the Nazis sent the Wehrmacht
deep into Soviet territory,

according to military
plans long made.

As usual, there was
no declaration of war.

Hitler had said, today
Germany, tomorrow the world

and this was tomorrow.

Planned warfare in the east,
air warfare in the West,

for now defendant Goering's
Luftwaffe was hurled

with full force against the
people and cities of Britain.

Hitler after all had
told the Reichstag:

I will blot out their city.

And then on 7 December
1941, the Japanese,

keeping their end of
an infamous bargain,

struck at the United States,

also without declaration of war.

Japanese bombs rained
on Pearl Harbor

spreading war finally
to the Pacific.

The new order was on the march.

World War II flamed
around the globe.

In the
name of the Union

of Soviet Socialist
Republics, General Rudenko

presents counts three and four

charging that all the
defendants committed war crimes

in Germany and in all those
countries occupied by Germany.

The Nazi
conspirators committed crimes

against enemy armies,
against prisoners of war,

against the civilians
of occupied lands.

They believed in the barbaric
doctrine of total war

and considered themselves
freed from the restraints

of international law or the
established customs of war.

Their ruthless policies
were ordered in directives

like this one from
General Reinecke

of the Wehrmacht High Command.

The Bolsheviks soldier
has lost all claim

to treatment as an
honorable opponent.

Active or passive resistance

must be broken immediately
by force of arms.

Prisoners of war
attempting to escape

are to be fired on without
previous challenge.

No warning shot must be fired.

More proof of this
savage Nazi policy

comes from the affidavit
of Kurt Lindow,

former Gestapo officer.

There existed
in the prisoner of war camps

on the Eastern Front,
small screening teams

headed by lower ranking
members of the Gestapo.

It was the duty of
these teams to segregate

the prisoners of war who were
candidates for execution,

according to the orders
that had been given

and to report them to the
office of the Gestapo.

And a letter
from defendant Rosenberg

to defendant Keitel in
1942 stated clearly:

A large part of
the Soviet prisoners of war

has starved or died because
of the hazards of the weather.

In many cases, prisoners of
war could no longer keep up

in the march because of
hunger and exhaustion.

In numerous camps, no shelter

for the prisoners
was provided at all.

Even tools were not made
available to dig holes or caves.

Yet when some
objected that this treatment

violated the Geneva
Convention, defendant Keitel

answered with this memorandum:

We are concerned
with the destruction

of an ideology, therefore, I
approve and back the measures.

This is
proved by the testimony

of General Lahousen who worked

under Admiral Canaris
in the Abwehr.

General Lahousen attended
conferences where crimes

against whole
populations were plotted

in advance by the
Nazi conspirators.

Will you please explain
exactly what took place

at this conference in
the Fuhrer's train.

First of all,
Canaris had a short talk

with von Ribbentrop,
particularly as regards

the Polish region.

Secondly, Canaris spoke
vehemently against the measures

that he, Canaris, had
found out about to wit

the projected shooting
and extermination measures

that were being directed against
the Polish intelligentsia,

nobility and clergy as
well as all elements

that could be regarded
as embodiments

of the national
resistance movement.

Canaris said at the time,
more or less verbatim,

that the world will, at some
time, make the Armed Forces

under whose eye as these
events have occurred

also responsible
for these events.

Defendant Frank,
Nazi governor of Poland,

was another of the
conspirators guilty

of directing mass murder.

In his diary, he speaks of:

Taking advantage
of the focus of attention

on the Western Front
by carrying out

wholesale liquidation
of thousands of Poles.

These atrocities
were not restricted

to the east.

Here is the proof in the village

of Oradour-sur-Glane, France.

Here is the proof in the
town of Bande, Belgium.

Here is the proof in the
San Callisto Caves, Italy

where 350 hostages
were carefully listed

and systematically murdered.

And here is Lidice
in Czechoslovakia.

In blind retaliation
for the assassination

of SS Man Heydrich, the Nazis
murdered all Lidice's men

and sent their women and children
into slavery in Germany.

But this was not enough.

Boys of the Arbeiten were
moved into the ruins of Lidice

and ordered to level the
village to the ground.

Lidice was to be the Nazi's
example to all occupied peoples.

But more terrible still
were the concentration camps

which, from the
beginning, had been

the conspirators' chief weapon

against opposition
of every kind.

German anti-Nazis were
the first victims,

but with the war their
numbers swelled to include

citizens of all the
nations of Europe.

Their fate is described
by witness Rudolf Hoess.

I
commanded Auschwitz

until the 1st of December
1943 and estimate

that at least two and a half
million victims were executed

and exterminated there
by gassing and burning.

At least another half million
succumbed to starvation

and disease, making a total
dead of about three million.

Included among the
executed and burned

were approximately 20,000
Russian prisoners of war,

who were delivered at Auschwitz
in Wehrmacht transports.

The remainder of
the total number

included about a hundred
thousand German Jews

and great numbers of
citizens from Holland,

France, Belgium,
Poland, Hungary,

Czechoslovakia, Greece
and other countries.

Medical experiments
too were standard procedure

at many concentration camps.

These included lowering
the body temperature

to 28 degrees centigrade,
high-altitude tests

and pressure chambers,
experiments with poison bullets

and contagious diseases and
even sterilization experiments.

- This was genocide
- the premeditated

destruction of entire peoples.

Genocide, the direct
result of the Nazi's claim

that they had the right to
destroy the party's opposition.

Tomorrow the world,
dead or alive.

In the name
of the French Republic,

Monsieur de Menthon closes
count three and four

the final charges
of the indictment.

All the
defendants committed crimes

against humanity including
the murder and persecution

of all people opposed to the
Nazi Party and the enslavement,

exploitation and deportation
of civilian populations.

The slave labor policy
was the responsibility

of defendant Sauckel
who admitted in 1944:

Out of the
five million workers

who arrived in Germany not
even 200,000 came voluntarily.

Forced
labor often meant

brutal and degrading treatment.

For Sauckel himself suggested:

All the men
must be fed, sheltered,

and treated in such a
way as to exploit them

to the highest possible extent

at the lowest
possible expenditure.

And
defendant Bormann added:

The slaves
are to work for us.

Insofar as we do not
need them, they may die.

Slavery was only

one aspect of Nazi exploitation.

Defendant Goering, in a talk

with German occupation
authorities in 1942,

discussed another - plunder.

God knows you
are not sent out to work

for the welfare of the
people in your charge

but to get the
utmost out of them

so that the German
people can live.

This everlasting concern
about foreign people

must cease now once and forever.

I have here before me reports

on what you are
expected to deliver.

It makes no difference
to me in this case

if you say that your
people will starve.

But Nazi
crimes against humanity

were not limited
to foreign peoples.

Defendant Frick, as
Minister of Interior,

directed a program
aimed at aged, insane

or incurable Germans - the
so-called useless eaters.

Thousands were committed
to special institutions.

Few ever returned.

Evidence proves they were murdered
because they were useless

to the plans of the
Nazi conspirators.

But perhaps the greatest
crime against humanity

the Nazis committed
against the Jews.

A campaign of hate and murder

that goes to the heart
of the Nazi movement.

German citizens
are only those of German

or related blood
willing to serve

the German Reich and people.

Marriages between Jews
and citizens of German

or related blood are prohibited.

SS
Brigadier General Stroop,

in charge of the
Warsaw Ghetto in 1943,

had learned his
Nazi lessons well.

In a secret report, he said:

The
Reichsfuehrer SS ordered

on the 23rd of April
1943, the cleaning out

of the ghetto with
utter ruthlessness.

I, therefore, decided to destroy

and burn down the entire ghetto.

Jews frequently left the hideouts,
but occasionally remained

in the burning buildings
and jumped out the windows

only when the heat
became unbearable.

Life in the sewers was not
pleasant after the first week.

Tear gas bombs were
thrown into the manholes

and the Jews were
driven out and captured.

Countless numbers of Jews
were liquidated in sewers

and bunkers through blasting.

The longer the
resistance continued,

the tougher became the
members of the Waffen SS,

police and Wehrmacht who
always discharged their duties

in an exemplary manner.

Little by little,
the Nazis were reaching

what they called
The Final Solution

the total extermination
of the Jews of Europe.

Hess described the process well:

We had two SS
doctors on duty at Auschwitz

to examine the incoming
transports of prisoners.

The prisoners would be marched
past one of the doctors

who would make spot
decisions as they walked by.

Those who were fit for work
were sent into the camp.

Others were sent immediately
to the extermination plant.

Children of tender years
were invariably exterminated

since, by reasons of their
youth, they were unable to work.

We endeavored to fool
them into thinking

they were to go through
a delousing process.

It took from three to 15
minutes to kill the people

in the death chamber depending
upon climatic conditions.

We knew when the
people were dead

because their screaming stopped.

We usually waited
about one half-hour

before we opened the doors
and removed the bodies.

After the bodies were removed,

our special commandos
took off the rings

and extracted the gold from
the teeth of the corpses.

Much of this
loot was then transferred

to secret vaults of the
Reichsbank at Frankfurt am Main

the Reichsbank
of defendant Funk.

Labor Chief Robert Ley
knew that six million Jews

died in the Nazi's
Final Solution.

In his will, he said:

In
anti-Semitism, we violated

a basic commandment
of God's creation.

It is hard to admit mistakes
but the whole existence

of our people is in question.

We must have the courage to
rid ourselves of anti-Semitism.

God has taught me that
in my cell in Nuremberg.

And
defendant Frank himself

said before this Court:

We have
fought against Jewry

and we have allowed ourselves

to make utterances
which are terrible.

A thousand years will
pass and this guilt

of Germany will
still not be erased.

The
prosecution rests.

The defense begins.

They call 61 witnesses and
introduce 38,000 affidavits

on the defendants behalf.

They submit 136,000 more
affidavits on behalf of the S.S.,

10,000 on behalf of the S.A.,
7,000 on behalf of the S.D.,

3,000 on behalf of the
General Staff and the O.K.W.,

2,000 on behalf of the Gestapo.

These attorneys were personally
selected by the defendants.

Many are well known
German lawyers

and each now rises to plead
acquittal for his crimes.

Some make blanket
denials of all guilt.

Some of
the defendants had,

without doubt, a great
influence in those spheres

which did not interest, Hitler.

They had no part whatsoever
in the great decisions

concerning war and
peace, armistice

and peace offers, et cetera.

Other
attorneys lead their clients

through a carefully
prepared defense.

Here Streicher is examined.

I now continue.

It has also been stated
by the prosecution

that Himmler and Kaltenbrunner
would have had no one

to carry out their orders
to kill if you hadn't made

that propaganda and if
you hadn't conducted

the education of the German
people in that sense.

I don't believe
that those who had been given

the order by the Fuehrer
to carry out the killings

or to pass an order to
kill, that those people

would have been made to
do this by my periodical.

Hitler's book, Mein Kampf,
existed and the contents

of that book were the
authority, the cause.

Next
comes Kaultenbrunner.

You are accused
of establishing Mauthausen,

of inspecting and visiting
this camp regularly.

The witness Herriger testified
having seen you in this camp

and further testified
having seen you

at the inspection
of gas chambers

and while these gas
chambers were in operation.

The
testimony is wrong.

Every concentration
camp in the Reich,

of which I know
anything, was established

by Himmler through Paul.

Later the
prosecution is allowed

to cross-examine the defendants.

Rosenberg is questioned.

Did your
ministry force people to leave

their homes, to go to Germany
to work for the German state?

It is true
that force was used

and it is not denied

that some terrible
encroachments occurred.

Now
Raeder takes the stand.

On the 23rd of
May, in the Reich Chancellery,

Hitler said that he would
give you an indoctrination

on the political
situation and he said,

we are left with the decision

to attack Poland at
the first opportunity.

Did you still think that he
had no aggressive intentions?

I believed
that for a long time.

Just as General Jodl said,
after Hitler had solved

the Czech problem
purely politically,

it was to be hoped he
would also be able to solve

the Polish question
without bloodshed.

I believed that until
the last moment,

until the 22nd of August.

Keitel
is cross-examined.

Yesterday
your counsel showed you

this order dated
16th September, 1941.

It said that it is
necessary to take

immediate, cruel measures
and that human life

in the East is
absolutely worthless.

You remember the basic
idea of the order,

that human life costs
absolutely nothing?

Please
answer the question.

You signed this
order with this statement?

Ja!

Next Jodl.

Do you
remember any other reason

for such great mortality
among Soviet prisoners of war?

I didn't know the
reasons for this mass murder,

but they seemed to be completely
wrong, that I do know.

Now von Ribbentrop.

Are you
telling the tribunal,

on your oath, that
you knew nothing

about the effect of military
pressure on Austria?

I wish
to stress again

that I knew nothing
about military measures,

and that if I had
known something,

I wouldn't see any
reason not to say so.

But it is a fact that
during the days before

and after the
Hitler-Schuschnigg meeting,

I was so busy taking
over the foreign office

that I could give
only slight attention

to the Austrian problem.

Then Goering
is cross-examined.

At the
end of the meeting

you used the following
words didn't you?

German Jewry must, as a penalty,
forfeit one-billion marks,

then the pigs won't
commit any more crimes.

Do you still say
that neither Hitler

nor you knew of the policy
to exterminate the Jews?

I already have
said that not even approximately

did I know to what degree
this thing took place.

You did
not know to what degree,

but you knew there was a policy

that aimed at the
liquidation of the Jews.

No, not
liquidation of the Jews.

I only knew that certain,
perpetrations had taken place.

Speer
takes the stand.

You were
present on April 23, 1945,

when Hitler received the
telegram from Goering

suggesting that he
take over power.

What did Hitler say
on that occasion?

Hitler
was most excited

about the contents of the
telegram and he expressed himself

in a very clear
manner about Goering.

He said that he knew for some
time that Goering had failed,

that he was corrupt, that
he was a drug addict.

It was typical of
Hitler's attitude

toward the entire problem,
however, that he followed

the statement up by saying,
but he can, nevertheless,

negotiate the capitulation.

He stated in an offhand manner,

it doesn't really
matter who does it.

His disregard for
the German nation

was expressed in the
way he said this.

After
months of examination

and cross-examination,
several defendants

make final statements
to the tribunal.

Frank is first.

I myself,
speaking from the very depth

of my sentiments and from
the experience of five months

of this trial, want to say this.

Now, that I have
gained the last insight

into all that which has
been committed in the way

of dreadful atrocities, I feel
a terrible guilt within me.

Funk declares.

When these
measures of terror and violence

against Jews were put up to me,

I suffered a nervous break
down because at the moment

it came to my mind
with full clearness

that, from here on, the
catastrophe took its course

all the way up to the
terrible and atrocious things

about which we have heard
and about which I knew only

in part at the time
of my imprisonment.

I felt ashamed and
guilty at that moment

and I feel the same way
today, but it's too late.

Now
Schirach speaks.

It is my guilt
that I educated German youth

for a man who committed
murders million fold.

Schacht is next.

Everything he
promised to the German people,

and, thereby to himself,
he did not afterwards keep.

He promised equal
rights for all citizens

and, without regard
to their capabilities,

his adherents got privileges
before all other citizens.

He promised to fight
against political lies

and, together with his Minister
Goebbels and by himself,

he never did anything
but disseminate

political lies and
political fraud.

He released criminals and
put them into his service.

He did everything in the way
of not keeping his promises.

He deceived the
world, Germany and me.

Speer once more.

The
tremendous danger

contained in this totalitarian
system only became

really clear the moment we
were approaching the end.

Everything that has
happened during this trial,

everything you have seen
in the way of orders

which were carried out
without any hesitation

did, after all, turn
out to be mistaken.

That is why this
trial must contribute

to the prevention of such
distorted wars in the future

and to the establishment
of principles

for human cooperation.

And Keitel again.

I erred, I
was not able to prevent

what should have been prevented.

That is my guilt.

I can only wish that out
of a clear recognition

of the causes of the
disastrous methods

and the terrible
consequences of this war,

there will arise for the
German people a new hope

for a better future in
the community of nations.

Now Frank.

We call
on the German people,

whose representatives we
were, to abandon this way,

which was doomed to failure
in the will and justice of God

and which is doomed for everyone

who may try to follow it
anywhere in the world.

The last defendant
to speak is Fritzsche.

You of the
prosecution did not expect

anything good from
Hitler and you are amazed

about the extent of
what really happened.

But then try to understand
the indignation of those

who did expect something
good from Hitler

and were betrayed.

I am one of these betrayed.

Finally, both
defense and prosecution

sum up their arguments
for the tribunal.

An aggressor
can be branded only

by the world's conscience.

That supreme organ of humanity
must have not only real,

but also moral authority.

Its impartial judgment
must be looked upon

with general confidence.

It must stand above
the contesting parties.

In the name of
the United States of America,

Justice Jackson
delivers his summation.

According to the
testimony of each defendant,

these men saw no
evil, spoke none,

and none was uttered
in their presence.

If we combine only the
stories from the front bench,

this is the ridiculous,
composite picture

of Hitler's government
that emerges.

It was composed of
a number two man

who never suspected the
Jewish extermination program,

although he signed over a
score of anti-Semitic decrees.

A number three man who is
merely an innocent middle-man

transmitting Hitler's orders
without even reading them

like a postman or
a delivery boy.

A Foreign Minister who knew
little of foreign affairs

and nothing of foreign policy.

A field marshal who issued
orders to the armed forces

but had no idea of the results
they would have in practice.

A Security Chief who
was of the impression

that the policing functions
of his Gestapo and S.D.

were somewhat on the lines
of directing traffic.

A party philosopher who
had no idea of the violence

which his philosophy was
inciting in the 20th century.

A Governor-General of Poland
who reigned, but did not rule.

A Gauleiter of Franconia
whose occupation

was to pour forth filthy
writings about the Jews,

but who had no idea that
anybody would read them.

A Minister of the
Interior who knew

not even what went
on in his own office,

much less the interior
of his own department,

and nothing at all about
the interior of Germany.

A Reichsbank president
who is totally ignorant

of what went in and out
of the vaults of his bank.

To say of these men that
they are not guilty,

it would be as true to
say there has been no war,

there are no slain,
there has been no crime.

In the name
of the United Kingdom

of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland,

Sir Hartley Shawcross
delivers his summation.

This trial
must form a milestone

in the history of civilization.

Not only marking that
right shall in the end

triumph over evil, but
also that ordinary people

of the world and, I
make no distinction here

between friend and
foe, are now determined

that the individual must
transcend the state.

The state and law
are made for man,

that through them he may
achieve a fuller life,

a higher purpose and
a greater dignity.

In the
name of the Union

of Soviet Socialist
Republics, General Rudenko

delivers his summation.

And when
we ask have the charges

against the defendants been
proved before the court,

have the defendants been
convicted of their guilt?

There is only one answer.

Their crimes have been proved.

Neither the statements of the
defendants nor the arguments

of the defense were able to
refute our grave accusations.

It has been impossible
to cast doubt

on events which
actually took place.

The truth cannot be challenged.

That is the real
meaning of this trial.

That is the lasting result of
our long and strenuous effort.

In the name
of the French Republic,

Monsieur de Ribes
delivers his summation.

When this
international trial is closed

and the principal war
criminals sentenced,

we shall go back to
our own countries.

The fate of these men now lies

entirely with your conscience.

This is beyond our competence.

Our task is finished.

Now it is for you, in the
silence of your deliberations,

to listen to innocent
blood crying for justice.

Lord Justice
Lawrence, Great Britain.

Mr Frances Biddle,
United States.

Monsieur de Vabres, France.

And Major General
Nikitchenko, U.S.S.R.

and their alternates
prepare the verdict.

It will be based on the
opinion of the majority.

On October 1st,
1946, the verdict is delivered

by Lord Justice Lawrence,
president of the tribunal.

Of the
organizations, the S.S., S.D.,

Gestapo and leadership
corps are found guilty.

The high command, S.A. and
Reich cabinet, not guilty.

As for the individual,
Wilhelm Hermann Goering:

guilty of conspiracy,
crimes against peace,

war crimes and crimes
against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Rudolph Hess: guilty of conspiracy
and crimes against peace.

Life imprisonment.

Joachim Von Ribbentrop:
guilty of conspiracy,

crimes against peace, war crimes

and crimes against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Wilhelm Keitel: guilty of
conspiracy, crimes against peace,

war crimes and crimes
against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Ernst Kaltenbrunner:
guilty of war crimes

and crimes against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Alfred Rosenberg:
guilty of conspiracy,

crimes against peace, war crimes

and crimes against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Hans Frank: guilty of war crimes

and crimes against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Wilhelm Frick: guilty
of crimes against peace,

war crimes and crimes
against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Julius Streicher: guilty
of crimes against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Walter Funk: guilty of
crimes against peace,

war crimes and crimes
against humanity.

Life imprisonment.

Hjalmar Schacht: not
guilty on this indictment.

Released.

Karl Doenitz: guilty of crimes
against peace and war crimes.

10 years imprisonment.

Erich Raeder: guilty
of conspiracy,

crimes against peace
and war crimes.

Life imprisonment.

Baldur von Schirach: guilty
of crimes against humanity.

20 years imprisonment.

Fritz Sauckel:
guilty of war crimes

and crimes against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Alfred Jodl: guilty of conspiracy,
crimes against peace,

war crimes and crimes
against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Franz von Papen: not
guilty on this indictment.

Released.

Albert Speer:
guilty of war crimes

and crimes against humanity.

20 years imprisonment.

Constantin von Neurath:
guilty of conspiracy,

crimes against peace, war crimes

and crimes against humanity.

15 years imprisonment.

Artur Seyss-Inquart: guilty
of crimes against peace,

war crimes and crimes
against humanity.

Death by hanging.

Hanz Fritzsche: not
guilty on this indictment.

Released.

Martin Bormann, tried in
absentia: guilty of war crimes

and crimes against humanity.

Death by hanging.

The trial is over.

Seven begin their
prison sentences.

Goering chooses to
die by his own hand.

The other 10 wait
for the gallows.

In Nuremberg, the people of
the world found out and why.

But Nuremberg is more than
an answer to a question.

As Justice Jackson
said, 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.

Nuremberg stands as a
warning to all those

who plan and wage
aggressive war.

Subtitles by explosiveskull