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"We will show you their own films": Film at the Nuremberg Trial
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During the International Military Tribunal (IMT), Nazi Germany’s dedicated filming of itself was turned into film evidence of its crimes. From the earliest beginnings of the Nazi Party in the 1920s, through the military invasions of World War II, and even graphic depictions of atrocities, German camera crews recorded (often proudly) what they accomplished in pursuit of their ideology.
Near the end of the war, teams of Allied military personnel worked tirelessly to locate and gather this film footage. These films were then edited in Berlin. Adolf Hitler’s favorite propaganda filmmaker, Leni Riefenstahl, was forced into service as this body of film was organized into evidence for postwar trials. As US Chief Prosecutor Robert Jackson stated in his opening statement to the IMT, "We will show you their own films."
The film "The Nazi Plan" was shown as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on December 11, 1945. It was compiled for the trial by Budd Schulberg and other US military personnel, under the supervision of Navy Commander James Donovan. The compilers used only German source material, including official newsreels. This footage is titled "Opening of the Official Anti-Semitic Campaign 1 April 1933."
The film "The Nazi Plan" was shown as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on December 11, 1945. It was compiled for the trial by Budd Schulberg and other US military personnel, under the supervision of Navy Commander James Donovan. The compilers used only German source material, including official newsreels. This footage is titled "The Burning of the Books, 10 May 1933."
The film "The Nazi Plan" was shown as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on December 11, 1945. It was compiled for the trial by Budd Schulberg and other US military personnel, under the supervision of Navy Commander James Donovan. The compilers used only German source material, including official newsreels. In this footage titled "Seventh Party Congress 10–16 September 1935," Hermann Göring announces restrictive racial laws.
The film "The Nazi Plan" was shown as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on December 11, 1945. It was compiled for the trial by Budd Schulberg and other US military personnel, under the supervision of Navy Commander James Donovan. The compilers used only German source material, including official newsreels. This footage titled "Hitler Predicts Annihilation of the Jewish Race in Europe if War Occurs" shows Hitler delivering a speech to the German parliament on January 30, 1939.
The film "The Nazi Plan" was shown as evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg on December 11, 1945. It was compiled for the trial by Budd Schulberg and other US military personnel, under the supervision of Navy Commander James Donovan. The compilers used only German source material, including official newsreels. This footage titled "Conferences After Hitler's Escape from Bombing Plot, 20 July 1944" was used by Nuremberg prosecutors to show that the IMT defendants were among Hitler's closest advisors.
During World War II, United States Army Signal Corps units played a key role in documenting combat missions. Noted Hollywood producers, directors, and photographers (such as Darryl Zanuck, Frank Capra, John Huston, and George Stevens) all served in the Signal Corps during the war. In 1943, General Dwight D. Eisenhower charged American filmmaker Stevens with directing teams filming the advance of US. forces, eventually including the liberation of the concentration camps.
On November 29, 1945, only a week into the trial, the IMT prosecution introduced an hour-long film titled "The Nazi Concentration Camps." When the lights came up in the Palace of Justice all assembled sat in silence. The human impact of this visual evidence was a turning point in the Nuremberg trial. It brought the Holocaust into the courtroom.
US prosecutor Thomas Dodd introduces the film compilation "Nazi Concentration Camps." At the end of the courtroom scene shown here, the lights are dimmed for the screening. The footage, filmed as Allied troops liberated the concentration camps, was presented in the courtroom on November 29, 1945, and entered as evidence in the trial.
Clip from George Stevens' "The Nazi Concentration Camps." This German film footage was compiled as evidence and used by the prosecution at the Nuremberg trials.
Clip from George Stevens' "The Nazi Concentration Camps." This German film footage was compiled as evidence and used by the prosecution at the Nuremberg trials.
The film "Nazi Concentration Camps" was presented in the courtroom on November 29, 1945, and entered as evidence in the trial. It was filmed as Allied troops liberated the concentration camps. This clip shows the reactions of defendants and others in the courtroom following the screening of the film.
Last Edited: Nov 23, 2005
Author(s):
United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, Washington, DC
Critical Thinking Questions
Beyond the verdicts, what impact did the trials have?
Besides military participants, what other professionals were charged with crimes in the wake of the Holocaust? How did national histories, agendas, and priorities affect the effort to try war criminals after the war?
The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg is the best known of postwar trials. Investigate trials conducted by individual countries in the late 1940s.
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