The American Experience: The Nuremberg Trials | An adequate overview of the first trials

The American Experience: The Nuremberg Trials | Simplistic overview of the famous trial.

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The American Exper...

	The American Experience: The Nuremberg Trials PBS (Direct), 2006 average customer review:based on 3 reviews view larger image
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On November 20, 1945, the surviving representatives of the Nazi elite, including Hermann Goering, the former head of the Nazi air force, stood before an international military tribunal at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany charged with the murder of millions of people. This production draws upon rare archival material and eyewitness accounts to recreate the dramatic tribunal that defines trial procedure for state criminals to this day.

An adequate overview of the first trials

When the producers attempt to vacuum-pack, into one hour, the entire story of the first round of the war crime trials at Nuremberg (the trials themselves lasted very nearly a year), one has to expect that a fair amount of detail will be omitted. However, this production skims the surface to such a degree that this program can be, at best, regarded as the most basic introduction to the trials.

Really, this program should have been given the subtitle "Göring versus Jackson," because it is clear that the program focuses on the showdown between Hermann Göring and Robert Jackson as being the main event in the trial. It is hard to argue that the jousts between these formidable adversaries doesn't make for compelling television. However, so much else is left out that the great footage just isn't enough to salvage this effort.

For instance, one will not even be told the names of all of the defendants, why they were charged, and who got what sentences. It does not address how three defendants actually managed to be acquitted (which was considered by some at the time a major embarrassment to the Allies --- some observers suggested that all verdicts should be ignored and all defendants be summarily executed). It does not examine how Admirals Raeder & Dönitz managed to avoid execution while Generals Jodl & Keitel were hanged. It does not examine the murky reality that many defendants of the subsequent trials received milder sentences than they might have had they been tried in the first round.

All of this is ignored, and the program wraps up tidily, with Göring's suicide, after one hour. But it was far from a tidy affair, and some of the principals were left with mixed feelings as to whether or not justice was truly being served. For a more in depth analysis of the trials, I would recommend Telford Taylor's "The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials," which will show you all that you are missing by watching this program.

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Simplistic overview of the famous trial.

The Nuremberg Trials are arguably the most famous trials of the 20th century; they were conducted to try, convict, and execute the surviving Nazis members of Hitler Germany for war crimes during World War II. This is a decent video for someone who does not know anything about the trials. It would be good for instructional purposes for high school students.

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