{"version":"1.0.0","segments":[{"startTime":0.81,"endTime":3.803,"body":"- It is March, 1938."},{"startTime":4.64,"endTime":9.133,"body":"The scene is the Hall"},{"startTime":4.64,"endTime":9.133,"body":"of Columns in Moscow."},{"startTime":9.97,"endTime":12.8,"body":"Before the 1917 Revolution,"},{"startTime":12.8,"endTime":15.42,"body":"it was the venue for extravagant balls"},{"startTime":15.42,"endTime":19.26,"body":"where the Russian nobility"},{"startTime":15.42,"endTime":19.26,"body":"would dance till dawn."},{"startTime":19.26,"endTime":20.46,"body":"Let's have a look at it."},{"startTime":21.7,"endTime":26.7,"body":"Now, in 1938, it's fitted"},{"startTime":21.7,"endTime":26.7,"body":"with drab wooden benches"},{"startTime":27.11,"endTime":30.39,"body":"and is hosting a criminal prosecution,"},{"startTime":30.39,"endTime":34.64,"body":"the last of the so-called"},{"startTime":30.39,"endTime":34.64,"body":"Moscow show trials."},{"startTime":34.64,"endTime":38.71,"body":"There are 21 defendants"},{"startTime":34.64,"endTime":38.71,"body":"in the makeshift dock,"},{"startTime":38.71,"endTime":41.91,"body":"many of them Bolsheviks who"},{"startTime":38.71,"endTime":41.91,"body":"were instrumental in the events"},{"startTime":41.91,"endTime":46.74,"body":"of 20 years earlier, and the"},{"startTime":41.91,"endTime":46.74,"body":"creation of the Soviet state."},{"startTime":46.74,"endTime":49.01,"body":"They're now sitting in the dock,"},{"startTime":49.01,"endTime":52.47,"body":"accused of the most monstrous crimes."},{"startTime":52.47,"endTime":56.36,"body":"Plotting the murder of Stalin and Lenin."},{"startTime":56.36,"endTime":58.5,"body":"Spying for Nazi Germany."},{"startTime":58.5,"endTime":61.89,"body":"Conspiring to wreck the Soviet economy."},{"startTime":61.89,"endTime":66.74,"body":"Conniving with foreign powers"},{"startTime":61.89,"endTime":66.74,"body":"to attack their own country."},{"startTime":66.74,"endTime":70.77,"body":"The most famous of the"},{"startTime":66.74,"endTime":70.77,"body":"defendants in that dock"},{"startTime":70.77,"endTime":72.73,"body":"is Nikolai Bukharin,"},{"startTime":72.73,"endTime":75.91,"body":"one of the principaL"},{"startTime":72.73,"endTime":75.91,"body":"theorists of Bolshevism."},{"startTime":75.91,"endTime":79.77,"body":"A man, for many years,"},{"startTime":75.91,"endTime":79.77,"body":"universally liked and admired"},{"startTime":79.77,"endTime":84.71,"body":"before it became impolitic"},{"startTime":79.77,"endTime":84.71,"body":"and uncomfortable"},{"startTime":84.71,"endTime":88.05,"body":"to like or admire him in Stalin's Russia."},{"startTime":88.05,"endTime":91.46,"body":"A man who has devoted his entire life"},{"startTime":91.46,"endTime":94.463,"body":"to the cause of revolution and the party."},{"startTime":95.8,"endTime":98.84,"body":"We hear to the right of the court,"},{"startTime":98.84,"endTime":102.96,"body":"the prosecutor commencing"},{"startTime":98.84,"endTime":102.96,"body":"his opening speech."},{"startTime":102.96,"endTime":107.33,"body":"Andrey Vyshinsky is now an old hand."},{"startTime":107.33,"endTime":110.36,"body":"He prosecuted the first"},{"startTime":107.33,"endTime":110.36,"body":"of the Moscow trials"},{"startTime":110.36,"endTime":115.36,"body":"in August 1936, the so-called"},{"startTime":110.36,"endTime":115.36,"body":"Zinoviev-Kamenev trial,"},{"startTime":115.73,"endTime":118.813,"body":"and also at the second,"},{"startTime":115.73,"endTime":118.813,"body":"a year later in 1937."},{"startTime":119.7,"endTime":122.66,"body":"He's now perfected his denunciations"},{"startTime":122.66,"endTime":126.583,"body":"into language of elaborate fury."},{"startTime":127.49,"endTime":130.103,"body":"There he is on the left of the screen."},{"startTime":131.64,"endTime":136.257,"body":"And here is a passage"},{"startTime":131.64,"endTime":136.257,"body":"from that opening speech."},{"startTime":136.257,"endTime":139.47,"body":"\"Our whole country, from young to old,"},{"startTime":139.47,"endTime":143.18,"body":"is awaiting and demanding one thing."},{"startTime":143.18,"endTime":146.84,"body":"Our people are demanding one thing."},{"startTime":146.84,"endTime":148.25,"body":"The traitors and spies"},{"startTime":148.25,"endTime":149.88,"body":"who are selling our country to the enemy"},{"startTime":149.88,"endTime":153.64,"body":"must be shot like dirty dogs."},{"startTime":153.64,"endTime":155.56,"body":"Our people are demanding one thing,"},{"startTime":155.56,"endTime":158.79,"body":"crush the accursed reptile."},{"startTime":158.79,"endTime":161.3,"body":"Over the road that has been"},{"startTime":158.79,"endTime":161.3,"body":"cleared of the last scum"},{"startTime":161.3,"endTime":163.9,"body":"and filth of the past, we, our people,"},{"startTime":163.9,"endTime":166.27,"body":"with our beloved leader and teacher,"},{"startTime":166.27,"endTime":170.19,"body":"the great Stalin at our"},{"startTime":166.27,"endTime":170.19,"body":"head, will march as before"},{"startTime":170.19,"endTime":173.457,"body":"onwards and onwards towards Communism.\""},{"startTime":174.42,"endTime":175.77,"body":"Not a style of advocacy"},{"startTime":175.77,"endTime":178.313,"body":"you'll hear in the Old Bailey nowadays."},{"startTime":179.8,"endTime":182.72,"body":"Whenever the prosecutor pauses,"},{"startTime":182.72,"endTime":186.21,"body":"the large audience sitting on the benches"},{"startTime":186.21,"endTime":188.84,"body":"at the back of the hall,"},{"startTime":186.21,"endTime":188.84,"body":"made up, of course,"},{"startTime":188.84,"endTime":193.58,"body":"of specially selected members of the NKVD,"},{"startTime":193.58,"endTime":198.58,"body":"the security police, roars"},{"startTime":193.58,"endTime":198.58,"body":"its approval and applauds."},{"startTime":198.67,"endTime":200.96,"body":"As one observer recorded,"},{"startTime":200.96,"endTime":205.023,"body":"they looked like school"},{"startTime":200.96,"endTime":205.023,"body":"children out on a Sunday treat."},{"startTime":206.88,"endTime":210.61,"body":"There are only a few"},{"startTime":206.88,"endTime":210.61,"body":"defense advocates present"},{"startTime":210.61,"endTime":212.177,"body":"in this courtroom,"},{"startTime":212.177,"endTime":217.177,"body":"and they are representing only"},{"startTime":212.177,"endTime":217.177,"body":"three of the 21 defendants."},{"startTime":217.38,"endTime":221.65,"body":"Kremlin doctors accused"},{"startTime":217.38,"endTime":221.65,"body":"of, amongst other crimes,"},{"startTime":221.65,"endTime":226.65,"body":"poisoning the great"},{"startTime":221.65,"endTime":226.65,"body":"Russian writer Maxim Gorky."},{"startTime":226.8,"endTime":230.26,"body":"The other defendants are"},{"startTime":226.8,"endTime":230.26,"body":"offered legal counsel."},{"startTime":230.26,"endTime":233.737,"body":"The judges are particular about this."},{"startTime":233.737,"endTime":236.6,"body":"Are you sure you don't"},{"startTime":233.737,"endTime":236.6,"body":"want to be represented,"},{"startTime":236.6,"endTime":239.3,"body":"they ask each of the other defendants."},{"startTime":239.3,"endTime":241.41,"body":"Each one of them says no."},{"startTime":241.41,"endTime":244.97,"body":"In the words of one,"},{"startTime":241.41,"endTime":244.97,"body":"\"I do not need counsel."},{"startTime":244.97,"endTime":248.61,"body":"I do not intend to defend myself."},{"startTime":248.61,"endTime":253.61,"body":"I am here to bear full"},{"startTime":248.61,"endTime":253.61,"body":"responsibility for my crimes.\""},{"startTime":254.31,"endTime":257.45,"body":"It's fair to say that"},{"startTime":254.31,"endTime":257.45,"body":"having a defense lawyer"},{"startTime":257.45,"endTime":262.45,"body":"at these trials would not do"},{"startTime":257.45,"endTime":262.45,"body":"you much good as a defendant."},{"startTime":262.92,"endTime":265.48,"body":"When the lawyers actually do speak,"},{"startTime":265.48,"endTime":267.56,"body":"the defense lawyers actually do speak,"},{"startTime":267.56,"endTime":270.993,"body":"they appear to be almost"},{"startTime":267.56,"endTime":270.993,"body":"part of the prosecution team."},{"startTime":272.01,"endTime":276.38,"body":"Advocate Braude stands up"},{"startTime":272.01,"endTime":276.38,"body":"at one stage in the trial."},{"startTime":276.38,"endTime":278.52,"body":"He is also an old hand."},{"startTime":278.52,"endTime":283.0,"body":"He's been present at the"},{"startTime":278.52,"endTime":283.0,"body":"two previous show trials."},{"startTime":283.0,"endTime":286.02,"body":"Let me give you an example"},{"startTime":283.0,"endTime":286.02,"body":"of his style of defending"},{"startTime":286.02,"endTime":288.343,"body":"his clients at this trial."},{"startTime":289.71,"endTime":292.21,"body":"That I should say is the audience,"},{"startTime":292.21,"endTime":294.32,"body":"a rather bad photograph of the audience,"},{"startTime":294.32,"endTime":296.84,"body":"looking on intently and"},{"startTime":294.32,"endTime":296.84,"body":"looking for the signs"},{"startTime":296.84,"endTime":298.59,"body":"of when to clap."},{"startTime":298.59,"endTime":303.59,"body":"And this is one passage from"},{"startTime":298.59,"endTime":303.59,"body":"Advocate Braude's speech."},{"startTime":304.027,"endTime":307.33,"body":"\"Comrade judges, I'm not"},{"startTime":304.027,"endTime":307.33,"body":"going to conceal from you"},{"startTime":307.33,"endTime":310.81,"body":"the exceptionally difficult"},{"startTime":307.33,"endTime":310.81,"body":"and immeasurably hard position"},{"startTime":310.81,"endTime":314.75,"body":"a counsel for the defense"},{"startTime":310.81,"endTime":314.75,"body":"finds himself in in this case."},{"startTime":314.75,"endTime":318.02,"body":"After all, a counsel for"},{"startTime":314.75,"endTime":318.02,"body":"the defense, comrade judges,"},{"startTime":318.02,"endTime":322.15,"body":"is first and foremost a"},{"startTime":318.02,"endTime":322.15,"body":"son of his motherland."},{"startTime":322.15,"endTime":325.497,"body":"He is also a citizen of"},{"startTime":322.15,"endTime":325.497,"body":"the great Soviet Union,"},{"startTime":325.497,"endTime":329.69,"body":"and the feelings of great"},{"startTime":325.497,"endTime":329.69,"body":"indignation, wrath, horror,"},{"startTime":329.69,"endTime":331.7,"body":"which all our country, both young and old,"},{"startTime":331.7,"endTime":333.99,"body":"are now seized with."},{"startTime":333.99,"endTime":336.5,"body":"The feeling which the prosecutor expressed"},{"startTime":336.5,"endTime":339.65,"body":"so clearly in his speech."},{"startTime":339.65,"endTime":342.04,"body":"These feelings are inevitably shared"},{"startTime":342.04,"endTime":345.71,"body":"by the counsel for the defense as well.\""},{"startTime":345.71,"endTime":348.95,"body":"One can imagine that the"},{"startTime":345.71,"endTime":348.95,"body":"morale of the defendants"},{"startTime":348.95,"endTime":350.64,"body":"sunk yet further"},{"startTime":350.64,"endTime":354.113,"body":"when they heard their"},{"startTime":350.64,"endTime":354.113,"body":"lawyers speaking those words."},{"startTime":355.75,"endTime":358.72,"body":"Now, as I say, there are 21 defendants"},{"startTime":358.72,"endTime":361.8,"body":"at this last trial in 1938."},{"startTime":361.8,"endTime":364.053,"body":"20 of them plead guilty."},{"startTime":366.11,"endTime":368.83,"body":"Almost all of them then"},{"startTime":366.11,"endTime":368.83,"body":"fall over themselves,"},{"startTime":368.83,"endTime":372.85,"body":"not simply to formally"},{"startTime":368.83,"endTime":372.85,"body":"admit their culpability,"},{"startTime":372.85,"endTime":377.78,"body":"but to participate in a kind"},{"startTime":372.85,"endTime":377.78,"body":"of orgy of self-abasement."},{"startTime":377.78,"endTime":381.57,"body":"Each of the defendants"},{"startTime":377.78,"endTime":381.57,"body":"seeking to outdo the other"},{"startTime":381.57,"endTime":384.823,"body":"in self and mutual denunciation."},{"startTime":386.22,"endTime":389.877,"body":"Let's hear the words of"},{"startTime":386.22,"endTime":389.877,"body":"one of the defendants."},{"startTime":389.877,"endTime":392.76,"body":"\"The monstrousness of my"},{"startTime":389.877,"endTime":392.76,"body":"crimes is immeasurable,"},{"startTime":392.76,"endTime":395.3,"body":"especially in the new age of the struggle"},{"startTime":395.3,"endTime":397.72,"body":"of the Soviet Union, the USSR."},{"startTime":397.72,"endTime":401.58,"body":"May this trial be the last severe lesson,"},{"startTime":401.58,"endTime":405.3,"body":"and may the great might of"},{"startTime":401.58,"endTime":405.3,"body":"the USSR become clear to all."},{"startTime":405.3,"endTime":409.15,"body":"Everybody perceives the wise"},{"startTime":405.3,"endTime":409.15,"body":"leadership of the country"},{"startTime":409.15,"endTime":412.55,"body":"that is ensured by Stalin."},{"startTime":412.55,"endTime":416.12,"body":"It is in the consciousness of"},{"startTime":412.55,"endTime":416.12,"body":"this that I await the verdict."},{"startTime":416.12,"endTime":418.87,"body":"What matters is not the personal feelings"},{"startTime":418.87,"endTime":420.84,"body":"of a repentant enemy,"},{"startTime":420.84,"endTime":424.087,"body":"but the flourishing progress of the USSR.\""},{"startTime":425.12,"endTime":429.5,"body":"And if you trace across"},{"startTime":425.12,"endTime":429.5,"body":"the various trials,"},{"startTime":429.5,"endTime":432.06,"body":"the statements of self-inculpation"},{"startTime":432.06,"endTime":434.62,"body":"of the dozens of defendants"},{"startTime":432.06,"endTime":434.62,"body":"across all the trials,"},{"startTime":434.62,"endTime":439.22,"body":"they all have one similar prevailing tone."},{"startTime":439.22,"endTime":441.23,"body":"Let me just read out a few more snippets"},{"startTime":441.23,"endTime":443.85,"body":"from across the three trials,"},{"startTime":443.85,"endTime":446.477,"body":"from various of the defendants."},{"startTime":446.477,"endTime":448.83,"body":"\"I don't consider it possible"},{"startTime":448.83,"endTime":452.75,"body":"to plead for clemency, comrade judges.\""},{"startTime":452.75,"endTime":453.797,"body":"But here's another."},{"startTime":453.797,"endTime":456.35,"body":"\"Only one conclusion can be drawn."},{"startTime":456.35,"endTime":459.73,"body":"We represent a most"},{"startTime":456.35,"endTime":459.73,"body":"brutal gang of criminals"},{"startTime":459.73,"endTime":461.64,"body":"who are nothing more nor less"},{"startTime":461.64,"endTime":465.1,"body":"than a detachment of"},{"startTime":461.64,"endTime":465.1,"body":"international fascism.\""},{"startTime":465.1,"endTime":470.1,"body":"And finally, \"I depart as"},{"startTime":465.1,"endTime":470.1,"body":"a traitor to my country,"},{"startTime":470.21,"endTime":473.257,"body":"as a traitor who should be shot.\""},{"startTime":475.16,"endTime":480.16,"body":"Now, the accused's confessions"},{"startTime":475.16,"endTime":480.16,"body":"are not merely fulsome,"},{"startTime":480.93,"endTime":484.22,"body":"but extraordinarily detailed."},{"startTime":484.22,"endTime":488.29,"body":"The prosecutor Vyshinsky"},{"startTime":484.22,"endTime":488.29,"body":"questions them at length"},{"startTime":488.29,"endTime":492.51,"body":"to extract full narratives"},{"startTime":488.29,"endTime":492.51,"body":"of their supposed crimes."},{"startTime":492.51,"endTime":496.86,"body":"For hour upon hour, the"},{"startTime":492.51,"endTime":496.86,"body":"defendants provide answers."},{"startTime":496.86,"endTime":499.47,"body":"Elicit meetings with Trotsky"},{"startTime":499.47,"endTime":502.293,"body":"to conspire to overthrow the state."},{"startTime":503.15,"endTime":504.88,"body":"Murder plots."},{"startTime":504.88,"endTime":506.33,"body":"Poisonings."},{"startTime":506.33,"endTime":509.293,"body":"Wrecking operations across the country."},{"startTime":510.88,"endTime":513.79,"body":"Now one of the 21 defendants at this trial"},{"startTime":513.79,"endTime":517.53,"body":"is a man called Nikolai Krestinsky."},{"startTime":517.53,"endTime":520.14,"body":"Now he is a very senior figure,"},{"startTime":520.14,"endTime":523.02,"body":"formerly a member of the Politburo."},{"startTime":523.02,"endTime":525.47,"body":"He was at one stage general secretary"},{"startTime":525.47,"endTime":529.26,"body":"of the Communist Party, the"},{"startTime":525.47,"endTime":529.26,"body":"role that Stalin occupied"},{"startTime":529.26,"endTime":532.27,"body":"for over 25 years."},{"startTime":532.27,"endTime":535.49,"body":"He now is in the dock,"},{"startTime":535.49,"endTime":540.09,"body":"and he's the 21st of the 21 defendants,"},{"startTime":540.09,"endTime":543.33,"body":"and the one who does not plead guilty."},{"startTime":543.33,"endTime":546.69,"body":"He does something rather"},{"startTime":543.33,"endTime":546.69,"body":"shocking in this trial."},{"startTime":546.69,"endTime":550.54,"body":"When asked how he pleads,"},{"startTime":546.69,"endTime":550.54,"body":"he replies as follows,"},{"startTime":550.54,"endTime":555.35,"body":"and I quote, \"I plead not guilty."},{"startTime":555.35,"endTime":557.64,"body":"I am not a Trotskyite."},{"startTime":557.64,"endTime":558.78,"body":"I was never a member"},{"startTime":558.78,"endTime":561.16,"body":"of the block of rightists"},{"startTime":558.78,"endTime":561.16,"body":"and Trotskyites.\""},{"startTime":561.16,"endTime":562.98,"body":"I should say, this is this phraseology"},{"startTime":562.98,"endTime":564.97,"body":"that is endlessly used,"},{"startTime":562.98,"endTime":564.97,"body":"the block of rightists"},{"startTime":564.97,"endTime":567.04,"body":"or rights and Troskyites."},{"startTime":567.04,"endTime":572.04,"body":"I quote again, \"of which"},{"startTime":567.04,"endTime":572.04,"body":"existence I was not aware."},{"startTime":572.1,"endTime":574.54,"body":"Nor have I committed any of the crimes"},{"startTime":574.54,"endTime":576.46,"body":"with which I am personally charged."},{"startTime":576.46,"endTime":579.39,"body":"In particular, I plead"},{"startTime":576.46,"endTime":579.39,"body":"not guilty to the charge"},{"startTime":579.39,"endTime":581.27,"body":"of having any connection at all"},{"startTime":581.27,"endTime":583.58,"body":"with the German intelligence service.\""},{"startTime":583.58,"endTime":588.18,"body":"Now this is not words that anyone in court"},{"startTime":588.18,"endTime":590.033,"body":"is expecting to hear."},{"startTime":591.42,"endTime":593.353,"body":"The prosecutor looks thunderstruck."},{"startTime":594.56,"endTime":598.393,"body":"When Krestinsky's signed"},{"startTime":594.56,"endTime":598.393,"body":"confession is put to him,"},{"startTime":600.1,"endTime":604.167,"body":"he answers with devastating directness."},{"startTime":604.167,"endTime":606.55,"body":"\"I was forced to make that statement."},{"startTime":606.55,"endTime":607.687,"body":"It is not true.\""},{"startTime":609.32,"endTime":612.95,"body":"As the questions continue"},{"startTime":609.32,"endTime":612.95,"body":"from Vyshinsky, this man,"},{"startTime":612.95,"endTime":617.057,"body":"Krestinsky, looking, according"},{"startTime":612.95,"endTime":617.057,"body":"to one spectator, I quote,"},{"startTime":617.057,"endTime":622.057,"body":"\"Like a small bedraggled"},{"startTime":617.057,"endTime":622.057,"body":"sparrow,\" nonetheless stands firm."},{"startTime":622.5,"endTime":624.95,"body":"The prosecutor moves swiftly onto"},{"startTime":625.99,"endTime":628.433,"body":"the less recalcitrant defendants,"},{"startTime":629.94,"endTime":632.273,"body":"and the next day, the court reconvenes."},{"startTime":633.56,"endTime":635.12,"body":"Vyshinsky seems to have"},{"startTime":635.12,"endTime":638.04,"body":"a renewed air of confidence about him."},{"startTime":638.04,"endTime":642.963,"body":"He returns to his questioning"},{"startTime":638.04,"endTime":642.963,"body":"of the defendant Krestinsky."},{"startTime":644.555,"endTime":648.237,"body":"And let me, there he is,"},{"startTime":644.555,"endTime":648.237,"body":"Krestinsky on the left,"},{"startTime":648.237,"endTime":651.987,"body":"and this is the cross-examination"},{"startTime":648.237,"endTime":651.987,"body":"that then ensues."},{"startTime":651.987,"endTime":654.34,"body":"\"Do you persist in your refusal to confirm"},{"startTime":654.34,"endTime":656.257,"body":"your previous confirmation?\""},{"startTime":656.257,"endTime":658.667,"body":"\"No, I confirm everything.\""},{"startTime":658.667,"endTime":660.36,"body":"\"What then was the"},{"startTime":658.667,"endTime":660.36,"body":"meaning of the statement"},{"startTime":660.36,"endTime":661.667,"body":"you made yesterday?\""},{"startTime":661.667,"endTime":665.69,"body":"\"Yesterday, influenced by"},{"startTime":661.667,"endTime":665.69,"body":"a feeling of false shame,"},{"startTime":665.69,"endTime":667.157,"body":"and by the atmosphere of the court"},{"startTime":667.157,"endTime":668.63,"body":"and by my state of health,"},{"startTime":668.63,"endTime":670.74,"body":"I could not bring myself to tell the truth"},{"startTime":670.74,"endTime":672.72,"body":"and admit my guilt before the world."},{"startTime":672.72,"endTime":675.14,"body":"Mechanically I declared myself innocent."},{"startTime":675.14,"endTime":677.86,"body":"I now beg the court to"},{"startTime":675.14,"endTime":677.86,"body":"take note of the statement"},{"startTime":679.35,"endTime":681.93,"body":"I now make, to the effect"},{"startTime":679.35,"endTime":681.93,"body":"that I admit my guilt"},{"startTime":681.93,"endTime":684.9,"body":"completely and unreservedly,"},{"startTime":684.9,"endTime":686.91,"body":"under all the charges brought against me,"},{"startTime":686.91,"endTime":689.34,"body":"and that I accept full responsibility"},{"startTime":689.34,"endTime":693.007,"body":"for my criminal and treacherous behavior.\""},{"startTime":693.93,"endTime":698.47,"body":"Now nobody in court seems to"},{"startTime":693.93,"endTime":698.47,"body":"be remotely surprised by this,"},{"startTime":698.47,"endTime":701.98,"body":"on the face of it, remarkable volt face."},{"startTime":701.98,"endTime":703.8,"body":"The chairman of the judges"},{"startTime":703.8,"endTime":706.217,"body":"turns to the defendant Krestinsky."},{"startTime":706.217,"endTime":708.44,"body":"\"You may sit down.\""},{"startTime":708.44,"endTime":711.09,"body":"He slides back into his chair"},{"startTime":711.09,"endTime":713.663,"body":"with a look almost of relief about him."},{"startTime":714.63,"endTime":716.9,"body":"The English diplomat, Fitzroy McClain,"},{"startTime":716.9,"endTime":721.36,"body":"who wrote a very fine"},{"startTime":716.9,"endTime":721.36,"body":"account of the trial,"},{"startTime":721.36,"endTime":724.237,"body":"noted in that account, and I quote,"},{"startTime":724.237,"endTime":728.4,"body":"\"The words were reeled off"},{"startTime":724.237,"endTime":728.4,"body":"like a well learned lesson."},{"startTime":728.4,"endTime":731.37,"body":"The night had not been wasted."},{"startTime":731.37,"endTime":734.037,"body":"The situation was saved.\""},{"startTime":735.24,"endTime":739.01,"body":"What we must remember about this trial"},{"startTime":739.01,"endTime":741.9,"body":"and all the Moscow show trials,"},{"startTime":741.9,"endTime":745.88,"body":"is that almost everything"},{"startTime":741.9,"endTime":745.88,"body":"the defendants have said"},{"startTime":745.88,"endTime":749.67,"body":"throughout the several days of this trial,"},{"startTime":749.67,"endTime":751.89,"body":"is entirely untrue."},{"startTime":751.89,"endTime":753.4,"body":"They know it."},{"startTime":753.4,"endTime":755.29,"body":"The prosecutor knows it."},{"startTime":755.29,"endTime":757.19,"body":"The judges know it."},{"startTime":757.19,"endTime":758.83,"body":"Everyone knows it."},{"startTime":758.83,"endTime":763.83,"body":"Everyone is acting a part in"},{"startTime":758.83,"endTime":763.83,"body":"a grand theatrical production."},{"startTime":764.35,"endTime":766.81,"body":"The outcome and the sentence of this trial"},{"startTime":766.81,"endTime":769.08,"body":"is entirely predetermined."},{"startTime":769.08,"endTime":771.2,"body":"The judges have already prearranged"},{"startTime":771.2,"endTime":773.41,"body":"what the sentence shall be"},{"startTime":773.41,"endTime":777.633,"body":"in meetings with the prosecutor"},{"startTime":773.41,"endTime":777.633,"body":"and indeed with Stalin."},{"startTime":778.72,"endTime":781.79,"body":"All the lines of each of the defendants"},{"startTime":781.79,"endTime":784.36,"body":"has been written before."},{"startTime":784.36,"endTime":786.44,"body":"Only occasionally, as we see,"},{"startTime":786.44,"endTime":789.413,"body":"do the defendants step out of character."},{"startTime":790.623,"endTime":795.05,"body":"And when they do, as with"},{"startTime":790.623,"endTime":795.05,"body":"the miserable Krestinsky,"},{"startTime":795.05,"endTime":798.03,"body":"a little gentle overnight persuasion"},{"startTime":798.886,"endTime":802.74,"body":"brings them back fully into line."},{"startTime":802.74,"endTime":807.243,"body":"This is clearly no ordinary trial."},{"startTime":808.57,"endTime":813.33,"body":"It is, one might say, and"},{"startTime":808.57,"endTime":813.33,"body":"is a trite thing to say,"},{"startTime":813.33,"endTime":816.5,"body":"a grotesque parody of a trial."},{"startTime":816.5,"endTime":821.5,"body":"A display carefully"},{"startTime":816.5,"endTime":821.5,"body":"orchestrated, after months,"},{"startTime":821.8,"endTime":824.21,"body":"and I mean months, of planning."},{"startTime":824.21,"endTime":828.3,"body":"Each of the defendants"},{"startTime":824.21,"endTime":828.3,"body":"in the dock at that trial"},{"startTime":828.3,"endTime":832.773,"body":"has been in detention for almost a year."},{"startTime":833.83,"endTime":838.7,"body":"Everyone is playing their part,"},{"startTime":833.83,"endTime":838.7,"body":"and everyone is motivated,"},{"startTime":838.7,"endTime":843.11,"body":"to a greater or lesser"},{"startTime":838.7,"endTime":843.11,"body":"extent, by one thing."},{"startTime":843.11,"endTime":847.223,"body":"Somehow, to stay alive if at all possible."},{"startTime":848.24,"endTime":853.24,"body":"We are, of course, in the"},{"startTime":848.24,"endTime":853.24,"body":"middle of Stalin's Great Terror,"},{"startTime":854.09,"endTime":857.663,"body":"and this trial is terror in action."},{"startTime":858.64,"endTime":859.473,"body":"Let me be clear."},{"startTime":859.473,"endTime":863.25,"body":"Everyone in that courtroom is worried."},{"startTime":863.25,"endTime":865.53,"body":"Some are terrified."},{"startTime":865.53,"endTime":867.66,"body":"The 21 defendants."},{"startTime":867.66,"endTime":870.8,"body":"Others are anxious."},{"startTime":870.8,"endTime":873.85,"body":"The prosecutor and the judges know"},{"startTime":873.85,"endTime":875.47,"body":"that if they don't deliver"},{"startTime":875.47,"endTime":877.91,"body":"a seamless production to the world,"},{"startTime":877.91,"endTime":882.91,"body":"ending in the accused fully"},{"startTime":877.91,"endTime":882.91,"body":"confessing their crimes"},{"startTime":883.17,"endTime":887.55,"body":"and willingly embracing"},{"startTime":883.17,"endTime":887.55,"body":"their fate, then they,"},{"startTime":887.55,"endTime":889.71,"body":"the judges and the prosecutor,"},{"startTime":889.71,"endTime":892.883,"body":"will be deemed to have"},{"startTime":889.71,"endTime":892.883,"body":"failed in their job."},{"startTime":893.77,"endTime":898.28,"body":"And failure in your job can carry,"},{"startTime":898.28,"endTime":900.66,"body":"even if you're a prosecutor or a judge,"},{"startTime":900.66,"endTime":905.373,"body":"severe consequences in Stalin's"},{"startTime":900.66,"endTime":905.373,"body":"Russia in the late 1930s."},{"startTime":906.61,"endTime":909.32,"body":"The year before there had been a trial,"},{"startTime":909.32,"endTime":914.32,"body":"a secret trial of a number"},{"startTime":909.32,"endTime":914.32,"body":"of very high-ranking generals"},{"startTime":914.67,"endTime":916.44,"body":"in the Red Army,"},{"startTime":916.44,"endTime":920.853,"body":"who had been tried before"},{"startTime":916.44,"endTime":920.853,"body":"a panel of military judges,"},{"startTime":922.17,"endTime":924.22,"body":"one of whom was heard to say,"},{"startTime":924.22,"endTime":926.54,"body":"having delivered a sentence of death"},{"startTime":926.54,"endTime":928.73,"body":"on Marshal Tukhachevsky,"},{"startTime":928.73,"endTime":932.57,"body":"one of the most senior"},{"startTime":928.73,"endTime":932.57,"body":"and celebrated commanders"},{"startTime":932.57,"endTime":937.57,"body":"of the Red Army, \"Tomorrow,"},{"startTime":932.57,"endTime":937.57,"body":"I'll be put in the same place.\""},{"startTime":938.04,"endTime":939.81,"body":"And that judge was right."},{"startTime":939.81,"endTime":944.24,"body":"Most of the judges who had"},{"startTime":939.81,"endTime":944.24,"body":"tried Marshal Tukhachevsky"},{"startTime":944.24,"endTime":945.97,"body":"and his fellow generals,"},{"startTime":945.97,"endTime":950.97,"body":"themselves were dead within"},{"startTime":945.97,"endTime":950.97,"body":"24 months of that trial."},{"startTime":954.32,"endTime":957.95,"body":"So the judges and the"},{"startTime":954.32,"endTime":957.95,"body":"prosecutor of the show trials"},{"startTime":957.95,"endTime":960.58,"body":"were not immune from anxiety."},{"startTime":960.58,"endTime":963.41,"body":"And indeed one of the"},{"startTime":960.58,"endTime":963.41,"body":"defendants in the dock"},{"startTime":963.41,"endTime":966.87,"body":"is no less a figure than Genrikh Yagoda,"},{"startTime":966.87,"endTime":969.29,"body":"who until the year before"},{"startTime":969.29,"endTime":972.65,"body":"had been the people's"},{"startTime":969.29,"endTime":972.65,"body":"commissar for internal affairs,"},{"startTime":972.65,"endTime":975.38,"body":"i.e. the head of the NKVD."},{"startTime":976.98,"endTime":981.38,"body":"Yagoda had orchestrated the 1936 trial,"},{"startTime":981.38,"endTime":984.32,"body":"the first Zinoviev-Kamenev trial,"},{"startTime":984.32,"endTime":987.95,"body":"and had orchestrated it"},{"startTime":984.32,"endTime":987.95,"body":"with consummate skill."},{"startTime":987.95,"endTime":991.03,"body":"It had been in one sense a"},{"startTime":987.95,"endTime":991.03,"body":"great triumph for Stalin,"},{"startTime":991.03,"endTime":994.98,"body":"but that was not enough to save Yagoda,"},{"startTime":994.98,"endTime":999.18,"body":"formerly one of the preeminent"},{"startTime":994.98,"endTime":999.18,"body":"men of the Soviet Union,"},{"startTime":999.18,"endTime":1003.05,"body":"from now finding himself"},{"startTime":999.18,"endTime":1003.05,"body":"a defendant at this trial,"},{"startTime":1003.05,"endTime":1005.67,"body":"accused of treason."},{"startTime":1005.67,"endTime":1007.38,"body":"Hence the consternation,"},{"startTime":1007.38,"endTime":1010.49,"body":"one can understand the"},{"startTime":1007.38,"endTime":1010.49,"body":"consternation of Vyshinsky,"},{"startTime":1010.49,"endTime":1015.49,"body":"when the accused, Krestinsky,"},{"startTime":1010.49,"endTime":1015.49,"body":"the man we see in the slide,"},{"startTime":1016.64,"endTime":1020.85,"body":"decides to depart from the"},{"startTime":1016.64,"endTime":1020.85,"body":"carefully preordained script"},{"startTime":1020.85,"endTime":1022.28,"body":"that he's been given."},{"startTime":1022.28,"endTime":1026.48,"body":"Indeed, even the NKVD"},{"startTime":1022.28,"endTime":1026.48,"body":"members of the audience,"},{"startTime":1026.48,"endTime":1029.86,"body":"the ones we saw in the earlier photograph,"},{"startTime":1029.86,"endTime":1034.56,"body":"they are worried because"},{"startTime":1029.86,"endTime":1034.56,"body":"if they don't show"},{"startTime":1034.56,"endTime":1038.07,"body":"a sufficient display of approval"},{"startTime":1038.07,"endTime":1040.17,"body":"for the prosecutor's rhetoric,"},{"startTime":1040.17,"endTime":1042.15,"body":"then of course they themselves"},{"startTime":1042.15,"endTime":1044.64,"body":"might find themselves under suspicion."},{"startTime":1044.64,"endTime":1048.24,"body":"And indeed, in the period we are in,"},{"startTime":1048.24,"endTime":1052.59,"body":"thousands and thousands of NKVD officers"},{"startTime":1052.59,"endTime":1056.41,"body":"themselves met with their own deaths."},{"startTime":1056.41,"endTime":1059.05,"body":"The purge, Stalin's purges,"},{"startTime":1059.05,"endTime":1063.843,"body":"did not stop anywhere in the"},{"startTime":1059.05,"endTime":1063.843,"body":"Soviet Union of the period."},{"startTime":1065.65,"endTime":1067.47,"body":"As for the accused,"},{"startTime":1067.47,"endTime":1070.41,"body":"over the years, historians"},{"startTime":1067.47,"endTime":1070.41,"body":"and psychologists"},{"startTime":1070.41,"endTime":1074.47,"body":"have been fascinated, grimly fascinated,"},{"startTime":1074.47,"endTime":1076.9,"body":"by the thought processes that underlay"},{"startTime":1076.9,"endTime":1080.03,"body":"their seemingly enthusiastic participation"},{"startTime":1080.03,"endTime":1082.08,"body":"in their own destruction."},{"startTime":1082.08,"endTime":1085.17,"body":"Day after day, as we've"},{"startTime":1082.08,"endTime":1085.17,"body":"seen in answers to questions"},{"startTime":1085.17,"endTime":1088.87,"body":"put to them by the court,"},{"startTime":1085.17,"endTime":1088.87,"body":"and the prosecutor,"},{"startTime":1088.87,"endTime":1092.44,"body":"the defendants piled lie upon lie"},{"startTime":1092.44,"endTime":1097.02,"body":"in their own incrimination,"},{"startTime":1092.44,"endTime":1097.02,"body":"and did so with seeming gusto,"},{"startTime":1097.02,"endTime":1100.513,"body":"as parodied by a contemporary cartoon."},{"startTime":1102.805,"endTime":1105.105,"body":"And there's, I think"},{"startTime":1102.805,"endTime":1105.105,"body":"that is Bukharin himself."},{"startTime":1108.242,"endTime":1112.183,"body":"And there's Stalin in"},{"startTime":1108.242,"endTime":1112.183,"body":"the face, as the judge."},{"startTime":1114.45,"endTime":1118.71,"body":"It seems likely that"},{"startTime":1114.45,"endTime":1118.71,"body":"the principal motivation"},{"startTime":1118.71,"endTime":1120.87,"body":"behind the defendant's own"},{"startTime":1120.87,"endTime":1122.94,"body":"seemingly enthusiastic participation"},{"startTime":1122.94,"endTime":1124.83,"body":"in their own self-destruction,"},{"startTime":1124.83,"endTime":1126.66,"body":"was the fact that they had been given"},{"startTime":1126.66,"endTime":1129.05,"body":"promises and assurances"},{"startTime":1129.05,"endTime":1133.01,"body":"that the more they played"},{"startTime":1129.05,"endTime":1133.01,"body":"along with the role"},{"startTime":1133.01,"endTime":1135.9,"body":"they were allocated in the trial,"},{"startTime":1135.9,"endTime":1137.63,"body":"and acted their part in it,"},{"startTime":1137.63,"endTime":1140.59,"body":"the more likely that"},{"startTime":1137.63,"endTime":1140.59,"body":"Stalin would save them"},{"startTime":1140.59,"endTime":1142.367,"body":"from the gallows."},{"startTime":1142.367,"endTime":1146.09,"body":"And it was not their own"},{"startTime":1142.367,"endTime":1146.09,"body":"lives that were at stake."},{"startTime":1146.09,"endTime":1148.94,"body":"Each of these defendants"},{"startTime":1146.09,"endTime":1148.94,"body":"had wives and children,"},{"startTime":1148.94,"endTime":1151.21,"body":"I should say all the defendants were male."},{"startTime":1151.21,"endTime":1153.71,"body":"And although it's now impossible to know"},{"startTime":1153.71,"endTime":1157.61,"body":"precisely what accommodations"},{"startTime":1153.71,"endTime":1157.61,"body":"were arrived at"},{"startTime":1157.61,"endTime":1158.74,"body":"behind the scenes,"},{"startTime":1158.74,"endTime":1162.34,"body":"of course much of the"},{"startTime":1158.74,"endTime":1162.34,"body":"material is now lost,"},{"startTime":1162.34,"endTime":1166.9,"body":"it is thought that each was"},{"startTime":1162.34,"endTime":1166.9,"body":"warned that failure to cooperate"},{"startTime":1166.9,"endTime":1171.64,"body":"would lead not only to their"},{"startTime":1166.9,"endTime":1171.64,"body":"own inevitable execution,"},{"startTime":1171.64,"endTime":1174.66,"body":"but to the murder of"},{"startTime":1171.64,"endTime":1174.66,"body":"members of their family."},{"startTime":1174.66,"endTime":1177.77,"body":"Now, this was no empty threat,"},{"startTime":1177.77,"endTime":1181.573,"body":"albeit even if you complied"},{"startTime":1177.77,"endTime":1181.573,"body":"with your side of the bargain,"},{"startTime":1182.59,"endTime":1184.36,"body":"as a matter of reality,"},{"startTime":1184.36,"endTime":1188.74,"body":"Stalin rarely, if ever,"},{"startTime":1184.36,"endTime":1188.74,"body":"complied with his side."},{"startTime":1188.74,"endTime":1193.25,"body":"One of the defendants at"},{"startTime":1188.74,"endTime":1193.25,"body":"the 1936 trial, Lev Kamenev,"},{"startTime":1193.25,"endTime":1195.31,"body":"a principal defendant of that trial,"},{"startTime":1195.31,"endTime":1199.96,"body":"was personally promised by"},{"startTime":1195.31,"endTime":1199.96,"body":"Stalin that if he pleaded guilty"},{"startTime":1199.96,"endTime":1203.93,"body":"and pleaded guilty with vigor and gusto,"},{"startTime":1203.93,"endTime":1207.31,"body":"then he would be saved."},{"startTime":1207.31,"endTime":1208.913,"body":"His life would be saved."},{"startTime":1210.79,"endTime":1213.093,"body":"On the very night of his conviction,"},{"startTime":1214.26,"endTime":1219.26,"body":"having played his part"},{"startTime":1214.26,"endTime":1219.26,"body":"to a T, he was shot,"},{"startTime":1219.46,"endTime":1222.96,"body":"and not only was he shot,"},{"startTime":1222.96,"endTime":1227.25,"body":"but within 24 months of his own death,"},{"startTime":1227.25,"endTime":1232.25,"body":"his 17-year-old son, his"},{"startTime":1227.25,"endTime":1232.25,"body":"30-year-old son, and his wife,"},{"startTime":1232.32,"endTime":1235.75,"body":"all were shot as well,"},{"startTime":1232.32,"endTime":1235.75,"body":"without trial I should say,"},{"startTime":1235.75,"endTime":1237.743,"body":"in their case."},{"startTime":1239.02,"endTime":1242.27,"body":"The murder of relatives of purge victims"},{"startTime":1242.27,"endTime":1247.27,"body":"was practiced by Stalin on"},{"startTime":1242.27,"endTime":1247.27,"body":"a massive, massive scale."},{"startTime":1247.77,"endTime":1252.77,"body":"So it is likely that Bukharin"},{"startTime":1247.77,"endTime":1252.77,"body":"and his co-defendants,"},{"startTime":1253.85,"endTime":1258.2,"body":"for all the joyful"},{"startTime":1253.85,"endTime":1258.2,"body":"expressions of their guilt"},{"startTime":1258.2,"endTime":1262.84,"body":"in that cartoon, were pretty pessimistic"},{"startTime":1262.84,"endTime":1266.09,"body":"about their chances of survival."},{"startTime":1266.09,"endTime":1270.823,"body":"But possibly they latched"},{"startTime":1266.09,"endTime":1270.823,"body":"onto some small spark of hope."},{"startTime":1272.619,"endTime":1274.7,"body":"They know they're going to be found guilty"},{"startTime":1274.7,"endTime":1276.44,"body":"of the crimes they are charged with,"},{"startTime":1276.44,"endTime":1277.86,"body":"in which they didn't commit."},{"startTime":1277.86,"endTime":1279.97,"body":"But if they assist in the process"},{"startTime":1279.97,"endTime":1284.76,"body":"of hastening their own"},{"startTime":1279.97,"endTime":1284.76,"body":"condemnation, perhaps, they think,"},{"startTime":1284.76,"endTime":1286.7,"body":"they might earn a reprieve,"},{"startTime":1286.7,"endTime":1289.893,"body":"at least for their family members."},{"startTime":1291.76,"endTime":1293.39,"body":"If we look at their motivations,"},{"startTime":1293.39,"endTime":1296.26,"body":"there is something else"},{"startTime":1293.39,"endTime":1296.26,"body":"at work here, I think."},{"startTime":1296.26,"endTime":1301.26,"body":"These were men who knew"},{"startTime":1296.26,"endTime":1301.26,"body":"they were the victim"},{"startTime":1302.45,"endTime":1306.66,"body":"of a monstrous and fictional injustice."},{"startTime":1306.66,"endTime":1309.79,"body":"Yet it seems that on another level,"},{"startTime":1309.79,"endTime":1312.5,"body":"their devotion to the revolution"},{"startTime":1312.5,"endTime":1314.4,"body":"had led many of them to the conclusion"},{"startTime":1314.4,"endTime":1317.32,"body":"that if they were going to die,"},{"startTime":1317.32,"endTime":1320.29,"body":"then they might as well"},{"startTime":1317.32,"endTime":1320.29,"body":"die and give their lives"},{"startTime":1320.29,"endTime":1321.303,"body":"to the revolution."},{"startTime":1322.36,"endTime":1326.26,"body":"They were men who really had, it seems,"},{"startTime":1326.26,"endTime":1330.43,"body":"rooted out individualism"},{"startTime":1326.26,"endTime":1330.43,"body":"from, like good communists,"},{"startTime":1330.43,"endTime":1331.77,"body":"from their psyches."},{"startTime":1331.77,"endTime":1336.77,"body":"Somehow, by confessing to"},{"startTime":1331.77,"endTime":1336.77,"body":"crimes they had not committed,"},{"startTime":1336.83,"endTime":1339.58,"body":"they were serving the state."},{"startTime":1339.58,"endTime":1341.09,"body":"And it's an astonishing fact"},{"startTime":1341.09,"endTime":1343.59,"body":"that many of them went to the gallows,"},{"startTime":1343.59,"endTime":1348.15,"body":"continuing to the very last"},{"startTime":1343.59,"endTime":1348.15,"body":"to proclaim their devotion to,"},{"startTime":1348.15,"endTime":1350.91,"body":"even their love for Stalin."},{"startTime":1350.91,"endTime":1354.36,"body":"The very man who had"},{"startTime":1350.91,"endTime":1354.36,"body":"personally brought about"},{"startTime":1354.36,"endTime":1356.14,"body":"their judicial murder."},{"startTime":1356.14,"endTime":1360.5,"body":"We find Bukharin, the"},{"startTime":1356.14,"endTime":1360.5,"body":"intellectual Bukharin,"},{"startTime":1360.5,"endTime":1365.117,"body":"writing to Stalin from prison,"},{"startTime":1360.5,"endTime":1365.117,"body":"professing his, I quote,"},{"startTime":1365.117,"endTime":1368.78,"body":"\"Boundless love\" for the dictator,"},{"startTime":1368.78,"endTime":1371.607,"body":"and congratulating him on the, I quote,"},{"startTime":1371.607,"endTime":1375.96,"body":"\"Great and bold political"},{"startTime":1371.607,"endTime":1375.96,"body":"idea of using a purge"},{"startTime":1375.96,"endTime":1378.82,"body":"to consolidate his regime.\""},{"startTime":1378.82,"endTime":1382.817,"body":"But in the same letter there"},{"startTime":1378.82,"endTime":1382.817,"body":"is this poignant ending,"},{"startTime":1384.69,"endTime":1388.05,"body":"or conclusion, where"},{"startTime":1384.69,"endTime":1388.05,"body":"Bukharin says, nonetheless,"},{"startTime":1388.05,"endTime":1392.82,"body":"I'm troubled by an, I"},{"startTime":1388.05,"endTime":1392.82,"body":"quote, \"Agonizing paradox,\""},{"startTime":1392.82,"endTime":1394.663,"body":"that I'm innocent."},{"startTime":1396.47,"endTime":1400.6,"body":"It was not a paradox that"},{"startTime":1396.47,"endTime":1400.6,"body":"gave Stalin second thoughts,"},{"startTime":1400.6,"endTime":1403.66,"body":"and I think there were 43 letters"},{"startTime":1403.66,"endTime":1407.04,"body":"written by Bukharin to Stalin"},{"startTime":1403.66,"endTime":1407.04,"body":"while he was in detention"},{"startTime":1407.04,"endTime":1409.67,"body":"before he died, before he was executed,"},{"startTime":1409.67,"endTime":1412.37,"body":"not one of which merited a reply"},{"startTime":1412.37,"endTime":1417.303,"body":"from his former very close"},{"startTime":1412.37,"endTime":1417.303,"body":"friend and comrade, Stalin."},{"startTime":1418.33,"endTime":1423.04,"body":"So the Moscow show trials"},{"startTime":1418.33,"endTime":1423.04,"body":"which extended from '36"},{"startTime":1423.04,"endTime":1428.04,"body":"through to '38, were both"},{"startTime":1423.04,"endTime":1428.04,"body":"monstrous, but also fascinating."},{"startTime":1429.74,"endTime":1433.75,"body":"Stalin certainly had no"},{"startTime":1429.74,"endTime":1433.75,"body":"need of a judicial process"},{"startTime":1433.75,"endTime":1436.94,"body":"and a finding of guilt in"},{"startTime":1433.75,"endTime":1436.94,"body":"order to provide the platform"},{"startTime":1436.94,"endTime":1439.99,"body":"for the liquidation of"},{"startTime":1436.94,"endTime":1439.99,"body":"his perceived enemies."},{"startTime":1439.99,"endTime":1444.54,"body":"After all, the vast bulk of"},{"startTime":1439.99,"endTime":1444.54,"body":"the victims of the Great Terror"},{"startTime":1444.54,"endTime":1446.16,"body":"never went anywhere near a courtroom."},{"startTime":1446.16,"endTime":1449.7,"body":"They were simply shot without"},{"startTime":1446.16,"endTime":1449.7,"body":"any form of legal process."},{"startTime":1449.7,"endTime":1453.98,"body":"Nonetheless, I think that"},{"startTime":1449.7,"endTime":1453.98,"body":"Stalin had wider purposes"},{"startTime":1453.98,"endTime":1456.07,"body":"in organizing these trials"},{"startTime":1456.07,"endTime":1461.07,"body":"than simply the eradication"},{"startTime":1456.07,"endTime":1461.07,"body":"of supposed opponents."},{"startTime":1461.18,"endTime":1465.28,"body":"They were, after all, held"},{"startTime":1461.18,"endTime":1465.28,"body":"in public and attended,"},{"startTime":1465.28,"endTime":1467.15,"body":"not just by party apparatchiks,"},{"startTime":1467.15,"endTime":1471.44,"body":"but by foreign journalists"},{"startTime":1467.15,"endTime":1471.44,"body":"and foreign diplomats"},{"startTime":1471.44,"endTime":1474.65,"body":"who were welcomed to the trials."},{"startTime":1474.65,"endTime":1477.21,"body":"They continued over"},{"startTime":1474.65,"endTime":1477.21,"body":"many days, these trials."},{"startTime":1477.21,"endTime":1482.13,"body":"They were not simple 10 minute,"},{"startTime":1477.21,"endTime":1482.13,"body":"20 minute, 30 minute events."},{"startTime":1482.13,"endTime":1486.343,"body":"They lasted for day upon"},{"startTime":1482.13,"endTime":1486.343,"body":"day upon day, as we've seen."},{"startTime":1487.32,"endTime":1492.32,"body":"They were filmed, and you"},{"startTime":1487.32,"endTime":1492.32,"body":"can now, if you so choose,"},{"startTime":1492.36,"endTime":1497.36,"body":"listen to them and possibly"},{"startTime":1492.36,"endTime":1497.36,"body":"shudder at them on YouTube."},{"startTime":1497.89,"endTime":1499.62,"body":"And indeed they were,"},{"startTime":1499.62,"endTime":1501.56,"body":"if one reads the contemporary"},{"startTime":1499.62,"endTime":1501.56,"body":"accounts of the period,"},{"startTime":1501.56,"endTime":1503.97,"body":"of the newspapers in the United States"},{"startTime":1503.97,"endTime":1507.42,"body":"or the newspapers in London"},{"startTime":1503.97,"endTime":1507.42,"body":"or in Paris and wherever,"},{"startTime":1507.42,"endTime":1511.393,"body":"vast coverage of these trials, we find."},{"startTime":1512.27,"endTime":1515.09,"body":"In one sense you might think, well,"},{"startTime":1515.09,"endTime":1519.93,"body":"surely holding a public"},{"startTime":1515.09,"endTime":1519.93,"body":"trial with so many defendants"},{"startTime":1519.93,"endTime":1522.85,"body":"carried grave risks for the regime."},{"startTime":1522.85,"endTime":1525.04,"body":"After all, what if the defendants,"},{"startTime":1525.04,"endTime":1528.2,"body":"knowing that they were in a public place"},{"startTime":1528.2,"endTime":1533.2,"body":"with a foreign audience"},{"startTime":1528.2,"endTime":1533.2,"body":"within that public place,"},{"startTime":1533.265,"endTime":1537.76,"body":"what if they seize the"},{"startTime":1533.265,"endTime":1537.76,"body":"opportunity to turn the tables"},{"startTime":1537.76,"endTime":1541.61,"body":"on the prosecution and publicly"},{"startTime":1537.76,"endTime":1541.61,"body":"denounce it for what it was,"},{"startTime":1541.61,"endTime":1544.99,"body":"i.e. a pure and maligned fantasy."},{"startTime":1544.99,"endTime":1549.17,"body":"What if they seize the"},{"startTime":1544.99,"endTime":1549.17,"body":"moment to detail the torture"},{"startTime":1549.17,"endTime":1550.92,"body":"that they had endured,"},{"startTime":1550.92,"endTime":1554.47,"body":"the threats they'd endured"},{"startTime":1550.92,"endTime":1554.47,"body":"to extract their confessions,"},{"startTime":1554.47,"endTime":1556.62,"body":"and the gruesome threats that"},{"startTime":1554.47,"endTime":1556.62,"body":"have been leveled against"},{"startTime":1556.62,"endTime":1557.47,"body":"each of them,"},{"startTime":1557.47,"endTime":1561.64,"body":"as regards their own lives"},{"startTime":1557.47,"endTime":1561.64,"body":"and their families' lives."},{"startTime":1561.64,"endTime":1565.82,"body":"What if the observers,"},{"startTime":1561.64,"endTime":1565.82,"body":"both domestic and foreign,"},{"startTime":1565.82,"endTime":1570.82,"body":"at the trial, saw through"},{"startTime":1565.82,"endTime":1570.82,"body":"the sheer fictionality of it."},{"startTime":1572.32,"endTime":1574.16,"body":"Grave risks, you might think,"},{"startTime":1574.16,"endTime":1579.16,"body":"attaching to having a public"},{"startTime":1574.16,"endTime":1579.16,"body":"trial in such a public arena."},{"startTime":1579.3,"endTime":1583.84,"body":"Now, reading the transcripts"},{"startTime":1579.3,"endTime":1583.84,"body":"now of each of the trials,"},{"startTime":1583.84,"endTime":1587.04,"body":"and they're all, one can find"},{"startTime":1583.84,"endTime":1587.04,"body":"them, they're all printed."},{"startTime":1587.04,"endTime":1590.67,"body":"And of course, bearing"},{"startTime":1587.04,"endTime":1590.67,"body":"everything we now know"},{"startTime":1590.67,"endTime":1593.78,"body":"about Stalin's atrocities in mind,"},{"startTime":1593.78,"endTime":1598.27,"body":"it's easy to stand astonished"},{"startTime":1593.78,"endTime":1598.27,"body":"that anyone was taken in"},{"startTime":1598.27,"endTime":1599.793,"body":"by this production."},{"startTime":1601.2,"endTime":1604.31,"body":"I mean, some of the"},{"startTime":1601.2,"endTime":1604.31,"body":"charges were just absurd."},{"startTime":1604.31,"endTime":1606.14,"body":"For instance, it was said against"},{"startTime":1606.14,"endTime":1609.0,"body":"one or two of the defenders"},{"startTime":1606.14,"endTime":1609.0,"body":"that they'd engaged in"},{"startTime":1609.0,"endTime":1611.35,"body":"so-called wrecking operations,"},{"startTime":1611.35,"endTime":1615.363,"body":"i.e. acts of deliberate"},{"startTime":1611.35,"endTime":1615.363,"body":"sabotage against the state."},{"startTime":1616.3,"endTime":1618.48,"body":"So one of the defendants was charged with"},{"startTime":1618.48,"endTime":1623.02,"body":"having infiltrated"},{"startTime":1618.48,"endTime":1623.02,"body":"nails and powdered glass"},{"startTime":1623.02,"endTime":1627.23,"body":"into butter supplies in Vladivostok."},{"startTime":1627.23,"endTime":1631.1,"body":"Another was charged with"},{"startTime":1627.23,"endTime":1631.1,"body":"the willful destruction of"},{"startTime":1631.1,"endTime":1634.433,"body":"50 truckloads of eggs."},{"startTime":1636.18,"endTime":1641.153,"body":"And they all pleaded guilty to"},{"startTime":1636.18,"endTime":1641.153,"body":"these charges, I should say,"},{"startTime":1641.153,"endTime":1642.71,"body":"and they gave elaborate explanations"},{"startTime":1642.71,"endTime":1645.01,"body":"about how they'd infiltrated the nails"},{"startTime":1645.01,"endTime":1648.833,"body":"and the powdered glass into"},{"startTime":1645.01,"endTime":1648.833,"body":"the Vladivostok butter supply."},{"startTime":1651.209,"endTime":1652.609,"body":"And nobody batted an eyelid."},{"startTime":1653.59,"endTime":1656.3,"body":"It's fair to say that the"},{"startTime":1653.59,"endTime":1656.3,"body":"trials were stage managed"},{"startTime":1656.3,"endTime":1659.1,"body":"with consummate skill."},{"startTime":1659.1,"endTime":1662.9,"body":"The prosecutors' displays"},{"startTime":1659.1,"endTime":1662.9,"body":"of righteous indignation"},{"startTime":1662.9,"endTime":1665.33,"body":"seems to be born out of genuine"},{"startTime":1665.33,"endTime":1667.84,"body":"rather than confected outrage."},{"startTime":1667.84,"endTime":1672.3,"body":"The judges maintained the"},{"startTime":1667.84,"endTime":1672.3,"body":"right degree of dignity."},{"startTime":1672.3,"endTime":1675.41,"body":"The defendants had rehearsed"},{"startTime":1672.3,"endTime":1675.41,"body":"their roles, as I've said,"},{"startTime":1675.41,"endTime":1676.56,"body":"over many, many months,"},{"startTime":1676.56,"endTime":1679.14,"body":"to ensure that they"},{"startTime":1676.56,"endTime":1679.14,"body":"brought a sufficient degree"},{"startTime":1679.14,"endTime":1681.29,"body":"of verisimilitude to their new roles"},{"startTime":1681.29,"endTime":1684.11,"body":"as murderers and traitors."},{"startTime":1684.11,"endTime":1685.95,"body":"Dates and places of meetings"},{"startTime":1685.95,"endTime":1689.87,"body":"between conspirators were delineated."},{"startTime":1689.87,"endTime":1692.04,"body":"Secret communications with Trotsky"},{"startTime":1692.04,"endTime":1696.66,"body":"described with geographical"},{"startTime":1692.04,"endTime":1696.66,"body":"and chronological precision."},{"startTime":1696.66,"endTime":1699.79,"body":"One defendant told of"},{"startTime":1696.66,"endTime":1699.79,"body":"how he'd been recruited"},{"startTime":1699.79,"endTime":1701.25,"body":"at a particular restaurant"},{"startTime":1701.25,"endTime":1705.46,"body":"off London's Oxford Street in 1926."},{"startTime":1705.46,"endTime":1709.02,"body":"The organizers of these"},{"startTime":1705.46,"endTime":1709.02,"body":"trials realized that proof,"},{"startTime":1709.02,"endTime":1711.92,"body":"or rather the appearance of proof,"},{"startTime":1711.92,"endTime":1715.793,"body":"consists not in"},{"startTime":1711.92,"endTime":1715.793,"body":"generalities, but in minutia."},{"startTime":1716.93,"endTime":1721.31,"body":"Of course, there were some"},{"startTime":1716.93,"endTime":1721.31,"body":"who looked on on these trials"},{"startTime":1721.31,"endTime":1726.31,"body":"with scorn, as nonsense, but"},{"startTime":1721.31,"endTime":1726.31,"body":"many were not so taken in,"},{"startTime":1726.483,"endTime":1731.483,"body":"were not so cynical about them."},{"startTime":1733.32,"endTime":1736.73,"body":"I'm going to quote to you"},{"startTime":1733.32,"endTime":1736.73,"body":"now a passage from a book"},{"startTime":1736.73,"endTime":1739.49,"body":"written by the United"},{"startTime":1736.73,"endTime":1739.49,"body":"States Ambassador to Moscow,"},{"startTime":1739.49,"endTime":1742.12,"body":"just two years later,"},{"startTime":1742.12,"endTime":1747.12,"body":"writing about one of the Red Army trials."},{"startTime":1749.409,"endTime":1752.36,"body":"And I quote, \"In view of the"},{"startTime":1749.409,"endTime":1752.36,"body":"character of the accused,"},{"startTime":1752.36,"endTime":1754.31,"body":"their long terms of service,"},{"startTime":1754.31,"endTime":1757.06,"body":"their recognized distinction"},{"startTime":1754.31,"endTime":1757.06,"body":"in their profession,"},{"startTime":1757.06,"endTime":1760.49,"body":"their long continued loyalty"},{"startTime":1757.06,"endTime":1760.49,"body":"to the Communist cause,"},{"startTime":1760.49,"endTime":1763.18,"body":"it's scarcely credible that"},{"startTime":1760.49,"endTime":1763.18,"body":"their brother officers,\""},{"startTime":1763.18,"endTime":1766.177,"body":"i.e. the officers sitting"},{"startTime":1763.18,"endTime":1766.177,"body":"in judgment upon them,"},{"startTime":1766.177,"endTime":1768.82,"body":"\"should have acquiesced"},{"startTime":1766.177,"endTime":1768.82,"body":"in their execution,"},{"startTime":1768.82,"endTime":1770.84,"body":"unless they were convinced that these men"},{"startTime":1770.84,"endTime":1773.44,"body":"had been guilty of some offense."},{"startTime":1773.44,"endTime":1777.1,"body":"It's generally accepted by"},{"startTime":1773.44,"endTime":1777.1,"body":"members of the diplomatic corps,"},{"startTime":1777.1,"endTime":1779.44,"body":"that the accused must have"},{"startTime":1777.1,"endTime":1779.44,"body":"been guilty of an offense,"},{"startTime":1779.44,"endTime":1783.93,"body":"which in the Soviet Union"},{"startTime":1779.44,"endTime":1783.93,"body":"would merit the death penalty.\""},{"startTime":1783.93,"endTime":1788.13,"body":"And here's a quote from an"},{"startTime":1783.93,"endTime":1788.13,"body":"English barrister and MP,"},{"startTime":1788.13,"endTime":1790.103,"body":"Labour MP, Dennis Pritt,"},{"startTime":1791.15,"endTime":1793.957,"body":"who attended the first of the trials."},{"startTime":1793.957,"endTime":1797.57,"body":"And I quote, again, \"We"},{"startTime":1793.957,"endTime":1797.57,"body":"can feel confident,\""},{"startTime":1797.57,"endTime":1801.727,"body":"this is him writing in a"},{"startTime":1797.57,"endTime":1801.727,"body":"publication in London in 1936."},{"startTime":1801.727,"endTime":1804.69,"body":"\"We can feel confident that"},{"startTime":1801.727,"endTime":1804.69,"body":"when the smoke has rolled away"},{"startTime":1804.69,"endTime":1806.79,"body":"from the battlefield of controversy,"},{"startTime":1806.79,"endTime":1810.04,"body":"it will be realized that"},{"startTime":1806.79,"endTime":1810.04,"body":"the charges were true,"},{"startTime":1810.04,"endTime":1811.84,"body":"the confessions correct,"},{"startTime":1811.84,"endTime":1814.54,"body":"and the prosecution fairly conducted."},{"startTime":1814.54,"endTime":1818.06,"body":"We shall know that the only"},{"startTime":1814.54,"endTime":1818.06,"body":"regrettable thing was and is"},{"startTime":1818.06,"endTime":1822.22,"body":"that Zinoviev and his"},{"startTime":1818.06,"endTime":1822.22,"body":"associates should've sunk so low"},{"startTime":1822.22,"endTime":1826.38,"body":"as to conspire to murder"},{"startTime":1822.22,"endTime":1826.38,"body":"the heads of state.\""},{"startTime":1826.38,"endTime":1828.463,"body":"Such incredible credulity."},{"startTime":1829.87,"endTime":1834.02,"body":"Now, trials as fictional productions"},{"startTime":1834.02,"endTime":1838.8,"body":"are certainly not an invention"},{"startTime":1834.02,"endTime":1838.8,"body":"of the Soviet regime."},{"startTime":1838.8,"endTime":1841.16,"body":"If we go back a few years,"},{"startTime":1841.16,"endTime":1844.82,"body":"Hitler's come to power in early 1933,"},{"startTime":1844.82,"endTime":1846.77,"body":"and as you'll remember"},{"startTime":1844.82,"endTime":1846.77,"body":"from your textbooks,"},{"startTime":1846.77,"endTime":1849.66,"body":"your history textbooks, the Reichstag,"},{"startTime":1849.66,"endTime":1851.72,"body":"the German parliament building,"},{"startTime":1851.72,"endTime":1856.13,"body":"burns down within weeks of"},{"startTime":1851.72,"endTime":1856.13,"body":"Hitler becoming the chancellor."},{"startTime":1856.13,"endTime":1859.67,"body":"And you'll also remember that Hitler used"},{"startTime":1859.67,"endTime":1861.49,"body":"the burning of the Reichstag"},{"startTime":1861.49,"endTime":1865.04,"body":"as the opportunity for him"},{"startTime":1861.49,"endTime":1865.04,"body":"to essentially proclaim"},{"startTime":1865.04,"endTime":1868.88,"body":"a one-party fascist state."},{"startTime":1868.88,"endTime":1872.61,"body":"And part of the narrative of,"},{"startTime":1872.61,"endTime":1876.67,"body":"and justification for his"},{"startTime":1872.61,"endTime":1876.67,"body":"effective takeover of the state,"},{"startTime":1876.67,"endTime":1880.36,"body":"was the suggestion that"},{"startTime":1876.67,"endTime":1880.36,"body":"the Reichstag fire had been"},{"startTime":1881.428,"endTime":1885.49,"body":"part of a communist conspiracy"},{"startTime":1881.428,"endTime":1885.49,"body":"to overthrow the state,"},{"startTime":1885.49,"endTime":1888.09,"body":"and hence he needed to"},{"startTime":1885.49,"endTime":1888.09,"body":"take extreme measures."},{"startTime":1888.09,"endTime":1890.49,"body":"And part of that was to bring a trial"},{"startTime":1890.49,"endTime":1892.48,"body":"against a whole mass of people,"},{"startTime":1892.48,"endTime":1895.29,"body":"all alleged to have been"},{"startTime":1892.48,"endTime":1895.29,"body":"party to the conspiracy"},{"startTime":1895.29,"endTime":1897.243,"body":"to burn down the Reichstag."},{"startTime":1898.502,"endTime":1902.09,"body":"And the trial lasted for weeks"},{"startTime":1898.502,"endTime":1902.09,"body":"on end, at the end of 1933."},{"startTime":1902.99,"endTime":1907.86,"body":"And no doubt Stalin looked"},{"startTime":1902.99,"endTime":1907.86,"body":"carefully and studied carefully"},{"startTime":1907.86,"endTime":1911.7,"body":"how the Nazis were using the court process"},{"startTime":1911.7,"endTime":1915.83,"body":"to spin a particular conspiracy theory lie"},{"startTime":1915.83,"endTime":1920.81,"body":"to justify their takeover of power."},{"startTime":1920.81,"endTime":1924.4,"body":"What Stalin realized and made sure"},{"startTime":1924.4,"endTime":1928.06,"body":"he didn't fall into"},{"startTime":1924.4,"endTime":1928.06,"body":"the same error was that"},{"startTime":1928.06,"endTime":1930.6,"body":"what the Nazis didn't do in that trial"},{"startTime":1930.6,"endTime":1932.89,"body":"was to make sure that all the defendants"},{"startTime":1932.89,"endTime":1935.46,"body":"had been got at, so to speak,"},{"startTime":1935.46,"endTime":1938.01,"body":"to ensure that they said the lines"},{"startTime":1938.01,"endTime":1939.58,"body":"they were intended to say."},{"startTime":1939.58,"endTime":1943.71,"body":"In fact, a number of them"},{"startTime":1939.58,"endTime":1943.71,"body":"were found not guilty"},{"startTime":1943.71,"endTime":1948.71,"body":"by a non-Nazi court that"},{"startTime":1943.71,"endTime":1948.71,"body":"still survived in late 1933."},{"startTime":1949.25,"endTime":1951.66,"body":"Stalin realized that if you want a trial"},{"startTime":1951.66,"endTime":1953.93,"body":"that really is going to"},{"startTime":1951.66,"endTime":1953.93,"body":"work for you politically,"},{"startTime":1953.93,"endTime":1955.91,"body":"you make sure the defendants know exactly"},{"startTime":1955.91,"endTime":1958.92,"body":"what they're going to say,"},{"startTime":1955.91,"endTime":1958.92,"body":"and that is not not guilty,"},{"startTime":1958.92,"endTime":1960.9,"body":"but it is guilty."},{"startTime":1960.9,"endTime":1963.26,"body":"He didn't make that"},{"startTime":1960.9,"endTime":1963.26,"body":"mistake four years later"},{"startTime":1963.26,"endTime":1964.29,"body":"at his own trials."},{"startTime":1964.29,"endTime":1965.613,"body":"But as we will see,"},{"startTime":1966.76,"endTime":1970.53,"body":"there was a good deal of"},{"startTime":1966.76,"endTime":1970.53,"body":"mutuality of influence"},{"startTime":1970.53,"endTime":1973.41,"body":"between the Nazi and the Soviet regime,"},{"startTime":1973.41,"endTime":1976.973,"body":"as regards the use of the court process."},{"startTime":1979.91,"endTime":1982.33,"body":"Just concluding on the Moscow trials,"},{"startTime":1982.33,"endTime":1984.06,"body":"I think it's fair to say that"},{"startTime":1984.06,"endTime":1987.51,"body":"Stalin had multiple purposes for them"},{"startTime":1987.51,"endTime":1989.39,"body":"and reasons for instituting them,"},{"startTime":1989.39,"endTime":1993.01,"body":"not withstanding the risks"},{"startTime":1989.39,"endTime":1993.01,"body":"that I've identified."},{"startTime":1993.01,"endTime":1996.88,"body":"At the most brute level,"},{"startTime":1993.01,"endTime":1996.88,"body":"the fate of the defendants,"},{"startTime":1996.88,"endTime":2000.99,"body":"which was in almost all"},{"startTime":1996.88,"endTime":2000.99,"body":"cases instant execution,"},{"startTime":2000.99,"endTime":2005.99,"body":"no doubt cowed anyone"},{"startTime":2000.99,"endTime":2005.99,"body":"contemplating any form of dissent"},{"startTime":2006.35,"endTime":2009.933,"body":"against Stalin, into silent submission."},{"startTime":2011.13,"endTime":2016.13,"body":"The trials were also exercises"},{"startTime":2011.13,"endTime":2016.13,"body":"in calculated humiliation."},{"startTime":2017.44,"endTime":2022.29,"body":"The sight of these wretched"},{"startTime":2017.44,"endTime":2022.29,"body":"men being ground into the dust"},{"startTime":2022.29,"endTime":2024.74,"body":"must've sapped the morale"},{"startTime":2024.74,"endTime":2027.58,"body":"of even the most hardy oppositionist"},{"startTime":2027.58,"endTime":2029.593,"body":"in Stalin's Soviet Union."},{"startTime":2030.43,"endTime":2033.13,"body":"And it was made sure that the defendants,"},{"startTime":2033.13,"endTime":2035.81,"body":"previously, as I say,"},{"startTime":2033.13,"endTime":2035.81,"body":"men of the highest rank"},{"startTime":2035.81,"endTime":2037.53,"body":"in the Soviet Union,"},{"startTime":2037.53,"endTime":2042.27,"body":"came before the court"},{"startTime":2037.53,"endTime":2042.27,"body":"looking broken and crushed."},{"startTime":2042.27,"endTime":2046.29,"body":"Here is a photograph of Grigory Zinoviev,"},{"startTime":2046.29,"endTime":2048.89,"body":"the principal defendant in"},{"startTime":2046.29,"endTime":2048.89,"body":"the first of the trials,"},{"startTime":2048.89,"endTime":2053.5,"body":"and former chairman of the"},{"startTime":2048.89,"endTime":2053.5,"body":"Communist International."},{"startTime":2053.5,"endTime":2055.56,"body":"There he is on the third from right,"},{"startTime":2055.56,"endTime":2060.32,"body":"with his close friend Stalin"},{"startTime":2055.56,"endTime":2060.32,"body":"on the left, in happier days."},{"startTime":2062.7,"endTime":2067.5,"body":"And here is the same man"},{"startTime":2062.7,"endTime":2067.5,"body":"after his detention in 1935,"},{"startTime":2068.43,"endTime":2073.43,"body":"before his trial in 1936, a"},{"startTime":2068.43,"endTime":2073.43,"body":"photograph taken by the NKVD."},{"startTime":2076.6,"endTime":2081.6,"body":"The pathetic sight of the"},{"startTime":2076.6,"endTime":2081.6,"body":"conspirators in the makeshift dock"},{"startTime":2081.69,"endTime":2084.647,"body":"seemed only to enhance the"},{"startTime":2081.69,"endTime":2084.647,"body":"might of the Soviet state"},{"startTime":2084.647,"endTime":2086.96,"body":"and the aura of invincibility,"},{"startTime":2086.96,"endTime":2089.563,"body":"which Stalin wished to cultivate."},{"startTime":2090.4,"endTime":2092.51,"body":"There were other messages as well,"},{"startTime":2092.51,"endTime":2096.37,"body":"being communicated by Stalin"},{"startTime":2092.51,"endTime":2096.37,"body":"during these show trials,"},{"startTime":2096.37,"endTime":2099.27,"body":"in my suggestion."},{"startTime":2099.27,"endTime":2102.51,"body":"Stalin wanted to project"},{"startTime":2099.27,"endTime":2102.51,"body":"to the Russian population"},{"startTime":2103.43,"endTime":2106.82,"body":"the proposition that there"},{"startTime":2103.43,"endTime":2106.82,"body":"was a vast conspiracy,"},{"startTime":2106.82,"endTime":2110.3,"body":"orchestrated of course"},{"startTime":2106.82,"endTime":2110.3,"body":"by the turncoat Trotsky"},{"startTime":2110.3,"endTime":2114.67,"body":"who was in Mexico by this"},{"startTime":2110.3,"endTime":2114.67,"body":"stage, against the state,"},{"startTime":2114.67,"endTime":2117.6,"body":"and only he, the great Stalin,"},{"startTime":2117.6,"endTime":2121.16,"body":"could withstand this"},{"startTime":2117.6,"endTime":2121.16,"body":"conspiracy's depredations."},{"startTime":2121.16,"endTime":2125.23,"body":"The conspiracy so outlined"},{"startTime":2121.16,"endTime":2125.23,"body":"provided the wider justification"},{"startTime":2125.23,"endTime":2127.81,"body":"for the purge that took"},{"startTime":2125.23,"endTime":2127.81,"body":"place, in the main,"},{"startTime":2127.81,"endTime":2130.93,"body":"in the extrajudicial arena, as I've said."},{"startTime":2130.93,"endTime":2134.26,"body":"What better way to"},{"startTime":2130.93,"endTime":2134.26,"body":"create a fixed narrative"},{"startTime":2134.26,"endTime":2136.23,"body":"that the state was in danger,"},{"startTime":2136.23,"endTime":2139.61,"body":"and exceptional measures were required,"},{"startTime":2139.61,"endTime":2142.17,"body":"than to tell the false narrative"},{"startTime":2142.17,"endTime":2144.163,"body":"that was projected by the trial?"},{"startTime":2145.15,"endTime":2148.03,"body":"Stalin also needed scapegoats"},{"startTime":2148.03,"endTime":2150.77,"body":"for the appalling management"},{"startTime":2148.03,"endTime":2150.77,"body":"of the Russian economy,"},{"startTime":2150.77,"endTime":2153.58,"body":"and the terrible suffering"},{"startTime":2150.77,"endTime":2153.58,"body":"of the Russian people"},{"startTime":2153.58,"endTime":2156.72,"body":"that had occurred under his rule."},{"startTime":2156.72,"endTime":2160.3,"body":"Why, millions of people"},{"startTime":2156.72,"endTime":2160.3,"body":"were no doubt asking,"},{"startTime":2160.3,"endTime":2162.12,"body":"why are we hungry?"},{"startTime":2162.12,"endTime":2164.93,"body":"Why is there nothing to buy in the shops?"},{"startTime":2164.93,"endTime":2168.63,"body":"Why does the butter in"},{"startTime":2164.93,"endTime":2168.63,"body":"Vladivostok taste awful?"},{"startTime":2168.63,"endTime":2173.63,"body":"Now, through the formality of"},{"startTime":2168.63,"endTime":2173.63,"body":"the trial, they had an answer."},{"startTime":2174.16,"endTime":2177.46,"body":"It was the fault, not of the"},{"startTime":2174.16,"endTime":2177.46,"body":"government, not of Stalin,"},{"startTime":2177.46,"endTime":2179.49,"body":"but of the shadowy conspirators"},{"startTime":2179.49,"endTime":2181.663,"body":"intent on debilitating the state."},{"startTime":2182.61,"endTime":2186.3,"body":"And one can see that"},{"startTime":2182.61,"endTime":2186.3,"body":"for all their modernity,"},{"startTime":2186.3,"endTime":2191.28,"body":"the Moscow trials also"},{"startTime":2186.3,"endTime":2191.28,"body":"drew on the medieval past."},{"startTime":2191.28,"endTime":2196.16,"body":"Surely, I suggest, we can trace"},{"startTime":2191.28,"endTime":2196.16,"body":"some part of their ancestry"},{"startTime":2196.16,"endTime":2199.55,"body":"back to the witch trials"},{"startTime":2196.16,"endTime":2199.55,"body":"of the middle ages,"},{"startTime":2199.55,"endTime":2203.07,"body":"when, in the middle ages"},{"startTime":2199.55,"endTime":2203.07,"body":"and the early modern period,"},{"startTime":2203.07,"endTime":2206.5,"body":"the crops failed and hardship ensued,"},{"startTime":2206.5,"endTime":2210.78,"body":"the way the community"},{"startTime":2206.5,"endTime":2210.78,"body":"rationalized economic disaster"},{"startTime":2210.78,"endTime":2215.78,"body":"was to locate somebody to"},{"startTime":2210.78,"endTime":2215.78,"body":"blame, to locate an outsider."},{"startTime":2216.16,"endTime":2217.73,"body":"It was the fault of somebody"},{"startTime":2217.73,"endTime":2220.26,"body":"extraneous to the system, surely,"},{"startTime":2220.26,"endTime":2224.62,"body":"somebody who could be punished,"},{"startTime":2220.26,"endTime":2224.62,"body":"identified and punished."},{"startTime":2224.62,"endTime":2226.1,"body":"Better to think,"},{"startTime":2226.1,"endTime":2230.4,"body":"both in the middle ages and"},{"startTime":2226.1,"endTime":2230.4,"body":"perhaps in the late 1930s,"},{"startTime":2230.4,"endTime":2234.14,"body":"that calamity had an"},{"startTime":2230.4,"endTime":2234.14,"body":"individual human face,"},{"startTime":2234.14,"endTime":2237.31,"body":"rather than being something"},{"startTime":2234.14,"endTime":2237.31,"body":"that was somehow endemic"},{"startTime":2237.31,"endTime":2239.08,"body":"in the system."},{"startTime":2239.08,"endTime":2241.8,"body":"And there was another"},{"startTime":2239.08,"endTime":2241.8,"body":"theme that it seems to be"},{"startTime":2241.8,"endTime":2243.1,"body":"the show trials drew from,"},{"startTime":2243.1,"endTime":2246.55,"body":"which was the medieval inquisition."},{"startTime":2246.55,"endTime":2251.55,"body":"The inquisition realized the"},{"startTime":2246.55,"endTime":2251.55,"body":"best way to inspire trust"},{"startTime":2251.93,"endTime":2255.14,"body":"in its workings and in its mechanisms,"},{"startTime":2255.14,"endTime":2257.61,"body":"was through the confession,"},{"startTime":2257.61,"endTime":2261.8,"body":"and not just the confession"},{"startTime":2257.61,"endTime":2261.8,"body":"in the sense of guilty,"},{"startTime":2261.8,"endTime":2265.54,"body":"but the full, where the"},{"startTime":2261.8,"endTime":2265.54,"body":"defendant or the accused"},{"startTime":2265.54,"endTime":2267.593,"body":"or the individual who was being,"},{"startTime":2268.47,"endTime":2272.62,"body":"comes before the inquisition,"},{"startTime":2268.47,"endTime":2272.62,"body":"owns his or her own guilt,"},{"startTime":2272.62,"endTime":2275.79,"body":"to use a modern phrase."},{"startTime":2275.79,"endTime":2277.81,"body":"What better way of saying"},{"startTime":2277.81,"endTime":2280.39,"body":"this trial is a genuine and proper trial,"},{"startTime":2280.39,"endTime":2282.28,"body":"than putting words of guilt"},{"startTime":2282.28,"endTime":2285.95,"body":"into the mouths of the"},{"startTime":2282.28,"endTime":2285.95,"body":"defendants themselves?"},{"startTime":2285.95,"endTime":2290.95,"body":"Now, one of the people who"},{"startTime":2285.95,"endTime":2290.95,"body":"attended the Moscow trials"},{"startTime":2291.91,"endTime":2296.2,"body":"and was impressed by"},{"startTime":2291.91,"endTime":2296.2,"body":"prosecutor Vyshinsky's methods,"},{"startTime":2296.2,"endTime":2299.53,"body":"was a German jurist and committed Nazi"},{"startTime":2299.53,"endTime":2301.343,"body":"called Roland Freisler."},{"startTime":2302.25,"endTime":2307.25,"body":"By 1944, six years later,"},{"startTime":2302.25,"endTime":2307.25,"body":"Freisler had been, for two years,"},{"startTime":2308.97,"endTime":2311.15,"body":"the president of the so-called,"},{"startTime":2311.15,"endTime":2313.23,"body":"and I'll get my pronunciation wrong here,"},{"startTime":2313.23,"endTime":2316.843,"body":"Volksgerichtshof, the people's court."},{"startTime":2317.88,"endTime":2321.923,"body":"Let's have a look at"},{"startTime":2317.88,"endTime":2321.923,"body":"President Freisler in action."},{"startTime":2323.14,"endTime":2324.79,"body":"Can see where his sympathies lie."},{"startTime":2327.36,"endTime":2332.36,"body":"The court had been"},{"startTime":2327.36,"endTime":2332.36,"body":"created in 1934 by Hitler,"},{"startTime":2332.56,"endTime":2335.33,"body":"in part because of Hitler's disappointment"},{"startTime":2335.33,"endTime":2338.32,"body":"at the failure of the civilian court"},{"startTime":2338.32,"endTime":2342.73,"body":"to convict all the wrongly"},{"startTime":2338.32,"endTime":2342.73,"body":"accused individuals"},{"startTime":2342.73,"endTime":2344.623,"body":"for the Reichstag fire."},{"startTime":2346.17,"endTime":2348.36,"body":"This was a people's court exercising"},{"startTime":2348.36,"endTime":2350.76,"body":"a political jurisdiction"},{"startTime":2350.76,"endTime":2355.14,"body":"over what might loosely be"},{"startTime":2350.76,"endTime":2355.14,"body":"described as political offenses."},{"startTime":2355.14,"endTime":2359.24,"body":"Not only active opposition"},{"startTime":2355.14,"endTime":2359.24,"body":"to the Nazi regime,"},{"startTime":2359.24,"endTime":2362.56,"body":"but any behaviors, by"},{"startTime":2359.24,"endTime":2362.56,"body":"the time we get to war,"},{"startTime":2362.56,"endTime":2365.94,"body":"that might be described as"},{"startTime":2362.56,"endTime":2365.94,"body":"contrary to the war effort,"},{"startTime":2365.94,"endTime":2368.93,"body":"fell within its remit."},{"startTime":2368.93,"endTime":2372.18,"body":"And it was a very bloody remit indeed."},{"startTime":2372.18,"endTime":2377.1,"body":"During the three years"},{"startTime":2372.18,"endTime":2377.1,"body":"of Freisler's tenure"},{"startTime":2377.1,"endTime":2378.973,"body":"as president of the people's court,"},{"startTime":2380.266,"endTime":2384.88,"body":"5,000 death sentences were pronounced."},{"startTime":2384.88,"endTime":2387.26,"body":"And if one looks at the"},{"startTime":2384.88,"endTime":2387.26,"body":"total number of people"},{"startTime":2387.26,"endTime":2389.9,"body":"who came before the court as defendants,"},{"startTime":2389.9,"endTime":2392.02,"body":"I think the death sentence"},{"startTime":2389.9,"endTime":2392.02,"body":"was probably pronounced"},{"startTime":2392.02,"endTime":2395.59,"body":"on three quarters of defendants in total."},{"startTime":2395.59,"endTime":2398.363,"body":"Some were acquitted, not"},{"startTime":2395.59,"endTime":2398.363,"body":"many it's fair to say."},{"startTime":2399.69,"endTime":2403.61,"body":"And one can get a sense of"},{"startTime":2399.69,"endTime":2403.61,"body":"the extraordinary jurisdiction"},{"startTime":2403.61,"endTime":2405.69,"body":"that the court exercised,"},{"startTime":2405.69,"endTime":2408.15,"body":"over a whole manner of behaviors"},{"startTime":2408.15,"endTime":2409.73,"body":"you might describe or describe,"},{"startTime":2409.73,"endTime":2411.92,"body":"you might refer to as defeatism."},{"startTime":2411.92,"endTime":2416.65,"body":"To take one pathetic"},{"startTime":2411.92,"endTime":2416.65,"body":"tragic example referred to"},{"startTime":2416.65,"endTime":2419.11,"body":"in the histories of the court."},{"startTime":2419.11,"endTime":2421.81,"body":"In 1943, a doctor comes,"},{"startTime":2421.81,"endTime":2424.34,"body":"a medical doctor comes before the court"},{"startTime":2424.34,"endTime":2426.32,"body":"accused of defeatism."},{"startTime":2426.32,"endTime":2431.23,"body":"It is alleged against him that"},{"startTime":2426.32,"endTime":2431.23,"body":"when tending to his patient,"},{"startTime":2431.23,"endTime":2434.62,"body":"the pregnant wife of a frontline soldier,"},{"startTime":2434.62,"endTime":2437.23,"body":"he had expressed his fears"},{"startTime":2437.23,"endTime":2439.92,"body":"that the Eastern Front would not hold"},{"startTime":2439.92,"endTime":2444.39,"body":"and that the Russians would"},{"startTime":2439.92,"endTime":2444.39,"body":"inevitably overrun Germany,"},{"startTime":2444.39,"endTime":2447.61,"body":"and that her husband"},{"startTime":2444.39,"endTime":2447.61,"body":"would likely to be killed"},{"startTime":2447.61,"endTime":2449.51,"body":"in the process."},{"startTime":2449.51,"endTime":2451.91,"body":"She denounced this doctor"},{"startTime":2449.51,"endTime":2451.91,"body":"who was, of course,"},{"startTime":2451.91,"endTime":2455.4,"body":"after all merely telling"},{"startTime":2451.91,"endTime":2455.4,"body":"the inevitable truth,"},{"startTime":2455.4,"endTime":2460.17,"body":"and he met with a death sentence."},{"startTime":2460.17,"endTime":2465.163,"body":"Now Freisler's moment of"},{"startTime":2460.17,"endTime":2465.163,"body":"infamy came in late 1944."},{"startTime":2468.58,"endTime":2472.26,"body":"You'll remember that in"},{"startTime":2468.58,"endTime":2472.26,"body":"July of that year, the plot,"},{"startTime":2472.26,"endTime":2475.72,"body":"the Stauffenberg plot"},{"startTime":2472.26,"endTime":2475.72,"body":"to assassinate Hitler"},{"startTime":2475.72,"endTime":2478.93,"body":"in the Wolf's Layer in Poland had failed."},{"startTime":2478.93,"endTime":2481.08,"body":"And within hours,"},{"startTime":2481.08,"endTime":2485.443,"body":"the regime was rounding"},{"startTime":2481.08,"endTime":2485.443,"body":"up the conspirators."},{"startTime":2487.09,"endTime":2489.43,"body":"And in the weeks that passed,"},{"startTime":2489.43,"endTime":2491.77,"body":"hundreds and hundreds of conspirators,"},{"startTime":2491.77,"endTime":2496.28,"body":"or alleged conspirators,"},{"startTime":2491.77,"endTime":2496.28,"body":"were detained and tortured."},{"startTime":2496.28,"endTime":2498.97,"body":"Now many of them, by no means all of them,"},{"startTime":2498.97,"endTime":2501.52,"body":"but many of the principal conspirators"},{"startTime":2501.52,"endTime":2506.52,"body":"were tried before President"},{"startTime":2501.52,"endTime":2506.52,"body":"Freisler in his courtroom."},{"startTime":2509.35,"endTime":2513.053,"body":"And let's look at another"},{"startTime":2509.35,"endTime":2513.053,"body":"photograph of the court in action,"},{"startTime":2514.28,"endTime":2516.393,"body":"during those trials."},{"startTime":2519.04,"endTime":2521.64,"body":"Just as in the Moscow trials,"},{"startTime":2521.64,"endTime":2525.6,"body":"the trials of the July"},{"startTime":2521.64,"endTime":2525.6,"body":"plotters were attended by"},{"startTime":2525.6,"endTime":2528.22,"body":"large audiences of army officers"},{"startTime":2528.22,"endTime":2531.11,"body":"and Nazi Party functionaries,"},{"startTime":2531.11,"endTime":2533.97,"body":"together again with dozens of journalists,"},{"startTime":2533.97,"endTime":2536.743,"body":"this time of course not many"},{"startTime":2533.97,"endTime":2536.743,"body":"foreign journalists came."},{"startTime":2538.03,"endTime":2542.153,"body":"And again, like the Moscow"},{"startTime":2538.03,"endTime":2542.153,"body":"trials, the hearings were filmed."},{"startTime":2543.0,"endTime":2545.39,"body":"And so we now have, and one can again,"},{"startTime":2545.39,"endTime":2546.82,"body":"can see them on YouTube,"},{"startTime":2546.82,"endTime":2551.05,"body":"an extraordinary insight into a Nazi court"},{"startTime":2551.05,"endTime":2556.05,"body":"exercising its functions"},{"startTime":2551.05,"endTime":2556.05,"body":"during the terror that followed"},{"startTime":2557.46,"endTime":2561.88,"body":"the July plot, during the"},{"startTime":2557.46,"endTime":2561.88,"body":"autumn months of 1944."},{"startTime":2561.88,"endTime":2565.4,"body":"Now, although technically"},{"startTime":2565.4,"endTime":2567.84,"body":"a prosecutor was appointed by the state"},{"startTime":2567.84,"endTime":2572.84,"body":"to present the prosecution"},{"startTime":2567.84,"endTime":2572.84,"body":"of the various conspirators,"},{"startTime":2575.32,"endTime":2577.47,"body":"when one reads the"},{"startTime":2575.32,"endTime":2577.47,"body":"transcripts of the trials"},{"startTime":2577.47,"endTime":2581.713,"body":"and one looks at the copious"},{"startTime":2577.47,"endTime":2581.713,"body":"footage of the trials,"},{"startTime":2582.95,"endTime":2584.43,"body":"the lawyers seemed to be,"},{"startTime":2584.43,"endTime":2586.57,"body":"both for the defense and the prosecution,"},{"startTime":2586.57,"endTime":2588.733,"body":"seemed to be entirely redundant."},{"startTime":2590.067,"endTime":2592.48,"body":"Freisler, as president of the court,"},{"startTime":2592.48,"endTime":2596.63,"body":"arrogates to himself the"},{"startTime":2592.48,"endTime":2596.63,"body":"role of prosecuting advocate,"},{"startTime":2596.63,"endTime":2599.02,"body":"judge and jury."},{"startTime":2599.02,"endTime":2602.443,"body":"There is now, in those"},{"startTime":2599.02,"endTime":2602.443,"body":"autumn months in 1944,"},{"startTime":2603.7,"endTime":2606.2,"body":"not even a pretense at due process."},{"startTime":2606.2,"endTime":2611.14,"body":"As we remember, in Moscow in"},{"startTime":2606.2,"endTime":2611.14,"body":"1938 and 1936, the judges were,"},{"startTime":2611.14,"endTime":2613.98,"body":"at least on the face of"},{"startTime":2611.14,"endTime":2613.98,"body":"it, ostensibly neutral,"},{"startTime":2613.98,"endTime":2616.75,"body":"and the defendants were"},{"startTime":2613.98,"endTime":2616.75,"body":"given an opportunity"},{"startTime":2616.75,"endTime":2619.46,"body":"to mitigate on their own"},{"startTime":2616.75,"endTime":2619.46,"body":"behalf, although, as we've seen,"},{"startTime":2619.46,"endTime":2622.29,"body":"they chose the opportunity not"},{"startTime":2619.46,"endTime":2622.29,"body":"to mitigate their offenses,"},{"startTime":2622.29,"endTime":2625.22,"body":"but to sort of do the reverse."},{"startTime":2625.22,"endTime":2628.413,"body":"At least there was, on the face"},{"startTime":2625.22,"endTime":2628.413,"body":"of it in the Moscow trials,"},{"startTime":2629.25,"endTime":2631.64,"body":"some semblance of due process."},{"startTime":2631.64,"endTime":2635.16,"body":"Now in Berlin, before the people's court,"},{"startTime":2635.16,"endTime":2639.84,"body":"any semblance of legality"},{"startTime":2635.16,"endTime":2639.84,"body":"has been entirely cast away."},{"startTime":2639.84,"endTime":2643.8,"body":"And in that footage, which we can see,"},{"startTime":2643.8,"endTime":2648.8,"body":"we hear savage denunciations"},{"startTime":2643.8,"endTime":2648.8,"body":"of each of the accused,"},{"startTime":2649.4,"endTime":2653.09,"body":"by a man supposedly sitting as a judge."},{"startTime":2653.09,"endTime":2657.64,"body":"He takes the Vyshinsky form of harangue"},{"startTime":2657.64,"endTime":2661.073,"body":"to a new level of invective."},{"startTime":2661.97,"endTime":2664.33,"body":"The defendants are provided with"},{"startTime":2664.33,"endTime":2666.73,"body":"intentionally ill-fitting"},{"startTime":2664.33,"endTime":2666.73,"body":"civilian clothes."},{"startTime":2666.73,"endTime":2670.62,"body":"They were all soldiers who'd"},{"startTime":2666.73,"endTime":2670.62,"body":"been stripped of their uniform"},{"startTime":2670.62,"endTime":2674.16,"body":"and stripped of their rank in the army."},{"startTime":2674.16,"endTime":2676.84,"body":"They are led in to court,"},{"startTime":2676.84,"endTime":2678.5,"body":"and then each of them is brought up"},{"startTime":2678.5,"endTime":2680.92,"body":"to a little table before the bench,"},{"startTime":2680.92,"endTime":2685.3,"body":"and stands beside this table."},{"startTime":2685.3,"endTime":2688.76,"body":"And they're then essentially shouted at"},{"startTime":2688.76,"endTime":2693.76,"body":"for 10, 20 minutes, by President"},{"startTime":2688.76,"endTime":2693.76,"body":"Freisler, by the judge."},{"startTime":2693.77,"endTime":2696.89,"body":"And perhaps the most"},{"startTime":2693.77,"endTime":2696.89,"body":"unsettling of these scenes"},{"startTime":2696.89,"endTime":2701.89,"body":"is of the former Field Marshall Witzleben,"},{"startTime":2702.85,"endTime":2705.91,"body":"one of the generals who'd"},{"startTime":2702.85,"endTime":2705.91,"body":"achieved the fall of France"},{"startTime":2705.91,"endTime":2709.56,"body":"four years earlier,"},{"startTime":2705.91,"endTime":2709.56,"body":"highly decorated general."},{"startTime":2709.56,"endTime":2712.56,"body":"He now appears before the people's court,"},{"startTime":2712.56,"endTime":2715.12,"body":"stripped of his uniform,"},{"startTime":2715.12,"endTime":2718.47,"body":"given trousers that don't"},{"startTime":2715.12,"endTime":2718.47,"body":"fit, which are too big."},{"startTime":2718.47,"endTime":2721.23,"body":"So one finds him wandering,"},{"startTime":2721.23,"endTime":2723.51,"body":"walking up to his appointed position"},{"startTime":2723.51,"endTime":2725.08,"body":"behind this little table,"},{"startTime":2725.08,"endTime":2728.31,"body":"one of his hands pathetically"},{"startTime":2725.08,"endTime":2728.31,"body":"holding onto his trousers"},{"startTime":2728.31,"endTime":2729.96,"body":"so they don't fall down."},{"startTime":2729.96,"endTime":2732.69,"body":"The other shakes uncontrollably."},{"startTime":2732.69,"endTime":2735.98,"body":"One can see that his false"},{"startTime":2732.69,"endTime":2735.98,"body":"teeth have been removed,"},{"startTime":2735.98,"endTime":2739.6,"body":"so his cheeks are hollow and sunken."},{"startTime":2739.6,"endTime":2741.95,"body":"And essentially all that happens"},{"startTime":2741.95,"endTime":2746.95,"body":"is he is shouted at by Freisler,"},{"startTime":2741.95,"endTime":2746.95,"body":"over minutes and minutes."},{"startTime":2747.11,"endTime":2750.7,"body":"Occasionally one can hear"},{"startTime":2747.11,"endTime":2750.7,"body":"him mumbling an interjection,"},{"startTime":2750.7,"endTime":2752.783,"body":"but he's then cut short by that."},{"startTime":2753.84,"endTime":2755.68,"body":"It's a very upsetting scene actually,"},{"startTime":2755.68,"endTime":2757.92,"body":"and it's replicated time and time again"},{"startTime":2757.92,"endTime":2759.943,"body":"with each of the defendants."},{"startTime":2762.042,"endTime":2764.91,"body":"And I read somewhere that it was reported"},{"startTime":2764.91,"endTime":2768.7,"body":"that the film crew who was"},{"startTime":2764.91,"endTime":2768.7,"body":"brought in to film these trials,"},{"startTime":2768.7,"endTime":2772.14,"body":"had after the first or"},{"startTime":2768.7,"endTime":2772.14,"body":"second day of the hearing,"},{"startTime":2772.14,"endTime":2774.533,"body":"had gone up to Freisler and said look,"},{"startTime":2775.61,"endTime":2776.64,"body":"we're very sorry to have to ask you this,"},{"startTime":2776.64,"endTime":2778.52,"body":"but would you mind keeping your voice down"},{"startTime":2778.52,"endTime":2779.954,"body":"because it's actually distorting"},{"startTime":2779.954,"endTime":2782.683,"body":"the sound quality of the film."},{"startTime":2783.66,"endTime":2785.05,"body":"It's not clear how he responded"},{"startTime":2785.05,"endTime":2787.693,"body":"to that particular"},{"startTime":2785.05,"endTime":2787.693,"body":"suggestion by the film crew."},{"startTime":2788.58,"endTime":2791.85,"body":"Another of the defendants, General Steiff,"},{"startTime":2791.85,"endTime":2793.363,"body":"is then led forward."},{"startTime":2796.36,"endTime":2799.12,"body":"Before we get to General"},{"startTime":2796.36,"endTime":2799.12,"body":"Steiff let's look at,"},{"startTime":2799.12,"endTime":2803.28,"body":"so this is, again, an"},{"startTime":2799.12,"endTime":2803.28,"body":"example of the Field Marshall"},{"startTime":2803.28,"endTime":2806.66,"body":"in his heyday, in 1942 I think."},{"startTime":2806.66,"endTime":2810.227,"body":"The same man standing"},{"startTime":2806.66,"endTime":2810.227,"body":"before the people's court,"},{"startTime":2810.227,"endTime":2813.91,"body":"and you can just about"},{"startTime":2810.227,"endTime":2813.91,"body":"see his hand holding on"},{"startTime":2813.91,"endTime":2817.5,"body":"to his trousers, to"},{"startTime":2813.91,"endTime":2817.5,"body":"stop them falling down."},{"startTime":2817.5,"endTime":2821.483,"body":"Clearly a calculated"},{"startTime":2817.5,"endTime":2821.483,"body":"exercise in humiliation."},{"startTime":2822.74,"endTime":2827.27,"body":"The man who comes up after"},{"startTime":2822.74,"endTime":2827.27,"body":"Vitzleben, General Steiff,"},{"startTime":2827.27,"endTime":2832.27,"body":"he is asked, explain why you"},{"startTime":2827.27,"endTime":2832.27,"body":"perpetrated this treachery."},{"startTime":2832.71,"endTime":2834.923,"body":"He replies with two words, for Germany."},{"startTime":2836.06,"endTime":2838.55,"body":"Freisler responds, and"},{"startTime":2836.06,"endTime":2838.55,"body":"this gives you the sense of"},{"startTime":2838.55,"endTime":2840.497,"body":"the kind of invective that he deployed."},{"startTime":2840.497,"endTime":2842.04,"body":"\"For Germany?"},{"startTime":2842.04,"endTime":2844.28,"body":"It's reprehensible that"},{"startTime":2842.04,"endTime":2844.28,"body":"you are not ashamed"},{"startTime":2844.28,"endTime":2845.55,"body":"to be still saying that,"},{"startTime":2845.55,"endTime":2848.57,"body":"because I already told"},{"startTime":2845.55,"endTime":2848.57,"body":"you what Germany is."},{"startTime":2848.57,"endTime":2852.1,"body":"Our Fuhrer is Germany,"},{"startTime":2848.57,"endTime":2852.1,"body":"and we are his followers."},{"startTime":2852.1,"endTime":2854.957,"body":"You cannot speak for Germany.\""},{"startTime":2856.06,"endTime":2859.26,"body":"And what is really"},{"startTime":2856.06,"endTime":2859.26,"body":"haunting about the film,"},{"startTime":2859.26,"endTime":2861.52,"body":"of the footage of these trials,"},{"startTime":2861.52,"endTime":2863.89,"body":"is the knowledge which we have now,"},{"startTime":2863.89,"endTime":2867.264,"body":"and which surely the defendants had"},{"startTime":2867.264,"endTime":2872.264,"body":"as they were led away from the courtroom,"},{"startTime":2872.39,"endTime":2875.93,"body":"that they were going to"},{"startTime":2872.39,"endTime":2875.93,"body":"be shot, I'm so sorry,"},{"startTime":2875.93,"endTime":2880.49,"body":"not shot, hanged,"},{"startTime":2875.93,"endTime":2880.49,"body":"literally that afternoon."},{"startTime":2880.49,"endTime":2881.71,"body":"When they're in that courtroom,"},{"startTime":2881.71,"endTime":2885.05,"body":"they know they have hours left to live."},{"startTime":2885.05,"endTime":2887.61,"body":"And yet many of them comport themselves"},{"startTime":2887.61,"endTime":2890.24,"body":"with extraordinary dignity"},{"startTime":2890.24,"endTime":2893.32,"body":"in the last hours of their lives."},{"startTime":2893.32,"endTime":2894.26,"body":"Now, of course,"},{"startTime":2894.26,"endTime":2898.73,"body":"the format of these hearings"},{"startTime":2894.26,"endTime":2898.73,"body":"is entirely removed,"},{"startTime":2898.73,"endTime":2900.21,"body":"I need hardly say,"},{"startTime":2900.21,"endTime":2904.16,"body":"from what we would understand"},{"startTime":2900.21,"endTime":2904.16,"body":"as the normal trial process."},{"startTime":2904.16,"endTime":2906.21,"body":"No evidence is called."},{"startTime":2906.21,"endTime":2909.44,"body":"Any attempts by the defendants"},{"startTime":2906.21,"endTime":2909.44,"body":"to explain their motivations"},{"startTime":2909.44,"endTime":2912.14,"body":"are swiftly suppressed."},{"startTime":2912.14,"endTime":2913.81,"body":"There are lawyers present, as I say,"},{"startTime":2913.81,"endTime":2917.16,"body":"but they have literally no"},{"startTime":2913.81,"endTime":2917.16,"body":"role to play in the trials."},{"startTime":2917.16,"endTime":2920.31,"body":"The findings of guilt and"},{"startTime":2917.16,"endTime":2920.31,"body":"pronouncement of sentence"},{"startTime":2920.31,"endTime":2923.06,"body":"are of course a pure formality."},{"startTime":2923.06,"endTime":2927.81,"body":"And in that sense, the"},{"startTime":2923.06,"endTime":2927.81,"body":"purposes of these 1944 trials"},{"startTime":2927.81,"endTime":2931.4,"body":"are strikingly similar to"},{"startTime":2927.81,"endTime":2931.4,"body":"those of the Moscow trials"},{"startTime":2931.4,"endTime":2933.52,"body":"of a few years earlier."},{"startTime":2933.52,"endTime":2935.66,"body":"To humiliate the defendants,"},{"startTime":2935.66,"endTime":2939.64,"body":"to try to demonstrate"},{"startTime":2935.66,"endTime":2939.64,"body":"the overarching strength"},{"startTime":2939.64,"endTime":2940.83,"body":"of the regime."},{"startTime":2940.83,"endTime":2943.3,"body":"Of course, a message sorely needed"},{"startTime":2943.3,"endTime":2945.32,"body":"in the face of the military reverses"},{"startTime":2945.32,"endTime":2949.793,"body":"of the autumn of 1944 and early 1945."},{"startTime":2951.04,"endTime":2953.93,"body":"To dissuade other potential plotters,"},{"startTime":2953.93,"endTime":2954.95,"body":"and Hitler didn't know"},{"startTime":2954.95,"endTime":2956.58,"body":"whether there were"},{"startTime":2954.95,"endTime":2956.58,"body":"other potential plotters"},{"startTime":2956.58,"endTime":2961.58,"body":"ready to themselves make an"},{"startTime":2956.58,"endTime":2961.58,"body":"attempt on Hitler's life."},{"startTime":2963.41,"endTime":2966.1,"body":"But these trials were intended,"},{"startTime":2966.1,"endTime":2967.7,"body":"well part of their intention,"},{"startTime":2967.7,"endTime":2972.7,"body":"was to prevent any other"},{"startTime":2967.7,"endTime":2972.7,"body":"plotter from making an attempt."},{"startTime":2975.02,"endTime":2978.01,"body":"Finally they were, just"},{"startTime":2975.02,"endTime":2978.01,"body":"like the Moscow trials,"},{"startTime":2978.01,"endTime":2979.99,"body":"act as a kind of vanguard"},{"startTime":2979.99,"endTime":2984.22,"body":"for the thousands of extrajudicial"},{"startTime":2979.99,"endTime":2984.22,"body":"killings that followed"},{"startTime":2984.22,"endTime":2986.86,"body":"against many thousands of,"},{"startTime":2986.86,"endTime":2990.73,"body":"it's estimated I think"},{"startTime":2986.86,"endTime":2990.73,"body":"7,000 people were executed"},{"startTime":2990.73,"endTime":2995.14,"body":"as a result of the July plot,"},{"startTime":2990.73,"endTime":2995.14,"body":"and only a small handful,"},{"startTime":2995.14,"endTime":2999.51,"body":"comparatively speaking,"},{"startTime":2995.14,"endTime":2999.51,"body":"ever went near a courtroom."},{"startTime":2999.51,"endTime":3004.483,"body":"Just as in the purges of 1936 to 1938."},{"startTime":3005.82,"endTime":3007.61,"body":"And as I understand it,"},{"startTime":3007.61,"endTime":3012.01,"body":"the footage of these trials"},{"startTime":3007.61,"endTime":3012.01,"body":"was then shown in cinemas"},{"startTime":3012.87,"endTime":3017.87,"body":"and to troops on the front"},{"startTime":3012.87,"endTime":3017.87,"body":"line, to project these messages."},{"startTime":3019.95,"endTime":3022.3,"body":"But they were withdrawn after a while"},{"startTime":3022.3,"endTime":3027.3,"body":"because the sheer horror"},{"startTime":3022.3,"endTime":3027.3,"body":"of Freisler's conduct,"},{"startTime":3027.73,"endTime":3030.96,"body":"the sheer nastiness of his behavior,"},{"startTime":3030.96,"endTime":3035.96,"body":"shocked even the German"},{"startTime":3030.96,"endTime":3035.96,"body":"population of late 1944."},{"startTime":3040.76,"endTime":3045.76,"body":"Just as Stalin and Hitler's"},{"startTime":3040.76,"endTime":3045.76,"body":"terrors utilized the courts"},{"startTime":3045.99,"endTime":3049.86,"body":"as part of the armory of"},{"startTime":3045.99,"endTime":3049.86,"body":"the state's repression,"},{"startTime":3049.86,"endTime":3054.6,"body":"so, in an earlier terror, the"},{"startTime":3049.86,"endTime":3054.6,"body":"original terror you might say,"},{"startTime":3054.6,"endTime":3057.23,"body":"the court process had served its purpose."},{"startTime":3057.23,"endTime":3059.72,"body":"We now go back to 1793,"},{"startTime":3059.72,"endTime":3062.72,"body":"a moment of crisis in"},{"startTime":3059.72,"endTime":3062.72,"body":"the French Revolution."},{"startTime":3062.72,"endTime":3063.7,"body":"And at the moment"},{"startTime":3063.7,"endTime":3067.49,"body":"when the revolutionary"},{"startTime":3063.7,"endTime":3067.49,"body":"tribunal is instituted."},{"startTime":3067.49,"endTime":3071.52,"body":"This is the moment when the"},{"startTime":3067.49,"endTime":3071.52,"body":"war against Austria and Prussia"},{"startTime":3071.52,"endTime":3073.17,"body":"is going badly."},{"startTime":3073.17,"endTime":3075.45,"body":"Hyperinflation is rampant."},{"startTime":3075.45,"endTime":3077.64,"body":"Food shortages are biting."},{"startTime":3077.64,"endTime":3081.703,"body":"In one sense, a similar"},{"startTime":3077.64,"endTime":3081.703,"body":"situation to Germany in 1944."},{"startTime":3082.65,"endTime":3086.65,"body":"Fearful of internal dissent and agitation,"},{"startTime":3086.65,"endTime":3091.01,"body":"the French National Convention"},{"startTime":3086.65,"endTime":3091.01,"body":"infamously decrees that,"},{"startTime":3091.01,"endTime":3094.87,"body":"I quote, \"Terror is the order of the day.\""},{"startTime":3094.87,"endTime":3096.87,"body":"The tribunal was formed"},{"startTime":3096.87,"endTime":3101.38,"body":"and expected to be the principal"},{"startTime":3096.87,"endTime":3101.38,"body":"deliverer of that terror."},{"startTime":3101.38,"endTime":3104.88,"body":"It hears cases of treason,"},{"startTime":3101.38,"endTime":3104.88,"body":"but it's fair to say"},{"startTime":3104.88,"endTime":3107.41,"body":"that treason was not a narrow jurisdiction"},{"startTime":3107.41,"endTime":3112.17,"body":"in the Paris and France of 1793 and 1794."},{"startTime":3112.17,"endTime":3115.0,"body":"It is widely defined indeed."},{"startTime":3115.0,"endTime":3118.14,"body":"And what the tribunal"},{"startTime":3115.0,"endTime":3118.14,"body":"is expected to deliver"},{"startTime":3118.14,"endTime":3119.8,"body":"is guilty verdicts."},{"startTime":3119.8,"endTime":3123.64,"body":"And guilty verdicts at"},{"startTime":3119.8,"endTime":3123.64,"body":"an industrial level."},{"startTime":3123.64,"endTime":3127.1,"body":"Just as what Freisler"},{"startTime":3123.64,"endTime":3127.1,"body":"is expected to deliver"},{"startTime":3127.1,"endTime":3129.443,"body":"in the autumn of 1944."},{"startTime":3130.693,"endTime":3132.32,"body":"And we have the law,"},{"startTime":3132.32,"endTime":3137.008,"body":"which is almost the template"},{"startTime":3132.32,"endTime":3137.008,"body":"of terror regimes thereafter,"},{"startTime":3137.008,"endTime":3142.008,"body":"is pronounced in June 1794."},{"startTime":3142.67,"endTime":3146.553,"body":"The so-called Law of"},{"startTime":3142.67,"endTime":3146.553,"body":"the 22 Prairial Year II."},{"startTime":3147.8,"endTime":3150.42,"body":"You'll remember that the French"},{"startTime":3147.8,"endTime":3150.42,"body":"Revolutionaries abolished"},{"startTime":3150.42,"endTime":3153.37,"body":"the old months and brought in"},{"startTime":3150.42,"endTime":3153.37,"body":"their revolutionary calendar."},{"startTime":3154.65,"endTime":3157.74,"body":"And this law, one can see in it"},{"startTime":3157.74,"endTime":3162.31,"body":"the seeds of later terror laws"},{"startTime":3162.31,"endTime":3167.08,"body":"instituted both in Soviet"},{"startTime":3162.31,"endTime":3167.08,"body":"Russia and in Nazi Germany,"},{"startTime":3167.08,"endTime":3170.813,"body":"and indeed many other countries"},{"startTime":3167.08,"endTime":3170.813,"body":"in a revolutionary state."},{"startTime":3173.61,"endTime":3177.76,"body":"The revolutionary tribunal"},{"startTime":3173.61,"endTime":3177.76,"body":"is instituted, says this law,"},{"startTime":3177.76,"endTime":3180.003,"body":"to punish the enemies of the state."},{"startTime":3180.85,"endTime":3183.43,"body":"The enemies of the state are"},{"startTime":3180.85,"endTime":3183.43,"body":"those who seek to destroy"},{"startTime":3183.43,"endTime":3186.75,"body":"public liberty, either"},{"startTime":3183.43,"endTime":3186.75,"body":"by force or by cunning."},{"startTime":3186.75,"endTime":3190.23,"body":"And then there follows a"},{"startTime":3186.75,"endTime":3190.23,"body":"very lengthy list of people"},{"startTime":3190.23,"endTime":3192.433,"body":"who are deemed to be"},{"startTime":3190.23,"endTime":3192.433,"body":"enemies of the people."},{"startTime":3193.37,"endTime":3197.14,"body":"A list one finds resonances"},{"startTime":3193.37,"endTime":3197.14,"body":"with time and time again,"},{"startTime":3197.14,"endTime":3200.54,"body":"in the decades and centuries that follow."},{"startTime":3200.54,"endTime":3203.3,"body":"Those who've sought to impede"},{"startTime":3200.54,"endTime":3203.3,"body":"the provisioning of Paris"},{"startTime":3203.3,"endTime":3207.02,"body":"or to create scarcity within the Republic."},{"startTime":3207.02,"endTime":3208.25,"body":"Think about that."},{"startTime":3208.25,"endTime":3211.5,"body":"The butter in Vladivostok,"},{"startTime":3208.25,"endTime":3211.5,"body":"scarcity in the Republic."},{"startTime":3211.5,"endTime":3213.26,"body":"Those who've deceived the people,"},{"startTime":3213.26,"endTime":3214.78,"body":"or the representatives of the people,"},{"startTime":3214.78,"endTime":3217.59,"body":"in order to lead them into undertakings,"},{"startTime":3217.59,"endTime":3220.46,"body":"contrary to the interests of liberty."},{"startTime":3220.46,"endTime":3223.75,"body":"Those who have sought to"},{"startTime":3220.46,"endTime":3223.75,"body":"inspire discouragement"},{"startTime":3224.61,"endTime":3228.19,"body":"in order to favor the enterprises"},{"startTime":3224.61,"endTime":3228.19,"body":"of the tyrants leagued"},{"startTime":3228.19,"endTime":3230.11,"body":"against the Republic."},{"startTime":3230.11,"endTime":3234.31,"body":"Those who have disseminated false news,"},{"startTime":3234.31,"endTime":3237.64,"body":"in order to divide or disturb the people."},{"startTime":3237.64,"endTime":3239.55,"body":"Those who have sought to mislead opinion"},{"startTime":3239.55,"endTime":3242.92,"body":"and to prevent the"},{"startTime":3239.55,"endTime":3242.92,"body":"instruction of the people."},{"startTime":3242.92,"endTime":3246.203,"body":"So each of those is a crime,"},{"startTime":3247.08,"endTime":3250.06,"body":"and we know what the"},{"startTime":3247.08,"endTime":3250.06,"body":"penalty for that crime is,"},{"startTime":3250.06,"endTime":3252.463,"body":"because the law tells us."},{"startTime":3253.97,"endTime":3256.49,"body":"The penalty provided for all"},{"startTime":3253.97,"endTime":3256.49,"body":"offenses under the jurisdiction"},{"startTime":3256.49,"endTime":3259.433,"body":"of the revolutionary tribunal is death."},{"startTime":3260.66,"endTime":3264.87,"body":"There was no other penalty"},{"startTime":3260.66,"endTime":3264.87,"body":"available to the tribunal,"},{"startTime":3264.87,"endTime":3267.27,"body":"other than acquittal."},{"startTime":3267.27,"endTime":3268.96,"body":"And it will not surprise you to hear"},{"startTime":3268.96,"endTime":3271.88,"body":"that acquittals were few and far between."},{"startTime":3271.88,"endTime":3276.783,"body":"And again, we see in the"},{"startTime":3271.88,"endTime":3276.783,"body":"law of the 22 Prairial,"},{"startTime":3278.1,"endTime":3282.42,"body":"a lot of the approaches"},{"startTime":3278.1,"endTime":3282.42,"body":"to criminal litigation"},{"startTime":3282.42,"endTime":3284.25,"body":"that we see again in the 20th century"},{"startTime":3284.25,"endTime":3286.24,"body":"in the states I've referred to,"},{"startTime":3286.24,"endTime":3290.51,"body":"defense counsel are in fact prohibited"},{"startTime":3290.51,"endTime":3292.21,"body":"before the revolutionary tribunal."},{"startTime":3293.22,"endTime":3296.06,"body":"The defendant is not"},{"startTime":3293.22,"endTime":3296.06,"body":"entitled to call evidence"},{"startTime":3296.06,"endTime":3298.8,"body":"on his or her behalf."},{"startTime":3298.8,"endTime":3301.6,"body":"The mere fact of a denunciation"},{"startTime":3301.6,"endTime":3305.52,"body":"in itself carries overwhelming"},{"startTime":3301.6,"endTime":3305.52,"body":"evidential weight."},{"startTime":3305.52,"endTime":3309.123,"body":"The burden of proof is"},{"startTime":3305.52,"endTime":3309.123,"body":"effectively reversed."},{"startTime":3310.1,"endTime":3312.5,"body":"And the tribunal, it's"},{"startTime":3310.1,"endTime":3312.5,"body":"fair to say, got to work,"},{"startTime":3314.61,"endTime":3315.9,"body":"this law having been passed"},{"startTime":3315.9,"endTime":3318.673,"body":"by the National Convention, with alacrity."},{"startTime":3319.94,"endTime":3324.94,"body":"Within two months, 332 people"},{"startTime":3319.94,"endTime":3324.94,"body":"have been condemned to death."},{"startTime":3326.97,"endTime":3331.813,"body":"And we see in the work"},{"startTime":3326.97,"endTime":3331.813,"body":"of its chief prosecutor,"},{"startTime":3332.65,"endTime":3335.967,"body":"we can just about see him in"},{"startTime":3332.65,"endTime":3335.967,"body":"this, I think that's him there,"},{"startTime":3335.967,"endTime":3338.233,"body":"it's a rather bad image,"},{"startTime":3339.27,"endTime":3342.01,"body":"in the chief prosecutor of the tribunal"},{"startTime":3342.01,"endTime":3347.01,"body":"we see the same fanaticism"},{"startTime":3342.01,"endTime":3347.01,"body":"of Vyshinsky and Freisler"},{"startTime":3347.33,"endTime":3349.89,"body":"150 years earlier."},{"startTime":3349.89,"endTime":3354.89,"body":"Now, 150 years separate the"},{"startTime":3349.89,"endTime":3354.89,"body":"French revolutionary tribunal"},{"startTime":3355.32,"endTime":3358.92,"body":"and the courts of the Soviet"},{"startTime":3355.32,"endTime":3358.92,"body":"Union and Nazi Germany."},{"startTime":3358.92,"endTime":3362.223,"body":"But I think we can trace in that law,"},{"startTime":3363.314,"endTime":3367.07,"body":"and in the manner of the"},{"startTime":3363.314,"endTime":3367.07,"body":"administration of that law"},{"startTime":3367.07,"endTime":3370.08,"body":"in 1793 and 1794,"},{"startTime":3370.08,"endTime":3373.84,"body":"the beginnings of a new"},{"startTime":3370.08,"endTime":3373.84,"body":"conception of justice,"},{"startTime":3373.84,"endTime":3376.8,"body":"or perhaps I should say injustice."},{"startTime":3376.8,"endTime":3381.8,"body":"The criminalization of"},{"startTime":3376.8,"endTime":3381.8,"body":"any form of behavior,"},{"startTime":3382.24,"endTime":3385.02,"body":"which challenges the"},{"startTime":3382.24,"endTime":3385.02,"body":"interests of the state."},{"startTime":3385.02,"endTime":3387.85,"body":"The subordination of all individual rights"},{"startTime":3387.85,"endTime":3390.29,"body":"to the exigencies of the state."},{"startTime":3390.29,"endTime":3393.69,"body":"And we can find in one of"},{"startTime":3393.69,"endTime":3398.69,"body":"Robespierre's most famous"},{"startTime":3393.69,"endTime":3398.69,"body":"speeches, justifying the terror."},{"startTime":3401.25,"endTime":3404.48,"body":"I think the philosophy that infuses"},{"startTime":3405.86,"endTime":3408.74,"body":"many authoritarian states"},{"startTime":3408.74,"endTime":3410.863,"body":"in the decades and centuries to come."},{"startTime":3413.09,"endTime":3418.09,"body":"This is Robespierre"},{"startTime":3413.09,"endTime":3418.09,"body":"speaking in 1793, I think."},{"startTime":3418.357,"endTime":3420.87,"body":"\"If the basis of popular"},{"startTime":3418.357,"endTime":3420.87,"body":"government in peace time"},{"startTime":3420.87,"endTime":3423.92,"body":"is virtue,\" of course"},{"startTime":3420.87,"endTime":3423.92,"body":"virtue had a special meaning"},{"startTime":3423.92,"endTime":3425.503,"body":"in Robespierre's vocabulary,"},{"startTime":3426.487,"endTime":3429.21,"body":"\"the basis of popular"},{"startTime":3426.487,"endTime":3429.21,"body":"government during a revolution"},{"startTime":3429.21,"endTime":3431.88,"body":"is both virtue and terror."},{"startTime":3431.88,"endTime":3434.22,"body":"Virtue without which terror is baneful,"},{"startTime":3434.22,"endTime":3439.003,"body":"terror without which virtue is powerless."},{"startTime":3440.1,"endTime":3442.38,"body":"Terror is nothing more than speedy, severe"},{"startTime":3442.38,"endTime":3443.9,"body":"and inflexible justice."},{"startTime":3443.9,"endTime":3445.35,"body":"It is thus an emanation of virtue."},{"startTime":3445.35,"endTime":3447.33,"body":"It is less a principle in itself,"},{"startTime":3447.33,"endTime":3449.44,"body":"than a consequence of the"},{"startTime":3447.33,"endTime":3449.44,"body":"general principle of democracy"},{"startTime":3449.44,"endTime":3452.7,"body":"applied to the most pressing"},{"startTime":3449.44,"endTime":3452.7,"body":"needs of the patrie,\""},{"startTime":3452.7,"endTime":3453.533,"body":"of the homeland."},{"startTime":3454.81,"endTime":3459.42,"body":"And that kind of, and I gratuitously put"},{"startTime":3460.572,"endTime":3464.233,"body":"an image of Robespierre,"},{"startTime":3460.572,"endTime":3464.233,"body":"who, as you of course,"},{"startTime":3465.148,"endTime":3467.343,"body":"in the sense of the"},{"startTime":3465.148,"endTime":3467.343,"body":"revolution eats itself,"},{"startTime":3469.48,"endTime":3474.393,"body":"after he was shot, and a day"},{"startTime":3469.48,"endTime":3474.393,"body":"or so before his own execution."},{"startTime":3476.08,"endTime":3481.08,"body":"That mentality that we"},{"startTime":3476.08,"endTime":3481.08,"body":"see in those famous words,"},{"startTime":3481.32,"endTime":3483.44,"body":"or infamous words of Robespierre,"},{"startTime":3483.44,"endTime":3487.16,"body":"we can see at work in countless examples"},{"startTime":3487.16,"endTime":3491.1,"body":"of so-called revolutionary"},{"startTime":3487.16,"endTime":3491.1,"body":"tribunals across the ages."},{"startTime":3491.1,"endTime":3495.5,"body":"The tribunals of the"},{"startTime":3491.1,"endTime":3495.5,"body":"Paris Commune in 1871."},{"startTime":3495.5,"endTime":3500.46,"body":"The tribunals in the Soviet"},{"startTime":3495.5,"endTime":3500.46,"body":"Republic in Hungary in 1919."},{"startTime":3500.46,"endTime":3503.033,"body":"In Cuba in 1959."},{"startTime":3504.094,"endTime":3508.93,"body":"And in each of those, we"},{"startTime":3504.094,"endTime":3508.93,"body":"also can see a key attribute"},{"startTime":3508.93,"endTime":3512.8,"body":"of all courts working in times of terror."},{"startTime":3512.8,"endTime":3515.46,"body":"A tendency to extremity."},{"startTime":3515.46,"endTime":3519.1,"body":"Not simply because the laws"},{"startTime":3515.46,"endTime":3519.1,"body":"that they are administrating."},{"startTime":3519.1,"endTime":3521.88,"body":"seem to mandate extremity,"},{"startTime":3521.88,"endTime":3526.09,"body":"but also because they are themselves"},{"startTime":3526.09,"endTime":3527.883,"body":"typically in a state of fear."},{"startTime":3528.755,"endTime":3532.78,"body":"The people presiding in the"},{"startTime":3528.755,"endTime":3532.78,"body":"courts in a state of fear,"},{"startTime":3532.78,"endTime":3535.15,"body":"that if they themselves do not show"},{"startTime":3535.15,"endTime":3537.91,"body":"sufficient alacrity about their business,"},{"startTime":3537.91,"endTime":3540.51,"body":"that they themselves might find themselves"},{"startTime":3540.51,"endTime":3541.787,"body":"before the very tribunals."},{"startTime":3541.787,"endTime":3543.15,"body":"And of course in the end,"},{"startTime":3543.15,"endTime":3546.09,"body":"most of them did find themselves"},{"startTime":3543.15,"endTime":3546.09,"body":"before the very tribunals"},{"startTime":3546.09,"endTime":3549.693,"body":"they had been administering"},{"startTime":3546.09,"endTime":3549.693,"body":"months or years earlier."},{"startTime":3550.67,"endTime":3555.67,"body":"Now it would be a pretty"},{"startTime":3550.67,"endTime":3555.67,"body":"trite conclusion to draw,"},{"startTime":3556.47,"endTime":3558.93,"body":"to say that we are,"},{"startTime":3558.93,"endTime":3560.85,"body":"when we look at the"},{"startTime":3558.93,"endTime":3560.85,"body":"revolutionary tribunals"},{"startTime":3560.85,"endTime":3565.28,"body":"in Paris, in Moscow, and in Berlin,"},{"startTime":3565.28,"endTime":3569.97,"body":"looking at court processes"},{"startTime":3565.28,"endTime":3569.97,"body":"that are very far removed"},{"startTime":3569.97,"endTime":3573.453,"body":"from principles of the rule of law."},{"startTime":3576.46,"endTime":3579.43,"body":"Every ingredient of what"},{"startTime":3576.46,"endTime":3579.43,"body":"we would today think of"},{"startTime":3579.43,"endTime":3583.36,"body":"as necessary to a fair trial is missing."},{"startTime":3583.36,"endTime":3587.71,"body":"We are genuinely witnessing"},{"startTime":3583.36,"endTime":3587.71,"body":"from the vantage point"},{"startTime":3587.71,"endTime":3591.91,"body":"of the safety of England"},{"startTime":3587.71,"endTime":3591.91,"body":"in the 21st century,"},{"startTime":3591.91,"endTime":3596.063,"body":"ghastly parodies of what we"},{"startTime":3591.91,"endTime":3596.063,"body":"understand a trial to be."},{"startTime":3599.31,"endTime":3603.2,"body":"But what I think these"},{"startTime":3599.31,"endTime":3603.2,"body":"three examples show,"},{"startTime":3603.2,"endTime":3605.52,"body":"and I could name many more examples,"},{"startTime":3605.52,"endTime":3610.013,"body":"is how fragile the concept of justice is."},{"startTime":3610.88,"endTime":3614.16,"body":"It's perhaps because of"},{"startTime":3610.88,"endTime":3614.16,"body":"that sense of fragility"},{"startTime":3614.16,"endTime":3618.97,"body":"that we find across the"},{"startTime":3614.16,"endTime":3618.97,"body":"world, and across history,"},{"startTime":3618.97,"endTime":3623.97,"body":"nations giving human embodiment"},{"startTime":3618.97,"endTime":3623.97,"body":"to the notion of justice."},{"startTime":3626.48,"endTime":3628.58,"body":"And of course, we know,"},{"startTime":3626.48,"endTime":3628.58,"body":"we think of justice"},{"startTime":3628.58,"endTime":3633.58,"body":"as a blindfolded goddess,"},{"startTime":3628.58,"endTime":3633.58,"body":"holding the scales before her."},{"startTime":3634.92,"endTime":3638.24,"body":"Now that image of justice is"},{"startTime":3634.92,"endTime":3638.24,"body":"not a purely European one."},{"startTime":3638.24,"endTime":3640.57,"body":"It's been adopted across the world."},{"startTime":3640.57,"endTime":3644.13,"body":"We find sculptures of justice"},{"startTime":3644.13,"endTime":3648.803,"body":"in courthouses in Japan, Brazil, Iran."},{"startTime":3649.86,"endTime":3654.86,"body":"Many African states, we"},{"startTime":3649.86,"endTime":3654.86,"body":"find that image of justice."},{"startTime":3654.95,"endTime":3657.5,"body":"And I think one of the reasons that we,"},{"startTime":3657.5,"endTime":3659.06,"body":"as nations or as societies,"},{"startTime":3659.06,"endTime":3661.94,"body":"like to give a human form to justice"},{"startTime":3661.94,"endTime":3666.94,"body":"is because we realize quite"},{"startTime":3661.94,"endTime":3666.94,"body":"what a fragile concept it is."},{"startTime":3668.01,"endTime":3671.42,"body":"We realize how brittle are the ideals"},{"startTime":3671.42,"endTime":3674.543,"body":"that make up the rule of law are."},{"startTime":3675.46,"endTime":3679.19,"body":"Because we know that at"},{"startTime":3675.46,"endTime":3679.19,"body":"moments of national crisis,"},{"startTime":3679.19,"endTime":3681.36,"body":"or perceived national crisis,"},{"startTime":3681.36,"endTime":3683.97,"body":"the concept of justice can evaporate,"},{"startTime":3683.97,"endTime":3686.583,"body":"or at least change its"},{"startTime":3683.97,"endTime":3686.583,"body":"colors fundamentally."},{"startTime":3687.49,"endTime":3691.33,"body":"Vyshinsky, the prosecutor"},{"startTime":3687.49,"endTime":3691.33,"body":"in Moscow wrote in 1937,"},{"startTime":3691.33,"endTime":3693.54,"body":"and I quote, \"There are sometimes periods,"},{"startTime":3693.54,"endTime":3695.55,"body":"moments in the life of a society,"},{"startTime":3695.55,"endTime":3697.4,"body":"and in our life in particular,"},{"startTime":3697.4,"endTime":3702.23,"body":"when the laws prove obsolete"},{"startTime":3697.4,"endTime":3702.23,"body":"and have to be set aside.\""},{"startTime":3702.23,"endTime":3704.34,"body":"What this means, I think in practice,"},{"startTime":3704.34,"endTime":3706.35,"body":"is that there are times when the state,"},{"startTime":3706.35,"endTime":3710.67,"body":"or rather those who are then"},{"startTime":3706.35,"endTime":3710.67,"body":"in control of the state,"},{"startTime":3710.67,"endTime":3713.75,"body":"decide that the set of"},{"startTime":3710.67,"endTime":3713.75,"body":"principles we might describe"},{"startTime":3713.75,"endTime":3715.95,"body":"as making up the rule of law,"},{"startTime":3715.95,"endTime":3718.14,"body":"is a hindrance to governance"},{"startTime":3718.14,"endTime":3720.4,"body":"and a threat to the body politic."},{"startTime":3720.4,"endTime":3721.29,"body":"At these moments,"},{"startTime":3721.29,"endTime":3726.29,"body":"the interests of the state must"},{"startTime":3721.29,"endTime":3726.29,"body":"be given absolute priority."},{"startTime":3726.52,"endTime":3727.98,"body":"And when this happens,"},{"startTime":3727.98,"endTime":3732.13,"body":"the concept of justice"},{"startTime":3727.98,"endTime":3732.13,"body":"necessarily becomes perverted"},{"startTime":3732.13,"endTime":3735.08,"body":"so that it ceases to exist independently"},{"startTime":3735.08,"endTime":3737.33,"body":"of the interests of the state."},{"startTime":3737.33,"endTime":3739.69,"body":"Robespierre justified it by referring to"},{"startTime":3739.69,"endTime":3743.09,"body":"the pressing needs of the patrie."},{"startTime":3743.09,"endTime":3747.07,"body":"And he would no doubt"},{"startTime":3743.09,"endTime":3747.07,"body":"justify it, were he here now,"},{"startTime":3747.07,"endTime":3751.94,"body":"by saying, when the state is at risk,"},{"startTime":3751.94,"endTime":3754.8,"body":"and of course in 1793 and 1794"},{"startTime":3754.8,"endTime":3757.7,"body":"the French state undoubtedly was at risk"},{"startTime":3757.7,"endTime":3760.27,"body":"and the revolution was in jeopardy,"},{"startTime":3760.27,"endTime":3763.1,"body":"then everything must be subordinate"},{"startTime":3763.1,"endTime":3765.037,"body":"to maintaining the state."},{"startTime":3765.037,"endTime":3769.21,"body":"And that includes concepts"},{"startTime":3765.037,"endTime":3769.21,"body":"of justice, which existed,"},{"startTime":3769.21,"endTime":3771.75,"body":"it's fair to say, in the 18th century,"},{"startTime":3771.75,"endTime":3776.75,"body":"and which were abrogated by"},{"startTime":3771.75,"endTime":3776.75,"body":"the revolutionary tribunals."},{"startTime":3777.14,"endTime":3781.44,"body":"Now, state terror might be described as"},{"startTime":3781.44,"endTime":3785.12,"body":"a calculated policy of political"},{"startTime":3781.44,"endTime":3785.12,"body":"repression and violence"},{"startTime":3785.12,"endTime":3789.16,"body":"intended to subdue political opposition."},{"startTime":3789.16,"endTime":3791.73,"body":"Of course, in its purest iterations,"},{"startTime":3791.73,"endTime":3795.52,"body":"state terror can dispense"},{"startTime":3791.73,"endTime":3795.52,"body":"with courts altogether"},{"startTime":3795.52,"endTime":3799.67,"body":"and simply engage in mass"},{"startTime":3795.52,"endTime":3799.67,"body":"extrajudicial killing."},{"startTime":3799.67,"endTime":3801.9,"body":"Yet we find, time and again,"},{"startTime":3801.9,"endTime":3805.28,"body":"that even at the most sanguinary"},{"startTime":3801.9,"endTime":3805.28,"body":"moments across history,"},{"startTime":3805.28,"endTime":3809.32,"body":"we see that the state prefers"},{"startTime":3805.28,"endTime":3809.32,"body":"to maintain the illusion"},{"startTime":3809.32,"endTime":3812.88,"body":"of some degree of legal formality."},{"startTime":3812.88,"endTime":3816.19,"body":"Even when the pronouncement"},{"startTime":3812.88,"endTime":3816.19,"body":"of guilt is predetermined,"},{"startTime":3816.19,"endTime":3820.16,"body":"the state likes to have the"},{"startTime":3816.19,"endTime":3820.16,"body":"imprimatur of a judicial verdict"},{"startTime":3820.16,"endTime":3822.93,"body":"to provide the veneer of justification"},{"startTime":3822.93,"endTime":3826.29,"body":"to what would otherwise"},{"startTime":3822.93,"endTime":3826.29,"body":"be simple state murder."},{"startTime":3826.29,"endTime":3829.71,"body":"And sadly, I'm afraid,"},{"startTime":3826.29,"endTime":3829.71,"body":"history demonstrates"},{"startTime":3829.71,"endTime":3832.68,"body":"that there are always lawyers on hand"},{"startTime":3832.68,"endTime":3836.403,"body":"willing to give the state"},{"startTime":3832.68,"endTime":3836.403,"body":"courts that imprimatur."},{"startTime":3837.44,"endTime":3838.28,"body":"But in conclusion,"},{"startTime":3838.28,"endTime":3840.48,"body":"I think there is something"},{"startTime":3838.28,"endTime":3840.48,"body":"more at work here"},{"startTime":3840.48,"endTime":3843.2,"body":"than simply seeking the imprimatur"},{"startTime":3843.2,"endTime":3845.69,"body":"of legal process and formality."},{"startTime":3845.69,"endTime":3850.58,"body":"Regimes know that the courtroom"},{"startTime":3845.69,"endTime":3850.58,"body":"is a privileged space,"},{"startTime":3850.58,"endTime":3854.87,"body":"and that the words spoken in"},{"startTime":3850.58,"endTime":3854.87,"body":"it can carry very far indeed."},{"startTime":3854.87,"endTime":3857.85,"body":"Let me return to the man we started with,"},{"startTime":3857.85,"endTime":3861.26,"body":"Stalin's faithful"},{"startTime":3857.85,"endTime":3861.26,"body":"prosecutor, Andrey Vyshinsky."},{"startTime":3861.26,"endTime":3864.61,"body":"After the first of the trials in 1936,"},{"startTime":3864.61,"endTime":3869.43,"body":"his biographer notes that the"},{"startTime":3864.61,"endTime":3869.43,"body":"biting language that he used,"},{"startTime":3869.43,"endTime":3873.21,"body":"laden with instantly memorable insults,"},{"startTime":3873.21,"endTime":3876.34,"body":"sort of found its way, or permeated"},{"startTime":3876.34,"endTime":3879.983,"body":"into the language and everyday"},{"startTime":3876.34,"endTime":3879.983,"body":"conversation of the state."},{"startTime":3881.41,"endTime":3885.14,"body":"In the letters, newspapers,"},{"startTime":3881.41,"endTime":3885.14,"body":"and books of the period,"},{"startTime":3885.14,"endTime":3887.717,"body":"we find references to the, quotes,"},{"startTime":3887.717,"endTime":3892.61,"body":"\"Dogs of the fascist bourgeoisie,"},{"startTime":3887.717,"endTime":3892.61,"body":"the despicable Pygmies,"},{"startTime":3892.61,"endTime":3895.09,"body":"the decayed dregs of society.\""},{"startTime":3895.09,"endTime":3898.78,"body":"The language the prosecutor"},{"startTime":3895.09,"endTime":3898.78,"body":"was using in the courtroom"},{"startTime":3898.78,"endTime":3903.43,"body":"infiltrated the everyday"},{"startTime":3898.78,"endTime":3903.43,"body":"discourse of the people,"},{"startTime":3903.43,"endTime":3904.71,"body":"and of the journalists."},{"startTime":3904.71,"endTime":3909.24,"body":"And indeed, Soviet poets"},{"startTime":3904.71,"endTime":3909.24,"body":"apparently were not immune."},{"startTime":3909.24,"endTime":3914.24,"body":"We find one poet, the justly"},{"startTime":3909.24,"endTime":3914.24,"body":"forgotten Alexey Surkov,"},{"startTime":3915.14,"endTime":3918.71,"body":"producing this masterpiece of lyricism,"},{"startTime":3918.71,"endTime":3921.21,"body":"apparently an attempt to transform"},{"startTime":3921.21,"endTime":3925.31,"body":"one of Vyshinsky's speeches into verse."},{"startTime":3925.31,"endTime":3928.457,"body":"And I'll conclude with his ringing words."},{"startTime":3928.457,"endTime":3933.04,"body":"\"The spite of jackals"},{"startTime":3928.457,"endTime":3933.04,"body":"and the hatred of hyenas"},{"startTime":3933.04,"endTime":3935.623,"body":"led the traitors down the path of murder."},{"startTime":3936.61,"endTime":3939.21,"body":"Poisoned are their black deeds,"},{"startTime":3939.21,"endTime":3943.72,"body":"with the pungent stench"},{"startTime":3939.21,"endTime":3943.72,"body":"of putrid corpses.\""},{"startTime":3943.72,"endTime":3948.72,"body":"On that ringing note of"},{"startTime":3943.72,"endTime":3948.72,"body":"poesy, I will conclude."},{"startTime":3949.99,"endTime":3951.204,"body":"Thank you so much."},{"startTime":3951.204,"endTime":3954.134,"body":"(audience applauding)"}]}