Judgment at Nuremberg (1961) depicts the trial of Nazi judges before the U.S. military tribunal in Nuremberg, Germany, following World War II. The film was directed by Stanley Kramer from a screenplay by Abbie Mann; it features a sensational cast that includes Spencer Tracy, Burt Lancaster, Maximilian Schell (who won an Oscar for best actor), Richard Widmark, Marlene Dietrich, Judy Garland, Montgomery Clift, and William Shatner. The film provides a gripping account of the “Judges’ Trial” or "Justice Case" (as it has become known), exploring issues around individual and collective guilt, the challenges facing tribunals seeking to punish mass atrocities, and the quest for peace and justice after the horrors of World War II. In many respects, the film remains as relevant today as it was when it was first released. I’m joined by Professor Kevin Jon Heller, a renowned scholar of international criminal law and leading expert on the Nuremberg tribunals.
Timestamps:
0:00 Introduction
4:25 Tribute to Ben Ferencz
6:31 A gutsy movie for its time
9:03 The historical context for the Justice Case
13:18 The charges against the defendants
16:21 Individual and collective responsibility
21:05 The concentration camp footage
26:15 Defendants were not neutral officials just following the law
32:36 The judges should have known better
35:14 The political pressures on the tribunal
39:40 Germany’s slow reckoning with its Nazi past
44:20 How the film speaks to us today
51:26 Telford Taylor: Ahead of his time
53:04 An enlightened portrayal of defense attorneys
54:41 The U.S. gave Nazis fair trials but can’t provide fair trials at Guantanamo
Further reading:
Arendt, Hannah, Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil (revised ed. 1994)
Ehrenfreund, Norbert, The Nuremberg Legacy: How the Nazi War Crimes Trials Changed the Course of History (St. Martin's Press 2007)
Heller, Kevin Jon, The Nuremberg Military Tribunals and the Origins of International Criminal Law (Oxford Univ. Press 2011), https://global.oup.com/academic/product/the-nuremberg-military-tribunals-and-the-origins-of-international-criminal-law-9780199554317?cc=us&lang=en
King, Susan, “‘Judgment at Nuremberg’ 50 Years Later,” L.A. Times (Oct. 11, 2011), https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/la-xpm-2011-oct-11-la-et-nuremberg-film-20111011-story.html
McNamee, Eugene & Andrews, Maria, “‘Judgment at Nuremberg’: Hollywood Takes the International Criminal Law Stand,” 6 London Rev. Int’l L. 75 (2018)
Shale, Susanne, “The Conflicts of Law and the Character of Men: Writing Reversal of Fortune and Judgment at Nuremberg,” 30 U.S.F. L. Rev. 991 (1996)
Taylor, Telford, The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials: A Personal Memoir (Knopf 1992)
Law on Film is created and produced by Jonathan Hafetz. Jonathan is a professor at Seton Hall Law School. He has written many books and articles about the law. He has litigated important cases to protect civil liberties and human rights while working at the ACLU and other organizations. Jonathan is a huge film buff and has been watching, studying, and talking about movies for as long as he can remember.
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