Should harm come to me...
who will stand with you...
under the lantern?
With you, Lili Marleen.
What is your life like in America?
Do you have a family?
Yes, I have a daughter,
and she has four children.
Four? You must be very proud of them.
Yes, I am. I admit it.
- And where's your wife?
- She d*ed a few years ago.
- How about you? Do you have children?
- No, I don't.
What is your position in America?
It must be important.
No, it isn't, really. I'm a District Court Judge.
I haven't even been that for the last year.
Are you retired?
Forcibly, by the electorate.
You elect judges in the United States?
- Yes, in some states.
- I didn't know that.
It's either one of the virtues
or one of the defects of our judicial system.
I thought it was one of the virtues
until last year, when I was defeated.
I'm sure it was the fault
of the electorate, not yours.
Seems to be some difference of opinion
about that.
This is where I live.
- Here?
- Yes. It's not so bad inside.
Would you like to come up?
I could make some coffee.
Yes, thank you.
Things haven't been very easy for you,
have they?
I'm not used to them being easy.
I'm not fragile, Judge Haywood.
I'm a daughter of the m*llitary.
You know what that means, don't you?
No, I'm afraid I don't.
It means I was taught discipline.
A very special kind of discipline.
For instance, when I was a child...
we used to go for long rides
into the country in summertime.
But I was never allowed to run
to the lemonade stand with the others.
I was told, "Control your thirst.
"Control hunger.
"Control emotion. "
It has served me well.
And your husband?
Was he of that heritage, too?
My husband was a soldier.
He was brought up to do one thing:
To fight in the battle, and fight well.
- Is the coffee all right?
- Fine, thank you.
It's ersatz, but I always try to make it strong.
It's fine.
I'm curious.
What do you think of Ernst Janning?
I really am not at liberty to discuss the case
outside of the courtroom.
Yes, of course.
I knew Ernst Janning a little.
We used to attend the same concerts.
I remember there was a reception given
for Wagner's daughter-in-law.
h*tler was there.
Ernst Janning was there with his wife.
She was very beautiful...
very small, very delicate.
She's dead now.
h*tler was quite taken with her.
He made advances towards her
during the reception.
He used to do things like that
in a burst of emotion.
I will never forget
the way Ernst Janning cut him down.
I don't think anybody ever did it
to him quite that way.
He said, "Chancellor...
"I do not object so much
that you are so ill-mannered.
"I do not object to that so much.
"I object that you are such a bourgeois. "
h*tler whitened, stared at Janning,
and walked out.
- Is the coffee really all right?
- Fine, thank you.
Men like Janning...
my husband and I...
we hated h*tler. I want you to know that.
And he hated us.
He hated my husband
because he was a real w*r hero...
and the little corporal couldn't tolerate that.
And he hated him
because he married into nobility...
which was my family.
h*tler was in awe of the nobility,
but he hated it.
That's why it's so ironic, what happened.
You know what happened to my husband,
don't you?
Yes.
What did he know of the crimes
they cited him for?
He was placed on trial
with the other m*llitary leaders.
It was part of their revenge.
The victors always take on the vanquished.
It was political m*rder.
You can see that, can't you?
Mrs. Bertholt, I don't know what I see.
I probably shouldn't be here
talking with you about this at all.
But I want to understand.
I do want to understand.
I have to.
Would you like some more coffee?
Yes, thank you.
Hi.
We found Irene Hoffman.
- Where?
- Berlin.
Berlin, eh?
She got married. Her name is Wallner now.
That's why we had difficulty locating her.
- When is she coming?
- She's not coming.
What do you mean, she's not coming?
She doesn't want to come.
You know what it's like.
None of them want to testify anymore.
If I catch the midnight...
I could make it to Berlin,
and be back by tomorrow afternoon.
- Tad, you haven't had any sleep...
- It'll be worth it if I can get Hoffman.
Take over for me in court
in the morning, will you?
Colonel, please!
I told you before, when you first came in.
I say it again now.
We are through with all this.
She does not have to go,
you have no right to order her to go.
Mr. Wallner, I'm not ordering her to go.
I have no authority to order her to go.
Do you think we get a medal
for appearing at these trials?
The people do not like them.
They do not believe that Germans
should testify against other Germans.
I haven't been prosecuting these cases
for the past two years without knowing that.
It is easy for you to say go.
After the trial you will go back to America,
but we must stay and live with these people.
Don't you think I realize what I'm asking?
Then how can you come in like the Gestapo,
in the middle of the night...
Because they must not be allowed
to get away with what they did.
You really think they won't get away with it
in the end?
I say the hell with them,
and the hell with you.
Hugo.
Emil Hahn will be there?
Yes. In the dock.
Ernst Janning?
Yes.
You saw the store downstairs.
It's not much...
but it's a new start for us.
They will come if I go to Nuremberg.
They will come...
and break the windows of the store.
I'll place a guard in front of the store,
24 hours a day.
You do not have to go.
He has no right to ask you to go.
You do have to go.
You have to go, for all those people
who can't get up on the stand themselves.
- You do not owe it to anybody!
- Yes, you do!
You owe it to one person, at least.
In the night...
every night...
we've known somehow
it would come to this.
Dr. Geuter, do you recognize that headline?
Yes, sir.
Would you read it to the tribunal?
"Death to the race defiler. "
In what newspaper did it appear?
In Julius Streicher's Der St?rmer.
What was it in connection with?
The Feldenstein case.
What was the Feldenstein case?
Your Honor...
defense objects
to the introduction of the Feldenstein case.
It is a notorious case,
perhaps the most notorious of the period.
It has overtones, and appeals to emotion...
that would perhaps be best not raised.
There are no issues or overtones
that may not be raised in this courtroom.
The tribunal is interested in everything
that is relevant.
Objection is overruled.
It's all right. I'll take it.
May it please the tribunal?
- You may continue.
- Thank you.
Now.
What was the Feldenstein case?
The case of a man
accused of racial pollution.
Will you explain what is meant
by "racial pollution"?
This is the charge
that is referred to in the Nuremberg Laws.
It says that any non-Aryan
having sexual relations with an Aryan...
may be punished by death.
When did you first become acquainted
with the Feldenstein case?
In September 1935,
I was contacted by the police.
They said that Mr. Feldenstein
was being held...
and that he requested
that I serve as his counselor.
What position did he hold
in the community?
He was a very well-known merchant.
He was one of the heads
of the Jewish congregation in Nuremberg.
What was the nature of the charge
against him?
He was accused
of having intimate relations...
with a 16-year-old girl, Irene Hoffman.
I see.
And what did he say to you about the case?
He said it was false.
He said he knew the girl and her family
a long time.
He'd gone to visit her since they d*ed.
But there had never been anything
of the kind charged between them.
Doctor, would you please tell the tribunal
what happened then?
He was indicted before
the special court at Nuremberg.
And where was this special court?
It was right here, this building.
This very courtroom.
What were the circumstances
surrounding the trial?
It was used as a show place
for National Socialism.
It was the time
of the September celebrations...
the Nuremberg rallies.
The courtroom was crowded.
Back there, people were standing up.
Julius Streicher was sitting
in one of the front seats.
And high officials of the n*zi Party
were all over.
Would you please tell us...
what were your expectations for the trial
in this climate?
I expected the worst...
when I saw...
that Emil Hahn was the public prosecutor.
He was a fanatic.
His trials were always marked
by extreme brutality.
But I had one hope for the outcome...
because sitting on the judge's bench...
was Ernst Janning.
His reputation
was known throughout Germany.
He was known
to have dedicated his life to justice.
To the concept of justice.
Thank you. That's all.
Any questions?
Thank you. No questions.
The witness is excused.
The prosecution calls to the stand...
Irene Hoffman Wallner.
Will you raise your right hand?
I swear by God,
the Almighty and Omniscient...
that I will speak the pure truth,
and will withhold and add nothing.
I do.
Will you please state your name
to the tribunal?
Irene Hoffman Wallner.
Mrs. Wallner...
did you know Lehman Feldenstein?
Yes.
When did you first meet him?
It was 1925 or 1926.
I am not sure exactly.
How old was he at this time?
He was in his 50s.
And how old was he
at the time of his arrest?
He was 65.
I see.
What was the nature of your relationship?
We were friends.
Did you continue to see him
after your parents d*ed?
- Yes.
- Why?
We were friends.
He owned the building that I lived in.
His business took him there quite often.
What did you say to the police
when they questioned you...
about having intimate relations with him?
I told them it was a lie.
Could you tell me
who the public prosecutor was?
Emil Hahn.
Did Emil Hahn question you?
Yes.
What did he say to you?
He took me into a separate room,
where we were alone.
He told me that it was no use...
to repeat my story...
because no one would believe me.
There had been a race defilement...
and the only pardon for this was...
to k*ll the violator.
He told me that if I protected...
Mr. Feldenstein...
that I would be held under arrest for perjury.
What did you reply to him?
I told him what I had said again and again.
I told him that I could not say anything else.
I could not lie about someone
who had been so kind to me.
Were you held under arrest?
Yes.
Mrs. Wallner, tell us...
what was the...
the manner in which Emil Hahn
conducted the prosecution?
He made a mockery...
of everything Mr. Feldenstein tried to say
in his own defense.
He held him up to ridicule
whenever possible.
What was the reaction of the audience?
They laughed.
Again and again.
How long did the trial last?
Two days.
Was the verdict passed
at the end of the second day?
Yes.
What was the verdict?
Guilty.
And what was the sentence?
Mr. Feldenstein was sentenced...
to be ex*cuted.
I was sentenced to be imprisoned
for two years, for perjury.
Who was the presiding judge?
Ernst Janning.
Were the sentences carried out?
Thank you very much, Mrs. Wallner.
That's all.
Any questions?
Your Honor, I would like to request
that the witness...
be kept available.
We will present further evidence
on the Feldenstein matter...
when it comes time for the defense
to present its case.
The witness will please hold herself
so available.
You may go. You're excused now.
Col. Lawson?
Your Honors...
I offer in evidence a decree
signed by Adolf h*tler...
directing all persons accused...
or suspected of disloyalty
or resistance of any sort...
might be arrested secretly...
with no notice to friends or relatives,
without any trial whatsoever...
and put into concentration camps.
I also offer a group of orders
issued under that decree...
each one signed by one of the defendants...
by which hundreds of persons were arrested
and placed in concentration camps.
Signed by Friedrich Hoffstetter...
Werner Lammpe...
Emil Hahn...
Ernst Janning.
Your Honors...
the defendants on trial here today...
did not personally administer
the concentration camps.
They never had to b*at victims...
or pull the lever that released gas
into the chambers.
But as the documents we've introduced
into this case have shown...
these defendants fashioned
and ex*cuted laws...
and rendered judgments...
which sent millions of victims to their...
destinations.
Maj. Radnitz?
Your Honors, I would like to request that
Col. Lawson be sworn in as a witness.
- Granted.
- Thank you.
Will you raise your right hand?
I swear by God,
the Almighty and Omniscient...
that I will speak the pure truth
and withhold and add nothing.
I do.
Were you active in the United States Army
in 1945 at the close of the w*r?
Yes, I was.
Were you in command of troops
liberating concentration camps?
I was.
Were you in Dachau and Belsen?
Yes.
Were you present when the films
we are about to see were taken?
Yes, I was.
Okay.
The map shows the number of
and location of concentration camps...
under the Third Reich.
The Buchenwald concentration camp
was founded...
in 1933.
Its inmates numbered about 80,000.
There was a motto at Buchenwald:
"Break the body...
"break the spirit...
"break the heart. "
The ovens at Buchenwald.
Evidence of last-minute efforts
to dispose of bodies.
The stoves were manufactured
by a well-known company...
which also specialized in baking ovens.
The name of the firm is clearly inscribed.
An exhibit of byproducts of Buchenwald...
displayed for the local townspeople
by an Allied officer.
Brushes of every description.
Shoes, adults and children.
Spectacles.
Gold from teeth melted down...
sent once a month
to the Medical Department of the...
Waffen-SS.
A lampshade made from human skin.
Skin being used for paintings...
many having an obscene nature.
The heads of two Polish laborers...
shrunken to one-fifth their normal size.
A human pelvis used as an ashtray.
Children who'd been tattooed to mark them
for eventual extermination.
Sometimes mercy was shown
to the children.
They were injected with morphia...
so they'd be unconscious when hanged.
One of the doctors described how they'd
then place ropes around their necks...
and in the doctor's own words:
"Like pictures...
"they were then hanged
by hooks on the walls. "
The bodies of those
who had come in boxcars...
without food and without air...
who hadn't survived the journey to Dachau.
Hundreds of inmates were used
as human guinea pigs...
for atrocious medical experiments.
A witness at one of the executions
at Dachau gave the following description:
"Inmates were made to leave
their clothing on a rack.
"They were told they were going
to take baths.
"Then the doors were locked.
"Tins of Zyklon B...
"were released through
the specially constructed apertures.
"You could hear the groaning
and the whimpering inside.
"After two or three minutes...
"all was quiet. "
Death transports that had arrived
included 90,000 from Slovakia...
65,000 from Greece...
11,000 from France...
90,000 from Holland...
400,000 from Hungary...
250,000 from Poland and Upper Silesia...
and 100,000 from Germany.
And this is what was filmed when...
British troops liberated
Belsen concentration camp.
For sanitary reasons...
a British bulldozer had to bury the bodies
as quickly as possible.
Who were the bodies?
Members of every occupied country
of Europe.
Two-thirds of the Jews of Europe...
exterminated.
More than six million...
according to reports
from the Nazis' own figures.
But the real figure...
no one knows.
How dare they show us those films?
How dare they?
We are not executioners. We are judges.
You do not think it was like that, do you?
There were executions, yes.
But nothing like that. Nothing at all.
Pohl!
You ran those concentration camps.
You and Eichmann.
They say we k*lled millions of people.
Millions of people.
How could it be possible?
Tell them. How could it be possible?
It's possible.
How?
You mean, technically?
It all depends on your facilities.
Say you have two chambers
that accommodate 2,000 people apiece.
Figure it out.
It's possible to get rid of 10,000
in a half-hour.
You don't even need guards to do it.
You can tell them
they are going to take a shower...
and then instead of the water,
you turn on the gas.
It's not the k*lling that is the problem.
It's disposing of the bodies.
That's the problem.
- I'm sorry I'm late.
- That's all right.
I was doing some work
for the rebuilding committee.
And I brought you some folders,
so we can decide what you should see next.
There's the Albrecht D?rer house,
and the museum.
When do you think you could make it?
Anytime.
Would you like to order now?
What would you like?
Can I help you with the menu?
No. I don't think I'll have anything.
Thank you.
A glass of Moselle for me, please.
The same.
What's the matter?
Nothing. I'm just not hungry, that's all.
The last few days
have meant a great deal to me.
How?
I don't think you realize
what a provincial man I really am.
I've been abroad
just exactly once before this...
and that was when I was a doughboy
in WWI.
I used to pass places like this
and wonder what they were like.
- They've meant a great deal to me, too.
- How?
They gave me back the feeling
I had of the Americans.
The feeling I used to have
when I was in your country.
- Too bad this isn't a magazine story.
- Why?
If it were a magazine story,
two people like us, the rapidly aging jurist...
The rapidly aging jurist
and the beautiful widow...
would transcend their difficulties
and travel places...
either by land or by sea.
I saw Mr. Perkins today.
He told me they'd showed those pictures
in the courtroom.
Col. Lawson's favorite pictures.
He drags them out at any pretext,
doesn't he?
Col. Lawson's private chamber of horrors.
Is that what you think we are?
Do you think we knew of those things?
Do you think
we wanted to m*rder women and children?
Do you believe that?
Do you?
Mrs. Bertholt, I don't know what to believe.
Good God. We're sitting here drinking.
How could you think that we knew?
We did not know.
We did not know.
As far as I can make out,
no one in this country knew.
Your husband was one of the heads
of the army.
And he did not know.
I tell you, he did not know.
It was Himmler. It was Goebbels.
The SS knew what happened.
We did not know.
Listen to me.
There are things that happened
on both sides.
My husband was a m*llitary man all his life.
He was entitled to a soldier's death.
He asked for that.
I tried to get that for him, just that,
that he would die with some honor.
I went from official to official.
I begged for that.
That he be permitted the dignity
of a f*ring squad.
You know what happened?
He was hanged with the others...
and after that, I knew what it was to hate.
I never left the house, I never left the room.
I drank.
I hated with every fiber of my being.
I hated every American I had ever known.
But one can't live with hate, I know that.
We have to forget, if we are to go on living.
Herr Rolfe?
May it please the tribunal?
Yesterday the tribunal
witnessed some films.
They were...
shocking films...
devastating films.
As a German...
I feel ashamed that such things
could have taken place in my country.
There can never be a justification for them.
Not in generations...
not in centuries.
But I do think it was wrong...
indecent...
and terribly unfair of the prosecution...
to show such films in this case...
in this court...
at this time...
against these defendants!
And I cannot protest too strongly...
against such tactics.
What is the prosecution trying to prove?
Is it trying to prove
that the German people as a whole...
were responsible for these events?
Or that they were even aware of them?
Because if he is...
he's not stating facts...
and he knows he's not.
The secrecy of the operations,
the geographical location of the camps...
the breakdown of communications
in the last days of the w*r...
when the exterminations
rose into the millions...
show only too clearly
that he is not telling the truth!
The truth is...
that these brutalities were brought about
by the few extremists.
The criminals.
Very few Germans knew what was going on.
Very few.
None of us knew what was happening...
in the places shown in these films.
None of us.
But the most ironic part of it is...
that the prosecution showed these films
against these defendants...
men who stayed in power
for one reason only...
to prevent worse things from happening.
Who is the braver man?
The man who escapes,
or resigns in times of peril...
or the man who stays on his post...
at the risk of his own personal safety?
The defense will present witnesses
and letters and documents...
from religious and political refugees
all over the world...
telling how Ernst Janning saved them
from execution.
The defense will show that many times...
Ernst Janning was able
to effect mitigation of sentences...
when, without his influence,
the results would have been much worse.
The defense will show...
that Ernst Janning's personal physician
was a non-Aryan...
a Jewish man...
who he kept in attendance,
much to his own peril.
The defense presents affidavits...
from legal authorities
and famed jurists the world over...
pleading that special considerations
must be made in this case...
saying that the entire work
of Ernst Janning...
was inspired by one motive,
and one motive only:
The endeavor to preserve justice
and the concept of justice.
Now...
what has the prosecution to offer...
against this?
The prosecution, in fact...
has presented in the case of Ernst Janning
only one tangible piece of evidence.
The Feldenstein case.
A notorious case, as the defense has said.
A case which never
should have been reopened.
A case which the defense is obliged...
to review now.
The defense calls Mrs. Elsa Lindnow.
Will you raise your right hand?
I swear by God,
the Almighty and Omniscient...
that I will speak the pure truth
and will withhold and add nothing.
I do.
Mrs. Lindnow...
what is your occupation?
I am a cleaning woman.
Where are you employed?
400... 345, Grosse Platz.
- Did you know Lehman Feldenstein?
- Yes. I knew him.
In what capacity?
He was my employer in 1935.
Do you know the witness,
Mrs. Irene Hoffman Wallner?
- Yes.
- In what capacity?
She was a tenant in the building.
Did you ever see Miss Hoffman
and Mr. Feldenstein together?
Yes.
How did this happen?
Mr. Feldenstein came to see Miss Hoffman
at her apartment.
Often?
Quite often.
Were there any occasions
in which you noticed anything unusual?
Yes.
I saw Miss Hoffman...
kissing Mr. Feldenstein
at the door of her apartment.
Was there any other occasion?
Yes, there was one.
What was it?
I came to Miss Hoffman's apartment.
I wanted to clean up.
I thought it was empty.
I saw Miss Hoffman...
sitting on Mr. Feldenstein's lap.
Thank you, Mrs. Lindnow. That's all.
Col. Lawson?
Earphones, please.
What are your political affiliations?
Political?
Objection, Your Honor.
This witness' political affiliations
have nothing to do with the testimony.
Col. Lawson is once more trying
to appeal to the emotion of the court.
Objection overruled.
Would you answer the question, please?
Were you a member
of the National Socialist Party?
Yes, I was.
We were forced to be.
"We were forced to be. "
When did you become a member
of the n*zi Party?
1933.
Were all German nationals forced
to become members of the n*zi Party...
in 1933?
Please answer me, Mrs. Lindnow.
Were you forced to become a member
of the n*zi Party?
That's all.
Witness is excused.
Defense may continue.
The defense calls Irene Hoffman Wallner
to the stand.
Mrs. Wallner...
you are still under oath.
Did you come here voluntarily?
Did you report voluntarily
to speak as a witness?
Yes.
Is it not true that the prosecution
asked you to come here?
That it was very disagreeable for you
to come here?
It is always very disagreeable
to live over those times.
That would be in agreement...
with the information I have
that you did not want to come.
Thank you, Mrs. Wallner.
The Nuremberg Laws
were stated September 15, 1935.
Where were you at that time?
In Nuremberg.
Did you know these laws?
Were you aware
that a physical relationship with Jews...
was against the law?
Yes.
Were you aware that in Nuremberg,
and in Nuremberg in particular...
not only a physical relationship
with Jews was viewed with disdain...
but every social contact?
Yes.
Were you aware it might have some danger
for you personally?
Yes, I was aware of it.
But how can you discard a friendship
from day to day because of some...
That is another question, Mrs. Wallner.
I did not ask you that question.
Were you aware of it?
Yes, I was aware.
Yet you still continued to see each other?
Yes.
Remember, it was disclosed at the tribunal
that Mr. Feldenstein bought you things.
Candy and cigarettes?
Yes.
Remember that sometimes
he bought you flowers?
Yes, he bought me many things.
That was because he was kind.
He was the kindest man I ever knew.
Do you know the witness,
Mrs. Elsa Lindnow?
Yes, I know her.
Was she a cleaning woman
at the apartment you lived in?
Did Mr. Feldenstein
come to see you at your apartment?
- Yes.
- How many times?
I don't remember.
Several times?
Yes.
Many times?
Many times.
Did you kiss him?
Yes, I kissed him.
Was there more than one kiss?
Yes.
But it was not in the way
you are trying to make it sound.
He was like a father to me.
- He was more than a father.
- More than a father?
- Did you sit on his lap?
- Objection!
Counsel is persecuting the witness
in the pretext of gaining testimony.
Objection overruled.
The defense is being permitted to reenact...
what was a travesty of justice
in the first place.
The tribunal makes the rulings in this case,
not the prosecution.
You may proceed.
Did you sit on his lap?
Yes.
But there was nothing wrong
or ugly about it.
Did you sit on his lap?
Yes, but...
You sat on his lap. What else did you do?
There was nothing
that you are trying to say.
There was nothing like that.
What else did you do, Mrs. Wallner?
What are you trying to do?
Are you trying to...
Why do you not let me speak the truth?
That's what we want, Mrs. Wallner.
The truth.
You admitted that you continued to see him.
You admitted that he came
to your apartment.
You admitted you kissed him.
You admitted you sat on his lap.
What else do you admit to? What else?
Nothing.
There was nothing
like you're trying to make it sound.
- What else?
- There was nothing.
Stop it.
What else do you admit to?
Herr Rolfe!
Are we going to do this again?
Your Honor...
the stress the defendant has been under
is so great that he is not aware...
I am aware.
Your Honor, the defendant
wishes to make a statement.
I believe the defense has a right to request...
Order.
Does the defendant
wish to make a statement?
I wish to make a statement, yes.
I believe the defense has the right
to request a recess...
The defendant has the right
to make his statement now.
- I have to speak with my client.
- He has the right to make it now!
Tribunal is adjourned
until 10:30 tomorrow morning.
What are you doing?
What do you think you're trying to do?
They've had Goering. Frank. Streicher.
That's over.
Do you think I have enjoyed
being defense counsel during this trial?
There were things I had to do
in that courtroom that made me cringe.
Why did I do them?
Because I want
to leave the German people something.
I want to leave them a shred of dignity.
I want to call a halt to these proceedings.
If we allow them
to discredit every German like you...
we lose the right to rule ourselves forever.
We have to look at the future.
We can't look back now.
Do you want the Americans
to stay here forever? Do you want that?
I could show you a picture
of Hiroshima and Nagasaki.
Thousands and thousands
of b*rned bodies.
Women and children.
Is that their superior morality?
Where do you think they take us?
Do you think they know?
Do you think they have any concept
of our problems?
What can I say to you?
What can I say to you to make you see?
There is nothing you can say.
Nothing.
Nothing has happened to alleviate the crisis.
The crisis reached a head this afternoon...
when all rail travel between
Western zones and Berlin was stopped.
The blockade by land is now complete.
What do you think
we're going to do, General?
Do you think we'll withdraw?
We can't withdraw.
If we withdraw under pressure,
our prestige all over the world is threatened.
The Communists will move in
on every front.
What about these trials, General?
How do you feel about them now?
We're committed to the trials.
But I think it would be realistic
to accelerate them as much as possible.
What would happen
if they fired on one of our planes?
I'm afraid we'll have to face that
when it happens.
There is no other answer
to that question at this time.
You fellows should try
some of the strudel. It's excellent here.
No, thanks.
Dan, I've just come back from Berlin,
as you know.
I don't think this is going to be it.
A lot of people do, but I don't.
But it is going to be a fight for survival...
for the next 10 years, maybe the next 20.
Germany is the key to that survival.
Any high-school student in Geography
can tell you that.
Just what are you trying to say, Senator?
What I'm trying to say is this:
While nobody's trying
to influence your decision...
it's important that you realize this,
because it's a fact of life.
Let's face it, gentlemen.
The handwriting is on the wall.
We're going to need all the help we can get.
We're going to need the support
of the German people.
More strudel, gentlemen?
Herr Janning, you may proceed.
I wish to testify
about the Feldenstein case...
because it was the most significant trial
of the period.
It is important not only for the tribunal
to understand it...
but for the whole German people.
But in order to understand it...
one must understand the period
in which it happened.
There was a fever over the land.
A fever of disgrace, of indignity, of hunger.
We had a democracy, yes.
But it was torn by elements within.
Above all, there was fear:
Fear of today, fear of tomorrow...
fear of our neighbors...
and fear of ourselves.
Only when you understand that...
can you understand what h*tler meant to us.
Because he said to us:
"Lift your heads.
"Be proud to be German.
"There are devils among us:
"Communists, liberals, Jews, Gypsies.
"Once these devils will be destroyed,
your misery will be destroyed. "
It was the old story of the sacrificial lamb.
What about those of us who knew better?
We who knew the words were lies,
and worse than lies?
Why did we sit silent?
Why did we take part?
Because we loved our country.
What difference does it make...
if a few political extremists
lose their rights?
What difference does it make
if a few racial minorities lose their rights?
It is only a passing phase.
It is only a stage we are going through.
It will be discarded sooner or later.
h*tler himself
will be discarded sooner or later.
The country is in danger.
We will march out of the shadows.
We will go forward.
Forward is the great password.
And history tells
how well we succeeded, Your Honor.
We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams.
The very elements of hate and power
about h*tler...
that mesmerized Germany
mesmerized the world.
We found ourselves
with sudden, powerful allies.
Things that had been denied to us
as a democracy...
were open to us now.
The world said, "Go ahead, take it.
"Take it.
"Take Sudetenland, take the Rhineland,
remilitarize it.
"Take all of Austria. Take it. "
And then, one day, we looked around...
and found that we were
in an even more terrible danger.
The ritual began in this courtroom...
swept over the land like a raging,
roaring disease.
What was going to be a passing phase...
had become the way of life.
Your Honor...
I was content to sit silent during this trial.
I was content to tend my roses.
I was even content...
to let counsel try to save my name.
Until I realized...
that in order to save it,
he would have to raise the specter again.
You have seen him do it.
He has done it here in this courtroom.
He has suggested that the Third Reich
worked for the benefit of people.
He has suggested that we sterilized men
for the welfare of the country.
He has suggested that perhaps...
the old Jew did sleep
with the 16-year-old girl, after all.
Once more, it is being done...
for love of country.
It is not easy to tell the truth.
But if there is to be any salvation
for Germany...
we who know our guilt must admit it...
whatever the pain...
and humiliation.
I had reached my verdict...
on the Feldenstein case...
before I ever came into the courtroom.
I would have found him guilty,
whatever the evidence.
It was not a trial at all.
It was a sacrificial ritual...
in which Feldenstein, the Jew,
was the helpless victim.
Your Honor, I must interrupt.
The defendant is not aware
of what he is saying.
He is not aware of the implications...
I am aware.
My counsel would have you believe...
we were not aware
of the concentration camps.
Not aware.
Where were we?
Where were we when h*tler began shrieking
his hate in the Reichstag?
Where were we when our neighbors
were being dragged out...
in the middle of the night to Dachau?
Where were we when every village
in Germany has a railroad terminal...
where cattle cars were filled with children...
being carried off to their extermination?
Where were we
when they cried out in the night to us?
Were we deaf? Dumb? Blind?
Your Honor, I must protest.
My counsel says we were not aware
of the extermination of the millions.
He would give you the excuse...
we were only aware
of the extermination of the hundreds.
Does that make us any the less guilty?
Maybe we didn't know the details.
But if we didn't know,
it was because we didn't want to know.
Traitor!
Order!
Put that man back in his seat
and keep him there.
I am going to tell them the truth.
I am going to tell them the truth,
if the whole world conspires against it.
I am going to tell them the truth
about their Ministry of Justice.
Werner Lammpe,
an old man who cries into his Bible now.
An old man who profited
by the property expropriation...
of every man
he sent to a concentration camp.
Friedrich Hoffstetter...
the good German
who knew how to take orders...
who sent men before him
to be sterilized like so many digits.
Emil Hahn...
the decayed, corrupt bigot...
obsessed by the evil within himself.
And Ernst Janning...
worse than any of them...
because he knew what they were...
and he went along with them.
Ernst Janning...
who made his life...
excrement...
because he walked with them.
Your Honor...
it is my duty...
to defend Ernst Janning.
And yet, Ernst Janning has said he is guilty.
There is no doubt he feels his guilt.
He made a great error
in going along with the n*zi movement...
hoping it would be good for his country.
But if he is to be found guilty...
there are others who also went along...
who also must be found guilty.
Ernst Janning said:
"We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. "
Why did we succeed, Your Honor?
What about the rest of the world?
Did it not know the intentions
of the Third Reich?
Did it not hear the words
of h*tler's broadcasts all over the world?
Did it not read his intentions
in Mein Kampf...
published in every corner of the world?
Where is the responsibility
of the Soviet Union...
who signed in 1939 the pact with h*tler...
enabled him to make w*r?
Are we now to find Russia guilty?
Where is the responsibility of the Vatican...
who signed in 1933 the concordat
with h*tler...
giving him his first tremendous prestige?
Are we now to find the Vatican guilty?
Where is the responsibility
of the world leader Winston Churchill...
who said in an open letter
to the London Times in 1938:
"Were England to suffer a national disaster,
I should pray to God...
"to send a man of the strength of mind
and will of an Adolf h*tler. "
Are we now
to find Winston Churchill guilty?
Where is the responsibility
of those American industrialists...
who helped h*tler to rebuild his armaments,
and profited by that rebuilding?
Are we now to find
the American industrialists guilty?
No, Your Honor.
Germany alone is not guilty.
The whole world is as responsible for h*tler
as Germany.
It is an easy thing
to condemn one man in the dock.
It's easy to condemn the German people...
to speak of the basic flaw
in the German character...
that allowed h*tler to rise to power,
but also...
comfortably ignore
the basic flaw of character...
that made the Russians sign pacts with him,
Winston Churchill praise him...
American industrialists profit by him.
Ernst Janning said he is guilty.
If he is...
Ernst Janning's guilt is the world's guilt.
No more, no less.
Major, we have to give the m*llitary governor
every help that we can give him.
We have to get 700 tons in the air a day.
This is some operation.
Did you ever think we'd be flying coal
and tomatoes in these crates?
Tad, you and I have been friends
a long time.
That's why I called you here.
What are you going to do
in court tomorrow?
You know damn well what I'm going to do.
I know what you want to do:
Recommend they put them behind bars
and throw away the key.
You know what's going on here now?
Yeah.
I know what's going on.
Tad, you're an army man.
You know what we're up against.
The others may not, but you do.
I'll tell you the truth.
I don't know what's going to happen
if they fire on one of those planes.
I don't know what's going to happen.
But if I do know this:
If Berlin goes, Germany goes.
If Germany goes, Europe goes.
That's the way things stand.
That's the way they stand.
Look, Matt, I'm going to go the limit.
And not you, not the Pentagon,
not God on His throne is going to make me...
Who do you think you're talking to?
Who the hell do you think you're talking to?
When you were marching into Dachau
with those troops, I was there, too.
You think I'll ever forget it?
Look, I'm not your commanding officer.
I can't influence your decision,
and I don't want to.
But I want to give this to you,
and I want to give it to you straight.
We need the help of the German people.
And you don't get the help
of the German people...
by sentencing their leaders
to stiff prison sentences.
The thing to do is survive, isn't it?
Survive as best we can, but survive.
Just for laughs, Matt...
what was the w*r all about?
What was it about?
And that concludes
presentation of documentary evidence...
against these defendants.
Your Honors...
during the three years that have passed
since the end of the w*r in Europe...
mankind has not crossed over into Jordan.
In our own country,
fear of w*r has been revived.
And we must look once more
to our defenses.
There's talk of Cold w*r,
while men and women die in real wars.
And the echoes of persecution...
and atrocities...
will not be stilled.
These events cannot help
but color what happens in this courtroom.
But somewhere
in the midst of these events...
the responsibility for the crimes
that we brought forward during this trial...
must be placed in true perspective.
And this is the decision
that faces Your Honors.
It is the dilemma of our times.
It is a dilemma...
that rests with you.
The prosecution rests.
The defendants
may now make their final statements.
Defendant Emil Hahn
may address the tribunal.
Your Honors...
I do not evade the responsibility
for my actions.
On the contrary...
I stand by them before the entire world.
But I will not follow the policy of others.
I will not say of our policy today
that it was wrong...
when yesterday I say it was right.
Germany was fighting for its life.
Certain measures were needed
to protect it from its enemies.
I cannot say that I am sorry
we applied those measures.
We were a bulwark against Bolshevism.
We were a pillar of Western culture.
A bulwark and a pillar
the West may yet wish to retain.
The defendant Friedrich Hoffstetter
may address the tribunal.
I have served my country
throughout my life...
and in whatever position
I was assigned to...
in faithfulness,
with a pure heart, and without malice.
I followed the concept that I believed
to be the highest in my profession.
The concept that says:
"To sacrifice one's own sense of justice...
"to the authoritative legal order.
"To ask only what the law is...
"and not to ask
whether or not it is also justice. "
As a judge, I could do no other.
I believe Your Honors will find me...
and millions of Germans like me...
who believed they were doing their duty
to their country...
to be not guilty.
The defendant Werner Lammpe
may address the tribunal.
Your Honors...
The defendant Ernst Janning
may address the tribunal.
I have nothing to add to what I have said.
The testimony has been received
in the case.
Final arguments have been heard.
There remains nothing now but the task
of the tribunal to render its decision.
The tribunal will recess
until further notification.
I've collected
several precedents and arguments here...
that have a bearing on the basis of the case,
which is, of course, the conflict between...
allegiance to international law
and to the laws of one's own country.
We have a mountain of material
to go over here.
What are you looking at, Dan?
I was looking at some of these pictures
attached to the warrants for arrest.
What pictures?
There's Petersen,
before they operated on him.
And here's Irene Hoffman.
She really was 16 once, wasn't she?
Feldenstein.
And here's the situation of a boy,
certainly couldn't have been more than 14.
ex*cuted for saying things
against the Third Reich.
"By order of Justice Friedrich Hoffstetter. "
If I may say so, more pertinent
to the legal basis of the case...
I have the opening address
of the French prosecutor...
before the International m*llitary Tribunal.
"It is obvious that in the state organized
along modern lines...
"responsibility is confined
to those who act directly for the state.
"Since they alone are in a position to judge
the legitimacy of the given orders...
"they alone can be prosecuted. "
I have another
from Prof. Jahrreiss' legal aspects...
Trial of the Major w*r Criminals.
On the basis of these, I don't see
where the prosecution has put forth...
a really clear-cut case against the defense
pertaining to the charges in the indictment.
Regardless of the acts committed...
we cannot make the interpretation
that these defendants...
are really responsible
for crimes against humanity.
What do you think, Dan?
We've been going over these points all day.
If it isn't clear now...
Aren't you going to look
at these precedents?
Aren't you interested at all?
Yes, I'm interested, Curtiss.
You were speaking of crimes
against humanity...
saying that the defendants
were not responsible for their acts.
I'd like you to explain that to me.
- I've just been explaining it.
- Maybe.
But all I've heard is a lot
of legalistic double-talk and rationalization.
You know, Curtiss,
when I first became a judge...
I knew there were certain people in town
I wasn't supposed to touch.
I knew that if I was to remain a judge,
this was so.
But how in God's name
do you expect me to look the other way...
at the m*rder of six million people?
I'm sure he didn't mean that.
I'm not asking you
to look the other way at them.
I'm asking you, what good is it going to do
to pursue this policy?
Curtiss, you were saying that the men
are not responsible for their acts.
You're going to have to explain that to me.
You're going to have to explain it
very carefully.
The tribunal is now in session.
God bless the United States of America
and this honorable tribunal.
The trial conducted before this tribunal
began over eight months ago.
The record of evidence
is more than 10,000 pages long...
and final arguments of counsel
have been concluded.
Simple murders and atrocities
do not constitute...
the gravamen of the charges
in this indictment.
Rather, the charge
is that of conscious participation...
in a nationwide,
government-organized system...
of cruelty and injustice...
in violation
of every moral and legal principle...
known to all civilized nations.
The tribunal
has carefully studied the record...
and found therein...
abundant evidence to support...
beyond a reasonable doubt...
the charges against these defendants.
Herr Rolfe...
in his very skillful defense...
has asserted that there are others...
who must share the ultimate responsibility...
for what happened here in Germany.
There is truth in this.
The real complaining party at the bar
in this courtroom...
is civilization.
But the tribunal does say...
that the men in the dock
are responsible for their actions.
Men who sat in black robes...
in judgment on other men.
Men who took part...
in the enactment of laws and decrees...
the purpose of which
was the extermination of human beings.
Men who, in executive positions...
actively participated
in the enforcement of these laws...
illegal even under German law.
The principle...
of criminal law in every civilized society...
has this in common:
Any person who sways another
to commit m*rder...
any person who furnishes...
the lethal w*apon
for the purpose of the crime...
any person
who is an accessory to the crime...
is guilty.
Herr Rolfe...
further asserts that the defendant Janning...
was an extraordinary jurist...
and acted in what he thought
was the best interest of his country.
There is truth in this also.
Janning, to be sure...
is a tragic figure.
We believe he loathed the evil he did.
But compassion
for the present t*rture of his soul...
must not beget forgetfulness...
of the t*rture and the death of millions
by the government of which he was a part.
Janning's record and his fate...
illuminate the most shattering truth
that has emerged from this trial.
If he and all of the other defendants
had been degraded perverts...
if all of the leaders of the Third Reich...
had been sadistic monsters and maniacs...
then these events
would have no more moral significance...
than an earthquake,
or any other natural catastrophe.
But this trial has shown...
that under a national crisis...
ordinary, even able and extraordinary men...
can delude themselves
into the commission of crimes...
so vast and heinous
that they beggar the imagination.
No one who has sat through the trial
can ever forget them.
Men sterilized because of political belief.
A mockery made of friendship and faith.
The m*rder of children.
How easily it can happen.
There are those in our own country, too...
who today speak
of the protection of country...
of survival.
A decision must be made
in the life of every nation...
at the very moment
when the grasp of the enemy is at its throat.
Then it seems that the only way to survive
is to use the means of the enemy...
to rest survival upon what is expedient,
to look the other way.
The answer to that is: Survival as what?
A country isn't a rock.
It's not an extension of one's self.
It's what it stands for.
It's what it stands for when standing
for something is the most difficult.
Before the people of the world...
let it now be noted...
that here in our decision,
this is what we stand for:
Justice...
truth...
and the value of a single human being.
The marshal will produce
before the tribunal the defendant Hahn.
Emil Hahn...
the tribunal finds you guilty
and sentences you to life imprisonment.
Today you sentence me.
Tomorrow the Bolsheviks sentence you.
The marshal will produce the defendant
Hoffstetter before the tribunal.
Friedrich Hoffstetter...
the tribunal finds you guilty
and sentences you to life imprisonment.
The marshal will produce
the defendant Lammpe before the tribunal.
Werner Lammpe...
the tribunal finds you guilty...
and sentences you to life imprisonment.
The marshal will produce the defendant
Ernst Janning before the tribunal.
Ernst Janning...
the tribunal finds you guilty...
and sentences you to life imprisonment.
He doesn't understand.
He just doesn't understand.
He understands.
Justice Ives dissenting.
I wish to point out strongly...
my dissenting vote
from the decision of this tribunal...
as stated by Justice Haywood,
and in which Justice Norris concurred.
The issue of the actions of the defendants...
who believed they were acting
in the best interests of their country...
is an issue that cannot be decided
in a courtroom alone.
It can only be decided objectively...
in years to come,
in the true perspective of history.
Where shall I put these books, Your Honor?
Put them in the trunk.
Your Honor, here's something for you
to have on the plane.
No. If you give me any more food,
Mrs. Halbestadt...
I won't have any room for anything else.
But it's strudel, the way you like it.
Thank you for everything.
- I'll put it in the car for you.
- Thanks.
Tickets, passport, immunization.
All in order.
I'll have your baggage checks
and boarding pass at the airport.
- See you there no later than 3:00.
- Right.
And give my regards
to Miss what-was-her-name?
Scheffler. Elsa.
- That's one you owe me.
- What do you mean?
Americans aren't very popular
in Nuremberg this morning.
- Good afternoon, Your Honor.
- Good afternoon.
I came here at the request
of my client, Ernst Janning.
He wishes to see you.
I'm just leaving for the airport.
He says it would mean a great deal to him.
Have you heard about the verdict
in the I.G. Farben case?
Most of them were acquitted.
The others received light sentences.
The verdict came in today.
No, I hadn't heard.
I will make you a wager.
I don't make wagers.
A gentleman's wager.
In five years...
the men you sentenced
to life imprisonment will be free.
Herr Rolfe, I have admired your work
in the courtroom for many months.
You are particularly brilliant
in your use of logic.
So what you suggest may very well happen.
It is logical,
in view of the times in which we live.
But to be logical is not to be right.
And nothing on God's earth
could ever make it right.
Someone to see you.
Herr Janning.
Judge Haywood.
Please, sit down.
Thank you. You wanted to see me?
Yes. There is something I want to give you.
A record.
A record of my cases.
The ones I remember.
I want to give them to someone I can trust...
someone I felt I got to know during the trial.
Thank you.
I'll take good care of them.
I know the pressures
that have been brought upon you.
You will be criticized greatly.
Your decision will not be a popular one.
But if it means anything to you...
you have the respect
of at least one of the men you convicted.
By all that is right in this world...
your verdict was a just one.
Thank you.
What you said in the courtroom,
it needed to be said.
Judge Haywood...
the reason I asked you to come...
Those people...
those millions of people...
I never knew it would come to that.
You must believe it.
Herr Janning...
it came to that the first time
you sentenced a man to death...
you knew to be innocent.