History in Focus: A Cinematic Look at the Nuremberg Trials

Hollywood recently brought another World War II story to the silver screen with the release of Nuremberg, which follows Army psychologist Lt. Col. Douglas Kelley and his examinations of Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and other Nazi leaders awaiting trial for their crimes after the war. The film highlights the historic Nuremberg Trials, the first international criminal tribunal in modern history. Alongside the Tokyo War Crimes Trials, the Nuremberg Trials laid the foundation for modern international criminal law, which was still in its formative stages. A significant legal shift was the new recognition that individuals, not just nations, could be held accountable for crimes under international law, rejecting the established principle that only states could be found guilty of such charges, and setting precedent for later international bodies and treatises.

Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring sits in the witness box during the Nuremberg Trials. National Archives (238-NT-644).

As the war was ending, the major Allied powers—the United States, Great Britain, France, and the Soviet Union—grappled with how to deal with German leadership. Would they succumb to the emotions of a world shattered by war and condemn the highest Nazi officials to summary execution? Instead, the Allies chose to establish an International Military Tribunal (IMT). It was their chance to avoid the mistakes of retribution made at Compiègne. This time, they aimed to restore law and order to the postwar world, affirming that justice would prevail—the defendants would receive due process and a fair trial, but would be held accountable to the world for their atrocities. The Allied governments settled on a joint administration of the tribunal, with judges and prosecutors from each of the four nations. It was imperative that the trials did not seem merely symbolic or predetermined, and the Allies went to great lengths to ensure this through the London Agreement, which established the legal framework for prosecution and punishment, and culminated in the formation of the IMT.

On October 18, 1945, twenty-four Nazi officials were indicted. They faced four charges in the initial trial: crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit these crimes. The trial began on November 20, 1945, in the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, a city once at the heart of Nazism. Of the original twenty-four defendants, one committed suicide, one was deemed medically unfit for trial, and one was tried in absentia. The highest-ranking surviving Nazi official, Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, was among the twenty-one who stood trial in person. Among the evidence presented against Göring was his involvement in the Nazis’ massive systematic theft of art across occupied Europe.

Justice Robert H. Jackson, chief prosecutor for the United States, at the Nuremberg Trials. National Archives (111-SC-252946).

The film builds to the pivotal cross-examination of Göring by Justice Robert H. Jackson, the lead prosecutor for the United States. Much of the courtroom dialogue in the movie is directly taken from the trial transcripts, including Jackson's questioning of Göring on March 20, 1946—the very same day that he confronted the Reichsmarschall specifically on “the subject of art.” Audio recordings from that day detail Göring’s visits to the center of the art-looting operations of the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR) in France, the Jeu de Paume in Paris. He visited multiple times during the war, selecting art stolen from across France—much taken from private Jewish collectors and dealers—to enrich his own collection and that of Hitler.

Audio from the cross-examination of Göring by Justice Robert H. Jackson (March 20, 1946)

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Rose Valland, a French curator and later Monuments Woman who witnessed this plundering firsthand, documented the events in her memoir The Art Front. Her account includes a statement by Göring that was read aloud by Jackson during the trial. Valland observed how Göring’s greed fueled his passion for art looting:

Göring views a painting while smoking a cigar at the Jeu de Paume. Archives du ministère des Affaires étrangères – La Courneuve, France, 209SUP/991/143, 1945–1950.

“To this wave of antisemitism that flooded and carried away everything it could, was added the not-insignificant power of the Reichsmarschall himself, with his greed and passionate love for works of art.

“From the beginning of the Occupation, Göring supported the ERR’s activity as much as he could. He gave his seal of approval to the organization’s goals and made them his, adapting all that best served his interests.

“It was when the Reichsmarschall visited the first exhibitions of the works that had been brought together in Paris that he realized he would be able to reap some extraordinary additions to enrich his personal art collection.”

On October 1, 1946, the IMT reached its verdicts. Nineteen defendants were convicted, while three were acquitted. Of the convicted, twelve were sentenced to death, and the remaining were given various prison sentences. Ten were executed by hanging on October 16. Göring, however, avoided the hangman’s noose—committing suicide hours before his scheduled execution by ingesting a cyanide capsule he had secretly concealed while incarcerated.

The Nuremberg Trials marked a pivotal moment in the development of modern international criminal law, ensuring that the perpetrators of the Holocaust would be held accountable and setting a precedent for the continued evolution of justice.