[dramatic horn music]
- This is the last of four programs on the work
of Pare Lorentz, the American documentary filmmaker.
At the end of World War Two,
Mr. Lorentz was chief of film, theater,
and music of the Civilian Affairs Division
of the War Department in charge of occupied countries.
In the fall of 1946,
Mr. Lorentz was asked by General Clay
to try to put together a film
on the Nuremberg trials which would be shown
to the German people to combat the attempt
to dismiss the crimes of the Nazi regime
as exaggerated or merely the propaganda of the victors.
- Professor. - Lorentz.
- Good to see you again.
- Well today we're going to see
and talk about the Nuremberg trial film.
Organizing a material like that
must've been quite a tremendous problem.
- Well, we had captured footage scattered all over Europe.
When I went to work the combat troops and OSS
had collected several hundred thousand feet of film
which was used as evidence film
at the Nuremberg trials itself.
It was to try to identify the defendants
in actual locations in various parts
of the conquered territory.
And we in turn just sent the scouting team.
We found film in hangers and every place
in Europe and finally collected about 2,000,000 feet
of film of which 500,000 feet roughly
was the basic footage
including our newsreel footage of the trials
and the Nazi's own footage that they had collected
and made over a period of years.
- And also the footage on the trials themselves.
That must have been a tremendous amount of stuff.
- It was, and it was too bad
the way the camera was set up there
that they couldn't do a more effective work
but they did have the tape.
It was done like the United Nations.
It was a bilingual recording so
that we did put the German prisoner's own language
which will make this movie a little bit fuzzy at times
because you'll find a defendant starting in German
and then we pull down and you'll hear the English over it.
But we did that to prove the authenticity
that this were the real voices of the men involved.
- What was the main principle that you worked
on in organizing it and putting it together?
- Well, General Clay had asked that we do this job
as a legal document as far as possible.
And I went to see Supreme Court Justice, Robert Jackson
who had been the chief prosecutor at the trials.
He was dubious that we could take-
Well, let's see.
57 volumes are the official publication now,
the trial evidence, but there were tons
of documents and he didn't see how we could organize it.
It was my feeling
that the very way the indictments read
the starting with conspiracy and ending
with crimes against humanity provided
a grim, terrible, Wagner-ended tragedy.
So that was the first outline.
That's what the trial was.
And the second thing that we felt
in that we would not take photographs
of evidence that the court rejected.
And it seemed to us that
if you had four judges unanimously agreeing
on guilt that we would try to find the film
that matched that judgment.
So there was much footage that was extraordinary
but because of legal reasons
the court hadn't allowed it.
So we just discarded it.
- And when it was finished the film was shown to Germans
in German theaters all over the country?
- That was the purpose of it.
General Clay ordered it shown at his division
under General McCourt to all the major cities
and we had counter-intelligence
in many places following the audience out
to see whether we were achieving our purpose.
And I recall vividly one central intelligence man had said
that this German carpenter and his family went
into a beer hall and he really literally wept
into his bear and said, "I hadn't up 'til now
"believed it was true."
So we [faintly speaking] of its purpose.
- I met the same reaction in Germany myself as somebody who
after going to visit one of the concentration camps
just said, "I'm ashamed to have to say
"that I'm a German."
The same.
Of course it's hard to judge at this distance
how real this reaction is.
Certainly there was a lot of evasion,
which this film was designed to combat but I understand
that the German television itself has revived some
of this material and is showing it.
- Well, I hope they have.
I know they're showing what's called
a series called "The Rise of the Third Reich,"
and the occupying power
has put together all the footage we had
and exchange it in the form of negatives.
I do want to say one thing of the series
you've all been kind enough to do up to now.
I was totally responsible for word production and editing.
We sent this movie to Germany with Stewart Schlumberg
and a couple of cutters
and we had a studio with fine equipment there.
And German Marks it was easier to hire people.
So Stuart finished it.
This movie I never got to edit into English.
This is just the old German work print made
into 16 millimeter film,
but he totally finished it in Germany.
And this was very fuzzy anyway but it's not
a very good movie job in the sense of American audiences
you know tightening and scoring.
- Well a lot of the material is a pretty rough.
- Well I think we should warn the audience.
This movie has been censored.
We took about 30 minutes out of it.
And this censored-censored movie is out of four hours
and it's rough but it's probably no rougher
than the werewolves around the corner in the movie theaters
or some of the things on television on the other stations.
The only thing that's rough about this
this happened and it's about fellow human beings.
- Now we will see the film
[dramatic music]
- [Narrator] It was 1945.
The war was over.
Slowly, painfully life came back
to the ruins of Europe.
The war was over but there was no peace.
Despair crouched over the continent.
Hopelessness circled Europe like a bird of prey.
Why?
What were the forces?
What were the issues in a war that turned nations
into rubble heaps and populations into beggars?
The people wanted the answers.
They wanted to know what happened and why.
In the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg
the people of the world came together
for there was at the international military tribunal
the judge defeats Nazi war criminals.
Justice Robert H. Jackson
the chief American prosecutor makes
the opening statement for the prosecution.
- The privilege of opening the first trial in history.
- [Narrator] The privilege of opening
the first trial in history for crimes against
the peace of the world
imposes a grave responsibility.
The wrongs, which we seek to condemn and punish,
have been so calculated.
So malignant and so devastating
that civilization cannot tolerate there being ignored
because it cannot survive there being repeated.
That four great nations
flushed with the victory and stung with injury
stay the hand of vengeance and voluntarily
submit their captive enemies to the judgment of
the law is one of the most significant tributes
that power has ever paid to reason.
This inquest represents the practical effort of four
of the most mighty of nations with the support
of 15 more to utilize international law
to meet the greatest menace of our time, aggressive war.
The common sense of mankind demands
that law shall not stop with the punishment
of petty crimes by little people.
It must also reach men who possess themselves of great power
and who make deliberate and concerted use of it to set
in motion evils which leave no home
in the world untouched.
In the prisoner's dock sit 20-odd broken men reproached
by the humiliation of those
they have led almost as bitterly
as by the desolation of those they have attacked.
Their personal capacity for evil is forever pat.
Merely as individuals their fate is
of little consequence to the world.
What makes this inquest significant is that
these prisoners represent sinister influences
that will lurk in the world long after their bodies
have returned to dust.
They are living symbols of the arrogance and cruelty
of power, of racial hatred,
of terrorism and violence.
They are symbols of fierce nationalism
and of militarism of intrigue.
And war making, which have embroiled Europe generation
after generation crushing its manhood, destroying its home,
and impoverishing its life.
They have so identified themselves
with the philosophies they can see
and with the forces they directed.
But any tenderness to them is
a victory and an encouragement to all the evils
which are attached to their names.
What these men stand for
we will patiently and temperately disclose.
We will give you undeniable proof of incredible events.
The catalog of crimes will omit nothing.
It may be that these men of troubled conscience
do not regard a trial as a favor,
but they do have a fair opportunity
to defend themselves a favor
which they rarely extended to their fellow countrymen.
We will not ask you to convict these men
on the testimony of their foes.
There is no count of the indictments that cannot
be proved by books and records.
And we will show you the defendants on film.
You will see their own conduct
and hear their own voices
as they re-enact for you from the screen
some of the events in the course of the conspiracy.
The acts of the defendants have bathed the world in blood.
And set civilization back a century.
They have subjected their European neighbors
to every spoliation and deprivation.
They have brought the German people
to the Lord's ebb of wretchedness.
They have stirred hatreds
and incited domestic violence on every continent.
These are the things that stand
in the dark shoulder to shoulder with these prisoners.
The real complaining party
at your bar is civilization.
- The United States of America
present count one of the indictments
that all the defendants participated
as organizers or accomplices in a common plan
or conspiracy to commit crimes against peace,
war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
- The aims of this conspiracy were open and notorious.
- [Narrator] The aims of this conspiracy
were open and notorious.
It was far different from any other conspiracy ever unfolded
before a court of justice.
[man speaking foreign language]
Its history is the history of the Nazi party
which grew from the brawling streets of Munich in the '20s.
And from the beginning
Adolf Hitler and his followers were committed
to the use of any means whether or not
they were legal or honorable.
Their aim was the highest degree of control
over the German community.
Their intentions were blatantly put forth in "Mein Kampf"
and the party program.
And they preached their favorite doctrine up
and down the land.
They said that persons of a so-called German blood were
a master race entitled to subjugate
or even exterminate other races.
They said that the German should be ruled
under the Fuhrer [speaking foreign language]
or leadership principle by which each sub leader
owed unconditional obedience to his superior.
And so on right up to Adolf Hitler.
They said that war was a noble
and necessary activity of Germany.
And they said that the Nazi party alone had
the right to rule Germany
and the right to destroy the party's enemy.
Their rise to power was based on fraud, deceit,
intimidation, and coercion.
Culminating finally in terror and flame.
[crowds cheering]
Into that flame went the democratic constitution
of a Weimar Republic and the freedom of the German people.
For the fires set by the Nazis extended
to the very Reichstag.
Hans Gisevius a witness who formerly held
a high position in the Berlin police administration tells
of his investigation of the Reichstag fire.
[man speaking German]
To speak briefly and to state the facts.
First of all, he ascertains that quite generally
Hitler had stated the wish
for a large-scale propaganda campaign.
Goebbels took on the job of making the necessary proposal.
And it was Goebbels who first thought
of setting the Reichstag on fire.
A group of 10 reliable SA men was made ready.
And now Goring was informed
about every detail of the plan.
As was expected from Goring
and he gave his insurances that he would do
so that the police would be instructed
while still suffering from shock to take up a false trail.
Using the Reichstag fire as a pretext for seizing power,
the Nazi conspirators lost no time in tearing Germany away
from a policy of peace.
Late in 1933, they led their nation out
of the disarmament conference,
quit the League of Nations,
and embarked on a course of secret rearmament.
By 1934 the new armaments program designed
by defendants Goring, Schacht, and Funk
was going full blast.
German industry was again turning out the tools of war.
The plants hum and one year later Goring could announce
"From the strong foundation
"of the national socialist ideology today arises once again
"the German armed forces."
A few days later General von Blomberg announced
the new law for compulsory military service.
The law was signed by defendants Goring, Hess,
Frank, Frick, Schacht, and von Neurath.
The training began.
[military drums and whistles]
Finally in the spring of 1936
the Nazis sent their new troops marching
into the [faintly speaking].
[man speaking in German]
- [Narrator] My Fuhrer on March seventh 1936 soldiers
of the army which was created by order of the Fuhrer
crossed the sacred river of German history
and occupied that form again.
They pledged the Fuhrer whatever decisions he may make
unbreakable faith and obedience
and they vowed to follow him
and to prove their sincerity
by their never-ending love for Germany.
The columns grew longer.
The sound of boots grew louder
on the streets of Nuremberg but Hitler said,
[man speaking German]
"The German people is not a people
"which welcome the war today, tomorrow,
"or the day after tomorrow.
"That is not in the character of the Germans.
"He's by nature not only peaceful and peace-loving
"by above all conciliatory.
"He wants to work.
"In our country are millions of peasants
"who want to till their fields.
"They want to bring in their harvest.
"There are millions of workers
"they want to preform their work."
But the Nazi conspirators
in the name of Lebensraum continued
to plot new aggressions against peace.
In November, 1937, Hitler called a special meeting
with defendants Goring, von Neurath, and Raeder,
and Generals von Blomberg and von Fritsch.
The meeting was secret.
But Lieutenant Colonel Darges,
Hitler's personal adjutant,
faithfully recorded Hitler's words.
The German question can be solved only by way of force.
For the improvement of our military political position
it must be our first aim
in every case of entanglement by war,
to Czechoslovakia and Austria simultaneously.
The annexation of the two States to Germany, militarily,
and politically would constitute a considerable relief.
This meeting set the stage
for Nazi expansion and act one came only three months later
at [faintly speaking] where
defendant von Papen finally engineered
a meeting between Schuschnigg
the Austrian chancellor and Hitler
and defendant Keitel and von Ribbentrop.
Guido Schmidt who was the Austrian foreign minister
at the time also attended the meeting
and now he takes the witness stand.
Did Hitler demand that Seyss-Inquart
be made minister of security?
That was one of the demands on their program.
Were there are also demands made with regard
to currency exchange and customs?
There were demands of an economic nature of every kind.
Hitler told you that you had until February 15th
to accept his terms didn't he?
And he told you that if you didn't do so
he would use force?
The ultimatum as Hitler stated it was
that he intended as early as February
to march into Austria and that for
the last time he was prepared to postpone it.
Faced by these threats
the Austrians carried out all of Hitler's demands.
[triumphant music]
But the Nazi conspirators weren't satisfied.
A month later when Schuschnigg announced the plebiscite
on Austrian independence Hitler and defendant Goring
demanded the plebiscite be canceled.
Another ultimatum demanded Schuschnigg
resign within three hours.
Fearing invasion Schuschnigg resigned
and finally defendant Seyss-Inquart
was appointed the new chancellor of Austria.
That same day Goring in Berlin called Keppler
of the German embassy in Vienna.
The conversation was transcribed.
Keppler spoke first.
Well we represent the government now.
Yes, that's it.
You are the government.
Wilhelm Keppler.
The [faintly speaking].
Take the notes.
The provisional Austrian government sends
to the German government the urgent request
to support it in its task to help prevent this.
For this service it asks the German government
to send German troops as soon as possible.
Well seeing this as I'm walking through the streets.
Everything has collapsed with the provisional group.
I think I was the only one who [faintly speaking].
Yes, and our troops will cross the border.
[menacing music]
The act was written joining Austria to Germany
and signed by defendant Seyss-Inquart,
Goring, Frick, von Ribbentrop, and Hess.
Hitler of course had said-
"Germany neither intends nor wishes to interfere
"in the internal affairs of Austria.
"For the next Austria [mumbles].
"21st of May, 1935 Adolf Hitler."
The curtain fell on act one
but already the Nazi conspirators prepared for act two.
With this 1938 memorandum from Hitler to his high command.
"It is my unalterable decision to smash Czechoslovakia
"by military action in the near future.
"It is the job of the political leaders to bring
"about the politically and militarily suitable moment."
Konrad Hemlein was designated political leader.
The plan was labeled operation green
and defendant Jodl issued another memorandum reading.
"Operation Green will be set in motion by means
"of an incident in Czechoslovakia which will give Germany
"provocation for military intervention.
"The fixing of the exact time
"for this incident is of the utmost importance."
A few months later, Germany signed the Munich pact
with England, France, and Italy.
This pact involved the transfer
of the Sudetenland to Germany.
The conspirators called it their last territorial demand.
But before the ink was dry
they were making other plans for Hitler's goal was
the complete absorption of Czechoslovakia.
And now the Czech president Hacha was called to a meeting
with Hitler and defendants Goring,
von Ribbentrop, and Keitel.
They gave him the ultimatum.
Bohemia and Moravia would be incorporated
into Germany immediately or Czechoslovakia would be invaded.
And Prague destroyed from the air.
Hacha was helpless.
Defendants von Ribbentrop and Frick
signed the decree making Bohemia
and Moravia a German protectorate.
Speaking some months before about
the Sudentenland however Hitler had said-
"I have promised and repeated here
"that there would be no more territorial problems
"for Germany in Europe.
"I would be no longer interested in the Czech state
"and I will guarantee it.
"26th September 1938, Adolf Hitler."
[uplifting music]
Now according to more of his adjutant notes,
Hitler reviewed the Nazi plan
of violence and treachery from 1934 to '39.
The notes read-
"First rearmament in 1935
"the introduction of compulsory military service.
"After that militarization of the Rhineland.
"One year later, Austria again.
"It brought about a considerable reinforcement of the Reich.
"The next step was Bohemia and Moravia
"then followed the erection of the protectorate.
"And was that the basis for action against Poland was late.
"Basically I did not organize the armed forces
"nor enough to strike.
"The decision to strike was always in me."
In the name of the United Kingdom of Great Britain
and Northern Ireland Sir [faintly speaking] presents count
two crimes against peace charging
that all the defendants participated in
the planning and waging of Wars of aggression,
wars in violation of international treaties,
agreements, and assurances.
- The first step was the Rhineland
and then the next step was-
- [Narrator] The Rhineland is occupied.
Austria and Czechoslovakia are seized by Germany.
And now the Nazi conspirators turned to the next problem.
The conquest of Poland.
Again, an adjutant Lieutenant Colonel Schulz
transcribed Hitler's words.
"The solution of the problem demands courage.
"It is impossible without invasion of foreign States
"or a tax on foreign properties.
"Therefore, no question of sparing Poland
"and we are left with the decision to attack Poland
"at the first suitable opportunity.
"We cannot expect the repetition of the Czech affair.
"There will be war."
Meanwhile, according to their well-established practice,
the conspirators stirred up the daunting issue
the furnished frontier incidents
which could justify an attack on Poland.
Then on 23 August the Nazis signed
their nonaggression pact with Russia.
Then Hitler told his high command.
"Now Poland is in the position in which I want them.
"I'm only afraid that at the last moment
"some will make a proposal for mediation."
Appeals were made twice by the Pope
and by President Roosevelt.
[people cheering]
Finally Mr. Roosevelt asked that assurance
be given him that the German armed forces will not attack
and above all not invade in the territory
or possession of the following independent nations."
He then named that those coming into question.
[man speaking in German]
[bomb exploding]
On one September 1939
the Nazis sent air smashing into Poland
and into a new world war.
For France and England
faithful to their mutual assistance pact with Poland
immediately declared war on Germany.
The Luftwaffe opened mass attacks
on Polish towns and cities.
And Hitler according to notes said,
"Destruction of Poland in the foreground.
"I shall give a propaganda score starting the war.
"Nevermind whether it is plausible or not.
"Have no pity, take a brutal attitude."
But as usual before the attack on Poland
Hitler told the world-
"During the troubles months at the past year,
"the friendship between Poland and Germany has been one
"of the reassuring factors in the political life of Europe.
"30th of January 1939, Adolf Hitler.
The path of destruction started in Poland.
But soon it led North and South across all Europe
and each new regression was based on Hitler's principle that
in war victory not rights is what matters.
"Non-aggression treaty.
"It is firmly resolved to maintain peace
"between Denmark and Germany in all circumstance.
"31st of May, 1939, Ribbentrop."
But on nine April, 1940 German troops invaded Denmark.
The German Reich Government is determined
in the view of the friendlier relations
which exist between Norway and Germany
under no circumstance to prejudice the inviolability
and integrity of the Norwegian state.
Second of September, 1939.
But on nine April, 1940
German troops invaded Norway.
[dramatic music]
[bombs exploding]
[soldiers marching]
"I assure the government of Belgium, Holland,
"and Luxembourg, that Germany
"will not violate their neutrality.
"Sixth of October, 1939, Adolf Hitler."
But on May 10th, 1940
German troops invaded Belgium, Holland, and Luxembourg.
"The firmly established reliable relationship
"of Germany to Yugoslavia
"will represent an element of calm
"to our nerve-wracked continent.
"This peace is the goal of all who were disposed
"to perform really constructive work.
"First of June, 1939, Adolf Hitler."
But on six April, 1941, German troops invaded Yugoslavia.
[bombs exploding]
These criminal methods of the Nazi conspirators
brought them early success.
And by 1941, they had most of Europe under their heels.
Now an evil ambition for power and more power drove them on.
But two of the world's mightiest nations,
the United States and Soviet Russia remained
to block the Nazi drive for world supremacy.
They had to be dealt with firmly immediately.
And now Germany asked for cooperation from her full partner
in aggression to the East
and from her junior partner to the South.
In Berlin, they drew up the Axis Pact
the blueprint of the new order and parceled
out the continents of the world for axis domination.
Italy was to get the Mediterranean sphere.
Japan was to get the orient
and to Germany would go the rest of the world.
In June, 1941 in violation
of their nonaggression pact,
the Nazis sent [faintly speaking]
deep into Soviet territory.
According to military plans long made.
As usual there was no declaration of war.
[canons blasting]
Hitler had said, "Today Germany, tomorrow the world
"and this was tomorrow."
Land warfare in the East, air warfare in the west.
For now defendant Goring
were thrown with full force against the people
and cities of Britain.
Hitler after all had told the Reich,
"I will flat out there."
[guns blasting]
And then on seven December, 1941
the Japanese keeping their end
of an infamous bargain struck at the United States
also without declaration of war.
Japanese bombs rained on Pearl Harbor
spreading war finally to the Pacific.
The new order was on the march.
World War Two flamed around the globe.
- [Announcer] The Pare Lawrence film "Nuremberg"
will continue after station identification.
This is N.E.T.
National Educational Television.
