Customer Reviews

Nuremberg Trials [VHS]

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The videotape pictured here was released in 1986 by a NY outfit called VIDEO TREASURES. Recorded in LP mode and without HiFi audio, the tape tracks stably because of oversized reel spindles. Audio has no high end and there's a slight hum in the first few minutes. The unrestored film reveals no severe edits or splices, yet in spots it's very dark. An unnamed British narrator also provides translations of Russian, French and German participants. Total runnning time: 57 minutes.


NUREMBERG TRIALS was produced in the USSR and released seven months after the first trial's conclusion. In the dock were the most prominent survivors of the Third Reich. Among them, former Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring, Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess, Wehrmacht Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, governor of Occupied Poland Hans Frank, Kriegsmarine leader Karl Dönitz, Minister of the Interior Wilhelm Frick, highest surviving SS chief Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Head of Oberkommando der Wehrmacht Wilhelm Keitel, former German chancellor Franz von Papen, Minister of Foreign Affairs Joachim von Ribbentrop, Minister of the Eastern Occupied Territories Alfred Rosenberg, race-baiting publisher of weekly newspaper 'Der Stürmer' Julius Streicher and architect and friend of Der Führer, Albert Speer. We are given brief bios of all defendants.

As expected, this Soviet documentary often details events of the 1941 invasion of Russia. We see prisoners, stolen livestock, scenes of Leningrad in flames, the widespead destruction of that city, and captured German film of building detonations. Worst are death camp ovens, heaps of corpses, bags of hair, mountains of gold teeth and dentures, untold thousands of stolen rings and jewelry, soap made from bodies, tanned human skin, and skeleton-like survivors of the camps.

At film's opening, Josef Goebbels is shown soon after his suicide and at its conclusion, many of the just-hung defendants, several with agonized expressions on their bloodied faces as they lie on the floor with ropes still around their necks. These graphic moments appear in no other Nuremberg documentary that I'm familiar with.


Despite its less-than-perfect transfer quality, the content of this hour is so compelling it's a must-see for all who are interested in WWII history. Highest recommendation.