Nuremberg (miniseries)

Nuremberg
Genre	Docudrama
Written by	David W. Rintels
Directed by	Yves Simoneau
Starring	Alec Baldwin Brian Cox Christopher Plummer Jill Hennessy Matt Craven Colm Feore Christopher Heyerdahl Michael Ironside Max von Sydow
Composer	Richard Grégoire
Country of origin	Canada United States
Original language	English
Production
Producers	Mychèle Boudrias Ian McDougall
Cinematography	Alain Dostie
Editor	Yves Langlois
Running time	180 minutes
Production companies	Alliance Atlantis CTV British American Entertainment Cypress Films Les Productions La Fête Inc.
Original release
Network	TNT (United States) CTV (Canada)
Release	July 16 (2000-07-16) – July 17, 2000 (2000-07-17)

Nuremberg is a 2000 Canadian-American television docudrama in 2 parts, based on the book Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial by Joseph E. Persico, that tells the story of the Nuremberg trials. Actual footage of camps, taken from the documentary Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps (1945), was included in this miniseries.

Plot

Part one

At the close of World War II, Hermann Göring surrenders to the United States and enjoys the hospitality of a U.S. Army Air Force base. Samuel Rosenman, acting on the orders of U.S. President Harry S. Truman, recruits U.S. Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson to prepare a war crimes tribunal against Göring and the surviving Nazi leadership. Göring, Albert Speer and others are arrested for war crimes and imprisoned in a U.S. Army stockade at Bad Mondorf in Luxembourg. Jackson, his assistant Elsie Douglas, and his prosecution team fly to Germany. Psychologist Gustave Gilbert arrives at the stockade with prisoner Hans Frank, who has attempted suicide.

Jackson negotiates with Allied representatives Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe, General Iona Nikitchenko and Henri Donnedieu de Vabres to ensure a unified prosecution. Jackson selects the Nuremberg Palace of Justice for the site of the trials and reconstruction work commences. Göring and the others are stripped of their rank and transferred to the prison in Nuremberg, where they come into conflict with the guards under the command of the strict Colonel Burton C. Andrus. Major Airey Neave serves Göring, Speer and the others with their indictments. U.S. judge Francis Biddle arrives to take control of the court but reluctantly passes the honour at Jackson's insistence. Following the suicide of prisoner Robert Ley, round-the-clock watches are posted and Gilbert is appointed prisoner liaison.

Sir Geoffrey Lawrence as presiding judge opens the trial with all defendants pleading not guilty, and Jackson gives a stirring opening statement. At lunch a jovial Göring holds court over the other defendants while Speer begins to show signs of remorse. Maxwell-Fyfe puts forward an emotive eyewitness account of the Nazis' genocidal policies toward Jews and others, while Jackson reads out dry documentation. As the court begins to tire of Jackson's meticulous approach, Maxwell-Fyfe urges pushing on to the witness interviews, which reveal the horrors of the concentration camps. The court is shaken by documentary footage of the camps; even Göring appears unsettled.

Part two

Speer explains Göring's dominance to Gilbert and insists that his control over the others must be broken. Göring takes the stand and begins using it to speak to the German people. Jackson, at Gilbert's suggestion, has Göring isolated. Under cross-examination, Göring outmaneuvers and humiliates Jackson, who later accuses Biddle of giving Göring free rein in court. Douglas talks Jackson out of tendering his resignation, and the two share a kiss. Under advice from Maxwell-Fyfe, Jackson returns to the courtroom to confront Göring with evidence of his crimes against the Jews and successfully dismisses the defendant’s denials.

At a Christmas party, the German housekeeper refuses to serve the Soviets, but Douglas rescues the situation before slipping away with Jackson. Gilbert visits the defendants and, under Jackson's advice, attempts to convince them to take responsibility for their crimes. Andrus relaxes the prison rules for Christmas, and Göring shares a friendly drink with his guard, Lt. Tex Wheelis. The cross-examination of the defendants intensifies and the defence calls Rudolf Höss, who casually reveals the horrors of Auschwitz. Speer is implicated in the enslavement of foreign workers by fellow defendant Fritz Sauckel and in response accepts collective responsibility for the crimes of the Nazi regime.

Gilbert interviews Göring's wife Emmy, who reveals that Hitler had ordered them all executed, which led to the family's surrender. Jackson is moved by Gilbert's summation of his examinations – that the source of the evil behind Nazi Germany was a complete lack of empathy – to give an impassioned closing statement. Göring uses his final statement to condemn the trial, and is sentenced along with several others to death by hanging. Speer uses his final statement to commend the tribunal and is sentenced to 20 years in prison. Göring commits suicide after his request to be executed by firing squad is denied. Andrus presides over the executions of the others while Jackson and Douglas head home.

Cast

• Alec Baldwin as Supreme Court Justice Robert H. Jackson
• Brian Cox as Hermann Göring
• Christopher Plummer as Sir David Maxwell Fyfe
• Jill Hennessy as Elsie Douglas
• Matt Craven as Capt. Gustave Gilbert
• Christopher Heyerdahl as Ernst Kaltenbrunner
• Roger Dunn as Col. Robert Storey
• David McIlwraith as Col. John Amen
• Christopher Shyer as Col. Telford Taylor
• Hrothgar Mathews as Thomas J. Dodd
• Herbert Knaup as Albert Speer
• Frank Moore as Hans Frank
• Frank Fontaine as Wilhelm Keitel
• Raymond Cloutier as Karl Dönitz
• Bill Corday as Alfred Jodl
• Ken Kramer as Fritz Sauckel
• Max von Sydow as Samuel Rosenman
• Mark Walker as Gen. Carl Spaatz
• Sam Stone as Julius Streicher
• Douglas O'Keeffe as Baldur von Schirach
• Benoit Girard as Joachim von Ribbentrop
• James Bradford as Hjalmar Schacht
• Frank Burns as Wilhelm Frick
• Erwin Potitt as Walther Funk
• Tom Rack as Hans Fritzsche
• Roc LaFortune as Rudolf Hess
• Colm Feore as Rudolf Höß
• Dennis St. John as Franz von Papen
• Griffith Brewer as Konstantin von Neurath
• Gabriel Gascon as Erich Raeder
• Julien Poulin as Dr. Robert Ley
• Alain Fournier as Alfred Rosenberg
• René Gagnon as Arthur Seyss-Inquart
• Len Cariou as Francis Biddle
• David Francis as Geoffrey Lawrence, 1st Baron Oaksey
• Len Doncheff as Gen. Iona Nikitchenko
• Paul Hébert as Henri Donnedieu de Vabres
• Michael Ironside as Col. Burton C. Andrus
• Charlotte Gainsbourg as Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier
• Geoffrey Pounsett as Maj. Airey Neave
• Steve Adams as Brig. Gen. Lucius D. Clay
• Paul Hopkins as Capt. Dan Kiley
• Susan Glover as Emmy Göring
• Scott Gibson as Lt. Tex Wheelis

Reception

In the United States, the miniseries aired on the network TNT, where it received the highest-ever viewership ratings for a basic cable miniseries up to that point.

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominee(s)	Result	Ref.
2001	American Cinema Editors Awards	Best Edited Episode from a Television Mini-Series	Yves Langlois (for "Part 2")	Nominated
	Artios Awards	Best Casting for Mini-Series	Iris Grossman	Nominated
	Gemini Awards	Best Dramatic Miniseries	Peter Sussman, Gerald W. Abrams, Alec Baldwin, Mychèle Boudrias, Jon Cornick, Suzanne Girard, and Ian McDougall	Won
		Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries	Alec Baldwin	Nominated
		Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Supporting Role in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries	Brian Cox	Won
		Best Direction in a Dramatic Program or Miniseries	Yves Simoneau	Nominated
		Best Costume Design	Mario Davignon	Nominated
		Best Achievement in Makeup	Micheline Trépanier and Carl Fullerton	Nominated
		Best Original Music Score for a Program or Miniseries	Richard Grégoire	Nominated
		Best Photography in a Dramatic Program or Series	Alain Dostie	Nominated
		Best Production Design or Art Direction in a Dramatic Program or Series	Guy Lalande and Frances Calder	Won
		Best Overall Sound in a Dramatic Program or Series	Claude La Haye, Lou Solakofski, Orest Sushko, and Ian Rankin	Nominated
		Best Sound Editing in a Dramatic Program or Series	Paul Shikata, Donna G. Powell, Rick Cadger, and Ronayne Higginson	Nominated
		Best Visual Effects	Noel Hooper, Mark Fordham, Robin Mitchell, and Michael Pieczonka	Won
	Golden Globe Awards	Best Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television		Nominated
		Best Actor in a Miniseries or Motion Picture Made for Television	Alec Baldwin	Nominated
			Brian Cox	Nominated
	Golden Reel Awards	Best Sound Editing – Television Mini-Series – Dialogue & ADR	Richard Cadger and Ronayne Higginson	Won
		Best Sound Editing – Television Mini-Series – Effects & Foley	Richard Cadger and Paul Shikata	Nominated
	Online Film & Television Association Awards	Best Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Supporting Actor in a Motion Picture or Miniseries	Brian Cox	Nominated
		Best Direction of a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Writing of a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Ensemble in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Costume Design in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Editing in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Lighting in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Music in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best New Theme Song in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Production Design in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
		Best Sound in a Motion Picture or Miniseries		Nominated
	Primetime Emmy Awards	Outstanding Miniseries	Peter Alan Sussman, Suzanne Girard, Jonathan Cornick, Alec Baldwin, Gerald W. Abrams, Ian McDougall, and Mychèle Boudrias	Nominated
		Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Miniseries or a Movie	Brian Cox	Won
		Outstanding Single-Camera Sound Mixing for a Miniseries or a Movie	Lou Solakofski, Orest Sushko, and Ian Rankin (for "Part 2")	Won
		Outstanding Sound Editing for a Miniseries, Movie or a Special	Paul Shikata, Richard Cadger, Ronayne Higginson, and Donna Powell (for "Part 2")	Nominated
	Producers Guild of America Awards	David L. Wolper Award for Outstanding Producer of Long-Form Television		Nominated
	Satellite Awards	Best Motion Picture Made for Television		Nominated
		Best Actress in a Miniseries or a Motion Picture Made for Television	Jill Hennessy	Won
	Screen Actors Guild Awards	Outstanding Performance by a Male Actor in a Miniseries or Television Movie	Alec Baldwin	Nominated
			Brian Cox	Nominated

Historical inaccuracies

In the film, Göring, his wife, and daughter drove and surrendered to an unnamed American air corps base in Germany on May 12, 1945. In reality, Göring, after sending an aide to Brigadier General Robert I. Stack in which he offered to surrender to Dwight D. Eisenhower personally, was discovered and arrested in a traffic jam near Radstadt by a detachment of the Seventh United States Army, which was sent through the German lines to find him and bring him to a secure American position, on May 6, 1945.

Wilhelm Keitel was described in the film as an admiral during the defendants' sentencing. He was in fact a field marshal and would not have been identified with naval rank. However, he is correctly addressed as field marshal in other parts of the film.

In the film, Jackson describes the Nuremberg's Justice Palace as "the same building where Nuremberg Laws were decreed to deprive all the German Jews all of their rights". In reality, the Nuremberg Laws were introduced by the Reichstag at a special meeting at the annual Nuremberg Rally of the NSDAP. Nuremberg's Justice Palace was, as it has always been, a regional court for the local area and the building had no association with the annual Party Rally during the Nazi era.

In the film, Robert Ley was shown to have committed suicide before the trial even began. In reality, Ley committed suicide three days after receiving the indictment, on October 24, 1945. However, similarly to what was depicted in the film, Ley actually committed suicide by strangling himself with a noose that was made by his towel and was fastened to the toilet pipe in his prison cell.

Justice Jackson is portrayed as initially failing in his cross-examination of Gӧring and emerging triumphant on the second day. In reality, the cross-examination was a disaster and severely damaged Jackson's reputation. This situation was recovered by Maxwell Fyfe.

The verdicts and sentences were pronounced together with all defendants present. In reality, verdicts and sentences were pronounced separately and the defendants were called one at a time into the courtroom to learn their sentence. Andrus was not present at the executions.

When the defendants were indicted by Major Neave they all made oral statements. In reality, these statements were collected by Captain Gustave Gilbert. He asked the defendants to write their first reactions on a copy of the indictments.

In the film, Albert Speer was arrested when he was giving a lecture to American soldiers. In reality, Speer was arrested together with Karl Dönitz and Alfred Jodl in Flensburg where they had set up a provisional government.

In the film, Captain Gilbert is graciously given the right to talk to the prisoners by Col. Andrus in exchange for a library and an exercise field. In reality, Gilbert was specifically appointed to talk to the prisoners by the US military. The idea was that Andrus was to be informed by Gilbert about the state of mind of the prisoners.

The tribunal is depicted as having four judges. In reality, there were eight, a senior and a junior from each of the four Allied powers.

In the film, Göring's wife and daughter visit him in prison together shortly before his death, but in reality, only his wife was present at that final visit. Also, Göring's suicide is discovered in the film when the guards come for Joachim von Ribbentrop, but in reality Göring himself was to be executed first. Ribbentrop was not sentenced to execution until after Göring's suicide had already been discovered.

At the executions, the condemned state their names on the gallows and make their final statements in English. In reality, the condemned said their names at the bottom of the steps to the gallows and spoke in German, with an interpreter on the gallows. In addition, all of the executions are portrayed as being carried out correctly. In reality, some of the hangings were reportedly botched as not all of the executed Nazis fell with enough force to break the neck, and the trap door was too small causing bleeding head injuries to some of the men, as shown in pictures of the bodies. Only one unpainted gallows is shown with two trap doors and nooses in the film, but in reality there were three black-painted gallows in the gymnasium. Two were in use, with one as a spare.

The executions happened in the depth of night – not in daylight as in the film – and press photographers were not allowed in to witness the hangings themselves. Hermann Göring is also seen killing himself minutes before the executions, rather than hours.

The executions of Wilhelm Frick, Alfred Rosenberg, and Arthur Seyss-Inquart are not shown.

Streaming

In 2017, parts 1 & 2 were released online on Canada Media Fund's Encore+ YouTube channel.

See also

• Judgment at Nuremberg

External links

• Nuremberg at IMDb
• Nuremberg at Rotten Tomatoes