Nuremberg (12A)

 

Anthony Quinn
Thursday 14 June 2012 22:17 BST
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Stuart Schulberg's filmed document of the 1945-46 trial of the Nazi hierarchy at Nuremberg, partly damaged and lost, has been restored by his daughter Sandra.

The evidence it adduces isn't new, but it is still shocking: footage of the ghetto liquidations, of the camps, of the executions, was now shown in the courtroom to momentous effect.

As US Chief Prosecutor Jackson says in his opening statement, "The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant and so devastating, that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored, because it cannot survive their being repeated".

It is horribly fascinating to watch the 20 or so accused in the dock listening on headphones as their crimes are enumerated. Even the verdicts are startling: while 12 were sentenced to hang, three of the leaders were acquitted. It was not enough, clearly – but what on earth could have been?

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