"Once and for all condemn any manifestation of Nazism": experts on the historical significance of the film "Nuremberg"

The famous Nuremberg trials - the trial of the military leadership of Nazi Germany, the leaders of the Third Reich, war criminals and their accomplices - became an unprecedented historical and legal phenomenon that influenced the development of international criminal law.

But despite the fact that Nuremberg is known all over the world, cultural coverage of the event turned out to be rather scarce: the number of even documentaries (not to mention fiction) is small.

In the film by Nikolai Lebedev (“Legend No. 17”, “Crew”), released in March 2023, the events that took place at the end of the Great Patriotic War are shown in many ways.

The authors of the tape focus not only on the tribunal itself, but also on attempts to disrupt it - the tension in international relations between the allied countries was growing, and not all forces wanted justice.

According to a political observer, the former head of the Israeli service "Nativ" Yakov Kedmi, only the leader of the USSR was really interested in the Nuremberg trials.

“He (the Nuremberg trials.

), in essence, no one wanted.

Least of all did the British want him.

The French were generally not (decisive. -

) a factor.

And the Americans agreed to it, first of all - President Roosevelt, for their own reasons.

But most of all he wanted this process ... Stalin.

It was his idea, and it was very deep: to condemn once and for all any manifestation of Nazism, Nazi ideology and show the whole criminal essence of the Nazi regime, all its inhumanity, ”Kedmi emphasized in an interview with RT.

The expert noted that in order to “stigmatize all manifestations of Nazism, as the Nuremberg trials should have done, wars to destroy other peoples, other countries, for this now it is necessary to correctly illuminate and revive the atmosphere that reigned for a short time in process time.

Kedmi is sure that cinema is of great importance in this matter, especially documentary, or based on real events - like Lebedev's film.

“Everything that you hear from the screen was said either at the trial or on the sidelines of the trial.

Here it was impossible to deviate from the truth of life, ”TASS quotes the director of the film.

• Members of the International Military Tribunal from the USSR, Lieutenant Colonel Alexander Volchkov (left) and Major General of Justice Iona Nikitchenko in the meeting room during the Nuremberg Trials.

  December 1945.

  Germany

• RIA News

• © Viktor Kinelovsky

The key role in the Nuremberg Trials was played by the tough and professional actions of the Soviet prosecutors, and one of the final points was set by newsreel shots taken by front-line cameramen - they made it possible to reveal the terrible truth about Nazi concentration camps.

Terrible recordings from Auschwitz, Majdanek and other death camps dispelled the doubts of the military tribunal and the defendants, skillfully playing for time, could not escape the deserved punishment.

“The Nuremberg Tribunal established responsibility for crimes against humanity,” Sergey Solovyov, chief specialist of the RGASPI, a leading researcher at the Faculty of Political Science of Moscow State University, told RT, “for the first time it was declared and carried out in practice that even heads of state should be punished for crimes against humanity, regardless of his position.

And Nazism was condemned precisely as such a system, which at the highest level was criminal.”

As Alexander Zvyagintsev, co-author of the script for Nuremberg, notes in his book The Main Process of Humanity.

Reporting from the past.

Appeal to the Future”, today the facts and history of the fight against fascism are trying to turn on their heads the forces that want to revise the results of the Second World War.

They deliberately belittle the leading role of the USSR in the defeat of Germany, seeking to nullify the contribution of the country, at the cost of huge sacrifices, saved the world from Nazism. 

That is why films like Lebedev's Nuremberg are now not only important, but necessary, Kedmi believes.

"Better late than never.

This (the release of the film about Nuremberg.

) should have happened much earlier.

And more voluminous.

But if it was not done before, now its relevance is increasing.

The more the danger of the revival of Nazism and fascism in their most vile forms increases, the greater the need and relevance to oppose them with a correct, healthy, fair attitude based on completely recent history, ”Kedmi said in an interview with RT.

The expert also noted the great importance of cinema, which will help people understand "what the Nuremberg trial is, how it was born, how it was interfered with, how they tried to pervert it."

• Nuremberg Trials.

  November 20, 1945 - October 1, 1946.

  Former leaders of Nazi Germany are in the dock.

• RIA News

• © Evgeny Khaldey

The point of view is shared by Sergei Solovyov.

In his opinion, if the theme of the film is of interest to the viewer, he may wish to dive deeper into the material.

What matters most is the quality of the film.

“I think this is important, and most importantly, you need to do it well.

Still, a significant part of people will not read historical books, even popular science ones.

And if he wants to read them, then only after he gets an aesthetic, artistic, emotional impression, ”says Solovyov.

The topic raised by Nikolai Lebedev in Nuremberg is more relevant than ever in today's conditions, says Alexander Shkolnik, director of the Victory Museum, deputy secretary of the Civic Chamber of the Russian Federation.

He is convinced that “the topic of crimes against humanity today acquires a new sound and modern meaning, given the special military operation, the situation on the front line, the egregious facts of the genocide of the civilian population in the Donbass and the inhuman behavior of the national battalions and units of the Armed Forces of Ukraine operating there.”

“I am sure that these crimes, echoing the monstrous atrocities of Hitler’s henchmen, which became public and were convicted thanks to the Nuremberg Trials, will also receive a legal assessment and modern war criminals will suffer their well-deserved punishment.

The time of the “Second Nuremberg” will come soon, ”Shkolnik emphasized in an interview with RT.

The painting by Nikolai Lebedev, based on the script for the novel “Forever and Ever” by Alexander Zvyagintsev, was announced in 2018, and it was originally planned to be released in 2020, on the occasion of the 75th anniversary of victory in the Great Patriotic War.

The roles were played by Sergey Kempo, Lyubov Aksyonova, Sergey Bezrukov, Igor Petrenko, Evgeny Mironov and others.

More than 700 people took part in the shooting of some scenes of the picture at the same time.

Copies of real material evidence presented at the trial were used as props, and more than 1.2 thousand costumes were made for the picture.