DEFENDANTS ALBERT KESSELRING AND HERMANN GOERING ARE QUESTIONED AT THE NUREMBERG TRIBUNAL [Allocated Title]

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  • Title: DEFENDANTS ALBERT KESSELRING AND HERMANN GOERING ARE QUESTIONED AT THE NUREMBERG TRIBUNAL [Allocated Title]
  • Film Number: NWT 28
  • Other titles: NUREMBERG WAR CRIMES TRIAL COVERAGE, 1946 [Allocated Series Title]
  • Summary: Albert Kesselring and Hermann Goering testify.
  • Description: Reel 1: Close up of the dock with Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Alfred Rosenberg, Baldur von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel, Alfred Jodl, Franz von Papen and Artur Seyss-Inquart. In front of them there are two members of the defence counsel, Dr Kurt Kauffmann and Dr Robert Servatius. Close up of chief prosecutor Robert H Jackson (USA) sitting at the table for the American counsel for the prosecution. Voice of the witness Albert Kesselring. Shot of defence counsel of the SS, Ludwig Babel at the speaker's stand, the shot from the back of the courtroom also shows the defence counsel, the witness stand, court reporters and officers of court. Shot of the chief prosecutor of the USA, Robert Jackson, cross examining the witness Kesselring, who gives evidence concerning the of the secret police (Gestapo) and the concentration camps under Hermann Goering. Wide shot of the dock with the defendants Goering, Hess, von Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Funk, Schacht, Doenitz, Raeder, von Schirach, Sauckel, Jodl, von Papen, Seyss-Inquart, Speer, Neurath and Fritzsche, the defence counsel and the table of the table for the prosecution counsel of the USA. Close shots of the witness Kesselring and of Goering, Hess, von Ribbentrop, Keitel, Raeder, von Schirach, Sauckel and Jodl. Defence counsel Otto Kranzbühler in naval uniform. Kesselring gives evidence concerning Hermann Goering's involvement in the Reichskristallnacht. Reel 2: US prosecutor Robert H Jackson questions Kesselring on testimony he gave to US Strategic Bombing Survey on 28 June 1945 regarding his claim that Luftwaffe was world's most formidable air force in 1939, which he readily reasserts. British judge warns Kesselring to answer all questions in the negative or affirmative before expanding on any answer. Goering now at defendant's stand describes his first meeting with Hitler after hearing the leader of the then small NSDAP speak against the Treaty of Versailles (Diktat). Hitler's words spoke directly to his soul, so he offered his services to this man who had such clear aims in his struggle to reestablish Germany. Struggle was against the Versailles Diktat, and would need the support of the German workers, and not just the actions of the nationalist parties and military units like the Freikorps. Reel 3: Hermann Goering in the witness stand; also shown are the defence counsel and court reporters. Defence counsel Otto Stahmer in the speaker's stand. Goering talks about the early stage of the NSDAP in Bavaria, the organisation of the SA and the preparation of the putsch of 1923. Shot of the dock and the defence counsel while Goering is talking, he explains how, after the trial in Bavaria which led to the arrest of Adolf Hitler, Goering went to Italy for one year. Close shot of the dock showing Hess, von Ribbentrop, Doenitz, Raeder, von Schirach and Sauckel guarded by the US Military Police. Goering gives evidence about the policy of the NSDAP in the final phase of the republic of Weimar covering the cabinets of Brüning, von Papen and Schleicher. Reel 4: Shot from the back of the room showing the tables of the prosecution counsels from behind. Goering talks about the policy of the NSDAP after 1933 to secure its power in the state. Shot of Hess, von Ribbentrop, Keitel, Raeder, von Schirach, Sauckel and Jodl in the dock and defence counsel Otto Kranzbühler. Goering then gives evidence concerning his own career after 1933 his office as minister president of Prussia and Adolf Hitler's extension of power. (A shot from the back of the room shows the tables for the counsels for the prosecution of Britain, the USA and the USSR from behind.) The criminal dock with the defendants; Defence counsels Otto Kranzbühler, Kurt Kauffmann, Robert Servatius and Alfred Seidl. Reel 5: Goering describes establishing the Gestapo (secret police), his preference for police professionals over NSDAP appointees during the early years and makes a statement about their violence. He also gives evidence concerning the setting up of the concentration camps and of meeting the imprisoned Ernst Thälmann (the German Communist leader shot at Buchenwald in 1944), who complained of mistreatment after his arrest but admitted to Goering that had the Communist Party (KPD) won, the Nazis would have received similar treatment. Reel 6: Goering describes relations between the new state and the Evangelical (Protestant) Church, the creation of a Reichsbischof, and his own role (having a Catholic mother and Protestant father) in preparations for the Concordat with the Roman Catholic Church. He is then questioned about his relations with the Norwegian leader Vidkun Quisling, answering that he met him only once on a wartime visit to Berlin, although Quisling had previously (in the mid-1930s) requested financial support for his party, to balance support given by the USSR (Russia) and Great Britain to the other political parties in Norway. Court adjourns promptly at 5 pm (clock face on wall) before Goering can answer question whether Hitler feared complications with Sweden following the German occupation of Norway. Remainder of reel is mute, showing Goering leaving defendant's stand and making his way slowly to exit, pausing to chat with his co-defendants (informal views, revealing proxemics). Goering walks through empty court to take stand, presumably at start of next day's proceedings. Reel 7: Mute shots of court waiting to start, with Goering already in defendant's stand. US lawyer queries defence tactics of Otto Stahmer and states that reprisal measures against prisoners of war are prohibited under the Geneva Convention, and that reprisals must be related to continuing violations of international law. British judge reminds court that mitigating evidence must be presented before sentence, not afterwards. During an interval in court proceedings, lawyers chat with their defendants and with each other, with sound camera picking up snatches of exchanges being interpreted between US (English-speaking) and German lawyers.
  • Alternative Title: NUREMBERG WAR CRIMES TRIAL COVERAGE, 1946 [Allocated Series Title]
  • Colour: B&W
  • Digitised: Yes
  • Object_Number: NWT 28
  • Sound: Sound
  • Access Conditions: IWM Attribution: © IWM (NWT 28)
  • Featured Period: 1946-1975
  • Production Date: 1946-03-13
  • Production Country: United States of America
  • Production Details: International War Crimes Tribunal (Production sponsor) United States Army Signal Corps (Production company)
  • Personalities, Units and Organisations:
  • Keywords:
  • Physical Characteristics: Colour format: B&W Sound format: Sound Soundtrack language: German Title language: English
  • Technical Details: Format: 35mm Number of items/reels/tapes: 7 Footage: 6412 ft; Running time: 70 mins
  • HD Media:Yes
  • Link to IWM Collections page:

    NWT 28

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