An Old Movie With Lessons For Today’s World

We’ve just watched a great old movie---one of the best of my generation. It’s called Judgment at Nuremberg, and if you have to ask what it’s about, you need to watch it.

A newer version of the same subject was unveiled at the recent Toronto International Film Festival and is scheduled for release in November. But I doubt it can match the 1961 award-winning edition.

My bet is that most—especially younger generations---know little of the movie or its story, and better-informed older audiences will be shocked by its relevance to what’s happening in today’s frenetic world.

My husband and I have watched this movie several times over the years and are always shaken by its impact. Spencer Tracey and Maximilian Schell head an all-star, award-winning cast as the judge and defence attorney in the portrayal of a 1947 military tribunal’s judgment of responsibility for the atrocities of the German Third Reich.

The movie chronicles how an evil political regime gained power, created and cultivated public anger and fear, normalized violence, fueled hatred of targeted groups and flourished in the wake of silent public complicity.     

Because they really didn’t want to know, many Germans pleaded ignorance to the war crimes and atrocities of the concentration camps, the tribunal concluded. Out of fear for their own safety and security, or some thinking they were doing best for their country, they didn’t ask questions or challenge authority. And some, such as industrialists, bowed to their own selfish interests and profited mightily.      

In the millions, Germans venerated a psychopathic leader who had risen through the ranks, destroyed anyone and anything in his way, exploited and blamed scapegoats for his nation’s failing social, economic and political problems and recruited sycophants and loyalists to implement his personal manifesto of evil. 

Successfully, he transformed the German government into a one-party dictatorship based on totalitarian, autocratic and fascist ideology.

His vitriolic speeches, inflexible decisions and erratic behaviour had a hypnotic effect on throngs who packed the streets and coliseums and listened to his tirades on radio, setting out his expansionist foreign policy and his promise to make Germany and its army “great again.”   

The Nazi regime controlled German culture and the mass media, destroyed Germany’s free press, crushed public dissent and created a propaganda machine and a brutal paramilitary force to protect and glorify the cult they had created. 

After the Second World War, victorious Allied forces set up a series of military tribunals to dispense justice for those guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity. Among their goals was to convince German civilians of their collective responsibility for their government’s crimes and to expose the record of prominent Nazis to prevent their return to influential positions after the war. Toward this end, they launched their own propaganda campaign to publicize the tribunals, and this included public posters and billboards that read: “These atrocities. Your guilt.”    

Judgment at Nuremberg is an old story with old actors, but it is sadly reflective of the same kind of hatred, lies, bullying, racism and greed that, when taken to the extreme, threaten peace, security, decency and civility in the world today.     

The slogan, “Never again,” was the battle cry born out of exposure to Nazi horrors and the death of some six million Jews in concentration camps. But time and again, we are reminded of contemporary human suffering of colossal proportions. 

Antisemitism is on the rise in countries around the globe, including Canada. There has been a noticeable spike in antisemitism incidents in the aftermath of the Hamas-led terrorist attack on Israel on October 7, 2023, that killed 1,200---the worst attack on Jews since the Holocaust.

Our world is in turmoil. Millions of refugees are being deported from countries around the globe (a trend certain to increase). Death and destruction continue daily in Ukraine, where Russia’s long war remains unabated. Extreme right-wing populism is on the rise worldwide. The global trading system is in upheaval, and Gaza is a cesspool of starvation and human misery. 

The so-called leader of the free world plays footsy with and lays out the red carpet for the murderous Russian dictator who taunts NATO countries with his ongoing aggression.  

Everywhere, such conditions provide fertile ground for extremists, tyranny and despots.

The situation is especially alarming as democracy becomes less favoured by young people, political volatility and toxic rhetoric increase, and public office is less attractive because of the escalation of threats and violence against public figures and their families.   

Anger, contempt and frustration motivated many to vote for Donald Trump for President—not once but twice. Polling indicates an increasing number is showing buyers’ remorse as he becomes increasingly disoriented and unhinged and a menace to so many good causes at home and abroad—from peace to economic stability, humanitarian aid, public trust, freedom of speech, human rights, environmental protection and disease control.

It is daunting that there are so few who will risk their own careers and security to oppose him. The Republican Party of Abraham Lincoln has become the Grand Old Procrastinators (GOP), who look shabbier and more impotent by the day as Trump rolls out his manifesto of reform and revenge.

The Americans have got themselves (and the rest of us) in a fine mess. 

It shouldn’t take a tribunal to tell them they have only themselves to blame.

As violence becomes more normalized in our own backyard, we have much to learn from the mistakes of others.