12 December 2025

We saw the film ‘Nuremberg’ in the cinema this week. It stars Russell Crowe as one of the most powerful Nazis, Hermann Goering and Rami Malek as the US Army Psychiatrist, Douglas Kelley,  charged with monitoring the mental health of Goering  and the other twenty-one Nazis tried at Nuremberg.

Robert Jackson, the USA Associate Justice, argued for a fair trial for the Nazi criminals. At first the United States was not supportive preferring summary executions. Pope Pius XII was not in favour either until Jackson revealed knowledge of the Pope’s controversial relationship with the Nazis.

Jackson’s efforts proved successful. Trials took place in Nuremberg charging twenty-two high ranking Nazis of conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Goering was found guilty and sentenced to be hanged. He committed suicide by ingesting a cyanide pill the night before.

The psychiatrist found Goering intelligent yet highly narcissistic. This was revealed in his court appearances. He denied all knowledge of the Holocaust but was eventually cornered by the prosecution when he admitted his undying loyalty to Adolf Hitler.

Two striking things about the film. Jackson’s success in creating an International Military Tribunal gives us hope that people like Vladimir Putin and Benjamin Netanyahu may yet find themselves on trial in an international court  for crimes against humanity.

Although Douglas Kelley’s book, ’22 Cells in Nuremberg’, was not a success and he committed suicide in 1958, frustrated by the world’s dismissal of his thesis that history could repeat itself even in America, his pertinent analysis that evil resides in us all has become much more acceptable currency today! There is much evidence!

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