Preview of 60th anniversary of the Nuremberg Nazi trial

• published: 21 Jul 2015
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AP Television News Nuremberg, Germany - 19 November 2005 1. Various exterior shots of court building where trials took place Universal Archives Nuremberg, Germany - November 1945 2. Various shots of Nuremberg trial in progress AP Television News Nuremberg, Germany - 19 November 2005 3. Various shots of Nuremberg exhibition - photos of the trial, and displays 4. Shots of library footage being shown on television screen at exhibition 5. Mid shot witnesses at the exhibition 6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Whitney Harris, member of the prosecution team for the 1945 Nuremberg Trials: "If these accused persons had been taken out and shot, you know, without any trial, there would have been no record for history. But by reason of this trial, the facts were developed that were irrefutable, and they will live forever and that's one of the greatest contributions of the Nuremberg trials to justice." 7. Mid shot witnesses at the exhibition 8. SOUNDBITE: (German) Johann-George Schaezler, member of the defence team of Rudolf Hess and Nazi military high command: "Under the circumstances then it was a fair process. It was difficult for the defending lawyer to get used to the English legal system. But we mastered it and in the end we could say it was fair. The circumstances then were of course difficult - one couldn't get the witnesses to Nuremberg because one couldn't find them. When one found them it was difficult to get them over. The documents were also all held by the prosecution." 9. Johann-George Schaezler leaving exhibition STORYLINE: An exhibition opened in the Germany city of Nuremberg on Saturday to mark the 60th anniversary of the landmark trial of 21 leading Nazi officers. On November 20th 1945 proceedings began in Courtroom 600 of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice - still a working courtroom today. The trial of Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess, Joachim von Ribbentrop and 18 others established new offences: crimes against peace, waging a war of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Members of the prosecution and defence teams attended the exhibition on Saturday, and spoke of what the trial meant to them. "By reason of this trial the facts were developed that were irrefutable, and they will live forever and that's one of the greatest contribution of the Nuremberg trials to justice," said Whitney harris. Who was on the prosecuting team. Defence counsel Johann-George Schaezler remembered the difficulties of such legal proceedings. "But we mastered it and in the end we could say it was fair," he said. The trial went beyond punishing the Nazis, who killed six (m) million Jews and several million others in their concentration camps. It also established the concept that government leaders could be held individually responsible for wartime actions that violated international standards of conduct. Nuremberg was the city where the Nazis held their annual party rallies - the choreographed torchlight marches and fiery speeches recorded by filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl in 1934's "Triumph of the Will" - and where Hitler's anti-Semitic Nuremberg Laws paving the way for the Holocaust were announced in 1935. Trying top Nazis in such a symbolic location could not have been far from the Allies' minds, but Nuremberg was chosen for more practical reasons. It was the largest court building in Bavaria, which fell in the American sector, and escaped destruction by Allied bombers even though 90 percent of the surrounding city was in ruins. It also had an attached prison to hold other Nazis brought in as witnesses, such as Auschwitz death camp commandant Rudolf Hoess. Three received life in prison, four 10 to 20 years, and three were acquitted. You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/youtube/ef0ba6300e4bed14fa809a56efd0fe44 Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork