Judgment at Nuremberg

[Brian Sweat]

I watched "Judgement at Nuremberg" on TV last night and was constantly struck by the similarities between the descriptions of pre-war Germany and modern day America. The Germans passed their version of the Patriot Act that allowed them to spirit people away without anyone knowing what happened to them. Some Germans saw what was happening, knew where it was leading and turned a blind eye because they believed that they future of their country was at stake.

The thing that really got my attention, though, was at the end of the movie when Hans Rolfe, the lead lead defense attorney for the accused Germans, asked Judge Haywood if he had seen the outcome of the I.G. Farben case.

[RetroLounge]

1. It was very disturbing

The similarities, I mean, to modern America.

[efhmc]

2. What is the I. G. Farben case?

Sorry so dumb.

[OldSoldier]

4. http://www.mazal.org/NMT-HOME.htm

There were once six companies making aniline (synthetic) dyes in Hoechst, Germany. in 1916, they consolidated into a conglomerate called I.G. Farben. Because synthetic dyestuff production is a chemical process, I.G. Farben transformed itself into a general chemical company, producing all sorts of useful preparations.

During World War II, I.G. Farben's main production was moved from Hoechst to the Auschwitz prison camp. Among the products made by Farben at Auschwitz was a chemical originally invented as an insecticide. It was an extremely effective insecticide--so efficient, it would kill the exterminator should he have attempted to use the product without taking precautions. Farben called it "Zyklon B." The Nazis discovered the effectiveness of Zyklon B and used it in their gas chambers. (Sickest thing: Farben got into a big dispute with the Nazi government over this product; Zyklon B had a patented odorant added to it, apparently so the exterminator's customer would know Zyklon B had been used to solve his cockroach problem and the people would know which exterminators cared enough about doing a good job to use the costly Zyklon B. The Nazis didn't want it in there--everyone in Germany knew what this stuff smelled like and what it would do, and the Nazis didn't want people knowing they'd been gassed with it.)

(On edit: Another reason the Nazis wouldn't have wanted Zyklon B to carry the odorant was to prevent labor uprisings among the slave laborers. Everyone interned in Auschwitz knew what was happening. But if someone working in the Zyklon B production area happened to catch a whiff of his product outside of the factory on a day the Nazis were running the gas chamber, everyone would know they were the ones responsible for killing their fellowmen...and all hell would have broken loose. With an odorless Zyklon B...well, maybe our fellowmen are being killed by car exhaust or something.)

The I.G. Farben case was part of the Nuremburg Tribunals; the leaders of Farben were on trial for all the crimes committed during the operation of the Auschwitz dye-works.

Farben's assets were split up among four chemical companies after the war: Bayer, BASF, Hoechst and Agfa.

[Kellanved]

5. A cartel consisting of Germany's main dye producers

I.G. is "Interessen Gemeinschaft", you can translate it as "Lobby".

Their HQ was in Frankfurt, later used by the US Army as HQ.
Now the building is part of the University.

The Organization is still being liquidated.

[efhmc]

14. Thank you so much for this information. Very intersting and disturbing.

[Kellanved]

3. Harvard documents about the trial

http://nuremberg.law.harvard.edu/php/docs_swi.php?DI=1&text=overview

[pansypoo53219]

6. is tim Mc whatever

the new wagner?
eew

[PATRICK]

7. Check out the American's attitudes

as outsiders passing judgment, not caring, wanting to 'move on", as "small town Americans" not understanding Europe. What is even more chilling is mentally switching the German judges on trial(the heart of the movie) with Federalist Society heros like Scalia. I can't imagine Scalia having a change of heart but being one of the scathing self-justifiers to the end.

At the end the Berlin blockade seems to short circuit the process of justice for "pragmatic" Cold War reasons, which is bitterly pointed out as what the Nazis had been trying to get the Allies to do all along.

An unknown subtext at that time was how much we employed the ex-Nazis after the war. So when you talk of I.G. Farben fussiness over revealing odorants it points to overwhelming human flaws of willed denial, glossing and conscience evasion.

[Brian Sweat]

10. Scalia was played by Colonel Klink in that movie.

[PATRICK]

8. When I FIRST saw the movie

I saw what i expected. How could the Germans have sumk so low. Good thing that didn't happen to us. I missed the presence of the murkier elements, namely the moral ambivalency of the piously naive victors.

[Eloriel]

9. When my first husband and I (he of the Army)

were stationed in Germany in the mid-1970s, he worked as an aid at HQ V Corps. I remember the building VERY well, even tho I was only in it once, maybe twice, and at the time had absolutely no idea of his history. (Sorry, history challenged here, but at least I readily admit it.)

Looking back, I think it's very odd that the building had a definite effect on me.

Sadly, it was still called the I.G. Farben Building.

Eloriel

[Kellanved]

12. it still is - unofficially

officially it's the "Poelzig Bau". Part of the University by now.

[Sterling]

11. The last 5 mins could have been about

our country. Some of it was. I want a copy.

[ElsewheresDaughter]

13. i watched it too and with the same thoughts running through my brain

i'm a spencer tracy kate hepburn fan...and TCM channel is my only excape form the nightmare of bush* dastardly deeds

[Lydia Leftcoast]

15. Great, thought-provoking movie

Made in 1961, it was only about the second Hollywood film to deal with the Holocaust (The Diary of Anne Frank was the first in 1959.)

[bpilgrim]

16. the imperial japanese even used the term ILLEGAL COMBATANT in wwII

to refer to the chinese they EXECTUDED under military tribunals.

they remind me of the imperial japanese the closer i look :scared:

peace