Quotes

Others

[to Douglas] Do you know why it happened here? Because people let it happen.

Dialogue

Elsie: It can't be done. Robert Jackson: You keep saying that. Elsie: Because it can't be done. Robert Jackson: Give me one good reason why not. Elsie: There’s no legal precedent for a trial. There’s no international law to base the charges on. No one has ever tried war criminals outside of one nation’s jurisdiction because the whole concept of international law is that one country can’t tell another country’s citizens how to conduct themselves. Robert Jackson: Elsie... Elsie: Trying these men in a German court would be different. But what you’re talking about is trying them in some sort of legal limbo that doesn’t exist using case law that hasn’t been written yet. And on the off chance that you’re not keeping track, that’s about four good reasons why not. Robert Jackson: I'm getting you drink. Elsie: I don't want a drink. Robert Jackson: Then I’m getting me another and getting you one for show. [poors some drinks in his glass and one for Elsie] Elsie: Who do you put on trial? The Germ

Dialogue

Colonel. John Amen: Did you just blackmail the Pope? Robert Jackson: I don't wanna talk about it.

Dialogue

Your cells are made of stone, nine feet by thirteen. Your beds are bolted to the wall. Your mattress is stuffed with straw instead of springs. Your desks are made of cardboard and will not support a man’s full weight. Your chairs are never allowed against any wall and will be removed every night at sundown. When you sleep, your head and hands will remain above your blanket visible at all times. You will be given no belts, you will be given no shoelaces, you will be given no toilet seats, you will be given nothing with which to use as a weapon to take your own lives. Welcome to Nuremberg.

Dialogue

May I please your honors... The privilege of opening the first trial in history for crimes against the peace of the world imposes a grave responsibility. The wrongs which we seek to condemn and punish have been so calculated, so malignant, and so devastating that civilization cannot tolerate their being ignored because we cannot survive their being repeated. In the prisoner's dock sit 20 odd broken men. We will show them to be living symbols of racial hatreds, of terrorism and violence, and of the arrogance and cruelty of power. Civilization can afford no compromise by dealing ambiguously or indecisively with the men in whom these forces now precariously survive. Wars are no longer local. All modern wars become world wars, eventually. And none of the big nations can stay out. But the ultimate step in avoiding periodic wars in a system of international lawlessness is to make statesmen responsible for the law. And let me make clear that while this law is first applied against German aggr

Dialogue

Douglas Kelley: How is that possible? [short pause, he stands up] What I just saw. How is it possible? Hermann Göring: [short pause] Himmler. Douglas Kelley: Himmler wasn't second in command. You were. 1200 camps? What am I supposed to believe that you didn't know? Hermann Göring: Anyone can fake an atrocity. Douglas Kelley: So you're saying the filming was a fake, that's your defence? Hermann Göring: What would you have me say? Douglas Kelley: About the truth for once! Hermann Göring: Why? So you can run and tell Jackson. My friend, your hypocrisy is stunning. Douglas Kelley: My hypocrisy? Hermann Göring: You think American bullets and bombs don't kill people?! You vaporised 150,000 Japanese at the touch of a button. And you presume to stand in judgment on me for war crimes. Douglas Kelley: We had every right to defend ourselves. Hermann Göring: How do you defend yourself on someone else's soil?! Douglas Kelley: There's a difference between us bombing war factories and civilians dying

Dialogue

Douglas Kelley: [drunkenly] There are people in America who would willingly climb over the corpses of half the American public if they knew they could gain control of the other half! Moderator: Doctor, please- Douglas Kelley: They stoke hatred; it's what Hitler and Göring did, and it is textbook, and if you think the next time it happens we're going to recognise it because they're wearing scary uniforms, [stands up, intensely] you're out of your damn mind! [sits back down] They're us, okay? The Germans are us. Moderator: More with our panel when we return. Producer: They're not going to invite you to stay for the next segment. Let's go. Producer: And just so you know? Trashing our country is not the best way to sell your book.