FILM SYNOPSIS:

The first Nuremberg trial (which lasted from November 1945 until October 1946) is perhaps the most important and dramatic trial of civilization. Buried and forgotten for six decades, one may say that the at last restored documentary Nuremberg is one of the most important documents never before seen. Nuremberg shows how the international prosecutors built their case against the top Nazi war criminals using the Nazis’ own films and records. The trial established the “Nuremberg principles,” the basis for ensuing trials for crimes against the peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. This official documentary of the American Government was widely exhibited in Germany as part of the "de-nazification" campaign in 1948 and 1949, but Government officials decided to not allow the exhibition of Nuremberg in U.S. movie theaters or in any other country on political grounds. Over the years, the original negative and sound tracks were lost or destroyed. Sandra Schulberg & Josh Waletzky restored version utilizes the original audio from the trial, allowing the public to listen to the accused and the voices of the prosecutors for the first time. The movie ends with the words of Justice Robert H. Jackson: "Let Nuremberg stand as a warning to all who plan and wage an aggressive war." These words transcend the decades since then and make Nuremberg a surprisingly contemporary film.

DIRECTOR’S BIOGRAPHY:

After completing NUREMBERG: ITS LESSON FOR TODAY in 1948, Stuart Schulberg served as head of U.S. Military Government’s Documentary Film Unit in Berlin, then as chief of the Marshall Plan Motion Picture Section in Paris where he oversaw production of dozens of Marshall Plan shorts from 1950-52. In the mid-50s, he produced German movies, including Das Zweite Leben, No Way Back and Embassy Baby . He returned to the U.S. to produce his brother Budd Schulberg’s screenplay Wind Across the Everglades (1958) for Warner Brothers. The Schulberg brothers also collaborated on the TV & Broadway adaptations of Budd’s novel What Makes Sammy Run? and on TV special From The Ashes: The Angry Voices of Watts. Stuart Schulberg is best-known as one of the most distinguished producers of network news & public affairs. As co-producer of the Emmy Award-winning “David Brinkley’s Journal,” he helped create a new genre, the TV news magazine, and was the longest-serving producer of the “Today” show. At his death in 1979, he was NBC’s Senior Documentary Producer.