History Film / JudgmentAtNuremberg

* LackOfEmpathy: Frau Bertholt, a self-pitying character who considers herself a victim and lays all the blame on "the Nazis" - claiming neither she nor her husband (a senior officer in the German army) had any idea what was going on. She also hates the Allies for the destruction they caused, and refuses to admit the enormity of the crimes her nation has committed. When Haywood tells her about Lawson's films of Nazi atrocities, her reaction is a mixture of mild annoyance and sarcastic amusement. She dismissively remarks, "Things happened on both sides," before drawing an equivalency between the Americans not giving her husband his preferred method of execution (firing squad instead of hanging) and the dehumanization, torture and murder of millions of people. Her final conclusion is that it is best to just "forget" these things ever happened.

* LackOfEmpathy: Frau Bertholt, a self-pitying character who considers herself a victim and lays all the blame on "the Nazis" - claiming neither she nor her husband (a senior officer in the German army) had any idea what was going on. She also hates the Allies for the destruction they caused, and refuses to admit the enormity of the crimes her nation has committed. When Haywood tells her about Lawson's film of Nazi atrocities, her reaction is a mixture of mild annoyance and sarcastic amusement. Then she dismissively remarks, "Things happened on both sides," before drawing an equivalency between the Americans not giving her husband his preferred method of execution (firing squad instead of hanging) and the dehumanization, torture and murder of millions of people.

** Another example came earlier in the film when Haywood was talking to the old German couple who worked at his house. They said they didn't know what Hitler was doing to the Jewish population, then asked "Even if we did know, what could we have done?" To which Haywood responds, "You said you didn't know." The old couple realized that Haywood saw through their protestations, and it was clear that they were lying to themselves about not knowing, and were fully aware of the atrocities.

A pre-stardom Creator/WilliamShatner, still five years away from getting a gig on ''[[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries Star Trek]]'', appears as an American officer who is a liaison with Judge Haywood.

* AmoralAttorney: Rolfe. He has lots of JerkassHasAPoint moments about the hypocrisy of the Allies, but he is fully aware of the guilt of his clients and determined to get them acquitted more out of a sense of nationalism than a desire of justice, while bullying the witnesses in ways that even his clients disapprove of.

** Mrs. Bertholt's husband is said to have been executed as part of the Malmedy trial. All the accused in that trial received clemency, and were released inside of a decade (many weren't even sentenced to death at all). They were also all SS men on trial, while her husband is said to have been regular army.

* JerkassHasAPoint: Played with. Although he has a vested interest in rehabilitating the image of the German legal system, Rolfe is correct in that Nazi Germany's eugenicist and racist policies were not new or exclusive to the time and place, and many had origin and precedent in American law. However, these arguments are not entirely relevant to the complicity of the judges themselves, and fall more into hair-splitting and [[AdHominem whataboutism]] than a refutation that they knowingly committed crimes against humanity.

** When Lawson testifies about hangings of children in concentration camps, the camera cuts to a close up of a stone-faced African-American MP, drawing an implicit parallel with lynchings.

** Lampe also seems to regret his acts, but doesn't say anything.

-->'''Col. Lawson:''' There are no Nazis in Germany, didn't you know that Judge ? The Eskimos invaded Germany and took over, that's how all those terrible things happened. It wasn't the fault of the Germans, it was the fault of those damn Eskimos.

* SlowlySlippingIntoEvil: Janning describes himself and other Germans who had gone along with the Nazis as essentially this, doing increasingly worse things in the name of patriotism until they had unleashed the Holocaust. It's mentioned that he helped found the Weimar Republic, but eventually ended up helping the Nazis, whose regime destroyed not only the Republic, but everything it stood for.

* VillainProtagonist: Hans Rolfe is one of the leading characters and is an AmoralAttorney trying to get Nazis acquitted from their war crimes.

* AllGermansAreNazis: Aside from the Jews, naturally, the film implies that most German people who weren't Nazis themselves at least went along with them. The defendants and others try to claim differently, most of them unconvincingly; however, a couple notable exceptions are presented in Rudolph Peterson (a man from a Communist family who is likely mentally disabled and was forcibly sterilized--he says for their political beliefs) and Irene Hoffmann-Wallner (whose Jewish friend was accused of "racial defilement" as a result of supposedly having sex with her--she'd then been imprisoned for perjury after testifying that he'd done no such thing) as victims of defendants. Irene's husband is also portrayed as sympathetic towards her desire to testify, although worried that it will bring about repercussions against them. Also a German judge and a lawyer who testify against Janning and the Nazi legal system; the judge even having resigned before being forced to sentence people in the name of the Third Reich.

* ThatWasObjectionable: When the Feldenstein Case is first mentioned, Rolfe tries objecting to raising the case as evidence, but quickly stumbles over his words and can only claim that it "appeals to emotions that would best not be raised", with Heywood quickly overruling the objection. It's clear that Rolfe knows Janning (the most sympathetic of the defendants) will be royally screwed if the Feldenstein case is discussed in any depth, but can't think of a good argument against discussing it.

* DefiantToTheEnd: Whereas the other three defendants show at least some signs of recognising their wrongdoings, Hahn remains convinced to the very end that he and the regime he served under did nothing wrong, and that they were helping to save the western world from Communism.

* ArtisticLicenseHistory: Mrs. Bertholt's husband is said to have been executed as part of the Malmedy trial. All the accused in that trial received clemency, and were released inside of a decade (many weren't even sentenced to death at all). They were also all SS men on trial, while her husband is said to have been regular army.

* DefiantToTheEnd: Whereas Janning forthrightly admits his guilt, and the other two defendants at least show some signs of admitting their guilt, Hahn remains convinced to the very end that he and the regime he served under did nothing wrong, and that they were helping to save the western world from Communism.

* PunchClockVillain: Rolfe tries to argue that the German judges, especially Janning, were this. Naturally, Lawson doesn't agree.

* DefiantToTheEnd: Whereas Janning forthrightly admits his guilt, Petersen shows clear remorse for his actions, and Lampe at least is cognisant enough of what he did to try pulling the JustFollowingOrders defence, Hahn remains convinced to the very end that he and the regime he served under did nothing wrong, and that they were helping to save the western world from Communism.

** Janning is the only defendant who voices remorse, or admits his guilt. Only his final conversation with Judge Heywood seemed to really make this sink in. Even then, Janning maintains he didn't know it would come to that, before Heywood says he had known the moment he sentenced to death a man who he'd known was really innocent.
** Lampe and Petersen also seems to regret their acts, but neither explicitly admit this.

** Lampe also seems to regret his acts, but doesn't say anything.

* HeroicBSOD: Col. Lawson, after Rolfe destroys Rudolph Peterson on the stand.

* AmbiguousDisorder: Rudolph -- who stammers and has difficulty stringing together sentences, especially when asked to construct an elementary one using three related words -- clearly has some kind of learning disability, and it kept him from advancing very far in school. It's purposefully never specified what it is, because anything beyond a basic diagnosis that would mark him for sexual sterilization was unimportant to the Nazi regime.

* AllGermansAreNazis: Aside from the Jews, naturally, the film implies that most German people who weren't Nazis themselves at least went along with them. The defendants and others try to claim differently, most of them unconvincingly; however, a couple notable exceptions are presented in Rudolph Peterson (a man from a Communist family who is likely mentally disabled and was forcibly sterilized--he says for their political beliefs) and Irene Hoffmann-Wallner (whose Jewish friend was accused of "racial defilement" as a result of supposedly having sex with her--she'd then been imprisoned for perjury after testifying that he'd done no such thing) as victims of defendants. Irene's husband is also portrayed as sympathetic towards her desire to testify, although worried that it will bring about repercussions against them. Also a German judge and lawyer who testifies against Janning and the Nazi legal system; the judge even having resigned before being forced to sentence people in the name of the Third Reich.

* AllGermansAreNazis: Aside from the Jews, naturally, the film implies that most German people who weren't Nazis themselves at least went along with them. The defendants and others try to claim differently, most of them unconvincingly; however, a couple notable exceptions are presented in Rudolph Peterson (a man from a Communist family who is likely mentally disabled and was forcibly sterilized--he says for their political beliefs) and Irene Hoffmann-Wallner (whose Jewish friend was accused of "racial defilement" as a result of supposedly having sex with her--she'd then been imprisoned for perjury after testifying that he'd done no such thing) as victims of defendants. Irene's husband is also portrayed as sympathetic towards her desire to testify, although worried that it will bring about repercussions against them. Also a German judge and lawyer who testify against Janning and the Nazi legal system; the judge even having resigned before being forced to sentence people in the name of the Third Reich.

** After being shown a film on the Holocaust, Lampe is unable to believe that things like that happened, even if he admits at least hundreds of people were murdered by the Third Reich. So he asks another inmate how could that be possible, clearly looking for reassurance... and the other inmate, who worked with Eichmann, not only tells him that it was possible but [[BrutalHonesty explains him how they did it]]. It could be the reason why Lampe seems to feel regret at the end.

** After being shown a film on the Holocaust, Lampe is unable to believe that things like that happened, even if he admits at least hundreds of people were murdered by the Third Reich. So he aks another inmate how could that be possible, clearly looking for reassurance... and the other inmate, who worked with Eichmann, not only tells him that it was possible but [[BrutalHonesty explains him how they did it]]. It could be the reason why Lampe seems to feel regret at the end.

* CrusadingLawyer: The Prosecutor, Colonel Lawson, is described as a "young radical" who is dead set on seeking the highest sentence possible for the defendants and clearly fights for the case with all his might. The fact that he was one of the soldiers liberating the concentration camps might have something to do with his attitude.

* EnsembleCast: There's a good amount of major players, with Judge Dan Haywood is the closest thing to a main character. However, he's often OutOfFocus in the courtroom where the main focus stays on the two primary lawyers and witnesses.