–I did not know it would come to that.
–It came to that the first time you sentenced to death a man you knew to be innocent.
1/_I wish to testify about the Feldenstein case because it was the most significant trial of the period. It is important not only for the tribunal to understand it, but for the whole German people. But in order to understand it, one must understand the period in which it happened. There was a fever over the land. A fever of disgrace, of indignity, of hunger. We had a democracy, yes, but it was torn by elements within. Above all, there was fear. Fear of today, fear of tomorrow, fear of our neighbours, fear of ourselves. Only when you understand that, can you understand what Hitler meant to us. Because he said to us: ‘Lift up your heads! Be proud to be German! There are devils among us. Communists, Liberals, Jews, Gypsies! Once the devils will be destroyed, your miseries will be destroyed.’ It was the old, old story of the sacrifical lamb. What about those of us, who knew better? We who knew the words were lies and worse than lies? Why did we sit silent? Why did we take part? Because we loved our country! What difference does it make if a few political extremists lose their rights? What difference does it make if a few racial minorities lose their rights? It is only a passing phase. It is only a stage we are going through. It will be discarded sooner or later. Hitler himself will be disgarded….. sooner or later. ‘The country is in danger.’ We will ‘march out of the shadows.’ ‘We will go forward…. *forward* is the great password.’ And history tells how well we succeeded, your honour. We succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. The very elements of hate and power about Hitler that mesmerized Germany, mesmerized the world! We found ourselves with sudden powerful allies. Things that had been denied us as a democracy were open to us now. The world said go ahead, take it! Take it !! Take Sudetenland, take the Rhineland – remilitarize it – take all of Austria…. take it!! And then one day, we looked around and found we were in even more terrible danger. The rites began in
A judge does not make the law. He carries out the laws of his country.
For it not only Ernst Janning who is on trial here. It is the German people.
If these murderers were monsters, this event would have no more moral
significance than an earthquake…How easily it can happen.
Is Hiroshima the superior morality?
It came to that the first time you sentenced a man to die you knew to be innocent.
Judge Haywood…The reason I asked you to come…Those people. Those
millions of people…I never knew it would come to that. You must
believe it! You must believe it!
The brutality was brought about by a few extremists, the criminals, and very few Germans knew about what was going on.
The German people love to sing, no matter what the situation.
This, then, is what we stand for: truth, justice, and the value of a single human being.
Where were we when our neighbors were dragged out in the middle of the night to Dachau? If we didn’t know the details, it was because
we didn’t want to know. If there is going to be any salvation for
Germany, we who know our guilt must admit it.
Page Topic: Movie Quotes from ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’: Quotes from the movie ‘Judgment at Nuremberg’
