Staging Nuremberg
How the United States and the Soviet Union Fought Over the Portrayal of Nazi Crimes
Will be published approx. on 14. July 2026
Book
Paperback/Softback
400 pages
978-0-231-21199-4 (ISBN)
Description
As victory in World War II drew near, the Allies decided to hold a major trial of Nazi leaders, which began in Nuremberg in November 1945. Conflict soon broke out between the United States and the Soviet Union over not only how to assess German guilt but also how to depict the trial. The Americans saw it as a judicial and media spectacle that would convey "the greatest moral tale ever told," illustrated with Hollywood techniques. The Soviets, for their part, drew on extensive experience filming show trials to craft their own narrative of the tribunal.
Sylvie Lindeperg offers a pioneering account of the cinematic stagecraft, storytelling, and imagery of the Nuremberg trials, revealing how film was used both as legal evidence and as a propaganda tool. She follows the American campaign to influence world opinion before, during, and after the trial, on stage and behind the scenes. Lindeberg chronicles how the hope of scripting a Hollywood-style courtroom drama crumbled amid rising geopolitical tensions and the mundane reality of the tribunal. The book interweaves in-depth reconstruction of the filming of the trial with portraits of the colorful characters who played leading or supporting roles. Drawing on American, British, Soviet, French, and German archives as well as analysis of films, newsreels, and photographs, Staging Nuremberg is a revelatory study of the theater of justice.
Sylvie Lindeperg offers a pioneering account of the cinematic stagecraft, storytelling, and imagery of the Nuremberg trials, revealing how film was used both as legal evidence and as a propaganda tool. She follows the American campaign to influence world opinion before, during, and after the trial, on stage and behind the scenes. Lindeberg chronicles how the hope of scripting a Hollywood-style courtroom drama crumbled amid rising geopolitical tensions and the mundane reality of the tribunal. The book interweaves in-depth reconstruction of the filming of the trial with portraits of the colorful characters who played leading or supporting roles. Drawing on American, British, Soviet, French, and German archives as well as analysis of films, newsreels, and photographs, Staging Nuremberg is a revelatory study of the theater of justice.
Reviews / Votes
Lindeperg's magisterial history of the International Military Tribunal demonstrates how justice and cinema emerge from the push and pull of documentary proof and dramatic stagecraft. Gripping, deftly constructed, and meticulously researched, Staging Nuremberg provides a much-needed analysis of the complex ways moving images give form to evidence. -- Sam Di Iorio, Hunter College and The Graduate Center, CUNY Staging Nuremberg presents a pathbreaking account of the struggle between American jurists and their Soviet counterparts over the use of film at Nuremberg. In so doing, it offers a fascinating meditation on how film serves both as documentary evidence in landmark prosecutions and as a vehicle through which conceptions of justice and memories of historic trials are constructed. -- Lawrence Douglas, author of <i>The Criminal State: War, Atrocity, and the Dream of International Justice</i> With narrative flair, rigorous research, and unwavering focus, Lindeperg fleshes out in detail the Allies' decision process-their steps and missteps-in staging the Nuremberg Trials. An essential work on the role of documentary in writing contemporary history, this book reconstructs the minute fragility and sense of opportunity felt by Americans and Soviets as they exerted their national and historical mission through film on the cusp of the Cold War. -- Ivone Margulies, author of <i>In Person: Reenactment in Postwar and Contemporary Cinema</i>More details
Series
Language
English
Place of publication
New York
United States
Target group
College/higher education
Product notice
Paperback (trade)
Illustrations
132 b&w images
Dimensions
Height: 235 mm
Width: 156 mm
ISBN-13
978-0-231-21199-4 (9780231211994)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Sylvie Lindeperg is professor of history at the University of Paris 1 Pantheon-Sorbonne. She is the author of prizewinning books in French and the codirector or cowriter of documentary films. Her books in English translation include "Night and Fog": A Film in History (2014).
Claudia Gorbman is professor emerita of film studies at the University of Washington, Tacoma, and has translated several books by Michel Chion.
Claudia Gorbman is professor emerita of film studies at the University of Washington, Tacoma, and has translated several books by Michel Chion.
Content
Note to Readers
Prologue: The Theater of Justice
Act I. Behind the Scenes: Conceiving the Ideal Trial
1. The Nuremberg Chessboard
2. Hollywood Goes to War
3. From MoMA to the Salt Mines: The Hunt for Images
4. The Editing Room: Or, the Inventory of the Possible
5. Gordon Dean's Storytelling
6. The Drama's Architecture
7. Cameras in the Courtroom
8. Soviet Cinema, Auxiliary to the Courts
9. The Fall of the House of Donovan
10. The Final Run-Through
Act II. On Stage: The Trial
11. The Curtain Rises on an American Week
12. "The Flesh of the Courts"
13. Phantoms of Propaganda
14. Nuremberg, "Citadel of Boredom"
15. The Curtain Falls
16. German Autumn: Ending Without Images
17. Voices Ever More Dissonant
Epilogue: The Profane and the Sacred
Conclusion: Justice on Stage: "The Two-Sided Mirror"
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1: Nuremberg in Television and Film
Appendix 2: Supplements
Notes
Sources
Index
Prologue: The Theater of Justice
Act I. Behind the Scenes: Conceiving the Ideal Trial
1. The Nuremberg Chessboard
2. Hollywood Goes to War
3. From MoMA to the Salt Mines: The Hunt for Images
4. The Editing Room: Or, the Inventory of the Possible
5. Gordon Dean's Storytelling
6. The Drama's Architecture
7. Cameras in the Courtroom
8. Soviet Cinema, Auxiliary to the Courts
9. The Fall of the House of Donovan
10. The Final Run-Through
Act II. On Stage: The Trial
11. The Curtain Rises on an American Week
12. "The Flesh of the Courts"
13. Phantoms of Propaganda
14. Nuremberg, "Citadel of Boredom"
15. The Curtain Falls
16. German Autumn: Ending Without Images
17. Voices Ever More Dissonant
Epilogue: The Profane and the Sacred
Conclusion: Justice on Stage: "The Two-Sided Mirror"
Acknowledgments
Appendix 1: Nuremberg in Television and Film
Appendix 2: Supplements
Notes
Sources
Index