A gigantic theatrical production has begun in Nuremberg, and along with other nations we follow what is on offer, and we do so especially keenly. We feel intensely involved, and discuss among ourselves just how we are involved.
The number of absent complainants runs into millions. They lie prone in their graves after being shot, hanged, beheaded, beaten to death, gassed.
This is why humanity, represented by nations large and small, has set itself down in Nuremberg, has uncovered the millions of graves and forced the instigators, who for the benefit of us all have been transformed into prisoners on trial, to gaze into the graves and answer for them to the best of their ability.
Nuremberg – Lessons from the Trials
Last autumn (2026) marked the 80th anniversary of the judgements arrived at by the International Court set up to try the leading Nazis for war crimes. The anniversary seems to have passed little noticed in the Western media – perhaps because the crimes the defendants were accused of no longer appear so spectacularly unique in the light of various other atrocities perpetrated around the world in the intervening years.
A pamphlet appeared in late 1946 titled Der Nürnberger Lehrprozess, supposedly authored by one “Hans Fiedeler”, in a print run of two hundred thousand copies priced at 50 pfennig. The author was soon identified as Alfred Döblin.
Döblin’s intent was to set out the lessons which his former compatriots should take to heart from this unprecedented exercise of international justice. He points to the personal cowardice which allowed the Nazi state to commit its crimes; but points also to the unfortunate history of Germany over the past few centuries: the numerous petty despotisms arising from the Peace of Westphalia; the stifling of middle-class aspirations for a part in government; the ascendant militarism of Prussia – which nurtured a despotic-managerial caste and a docile citizenry that “knew its place”.
I doubt the pamphlet has ever been translated into English before now. So here is my translation.
You must be logged in to post a comment.
