Nuremburg speaks to the present day about the rise of a totalitarian dictatorship

 

Nuremburg speaks to the present day about the rise of a totalitarian dictatorship

Totalitarianism, if not fought against could triumph anywhere. George Orwell

History shows us that when powerful men control the media and the justice system, democratic values are eroded and sometimes are extinguished completely. Tragically, as the philosopher, George Santayana pointed out, “Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it”. In 2026, as we view world events, an excellent motion picture, “Nuremberg” forces us to view the horrific past. Hopefully, we will learn from it.

Nuremberg speaks to the present day by dramatizing how ordinary institutions, charismatic leaders, and public inactivity can allow a totalitarian dictatorship to commit vast crimes while telling everyone it is legal and justified. It shows how atrocities grow not from monsters but from ordinary people who try to ignore it or else dress it up in patriotism and flag waving. Lots               It warns us that no society is automatically “immune” from the terrible descent into evil and it  tells us that accountability, law, and individual moral courage are the only real safeguards.              Its courtroom setting also reminds us that even those employing totalitarian powers must eventually be held accountable; that no evil transgressor can be immune forever.

The film shows that while some powerful people can  appear as charismatic, intelligent, even likeable and charming, they are responsible for egregious crimes against individual citizens and against humanity. Hermann Göring (Russell Crowe) is portrayed as intelligent, charming and able to dominate the courtroom and manipulate professionals like his official US Army psychiatrist, Major David Kelley (Rami Malek).  We see how rhetoric and charisma can seduce people into supporting or excusing authoritarian politics in any era.

The film also demonstrates how the powerful and their obedient underlings rationalise their inherently evil actions by claiming they were  “Only following orders”. Defendants repeatedly used patriotism, duty, obedience, and bureaucracy (“we just carried out our orders,” “it was legal”) to rationalise their abhorrent actions. This speaks directly to modern situations where officials or citizens cooperate with abusive policies while distancing themselves from responsibility by claiming they are following the orders of their superiors. In Minneapolis on February 4^th, Thomas Homan, described as President Trump’s Border Czar, on several occasions stated that his ICE agents, who had recently shot and killed two unarmed and non-resisting American citizens, were carrying out the direct wishes of the President. Presumably, at present in the USA, that makes everything OK.

The context of the Nuremberg trials shows how the Nazis used legal changes through the government and the courts, state generated propaganda, emergency powers, and violence (for example, the Reichstag fire, concentration camps, The Nuremberg Laws) to dismantle democracy. The message is that democratic systems erode gradually, through many “small” choices, rather than in a single dramatic coup. To day we see on our television screens large groups of federally funded, masked men moving in large groups, apprehending American citizens in the streets and asking them for their identification. US citizens have never before been required to carry identification papers and the penalty for not doing so has never been abduction and incarceration …or death!   At present though, this is becoming more a common expectation rather than a rare exception.

Universal Human Rights: The Nuremberg Trials helped to articulate the idea that certain crimes, genocide, systematic persecution, armed and aggressive invasion of another country,  are heinous crimes against humanity, not just violations of any one country’s laws. The United Nations was formed to prevent armed aggression by one nation against another. The film’s focus on charges violating Human Rights resonates with current debates about war crimes, international incursions, ethnic cleansing, and state violence.  

The film emphasises that even strong and powerful leaders can be held personally accountable: By putting top Nazi officials on trial, Nuremberg insists that political and military leaders cannot hide behind the state or the excuse of war. There is no such thing as “Full Immunity”.  This principle underpins modern international courts and serves as a warning to contemporary leaders who use dehumanising policies or encourage mass violence.

Seduction of fascism and relevance to the present.                                                    There is an  allure of “strongmen”: Critics note that the film uses the dynamic between Goring and the  psychiatrist Kelley, to show how clever, ruthless figures gain power by playing on fear, pride, and prejudice. That dynamic mirrors how modern demagogues can attract followers who think they are too intelligent  to be fooled. However, no country is exempt: In one scene, Kelley suggests that the United States itself is not immune to fascism, and this has been highlighted as especially resonant for today’s audiences. Recent commentary connects Nuremberg to present day concerns about human rights abuses, demonisation of minorities and the erosion of democratic norms in contemporary governments.

Lessons about resisting totalitarianism                                                                                         It is impossible to overstress the importance of democratic institutions and civil courage. It is acknowledged  by all who cherish freedom that the price of Liberty is Eternal Vigilan                    The film implies that honest courts, a free media, and independent public officials matter. However, this  only works if individuals choose to uphold justice rather than careerism or obedience to a powerful or charismatic leader . It invites viewers to ask what they themselves would do if ordered to carry out inhumane policies under a regime that rewarded such acts.                             

Remembering as prevention: Finally, Nuremberg shows concentration camp footage and the testimony of extermination camps to confront viewers with the brutal fact that dehumanisation leads to Mass Murder. The continuing relevance of these horrific scenes lies in remembering that these crimes are  not just about the past but, also about recognising early warning signs of dictatorship and genocide today         .           At present, the US government is abducting alleged “aliens” off the streets and deporting them to gaols in foreign countries. They are doing this without any Due Process, yet the Republican majority Congress and the media are not holding the President or the federal government to account. The tide comes in little by little.

The role of the media. In a free society the Right of Dissent is the hallmark of a democracy. That is why free speech is so prized by free people. It is enshrined in the Constitution of the USA. The media should be a bastion of free and independent thought. Sadly, much of the modern media is now controlled by multi billionaires, such as Murdoch and Bezos. These men are not journalists. They are business men who are  concerned with their power to influence and their ever-bulging bank balances. They use their media outlets to curry favour with powerful leaders and view their media assets, not as a means of presenting the truth, but as vehicles for printing untruths that will make them richer and more powerful.

The Present. This year we have seen tragic video scenes of unarmed American citizens gunned down by masked agents of the federal government. The immediate reaction to these murders by US government leaders and by Murdoch’s Fox News, was to tell the nation  that the two people had been killed because they were “Urban Terrorists” who were a lethal danger to federal agents going about their lawful business of identifying “Aliens” and deporting them to foreign lands. People all over nhe world saw with our own eyes that those charges were completely false.          Within minutes of the killings, President Trump and his obedient subordinates had all decided that the victims were highly dangerous terrorist and deserved to be killed.  Our own eyes revealed the shameful deceit of the President, his Chief of Staff, Stephen Miller, plus the US Attorney General and the Director of Homeland Security. Our eyes told us that both of the murdered victims were unarmed, posed no threat to anybody and  were shot dead by untrained, undisciplined (though very highly paid) masked federal agents.

Goring’s psychiatrist wrote a book about his experiences in Nuremberg, warning that Totalitarianism could  even  rise in America. Nobody believed him and his book was a financial flop. Today we are witnessing an American President who has control of the Supreme Court, The Justice Department and most of the Media. He has acted without the authority of the Congress where Republicans, in awe of, or cowed by, a dominating President, seem reluctant to provide the constitutional checks and balances that the Founding Fathers of the USA deliberately wrote into the Us Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Both of these documents makes it very clear that the government is the servant of “We, The People” not vice versa.

Nuremberg, the movie, is not only a commemoration of the past. It suggests that to avoid the banality of evil requires vigilance and moral courage against unconstitutional behaviour, the corruption of the courts and the justice system, dehumanising language against minorities, the muzzling of free media. It requires the courage and fortitude of individual citizens to resist carrying out unconstitutional and unjust orders.

In Minneapolis recently, the Attorney General of the United States, borrowing from the extortionate tactics of Al Capone, told the state governor that she would reduce the activities of ICE agents rounding up “Aliens” in that city if he handed over to her the state electoral rolls. The US constitution mandates that elections are the province of the states. For what reason would the President want the electoral data about every US voter?  Is it an  ominous harbinger of electoral interference in order to manufacture electoral success for one party only? That is the sort of thing that happens in totalitarian states where elections are a sham and the result is known before a single vote is  cast. Although Nuremberg did not labour the point, when the German people voted for Adolf Hitler in March 1933 it was the last time they voted in an election for a very long time.  Their next vote came sixteen years later, after the devastation of World War 2, in August 1949.

President Trump frequently labels news he does not like as “Fake News”. A significant section of the media, controlled by the Murdoch family, writes lies to support Trump’s views and actions. Trump uses social media to spread his own versions of the truth and denigrate anybody who dissents from his views. It is chilling that the President and his underlings are telling us not to believe what we have seen with  our eyes, We saw two US citizens murdered by federal agents acting with the due process criteria of the Ku Klux Klan. The President and others, on national news media, almot immediatelytold us that what we saw were two “urban terrorists” threating the life and limb of customs agents going about their lawful duty. That really was Fake News. Nuremberg is asking us to remove the scales from our eyes and believe what we see, not what other tell us we saw in order to promote and protect themselves. George Orwell, who understood how totalitarian regimes gain power over people, wrote in his monumental novel about a dystopian society, “1984”, that “The party told you to reject the evidence of your own eyes and ears. It was their final and most essential command.”

Nuremberg provides a stark  warning that all lovers of Liberty and Justice must heed and act upon as required, if the important  qualities of life in a democracy are to be preserved. Otherwise, those who want to know who was responsible for the rise of the dictatorship, will only need to look in their bathroom mirrors to find out who the culprit is!

Finally, a quote from two other men who loved Freedom and Justice For All,  in the hope that every freedom loving person will step up, speak out and be accountable.                                      Edmund Burke. It is sufficient for the triumph of Evil that good men do nothing.
John F. Kennedy. Ask not what your country can do for you. Ask what you can do for your country.

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