Product Description

As the Second World War ended, the first army unit to come across the Nazi leaders could have executed them summarily. Or their judgement might have fallen to the German people, as at the end of the First World War. But an international military tribunal offered the unprecedented opportunity for them to be fairly tried and damned only on the evidence of their own meticulous documentation of genocide, war crimes and other atrocities. In November 1945, 22 of Nazi Germany's leading figures took the stand in a trial that foreshadowed the trials of war criminals in Bosnia, and Saddam Hussein in Iraq today. Nuremberg: Evil on Trial reveals the courtroom drama that unfolded. Sixty years after the verdict and executions, using original transcripts and incisive commentary, this is a comprehensive yet accessible account of a key moment in world history.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #96521 in Books
• Published on: 2007-04-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 384 pages

Customer Reviews

No courtroom drama here
Very early on -- perhaps in the preface -- Owen warns his readership that, unlike portrayals on stage and screen, with flamboyant tussles between the prosecution and defendant, nothing very dramatic happened in the Nuremberg courtroom. When I read that, a little bit of me wanted to read no further and another little bit of me thought Owen was just being a little diffident. As it happens he wasn't being diffident. If you are after courtroom drama, read works of fiction. The defendants at Nuremberg were all calm and composed and seemed to speak neither loudly nor quietly.

Most acted very logically and normally -- they protested their innocence on the grounds that they were not 'in the loop'. They said they had no real power, were misled by others, etc. There are no thunderous speeches, no haughty defiance, nothing grand. There are just criminals trying to save their own necks, like criminals the world over before and since. So far as a human-interest angle is concerned, this book is disappointing. The accused were very human. I didn't see any "evil on trial"; I just saw self-serving opportunists who were willing to overlook appalling crimes if it furthered their own career.

The book itself is very average, I thought. Three-quarters of the text is verbatim court transcripts, direct quotes (which, being in court-speak -- not only court-speak, but forties court-speak -- can become very turgid). The other quarter is made up of a short introductory paragraph or two and a short concluding paragraph or two accompanying each transcript excerpt. I thought these notes were often too brief and didn't offer much in the way of explanation. But this construction of the text (with many short, sometimes unconnected, transcripts) is good because this allows the reader to pause every three or four pages. You can pick it up and put it down regularly. This is useful because the subject matter is very depressing and I found I needed lots of breaks.

The transcripts are in Times New Roman-type font and the author's notes are in Arial-type typeface so they are easily distinguishable, which worked well. The only part of the book that isn't transcripts and notes is the first dozen or so pages of the preface, in which the author sets the scene and provides a short history of the war, etc. I thought the preface was very boring and not very well written. It was difficult to understand some of it. It doesn't say much for Owen's ability as an author that I often found the court transcripts more readable than his notes and introduction!

Having said all of these words of disappointment, I will say that the story is fascinating. I learned a lot of things about the trial that I didn't know before, like the questions regarding its validity, the friction between the Allies' legal teams and the conditions in which the prisoners were kept. I particularly liked the inclusion of excerpts from the diaries and memoirs of Allied psychologists who had access to the prisoners and the insights about the prisoners that these contained. I would have liked more in the way of attempts to get in the minds of the defendants.

To conclude, this book is interesting DESPITE the way it is written. Another author could have made much more of this story and presented it in a better way.

Very factual and unemotional account
This book is an excellent, unprejudiced account of the events leading up to and surrounding the Nuremberg trials. It details the strategies and arguments used by the Allied Powers in bringing the remaining figureheads and quasi-figureheads of the Nazi command to justice, through the use of memoirs and transcripts of the individuals involved in the proceedings as well as giving excellent insight into the emotional and mental states of the accused from denial of involvement in the various charges faced in the court to resignation of death through said memoirs. The author has researched this book very well and it is evident in the balanced approach that has been taken to describe the arguments used by both prosecution and defence. In addition to this, the author critiques the approaches and errors made by the Allied Powers in the preparation of this - the biggest trial in history. I enjoyed this book for what it is - a factual, unemotional telling of what is a legendary court case.

Grim but good
A straightforward account of a fascinating event of enormous resonance. By focusing on original documents, it tells what really happened, rather than the myth that has since grown around it.