logo
episode-header-image
Nov 2014
9m 12s

The Nuremberg Trials

Bbc World Service
About this episode

In November 1945 the first major war crimes trials in history opened in the German city of Nuremberg. Witness talks to the only surviving American prosecutor at the trials, Benjamin Ferencz, who helped unearth evidence of mass murder by the Nazi mobile death squads and prosecuted them.

(Photo: Chief prosecutor Benjamin Ferencz presents evidence during the Einsatzgruppen (death squads) trial. Ferencz is flanked by German lawyers for two of the defendants. Credit: US Holocaust Memorial Museum, courtesy of Benjamin Ferencz)

Up next
Dec 2014
The Biggest Rock Concert Ever
What does rock megastar Rod Stewart remember most about playing to 4 million people on Copacabana beach on New Year's Eve 1994? Well... it's not nice.Photo: Rod Stewart at the BBC. 
8m 52s
Dec 2014
The Beginning of Reality TV
In December 1999 a young Dutch man, Bart Spring in't Veld, won the first ever Big Brother reality TV show. It was to be the start of a global television phenomenon. But for 22-year-old Bart the victory proved to be a mixed blessing.Photo: Big Brother winner Bart Spring in't Veld, ... Show More
8m 57s
Dec 2014
The Casa Pia Scandal in Portugal
In 2004, some of the most high-profile people in Portugual went on trial on charges of sexuallly abusing boys from a children's home called Casa Pia. Six defendants were eventually found guilty, including a famous televison presenter. Simon Watts talks to Pedro Namora, a lawyer w ... Show More
8m 56s
Recommended Episodes
May 2023
Ep. 264: 'Law is always better than war': Nuremberg trials prosecutor dies aged 103 - Ep. 264: "La legge è sempre meglio della guerra". Procuratore dei processi di Norimberga muore a 103 anni
Benjamin Ferencz, the last surviving prosecutor from the Nuremberg trials which brought Nazi war criminals to justice following the Second World War, has died. - È morto Benjamin Ferencz, l'ultimo procuratore vivente dei processi di Norimberga, che assicurarono alla giustizia i c ... Show More
8 m
Nov 2021
Judgement at Nuremberg
It's 75 years since verdicts were delivered on leading German Nazis at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg for their instrumental role in the Second World War and the killing of millions of Jews. The trial, which lasted almost a year, made history and the principles ... Show More
8m 58s
Apr 2021
The Eichmann trial
In April 1961, Adolf Eichmann, the Nazi official in charge of concentration camps, was put on trial in Israel.The trial helped reveal the full details of the holocaust in which millions of European jews were killed during World War Two. One of the prosecutors, Gabriel Bach, spoke ... Show More
10m 9s
Sep 2022
64. Le procès de Nuremberg
A  la fin de seconde guerre mondiale en Europe, les alliés décident d'organiser un procès international pour juger les criminels de guerre nazis.   Il a lieu à Nuremberg, sur près d’un an entre novembre 1945 et octobre 1946   Ce procès constitue une véritable  ébauche de justice ... Show More
16m 42s
Dec 2023
Nazi Germany: the myth of the innocent bystander
In 1945, after defeat in the Second World War, many Germans claimed to have known nothing about what had happened to their fellow Jewish citizens – and with that, the idea of the ‘innocent bystander’ was born. But just how true was this claim? Delving into a rich archive of perso ... Show More
37m 18s
Jul 2020
The death of Heinrich Himmler
One of Hitler's most important henchmen was caught by British troops in the chaos of post-war Germany just after WW2 had ended in Europe. A British soldier described to the BBC how the leading Nazi bit down on a cyanide capsule and died. Gordon Corera has been listening to the ar ... Show More
10m 17s
Jan 2024
405. The Nazis in Power: The Nuremberg Rallies (Part 2)
“We did not lose the war because our artillery gave out, but because the weapons of our mind didn’t fire”In September 1934, the Nazis held their sixth annual party conference in the Bavarian city of Nuremberg. The location held a symbolic resonance for the party, being not only t ... Show More
55m 5s
Apr 2023
Palace of Justice – A Conversation with Benjamin Ferencz
When Benjamin Ferencz was 27 years old, he prosecuted his very first trial. It's been called the largest murder trial in history, with more than one million victims. There were 22 defendants, each of them high-ranking members of Nazi Germany’s death squad. Benjamin Ferencz died l ... Show More
28m 33s
Aug 2018
Palace of Justice
When Benjamin Ferencz was 27 years old, he prosecuted his very first trial. There were 22 defendants, each of them high-ranking members of Nazi Germany's death squad. The entire world was watching. Today, we take a look at the Nuremberg trials and their role in defining internati ... Show More
28m 53s