Goering's Last Battle

The Nuremberg Courtroom Drama

Author: Michael Kloft

Length: 2 x 52'

In November 1945, almost 60 years ago, one of the most important trials of the century was launched in the city of Nuremberg, a little town in Bavaria, which had been the stage for Hitler’s infamous party rallies. 21 high Nazi criminals sat in the dock of Courtroom 600 when the International Military Tribunal started its proceedings. One of the defendantswas a man who was ready to fight his last battle: Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, once the second most important man in Nazi Germany behind Hitler. After the suicides of Hitler, Goebbels and Himmler, Hermann Goering had become the No.1 war criminal for the US prosecution. His case was to be the overall case against Nazism and Goering prepared meticulously for the trial. He knew the death penalty was unavoidable, but hoped he could show the Germans that he was their true leader. “In about fifty years they will lay wreaths at my tomb” he predicted. Justice Jackson, the chief American prosecutor and mastermind of the trial, knew that he had to crush the ego of Goering and reveal his criminal mind. Both were strong characters and both were looking forward to the “shootout” in March 1946, when Goering took the stand and Jackson cross-examined him. A SPIEGEL TV production for BR, NDR in co-production with National Geographic Channel & WGBH/The American Experience

year of production: 2006