3rd Dec 2015 6:30pm
G7 Pavilion Parade
Dr Kein Reynolds, School of History, Art History and Philosophy, University of Sussex
It was seventy years ago, that leaders of state were, for the first time in modern history, held accountable for starting wars and executing them inhumanely. Much popular representation, as well as scholarly work, on the International Military Tribunals at Nuremberg has focused on Germany and its leaders. This paper, however, explores the American Prosecution at the ‘Major’ trial at Nuremberg. Why were Americans, unlike their often sceptical partners (such as the British and the Soviets) so keen to run a trial in such a way that would give a voice to defendants who many believed no longer deserved to inhabit a place on this earth? This paper focuses on the American’s use of film because, more than any other form of evidence, it can be used to explain American legal, political and moral thinking.
Dr Kevin Reynolds is a documentary film maker and an historian at the School of History, Art History and Philosophy at the University of Sussex. His research is centrally concerned with the American prosecution's use of film at the Nuremberg. He is currently working on the ESRC project on Global Income Inequality, c.1880-1960 with Prof Andrew Newell and Professor Ian Gazeley.
