For Love of Country

This is a scene from the film "Judgment at Nuremberg" where Burt Lancaster's character, a former Nazi judge, Dr. Ernst Janning, describes how Germany was corrupted by "love of country."

Category:

Education

Tags:

• Janning
• Testifies

[blckbooty]

@blckbooty Last Contd: that the situation had gotten out of their control and the entire country was swept up in evil. Germany created Hitler, not the other way around, and now they paid the price for it. And then Janning continues to damn every last one of them anyway b/c "maybe we didn't know the details, but if we didn't know it was b/c we didn't want to know". It's such an interesting argument. I don't know if I agree with the implications, but I find it compelling nonetheless.

[blckbooty]

@blckbooty Contd: they saw an even greater Germany than Hitler himself may have seen. he would not live forever, and they didn't need him too, no matter how instrumental he saw himself in creating a new world order. they needed him for the now, and would "discard" him when he had served his purpose for the Greater Germany. "and then one day we looked around and found that we were in a even more terrible danger... what was going to be a 'passing phase' had become the way of life" further suggests

[blckbooty]

What interests me the most about this scene is the "it is only a passing phase, it is only a stage we are going through. it will be discarded sooner or later. Hitler himself will be discarded sooner, or later."

b/c it suggests that the German people were using Hitler as he was using them. They saw him not as a sort of ultimate saviour of the people, someone infallible, more more like a vehicle for the socio-economic and political changes they wanted to make.

[Atreus21]

Burt Lancaster shouldn't even have attempted a modest german accent. Magnificent actor, but I find the attempted accent distracting.

[beriolurgoen]

Before this movie I thought nazis were cartoon-like monsters,and that germans would always want to conquer the world. That childish opinion(I was very young) changed straight away after watching this masterpiece where it shows very well how fear works, and how what happened then can happen at any time.....anywhere...again.

[liberal20111]

@tiopepito SPEAK UP IT MUST NEVER HAPPEN AGAIN. HAVE U WATCHED HOGAN HEROES WELL ROBERT CLARY WAS IN A CONCENTRATION SO ALLAN ASKIN GENERAL BULKHOLDER

[liberal20111]

burt lancaster was a good actor so was maxilliam shell wener klimper but if u ask me every judge should have received death by hanging like nuremberg ever nazi like goering von hindenberg sentenced to death even spear no exceptions we do not need those monsters around

[gmihut]

The fear 

[tiopepito]

thank you for posting it!

Don't think this is just the past. It can happen again and it is happening in several countries at a lesser level.