A motion picture film explores the background of World War II. In the United States a view of a large hyrdoelectric dam with water gushing through its gates. Electrical towers of a power plant and a man throwing large switches to activate power. Newspaper headlines: 'Senator oppose the league of nation' and 'Senate passes tariff bill by 44 to 42 vote'. A crowd holds posters of Dewey, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and other leaders. Books of competing ideologies for sales in the United States, including those of democracy, socialism, fascism including Mein Kampf and books about Stalin. Voting time in Germany with Hitler as the only candidate and signs promoting Hitler. Germans casting voting ballots for Hitler. People burning books in Nazi Germany. A church in America or Britiain with close up views of a boys choir singing hymn "Onward Christian Soldiers." Children in America playing at a playground on a jungle gym and slide. A girl makes a drawing of natural scenes. American children smiling, playing, and running.
Portion of the Nuremberg Trials held at the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg, Germany. Flashback scenes to a variety of Nazi crimes against humanity during World War II. Chief prosecutor from Russia, Roman A Rudenko, presents Counts 3 and 4 against the convicted Nazi criminals; charging commitment of war crimes in Germany and countries which Germany occupied; including abuse, starvation, and execution of prisoners of war. Faces of convicts in the courtroom are shown, including Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess (or Heß), Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Karl Donitz, Erich Raeder, Baldur von Schirach and Fritz Sauckel. Flashback scenes shows German soldiers serving on screening teams, searching and separating eastern front prisoners of war. Group of Russian soldier prisoners being force run marched, following behind a German tank beside a prison camp. Aerial view through German bomber window of large numbers of Russian soldier prisoners assembled. Ground level views of overcrowded prison grounds filled with prisoners. German General Erwin von Lahousen on the witness stand during Nuremberg trials giving testimony about his attendance at conferences where crimes against populations were plotted. View of Wilhelm Canaris, Goering and Hitler in meeting room in discussion with German officers. Next scene shows a farmhouse and farm buildings. A car is parked beside a farm building with metal pipes extending from the automobile exhaust system, through the exterior wall of the farm building (to gas occupants with carbon monoxide). Starved, emaciated Polish prisoners from Nazi concentration camps arrive riding on the back of a horse cart. German staff in white coats made to look like medical staff assist naked and emaciated men and child prisoners climbing down from the horse cart. They put robes over some holocaust victims. They lead them to the door of the farm building. Next scene shows atrocity evidence as the car is seen running poison gas into the building. Scene of homes in a village burning in flames as German soldiers watch.
The Nazi Germany attempt to capture Leningrad during the Siege of Leningrad in World War 2. A map depicts Leningrad in the USSR. German artillery bombards Kronstadt on the Kotlin Island. An artillery barrel as it is fired. Soldiers load and fire artillery guns. Smoke due to the explosions. German aircraft attack the Kronstadt harbor. Explosions in the water. A soldier mans a gun. The Soviet battleship Marat (Petropavlovsk) is hit by a German Junker Ju 87 or Stuka. The battleship enveloped in smoke. German Luftwaffe bombers in flight overhead. The aircraft bomb the industrial area of Leningrad. The bombs descend to the target area. Smoke due to the explosions.
A prelude to the World War II. A map locates places in Europe. Fascists in Italy. Nazis in Germany as they riot and parade. Soldiers marching in Italy. People watching the soldiers. Buildings along the sides of the street. German soldiers marching holding flags. People watching them. Adolf Hitler standing at the window of a building and greeted by the people and soldiers.
Opens with scene of Japanese Ambassador to Germany, General Hiroshi Oshima ascending stairs to greet German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop. The Japanese and German representatives are shown signing an economic pact. Scene changes to French young men working in a German plant in occupied France during World War II. Prisoner French young men are seen working as apprentices in the German artillery plant. Men working on machines in the plant and then seated in a dining hall to have a meal. The French workers receive diploma certificates on completion of their training.
The residents and soldiers of Dover in Kent, England at the time of German bombings during World War II. British airplanes are lined up. An airplane halts as a man signals for parking. The airplanes return after attacking Cologne, Germany. The pilot of an airplane disembarks from the airplane and is asked about German attack. Pilots and other personnel talk while walking.