Nazi Kreisleiter Franz Strasser on trial in Dachau, Germany, before a U.S. Army military commission, for the shooting of unarmed United States Army Air Force flyer prisoners on December 9, 1945. Other officers and soldiers in the courtroom. Defendant Franz Strasser is questioned about landing of an American plane, call to the police, the American flyers in custody of Police Chief Lindemeyer, and Strasser's knowledge of whether the flyers were unarmed. Frans Strasser answers the questions through an interpreter. Commission officers and United States flag seen on stage. U.S. Army commission judge delivers the commission verdict of guilty, and states that Strasser is sentenced to death by hanging. The interpreter reads aloud in German the verdict and sentence to Strasser. (World War II period).
A U.S. Army Captain examines bodies of American soldiers of the 46th Tank Battalion, 13th Armored Division, killed when their Sherman M4 tank was struck by panzerfaust anti-tank weapons and 20mm fire, on April 17, 1945, in the final days of World War 2, in Europe. The wrecked tank and human remains are seen at the intersection of Ellerstraße & Hülsenstraße, in Hilden Germany. Closeup of the Captain looking closely at the dog tags of one dead soldier. Next, he is seen checking the dog tags of other dead tank crew members, as local German townspeople watch from nearby. He and another officer cover the bodies with a large tarpaulin.
Hanging of a Nazi war criminal in Landsberg, Germany after end of World War 2. . American Military officers stand and converse near the gallows. The condemned man, attended by guards and a priest, comes out of a building. They climb the stairs of the scaffold for hanging. An American Field Grade Officer speaks of charges against the condemned man. Soldiers stand near the gallows and watch the hanging. The hooded, condemned man is dropped through a trap by the executioner, Johann Reichhardt, who wears the traditional German executioners’ attire of black coat, white shirt and, black bow tie and black hat. (Reichardt who is clearly seen standing on the platform, was a principal executioner for the Third Reich. But he was subsequently employed by the Occupation Authorities from November 1945, through May, 1946. to help execute Nazi war criminals at Landsberg am Lech by hanging. He was subsequently arrested in 1947, interned, and tried in a tribunal at Munich, where he was sentenced to strict punishment measures.) A military doctor uses a stethoscope to confirm death of the hanging man.
Opening scene shows some German infantry surrendering with hands raised. Next scene shows people thronging Times Square in Manhattan, New York City, celebrating VE Day, or Victory in Europe Day, on May 8, 1945, when Germany surrendered to end World War II, in Europe. Image of the first atomic explosion (Trinity) on July 16, 1945, in New Mexico, United States. Scene shifts to deck of the U.S. Battleship, USS Missouri, where Japanese foreign minister, Mamoru Shigemitsu, is seated and signing the instrument of surrender., on September 2, 1945. Closeup profile of General Douglas MacArthur. Another glimpse of Mamoru Shigemitsu signing. Next, MacArthur is seen signing the document. He turns and presents the pen to Lieutenant General Jonathan M. Wainwright , who is standing behind him alongside British Lieutenant-General Arthur Ernest Percival. Brief glimpse of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center with flag appearing to be at half staff and a long awning extending from its entrance to the sidewalk. View of representatives at the first United Nations meeting there . Views of audience in auditorium shows many notables. Closeups of Soviet Ambassador, Andrey Gromyko and Soviet Foreign Minister, Vyacheslav Molotov.. Next, President Harry S. Truman is seen broadcasting a greeting to the delegates, from the Capitol, Washington, DC, on April 25, 1945. The delegates are seen listening to the broadcast and then applauding.
German civilians in a city on the Elbe River, gather around a poster containing Law Number 5, issued by the Military Government-Germany (American Occupation forces). It announces the dissolution of the Nazi party. Next, a German Army medic talks to an American, near a huge pile of German military uniforms, military equipment, and accessories. Civilians including former German soldiers throng a town square, adding items to the pile. A woman pulls uniform items from her wash basket. An American soldier talks with a German woman as bystanders watch and listen. A man and boy look at a small rifle before the boy throws it on the pile. View from above of the square with people crowded around the pile of castoffs in its center. Women placing officers' swords on the pile. Complete change of scene shows a U.S. soldier from the 3rd Army, in a salt mine, in Merkers, Germany, on April 15, 1945. He is perusing Nazi seized and stolen jewelry, cutlery, and precious metal trinkets in a case. Another soldier looks at a bar of gold and displays it for the camera. Many wrapped gold bars are behind him. German currency bank notes are seen in the hands of a soldier. Numerous packages of currency sit in the background. American soldiers show some of the stolen art works also hidden in the salt mine. Among the seized paintings seen is "Wintergarden," by French impressionist painter Edouard Manet.
Film opens with exterior view of Nuremberg cell prison, just north of the Palace of Justice, holding war criminals for the Nuremberg Trials. Interior view showing cell bloick area and guards patrol the halls. Cell door with name Karl Doenitz on it. Views of German Admiral Doenitz and Admiral Erich Raeder, looking over war planning charts. Ships burning at sea in nighttime. Glimpse of German U Boat Captain observing through periscope. Back at Nuremberg Prison, an American soldier checks cell of Joachim von Ribbentrop. German Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop seen on steps of an airplane. Scene shifts to Nazi–sponsored so-called American Rally in Madison Square Garden, New York City, on February 20, 1939. A huge picture of George Washington dominates the stage where drummers play while flag-bearing marchers fill the stage. View of audience of 20 thousand persons, rendering Nazi salutes. Someone trying to interfere with the activity is quickly subdued on stage by men in military style uniforms. Scene shifts back to Nuremberg prison, where a soldier guard passes food through cell door to Julius Streicher (unseen). Closeup of Streicher speaking to crowd of people in Germany. Views of German Paramilitary Brown shirts (Storm troopers, or Sturmabteilung) during boycott preventing people from patronizing Jewish merchants. Next, victims liberated from Nazi concentration camp are seen being sprayed in delousing powder by American soldiers. Back at Nuremberg prison, a soldier stands outside the cell of Hermann Goering. Next, Goering is shwon in a scene eating at an outdoor table with other men, at a Nazi-sponsored public feeding event before World War 2. Brief view of German Chancellor, Heinrich Bruening, who fled Germany in 1934 as the Nazis were coming to power. A Graf Zeppelin airship, bearing Nazi Swastika insignia, is seen in flight over New York City. Crew member inside the Zeppelin, looking out a window as he plots a position on a chart. The Zeppelin casts a shadow over an ocean liner at sea, as it passes overhead. Back at Nuremberg cell prison, a guard opens a door with a key. Next seen shows several prisoners walking into a prison yard at an unidentified prison. A firing squad (unseen) is heard marching into position and firing their guns. Scene shifts to Japan, where a Japanese twin engine passenger plane is seen overhead, coming in for a landing. Official buildings are seen in Tokyo and jurists who will participate in war crimes trials. Scene shifts to war crimes trials authorized in Manila, by General Douglas MacArthur. Seen are Japanese General Tomoyuki Yamashita and another Japanese officer on trial at the High Commissioners Residence in Manila, in 1945. Views of ordinary Japanese soldiers. A court convening.
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