photo #8912605

THE MAN WHO SAVED THE NUREMBERG TRIALS 80 years ago, one of history's most evil men, Hermann Göring, almost escaped justice. As the Nuremberg trials carried on, US Chief Justice Robert Jackson found himself increasingly unable to corner Hermann Göring, architect of WWII and the Holocaust. For every argument Jackson made, Göring had an answer. Göring argued that you cannot put someone on trial for following the laws and interests of their country, even when those interests conflict with those of other countries. Jackson was increasingly demoralized and frustrated as Göring turned the courtroom into his own show and circus. Then the 48-year-old British David Maxwell Fyfe came into the picture with the sledgehammer of numbers and detail. Fyfe began by talking about the 350 British airmen murdered while in Luftwaffe captivity. The pompous arrogance began fading from Göring's face as he realized he couldn't lie through the small details. Göring had personally signed off on many executions, the looting of art, and deportations. That night, Göring was not able to eat his dinner. Then Fyfe began grinding through the numbers of the Holocaust, the deportations, the ghettos, the personal signature of Göring on deportations, and the inevitable truth that Göring must have known the fate of where all the deported Jews are ending up. Not long after that, Göring was sentenced to death by hanging. What is most horrifying about the Holocaust is not just the big story, but the details, the communities, and every life that was lost during Nazi Germany's systemic killing of the Jewish people.