18 episodes

The story of the trial of the most notorious Nazi war criminals through dramatic reconstruction, telling it from ground-level up, through the eyes of a Russian interpreter, the American prison psychologist, a French reporter, the British Court Liaison Officer and others from the thousands of individuals tasked with fighting 'the last battle of WWII'.
Starring Natalie Dormer, Freddie Fox, Kate Phillips, Alex Kingston, Ed Stoppard and Henry Goodman.

Nuremberg: The Trial of the Nazi War Criminals BBC Radio 4

    • Fiction
    • 3.9 • 198 Ratings

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires macOS 11.4 or higher

The story of the trial of the most notorious Nazi war criminals through dramatic reconstruction, telling it from ground-level up, through the eyes of a Russian interpreter, the American prison psychologist, a French reporter, the British Court Liaison Officer and others from the thousands of individuals tasked with fighting 'the last battle of WWII'.
Starring Natalie Dormer, Freddie Fox, Kate Phillips, Alex Kingston, Ed Stoppard and Henry Goodman.

Listen on Apple Podcasts
Requires macOS 11.4 or higher

    Introducing Nazis: The Road to Power

    Introducing Nazis: The Road to Power

    From the producers of Nuremberg, the story of how in just 13 years, Adolf Hitler led a fringe sect with less than a hundred members and outlandish ideas to be the dominant force in German politics.
    It is also about the forgotten players from these early years who played crucial roles in the Nazi Party's rise to power. This new scripted podcast takes listeners into the intrigues, the personalities, the knife-edge decisions which would ultimately lead to forty million dead in the world’s greatest catastrophe.
    Starring Sir Derek Jacobi as President Hindenberg, Tom Mothersdale as Adolf Hitler and Alexander Vlahos as Joseph Goebbels. With Toby Stephens, Nancy Carroll, Laura Donnelly and Juliet Stevenson as the Narrator. Written and directed by Jonathan Myerson. Producer - Nicholas Newton. A Promenade production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds.

    • 2 min
    Episode 16 - No Trace Will Remain

    Episode 16 - No Trace Will Remain

    On 30th September 1946, the Judges announce their verdicts. And the sentences to be imposed – death or imprisonment or freedom. But come the night of the executions, Hermann Goering has one last surprise.
    And now it’s time for the verdicts: 11 will be hanged, 7 are given prison sentences and 3 are set free. Everyone is surprised by the acquittals and at a hasty press conference, the free men trade autographs for chocolate (but are re-arrested by German authorities as soon as they leave the building). Meanwhile Sergeant Woods, the US Army’s hangman, is on site, building the gallows. The night comes but Goering has managed to hide one last cyanide capsule to evade the noose. Starring Nicholas Woodeson as Sir Geoffrey Lawrence and featuring Nathan Wiley as Master Sergeant Woods, the US Army’s executioner.
    Emma Schwabenland - NATALIE DORMER
    Sir Geoffrey Lawrence - NICHOLAS WOODESON
    Francis Biddle - CLIVE WOOD
    Iona Nikitchenko - HENRY GOODMAN
    Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe - FORBES MASSON
    Colonel Burton Andrus - JOSEPH ALESSI
    Hermann Goering - NIGEL LINDSAY
    Rudolf Hess - JOSEPH MYDELL
    New York Post Reporter - HARI DHILLON
    Daily Express Reporter - ROSIE SHEEHY
    Sir Norman Birkett and other roles - ANDREW WOODALL
    John Parker and other roles - NATHAN WILEY
    Henri De Vabres and other roles - JONATHAN CULLEN
    Pastor Gerecke and other roles - ILAN GOODMAN
    Otto Kranzbühler and other roles - MARK EDEL-HUNT
    Joachim von Ribbentrop and other roles - JASPER BRITTON
    Titles - LEWIS MACLEOD
    Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS
    Studio Manager - MARK SMITH
    Casting Director - GINNY SCHILLER
    Original Score - METAPHOR MUSIC
    Writer and Director - JONATHAN MYERSON
    Producer - NICHOLAS NEWTON
    A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

    • 23 min
    Episode 15 - Guilty or Not?

    Episode 15 - Guilty or Not?

    After 216 days in the courtroom, the judges must arrive at their verdicts – the debate will be fierce. Outside, some expect all the Nazis to hang, others predict prison or even acquittal. And while they wait, the Accused are allowed visitors for the first time. And maybe the last time.
    As the judges argue, the prisoners are allowed visitors for the first time. Emma Schwabenland, an American translator, is given the job of organising the Visitors Room, and Pastor Gerecke, an American Lutheran, is under-employed tending to their spiritual needs. And upstairs the eight judges (two from each country) debate the appropriate sentences – the Russians want everyone found guilty and hanged, the other judges take a more nuanced view...Starring Natalie Dormer as Emma Schwabenland and featuring Ilan Goodman as Pastor Henry Gerecke.
    Emma Schwabenland - NATALIE DORMER
    Robert H Jackson - JOSEPH MYDELL
    Hermann Goering - NIGEL LINDSAY
    Emmy Goering - SOPHIA PETTIT
    Pastor Gerecke - ILAN GOODMAN
    Sir Geoffrey Lawrence - NICHOLAS WOODESON
    Iona Nikitchenko - HENRY GOODMAN
    Robert Falco - HARI DHILLON
    Francis Biddle - CLIVE WOOD
    Sir Norman Birkett and other roles - ANDREW WOODALL
    Henri De Vabres and other roles - JONATHAN CULLEN
    John Parker and other roles - NATHAN WILEY
    Albert Speer and other roles - JOSEPH ALESSI
    Niklas Frank and other roles - ROSIE SHEEHY
    Otto Kranzbühler and other roles - MARK EDEL-HUNT
    Joachim von Ribbentrop and other roles - JASPER BRITTON
    Titles - LEWIS MACLEOD
    Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS
    Studio Manager - MARK SMITH
    Casting Director - GINNY SCHILLER
    Original Score - METAPHOR MUSIC
    Writer and Director - JONATHAN MYERSON
    Producer - NICHOLAS NEWTON
    A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

    • 22 min
    Episode 14 - Everyone Knew

    Episode 14 - Everyone Knew

    As more evidence emerges of Nazi Crimes – the camps, the slave labour ministry, the euthanasia programme – all Germans must come to terms with their own individual guilt. They can no longer pretend they didn’t know.
    The Accused Men employ a range of limp excuses for their behaviour, claiming they knew nothing, that it was all done by Himmler (now conveniently dead), that they had no choice. But the testimony of Hermann Graebe, a German engineer working in occupied Ukraine, who stumbled across a mass shooting, silences the courtroom and brings home to Christa, a German civilian working at the Court, the enormity of the Nazi crimes. (Graebe was later named one of the Righteous Among Nations at the Yad Vashem Memorial). Starring Rosie Sheehy as Christa and featuring Henry Goodman as Hermann Graebe, witness to a mass execution.
    Madeleine Jacob - ALEX KINGSTON
    Christa - ROSIE SHEEHY
    Hermann Graebe - HENRY GOODMAN
    Herald Tribune Reporter - CLIVE WOOD
    Daily Mirror Reporter - ANDREW WOODALL
    New York Post Reporter - HARI DHILLON
    Sir Geoffrey Lawrence - NICHOLAS WOODESON
    John Amen - JOSEPH ALESSI
    Roman Rudenko - NIGEL LINDSAY
    Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe - FORBES MASSON
    Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier - KATE PHILLIPS
    Rudolf Hoess - JASPER BRITTON
    Wilhelm Keitel - JONATHAN CULLEN
    Walther Funk and other roles - ILAN GOODMAN
    Fritz Sauckel and other roles - MARK EDEL-HUNT
    Titles - LEWIS MACLEOD
    Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS
    Studio Manager - MARK SMITH
    Casting Director - GINNY SCHILLER
    Original Score - METAPHOR MUSIC
    Writer and Director - JONATHAN MYERSON
    Producer - NICHOLAS NEWTON
    A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

    • 22 min
    Episode 13 - Just Another Swindle

    Episode 13 - Just Another Swindle

    April 1946, the trial continues but the German people either don’t believe the evidence or just ignore it. Is it because or in spite of the horrific evidence? But they have to start paying attention – only then can the healing begin.
    Trial fatigue is setting in: British and American newspapers only want the gruesome stories, and the Germans are doggedly uninterested – it’s either lies or they should just get on and execute them. Even Otto Ohlendorf, who led an SS Einsatzkommando which cold-bloodedly shot 90,000 Jews, talks like an accountant. Starring Alex Kingston as Madeleine Jacob, French foreign correspondent and featuring Jonathan Cullen as Otto Ohlendorf, called to give testimony of his own soldiers’ barbarism.
    Madeleine Jacob - ALEX KINGSTON
    Christa - ROSIE SHEEHY
    Daily Mirror Reporter - ANDREW WOODALL
    New York Post Reporter - HARI DHILLON
    Herald Tribune Reporter - CLIVE WOOD
    Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe - FORBES MASSON
    John Amen - JOSEPH ALESSI
    Roman Rudenko - NIGEL LINDSAY
    Charles Dubost - ILAN GOODMAN
    Bishop of Limburg - NATHAN WILEY
    Robert H Jackson - JOSEPH MYDELL
    Titles - LEWIS MACLEOD
    Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS
    Studio Manager - MARK SMITH
    Casting Director - GINNY SCHILLER
    Original Score - METAPHOR MUSIC
    Writer and Director - JONATHAN MYERSON
    Producer - NICHOLAS NEWTON
    A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

    • 24 min
    Episode 12 - Glory or Disgrace

    Episode 12 - Glory or Disgrace

    March 1946 and it’s time to hear the Defence Case. Goering is first into the witness box but he seems unashamed, proud of what the Nazis achieved. His duel with the prosecutors begins and they have to outwit him, have to find a way to demolish his attempt at martyrdom.
    Once in the witness box, Hermann Goering, unlike the other defendants, doesn’t pretend to be ignorant of what went on or claim that his signature was faked. He is proud of what the Nazi Regime achieved for Germany and intends to go down in a blaze of Wagnerian martyrdom. This wrong-foots Jackson during his cross-examination but when Maxwell-Fyfe takes over, he forces Goering to admit to the shabby, gangsterism of the Nazi machine. Starring Nigel Lindsay as Hermann Goering and Forbes Masson as Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe.
    Gustav Gilbert - ED STOPPARD
    Robert H Jackson - JOSEPH MYDELL
    Hermann Goering - NIGEL LINDSAY
    Sir Geoffrey Lawrence - NICHOLAS WOODESON
    Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe - FORBES MASSON
    Julius Streicher - HENRY GOODMAN
    Court Marshall - JASPER BRITTON
    Titles - LEWIS MACLEOD
    Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS
    Studio Manager - MARK SMITH
    Casting Director - GINNY SCHILLER
    Original Score - METAPHOR MUSIC
    Writer and Director - JONATHAN MYERSON
    Producer - NICHOLAS NEWTON
    A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds

    • 22 min

Customer Reviews

3.9 out of 5
198 Ratings

198 Ratings

s. Whittaker ,

Nuremberg

I wanted to like it yet it sounds too haphazard. I’m finding it hard to follow and actually understand what’s going on and who’s who. Too noisy as well. I expected a more academic approach not a boisterous play, rendering it a bit fanciful. I’m not sure if I can manage even two more episodes
I think I was too hasty in my first review. I’m going to stick with it. It is beginning to make sense more and more to me. I would appreciate more source material yet I’m willing to take your word for its accuracy, given my respect for BBC production and Derek Jacoby, the one dramatist I’m most familiar with. Thank you. I intend to recommend it to what friends I think may appreciate it given their Jewish heritage.

blau1202 ,

Excellent

This was an excellent retelling of the trial. It was thoroughly researched and beautifully dramatized. Thank you to the BBC!

>>tom_joad<< ,

This trivializes the history

The production values are high but frankly that is the only positive attribute that I can see in this production. It trivializes the history and attempts to layer on a weird “trendy” vibe for no end that I can see. To make it ‘meme worthy’ or something? Finally the listener actually learns very little of the actual history or the complex issues which were involved. I am 8 episodes in and I don’t think it is worth my time to see it through to the end.

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