Hermann Goring and 23 other Nazis stood trial at Nuremberg in 1945… but do you know the women crucial in bringing them to justice?
On a hot August day, a young woman zigzags through narrow corridors. In his haste, he slips across the level ground and is caught by ‘the strength of a man’s arms’. He agrees with him and sends him on his way, calling after him, “Be careful, child.”
This all seems perfectly normal; A kind man saves a busy woman from an ankle sprain.
But the woman is Russian translator Tatiana Stupnikova, the corridors lead to Court 600 of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice, and the man is Hermann Goring. Goring, a leader of the Nazi party and a close confidant of Hitler, was one of 24 defendants tried at Nuremberg in 1945.
Luftwaffe Commander Hermann Göring took the stand for 9 days between 13 March and 22 March 1946.
In this magnificent book, Natalie Livingstone presents the history of the case that defined the 20th century and all future international criminal legal proceedings through the experiences of eight women who were integral to its success.
Livingstone brings together women journalists, writers, lawyers, translators, painters, and witnesses from England, France, Russia, Germany, and America who helped bring the Nazis to justice in one way or another.
In addition to Stupnikova, who walks the impossible tightrope between surviving in Soviet Russia and staying true to her principles, Erika Mann and Harriet Zetterberg also stand out as women who have the power to bring anything to life.
Erika, the daughter of writer Thomas Mann and a writer herself, was a staunch believer in both the punishment and rehabilitation of the German people.
The artist, who wrote and staged a political cabaret denouncing the rise of fascism, fled Germany in 1935 and married gay British poet WH Auden before the Nazis stripped her of her German citizenship.
Harriet Zetterberg and Ingeborg played important roles in ensuring the trial ran smoothly
He documented the trial religiously in an attempt to force readers to confront the horrors of the previous decade.
Zetterberg was more concerned with the legality of the trial. As a lawyer for the American prosecution, he prepared the case against the ‘Polish butcher’ Hans Frank. He pored over letters and diary entries to piece together his crimes and build a solid prosecution.
The beating heart of this book is Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier. As a witness for the French prosecution, he would ‘shatter the protective aura of professional drudgery’ established during the trial.
Tatiana Stupnikova worked as a Russian translator throughout the trial
His clear and harrowing account of his life as a political prisoner in Auschwitz and Ravensbruck silenced anyone who tried to deny the Holocaust.
His descriptions of the living conditions, brutality and functionality of the gas chambers were fundamental to the prosecution’s solidification of the ‘crimes against humanity’ allegation, first used at Nuremberg.
However, according to Vaillant-Couturier, he The purpose was perhaps greater.
In his testimony, he concluded that he “had only one wish: that some of us would escape alive and tell the world what the Nazi prisons of prisoners at Auschwitz and Ravensbruck were like everywhere.”
Livingstone easily fits every piece of the puzzle in these women’s lives into the framework of the trial, presenting every deeply researched detail with the lightest of touches.
He does not shy away from the complexity of his subjects; they are not perfect; They may seem flawed, contrived and selfish.
British artist Laura Knight, whose painting of the trial was commissioned by the War Artists Advisory Committee and exhibited at the Imperial War Museum, enjoyed the food and drink event organized for VIPs.
German journalist Ursula von Kardorff had her text frequently censored due to her sympathetic stance towards the defendants.
Ingeborg Kalnoky, the glamorous aristocrat assigned to host the witnesses, gave detailed, almost awe-inspiring descriptions of the Nazi guests in her memoirs.
He distinguishes barely more than a single line among the Jews who remain under his roof.
This book is a necessary reminder of the horrors of the Nazis’ reign over much of Europe and reemphasizes the important roles women played in bringing them to justice.
