The Nuremberg Trial

Brings horrible history alive

This book is very good. Ann and John Tusa are to be congratulated. I went to Germany at the age of 4 in 1946 for 2 years and can just remember what it was like for a young boy going to an Army school. The Tusa book reminded me of the prevailing atmosphere. My parents often talked of their times there, what it was like mixing with the Americans and other allies, comparing the NAAFI with the PX, etc. Although fraternisation was forbidden we had a German gardener with a son my age and I was soon speaking better German than my parents. In my early teens we returned for a visit with an Army family living in what had been a Nazi officers' barracks, very spacious and elegantly laid-out, and the houses were well-equipped. However, at one end of the barracks was a large underground bunker that had hooks in the ceiling and what looked like ancient blood on the floor. Nearby was Bergen-Belsen with its huge common graves.

The Tusas cover the trial and its build-up in great detail. The various characters (prosecution, defence, accused, witnesses, judiciary) are all brought to life, and the descriptions of the crimes are vivid without being bloodthirsty. The difficulties faced by and the tensions between the four allied powers are almost as interesting as their treatment of the accused, some of whom had incredible lines of defence. Although the end of the trial is known to all, this was still a gripping read. Or maybe it's just that I like lots of detail.

I have one criticism, and that is with Ralph Cosham's delivery: he swallows the last letter or syllable, sometimes the last word, of many sentences. Plurals become bafflingly singular because the 's' cannot be heard. I admit I do nearly all my listening in my car and it may be that Mr Cosham's volume-drop is not so bothersome in a silent ambience. In any case, this is really a minor quibble because Mr Cosham has a mellifluous voice and his delivery is otherwise excellent with an appropriate mid-Atlantic accent.

40 of 40 people found this review helpful

Old but Unbowed

I first read this book a number of years ago when I was doing some research into post-war retribution in occupied Europe. Unless you wante to wade through the numerous transcripts of the Nuremberg Trials, this book will do the job for you by highlighting the main issues, personalities and dramas of that unique judicial occasion. This is a well-researched and fascinating book which gives the listener an insignt into the confused power play of some seriously flawed criminal characters inhabiting what was, in effect, a lunatic asylum. It also reveals some interesting information on those who participated in the trials from the judges to the prosecutors and the defence lawyers who must have realised that they faced an impossible job. THis is long book but well worth it if you want the unfolding drama of a legal trial with no precedents.

27 of 28 people found this review helpful

Well written, shocking narration

Positives: This book is well written, treading the fine line of actually teaching the reader something new but without becoming too detailed as to put off those without a fanatical interest in this period of history. It certainly highlights the legal challenges and precedents set at Nuremberg and offers a fair commentary on all the of the parties.

Negatives:. The narration is horrific. The narrator's voice is always a bit muffled, changes in pitch and volume are frequent where edits have been made. The last syllable of a sentence is often missing and most annoying is the "uh" and "ah" noises that are prefixed to so many names:

Uh-Goering
Ah-Jackson

Etc.

Some names like Seyss-Inquart are listed and unclear.

It really is amazing this narration passed anybody's quality control. It Almost ruined a really good read

15 of 16 people found this review helpful

A great book spoilt by the narration!

The narrator reads well but has an exhausting lisp and an annoyinh tendency to add "ah" at the beginning of most of the sentences. "ah-subject", "ah-trial", "ah-goering". At some stage I even had to check if it was Jackson or "ah-Jackson"... The book iyself is brilliantly written, never boring, to the point that I persisted with it and tried to filter out narrator's flaws.
Overall, great book and if you have a chance and are interested in the subject, get it in paper.

7 of 7 people found this review helpful

narration made this unlistenable for me

I was looking forward to this audiobook, give the joint authors' credentials. Sadly the dreadful technical quality and woeful delivery of the narrator forced me to give up after less than 20 minutes. Luckily there is a returns policy - so maybe give it a try and see if these are not so off-putting for you.

14 of 15 people found this review helpful

Overly long, and overly dry

What did you like best about The Nuremberg Trial? What did you like least?

Obviously this covers a fascinating time in history, with some of the most notorious war criminals in history on trial. However the book is overly technical, and far too long. It also seems more interested on covering the conditions in which the inmates were kept, rather than the crimes they committed.

What could Ann Tusa and John Tusa have done to make this a more enjoyable book for you?

To be frank, the authors desperately needed an editor, or perhaps an editor with more power to tell them what to do. This is simply too long winded to be an entertaining listen.

How could the performance have been better?

The reader sounds pretty sleepy for the most part, which doesn't help the dull nature of much of the text.

If this book were a film would you go see it?

Normally I like a film to be as written, with zero changes. In this case though, the source is full of great material which the author ignored, and instead focussed on trivia.

Any additional comments?

There is surely a great book to be written about this period of history. This sadly, isn't it.

11 of 12 people found this review helpful

Thorough. more legalistic than defendants' story

I had expected this to be about the defendants and their stories and their testimonies. It covers that, but spends a lot more time on wider issues too. for some this will be less interesting. I thought it should be of great interest to barristers and judges, as if goes into considerable detail on the mandate and foundation of the war crimes tribunal, the back room discussions, the conditions of the staff, etc. some interesting insights into post-war Germany, and the wider setting of the nuremburg trial

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

fascinating subject

fascinating subject spoiled by bad editing, and mono tone narrating, could onlt listen in short bursts

4 of 4 people found this review helpful

Detailed history

Fascinating listen although a long book to listen too. Narration was very good and the background explained in detail. This is a must listen too if you would like to know the horrors of the Nazi years and its effects and crimes in Europe as opposed to the "glorious" early German victories. There was so much I have not read about in this book regarding places such as Greece and the wars against Partisans in other parts of Europe. You will already know about the Nuremberg trials from the black and white films of WW2, this gives you a wide view to the background and is one of the most informative books on the Nazi's / German military I have read.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful

Impressive account of a ground-breaking trial

This is highly detailed account of how the Nuremberg trial was set-up through the co-operation of the four main allies at the end of the second world war. The crimes by the main defendants are alluded to but the main thrust of the book is how, despite the misgivings of some of the participants, international co-operation was achieved and to overcome the difficulties that the lawyers and judges had in creating a legal framework that meshed together the continental and the Anglo-Amercian legal systems of justice.

It is impressive what was achieved in a relatively short time to collate the mass of evidence and to present the cases with simultaneous translation using new technology. The generosity of the Americans in underwriting most of the costs made things run more smoothly than could have been thought possible in a country devastated by war.

The overall impression is of dignified proceedings in which the defendants were given a fair trial, but one is left with the distasteful evidence of how so many people could engage in barbaric behaviour.

3 of 3 people found this review helpful