Episodes
| Episode | Title | First Broadcast | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Welcome to the Ashcan, by Jonathan Myerson | 20210827 | It's May 1945 and Germany has just surrendered. The country is in chaos - five million former soldiers, foreign nationals and those liberated from the concentration camps, all trying to get home. And hiding somewhere are the top Nazis. Seen through the eyes of a US Army Sergeant at the stripped-out hotel in Luxembourg where the prisoners are taken, they track down and arrest Kaltenbrunner (Himmler's Deputy), Frank (Governor of Occupied Poland) and others. But former Reichsmarshall Goering didn't have to be caught - he surrendered himself along with 16 monogrammed suitcases and a valet. But word gets out where they are being held and Prison Commandant Andrus feels under attack from all sides - the Nazi Underground might attempt to release the prisoners, there might be an attempt to lynch them, but above all he has to stop the prisoners committing suicide. And when they're transferred to the prison in Nuremberg, it's no safer. Cast: Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS A Promenade production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds May 1945 and the leading Nazis have to be tracked down all over Europe and arrested. Dramatic reconstruction of the trial of Nazi war criminals in the aftermath of WWII. |
| 02 | Because They Started It, by Jonathan Myerson | 20210903 | June 1945 and, with the Nazis under arrest, the Allies must now decide what to do with them. Washington wants a trial while, in London, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill is happy with a summary court martial. But if you put them on trial, what is the charge? Seen through the eyes of Diana, a Whitehall secretary, the tortured negotiations unfold, edging towards the creation of a totally new sort of trial. Churchill wants the top 50 put against a wall and shot; Stalin wants them to have a show trial and then be shot. But following the sudden death of Roosevelt, the new US President Truman insists on formal justice. Whose trial procedure should they adopt? Russia and France don't use cross-examination and America is insisting on a charge of conspiracy, unknown in France. But procedure is nothing compared to the problem of the Four Indictments. They end up having to invent new words - Crimes Against Humanity and Genocide. Cast: Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS A Promenade production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds Do the top Nazis deserve a trial? Or just summary execution? And what\u2019s the charge? Dramatic reconstruction of the trial of Nazi war criminals in the aftermath of WWII. |
| 03 | Will There Be Rabbit Tonight? | 20210910 | August 1945 and the evidence is being amassed in Nuremberg. If anything, there's too much paperwork - the Nazi machine insisted on recording absolutely everything. But are these documents sufficient - or should they hear from witnesses? Roger Barrett, the lawyer running the Documents Room, watches this debate unfold. Some argue that documents don't lie, others that they must hear from the victims themselves. All the more so after the first shock discovery of the concentration camps in Germany. When they start taking affidavits from prisoners, they hear about a place in the East called Auschwitz-Birkenau - and the witnesses talk about gas chambers and industrial-scale killing. It's almost unbelievable - a camp designed only to exterminate. Meanwhile, two Jewish German refugees now in the British Army begin their War Crimes Investigation into Tesch & Stabenow, which appears to be a harmless pest-control company - but it also provided the SS with Zyklon B, the principal poison used in the gas chambers. Cast: Roger Barrett - LUKE NORRIS Robert Storey- HARI DHILLON John Amen - JOSEPH ALESSI Charles Bendel - HENRY GOODMAN Robert H Jackson - JOSEPH MYDELL Alfred Zaun and other roles - NIGEL LINDSAY Secretary - ROSIE SHEEHY Colonel Leo Genn and other roles- NICHOLAS WOODESON Captain Smallwood and other roles - MARK EDEL-HUNT Major Williams and other roles - NATHAN WILEY Bruno Tesch and other roles - JONATHAN CULLEN Emil Sehm and other roles - JASPER BRITTON ACC Officer and other roles - ANDREW WOODALL Quartermaster Sergeant and other roles - CLIVE WOOD Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS Studio Manager - MARK SMITH Original Score - METAPHOR MUSIC Writer and Director - JONATHAN MYERSON Producer - NICHOLAS NEWTON A Promenade production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds What's it like to hear about gas chambers for the first time? Investigators start work. Dramatic reconstruction of the trial of Nazi war criminals in the aftermath of WWII. |
| 04 | The 24 Names, by Jonathan Myerson | 20210917 | September 1945. Everyone is gathering in Nuremberg for the trial. But the courtroom isn't ready, the judges are still in Berlin and none of the Nazis have lawyers. Seen through the eyes of Airey Neave, fluent German-speaker and first man to escape from Colditz, who has to serve the indictments. But the names of those to be indicted keep changing - and there are still some surprises. Meanwhile, with less than a month until the trial is due to start, the Russians seem to be employing delaying tactics - is it because they might also be accused of war crimes? In fact, the Kremlin is having trouble providing translations of its documents - Stalin had executed most people in Russia who could speak a foreign language. And it's Neave who now has to find the German lawyers to represent the 22 defendants. Cast: Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds Who will be indicted? Will they have lawyers? And will the courtroom ever be ready? Dramatic reconstruction of the trial of Nazi war criminals in the aftermath of WWII. |
| 05 | By Their Fruits, We Know Them | 20210924 | 20th November 1945 and the Defendants take their place in the dock - 22 of the most senior Nazis, representing each component of Hitler's machine. But without simultaneous translation the trial will be unworkable - are the interpreters ready? Seen through the eyes of Tatiana, a young Russian interpreter, the trial opens and the interpreters struggle - Nuremberg was the first ever use of simultaneous interpreting. They said it couldn't be done. And once the indictments have been read, Robert Jackson, Chief US Prosecutor makes the opening speech. The accused men in the dock seem almost proud of what they did. But the American team is relying too heavily on documents - they're chilling but there's a danger of the trial becoming bogged down by documents alone. The Defendants are even starting to feel they're winning -n until the American Prosecutors change tack and show a 60-minute film of footage of the concentration camps. The courtroom is reduced to silence, the defendants finally cowed. Cast: Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds The Accused Men seem untroubled until they\u2019re shown footage from the camps. Silence. Dramatic reconstruction of the trial of Nazi war criminals in the aftermath of WWII. |
| 06 | Statues All Over Germany | 20211001 | The army psychologist assigned to Nuremberg Prison has a never-to-be repeated chance to examine evil, close-up. What made these 22 men capable of such horrific acts? He spends time with them, he runs tests - what will it reveal? Seen through the eyes of Gustav Gilbert, German-speaking US psychologist assigned to examine and watch over the defendants. In turn, they valued the chance to speak to him. He then wrote up copious notes of his conversations and also reported back to the Prison Commandant. Would he find the mystery of human evil? And when the Defence case opens, Hermann Goering is first into the witness box but he seems unashamed, proud of what the Nazis achieved. He doesn't pretend to be ignorant of what happened or claim that his signature was faked. He is proud of what the Nazis 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 steps up, he forces Goering to admit to the shabby, gangsterism of the Nazi machine. Cast: Gustav Gilbert - ED STOPPARD Robert H Jackson - JOSEPH MYDELL Sir David Maxwell-Fyfe - FORBES MASSON Sir Geoffrey Lawrence - NICHOLAS WOODESON Hermann Goering - NIGEL LINDSAY Alfred Seidl - HARI DHILLON Julius Streicher - HENRY GOODMAN Douglas Kelley and other roles - ILAN GOODMAN Otto Kranzbühler and other roles - MARK EDEL-HUNT Admiral Nimitz and other roles - NATHAN WILEY Joachim von Ribbentrop and other roles - JASPER BRITTON Ernst Kaltenbrunner and other roles - JONATHAN CULLEN Hans Frank and other roles - ANDREW WOODALL 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 Goering enters the witness box. He has a whole new defence planned - glorious martyrdom. Dramatic reconstruction of the trial of Nazi war criminals in the aftermath of WWII. |
| 07 | He Pointed to the Sky | 20211008 | The trial continues but British and American reporters are only interested in the gruesome stories. The camps, the slave labour ministry, the euthanasia programme. The German people either don't believe the evidence or choose to ignore it. But they have to start paying attention, only then can the healing begin. Seen through the eyes of Madeleine Jacob, a French Foreign correspondent, and Christa, the young German girl who works in the court cafeteria. When Otto Ohlendorf, who led an SS Einsatzkommando, admits to shooting 90,000 Jews, Christa thinks it's lies - if not, why don't the Americans just get on and execute them? The defendants find a range of limp excuses for their behaviour - they knew nothing, it was all Himmler (now dead), they had no choice. But the testimony of Hermann Graebe, a German engineer posted to occupied Ukraine, silences the courtroom and brings home to Christa the enormity of the Nazi crimes. Cast: Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds An ordinary man gives evidence. He killed 90,000 Jews. He wouldn\u2019t disobey an order. Dramatic reconstruction of the trial of Nazi war criminals in the aftermath of WWII. |
| 08 | DEATH BY HANGING | 20211015 | After 216 days in the courtroom, the judges must arrive at their verdicts. And while they wait, the Accused are allowed visitors for the first time. Seen through the eyes of Emma Schwabenland, an American interpreter who is given the job of organising the Visitors Room. Upstairs, the eight judges (two from each country) debate the verdicts and sentences - the Russians want everyone found guilty and hanged, other judges take a more nuanced view. On 30th September 1946, they announce their verdicts. Cast: Sound Designer - ADAM WOODHAMS A Promenade Production for BBC Radio 4 and BBC Sounds After 216 days in the courtroom, the judges must arrive at their verdicts. Dramatic reconstruction of the trial of Nazi war criminals in the aftermath of WWII. |