Nuremberg

A 2000 Miniseries based on the main Nuremberg Trial. It consisted of two episodes and starred Alec Baldwin, Brian Cox, Michael Ironside, Jill Hennessey, Christopher Plummer and many, many others.

Depending on your point of view, it might appear as the typical celebration of the heroic Allies against Nazi Germany or a good miniseries with well-developed characters.

The plot spaces from the capture of the main Nazi war criminals to the end of the trial, as the historical accuracy swerves between Did Not Do the Research and Shown Their Work.

Tropes used in Nuremberg include:

• The Atoner: Hans Frank and Albert Speer.
• Better to Die Than Be Killed: Robert Ley hangs himself in his cell before the beginning of the trial. And Hermann Göring swallows cyanide before the executions start.
• Brain Bleach: Everyone in the court is sickened and horrified by the filmed footage; two court clerks are so aghast that they run from the screening. Possibly happens to many viewers watching the series too.
• Break the Haughty: Happens to Ribbentrop and Funk.
• The Brute: Ernst Kaltenbrunner.
• Cloudcuckoolander: Rudolf Hess.

Wilhelm Keitel: "He's pretending. Hess is very smart."
Alfred Jodl: "If he was so smart, he wouldn't have spent the last four years in an English prison."

• Did Not Do the Research: General Keitel is addressed as Admiral Keitel when his sentence is given.
• Dirty Communists: Averted.
• Dissonant Serenity: Rudolf Hoss doesn't see the murder of nearly three million people at Auschwitz as anything to get upset about. In fact, he is always polite and very well-mannered. And yes, he is quite the Nightmare Fuel Station Attendant.
• Even Evil Has Standards: Half played straight and half subverted when Höss explains that in Auschwitz he did not tolerate gratuitous cruelty... because he was there to carry on an extermination.
  • That said, in Real Life he made this statement relating to his first test trial of the same formula of gas that would eventually execute millions of human beings:

"We knew when the people were dead because they stopped screaming."

• • Also some defendants show uneasiness as they see the clips about the concentration camps.
• Evil Laugh: Rudolf Hess provides one of this after the executions.
• Famous Last Words: Some of defendants who are sentenced to death are shown while delivering their last speeches on the gallows.
  • The writers Did Not Do the Research for Field Marshal Keitel, whose last words weren't "Deutschland über alles!" but "Alles für Deutschland!".
• Foregone Conclusion: Seeing as it's nonfiction; anyone can look up the verdicts in an encyclopedia.
• Good Scars, Evil Scars: The "dueling scars" on Kaltenbrunner's face. They were actually caused by a driving accident.
• Greedy Jew: Julius Streicher openly and proudly admits considering this stereotype as a matter of fact.
• Hanging Judge: Soviet judge Iona Nikitchenko. Justified by what people like Keitel, Rosenberg and Frank did in Eastern Europe and Soviet Union.
• Heel Realization: Years before the Nuremberg trials, Albert Speer finally realised that Hitler was insane and dragging the entirety of Germany with him in a downwards spiral. He put together a plan to assassinate him but was foiled... by a wall.
• Hollywood History: Averted when Göring reminds Dr. Gilbert that Nazi anti-Semitic laws were inspired by English and American racist theories.
• Hot-Blooded: Julius Streicher.
• Just Following Orders: Wilhelm Keitel builds up his defense on this principle.
• Lack of Empathy: Dr. Gilbert pegs this as the reason the defendants were able to commit such terrible acts.
• Loads and Loads of Characters
• Not So Different: Göring points out this when talking about Hiroshima and segregation laws.
• Punch Clock Villain: After quietly telling the court how many people were killed in Auschwitz, Rudolf Höss explains to Dr. Gilbert that outside the concentration camp he lived a perfectly normal life.
  • Also Albert Speer.
• Real Life Writes the Plot: The actors chosen to portray Rudolf Hess (Roc LaFortune), Alfred Rosenberg (Alain Fournier) and Arthur Seyss-Inquart (René Gagnon) would have spoken with a strong French Canadian accent. Thus, they were given very few lines in the script, while in the Real Life their characters played a very important role during the progress.
• Redemption Equals Death: Hans Frank shows repentance for the crimes he committed while he was Gauleiter of Poland, but this isn't enough to spare him the gallows.
• Smug Snake: Joachim von Ribbentrop.
• The Sociopath: Rudolf Hoss killed over 2 million jews when he was overseer of Auschwitz. He not only never gave it a second thought, he found a way to kill people faster!
• Those Wacky Nazis: Played straight by Julius Streicher, somehow subverted by the repentant ones.
• Too Dumb to Live: Joking, Göring states that Ribbentrop should be hanged for his foolishness.
• Villainous Breakdown: Hess has a big damn one in the end (including an Evil Laugh).
  • Also Ribbentrop has a minor one when he starts weeping as the clip about the concentration camps is shown to the court.
• What Happened to the Mouse?: Strangely, some sentences aren't read by the judges. However, we get to see the executions of all the defendants sentenced to death.
• Worthy Opponent: Göring to Jackson.
• Yes-Man: Keitel.