Law and Justice Under Dictatorship in Film

Justice and the law, two concepts in today's society that synonymously go hand in hand; or so it seems. What exactly is law? What is justice? How do they relate to one another? These are questions that have plagued brilliant minds like Aristotle, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln, and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. They are also questions that have inspired powerful films like Night and Fog by Alain Resnais and Judgment at Nuremburg by Stanley Kramer; films that challenge the very essence and ideals of law and justice.

According to several dictionaries the word law can, more or less, be summed up as "a rule of conduct or procedure established by custom, agreement, or authority." Some of these sources also agree that law is, "a code of principles based on morality, conscience, or nature." Justice, on the other hand, is "adhering to what is fair, honest, and moral; agreeable to truth or fact; in accordance with correct principles; and suitable, proper in nature or fitting."

"Law and Justice are not always the same," claims renowned Feminist Gloria Steinem. This is a statement that clearly coincides with the messages of both Night and Fog and Judgment at Nuremburg. Films that seek to understand the terror-stricken era of National Socialism in Germany that led to the widespread ethnic cleansing of millions of human beings. There neither is, was, nor will be any type of accord between the law and justice in relation to the atrocities committed by Hitler and the Nazi Party. The Law of Nazi Germany

According to world-renowned author and philosopher Noam Chomsky,

"The most effective way to restrict democracy is to transfer decision-making from the public arena to unaccountable institutions: kings and princes, priestly castes, military juntas, party dictatorships, or modern corporations."

This statement becomes abundantly clear during the course of Judgment at Nuremburg; which is roughly based upon actual events and proceedings of the U.S. led Nuremburg Tribunals of 1948. Stanley Kramer paints an effective picture of the insane state of mind that punctuated the Nazi Germany Era through courtroom testimony and vignettes of interaction with local Germans. The documentary Night and Fog by Alain Resnais, takes a more direct approach by retrospectively confronting the reality of the inhumane Concentration camps that dotted the landscape of German Territory.

This was a time of idealistic tyrants with iron-fisted politics, usurping many liberties from people based only upon political, religious, and nationality affiliations. It was a time when power hungry men enacted immoral and discriminative laws that allowed the Nazi regime to carryout the execution of millions of Jews and other "Non-Aryan" people.

These atrocious legislative measures painfully met the definition of law as "a rule of conduct or procedure established by custom, agreement, or authority," that authority being the fascist Nazi regime. However these laws were by no means based on "principles of morality, conscience, or nature" and therefore have no link to justice.Justice in Nazi Germany

Frederick Douglass, the great abolitionist, once made a statement that serves as a summation of the Nazi era in Germany...

"Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe."

Discrimination and oppression of any kind are not fair, honest, moral, suitable, or merited and in no way comply with any concept that defines the true ideal of justice. How could a once prominent society descend to such absurd vileness in the name of God and Country?

Yet it is almost understandable when referring to the interesting and inviting concept of "National Socialism." Imagine a pristinely unified nation, independent in all facets, overseen by a government dedicated to meeting the needs of every citizen. It becomes easy to see why a despondent, recovering German population would embrace such an uplifting and inspiring idea. This concept definitely corresponds to beliefs of prominent civil rights spokeswoman Marian Wright Edelman, who said, "The challenge of social justice is to evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer place." Unfortunately the inherent consequences of a unified nation under Hitler's National Socialism went unseen.

Just as justice is blind, in many aspects so were the German people. Blind to the dangers, implications, and ultimately the atrocities committed in their midst; the wool cleverly pulled over their eyes by a cunning and inspirational leader who had the right campaign message at the right time. The very idea of anti-Semitic and other abominable National Socialism facets distinguished as law and justice is sickening.

Why did the law become such a prominent factor during the Nazi regime? According to Ayn Rand, prominent author and founder of objectivist philosophy,

"There's no way to rule innocent men. The only power government has is the power to crack down on criminals. Well, when there aren't enough criminals, one makes them. One declares so many things to be a crime that it becomes impossible for men to live without breaking laws."

The Nazi Party therefore began constructing stringent and oppressive laws in accordance to Hitler's ideals of justice; a concept of utter totalitarianism in order to create an idealistic Aryan utopia. As Giovanni Sartori, the great Italian Political Scientist, once said, "The more corrupt the Republic; the more the laws."

Suddenly a Germany that should have been reaping the glories of unification found themselves fighting for their very existence. As time went on the laws and the enforcement of the laws became an illogical, immoral, and corrupt debacle; as portrayed in Judgment at Nuremburg. Capital and cruel or unusual punishment prevailed in a Nazi society characterized by racial hate and religious persecution. Creating a world of complete terror where an ordinary occurrence or merely a minor legal infraction could ultimately seal your fate.

A similarly disturbing aspect of Nazi justice is that of the atrocious concentration camps. Men, women, and children forced to slave away with little or no food while the S.S. looked on. The women were often brutally forced to prostitute themselves to the Kapo scum that helped supervise the prisoners. Once they served no further purpose for the regime people of all ages were ushered into gas chambers and executed by the thousands. These events all taking place under gates that read "Work is Freedom" and "To Each His Due," carried out by polluted Nazi minds who somehow believed that they were upholding the law and preserving justice. Reconciling the Gap Between Law and Justice

Nobel Prize winner Alexander Solzhenitsyn once said, "Justice is conscience, not a personal conscience but the conscience of the whole of humanity. Those who clearly recognize the voice of their own conscience usually recognize also the voice of justice."

The justice of Nazi Germany in no way, shape, or form adheres to the principles of justice laid out above. It is evident that there can be no justice in laws purposely created for the persecution and annihilation of human beings. Reverting back to the statement that "law and Justice are not always the same..." Gloria Steinem concludes that "When they aren't, destroying the law may be the first step toward changing it."

Unfortunately we can't change the events of the past. We can however change the course of the future by not allowing such atrocities to take place. In modern times the United States along with the help of the U.N. and N.A.T.O. have intervened in similar conflicts in the Balkans and other nations throughout the world. To this very day the brave men and women of countries world-wide uphold the wise counsel of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.,

"Just as it is the duty of all men to obey just laws, so it is the duty of all men to disobey unjust laws." Doctor King further admonishes that "true peace is not merely the absence of tension: it is the presence of justice."

A justice that is only attainable through a pro-active approach. An idea constructed centuries ago when Aristotle stated so well,

"Moral excellence comes about as a result of habit. We become just by doing just acts, temperate by doing temperate acts, brave by doing brave acts."

Bibliography

Judgment at Nuremberg. Dir. Stanley Kramer, 1961. MGM/UA Home Entertainment, 2004.

Night and Fog. Dir. Alain Resnais, 1955. Home Vision Cinema, 1997.

Bergman, Paul, and Michael Asimow. Reel Justice: the Courtroom Goes to the Movies. Kansas City, Missouri: Andrews and McMeel, 1996.

"Law". Def. 1. The Random House Dictionary. New York: Random House, Inc, 1978.

"Law". Def. 1. The American Heritage Steadman's Medical Dictionary. Houghton Mifflin Company, 2002.

"Law". Def. 1; 1a; 1b. The Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster Inc., 1996.

"Law". Def. 1; 10. http://www.dictionary.com>

"Justice". Def. 1; 2; 3; 5. The Random House Dictionary. New York: Random House, Inc, 1978.

"Justice". Def. 1a; 1b; 2a. Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of Law. Merriam-Webster Inc., 1996.

"Justice". Easton's Bible Dictionary. 1897.

"Justice". Def. 1; 2a; 2b; 3a; 4.

Kramer, Stanley. A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World. New York: Harcourt, Brace and Co., 1997.

Asimow, Michael. "Judges Judging Judges-Judgment at Nuremberg." August, 1998.

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