At the Russia’s largest film studio, Mosfilm, an exact replica of the legendary “Courtroom 600” of the Nuremberg Palace of Justice — the venue of the International Military Tribunal — has been meticulously recreated.
The film Nuremberg is being produced by Russia’s Cinema Production in collaboration with filmmakers from the Czech Republic and Germany, with the support of the Alexander Pechersky Foundation. The project is directed by Nikolai Lebedev, a two-time recipient of the Russian State Prize, best known for the movies The Star, Legend No. 17, and Flight Crew. The screenplay is based on Forever and Ever, a novel by historian and jurist Alexander Zvyagintsev, Deputy Director of the Institute of State and Law of the Russian Academy of Sciences for International Cooperation. The leading roles are played by Sergey Bezrukov and Evgeny Mironov, alongside the actors from Russia, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, the Czech Republic, France, Belgium, and several other countries. Filming has already taken place in the Czech Republic, continues now in Moscow, and is set to move to Germany and Belgium.
“Seventy-five years ago, in Bavaria’s Nuremberg, the international tribunal brought to justice the top Nazi war criminals. It was the Soviet leadership that insisted these men face an open, full-fledged trial, and in the dock sat virtually the entire leadership of the Third Reich,” Naryshkin told the cast, crew, and journalists after touring the set. “The rulings of the Nuremberg Tribunal are timeless. They established once and for all that Nazi ideology is criminal and that Hitler’s Germany bears full responsibility for unleashing the Second World War.”
He added that during last November’s commemorations of the tribunal’s 75th anniversary, Moscow and other Russian cities hosted round tables, conferences, and public events with the aim of reaffirming the tribunal’s enduring significance. “As for the feature film now in production at Mosfilm, it will for sure have artistic value,” Naryshkin noted, “but no less important is its historical and educational role. In fact, this is likely the first feature film to build its narrative directly around the Nuremberg trials.”
Earlier, producer Elmira Aynulova told TASS that Nuremberg draws on historical evidence and documents that until recently had remained unknown, sourced directly from participants and witnesses of the tribunal. The screenplay also incorporates both fiction and documentary works by Zvyagintsev, one of Russia’s foremost experts on the trials. The story is set six months after the surrender of Nazi Germany, during preparations for the International Military Tribunal and the opening of the historic proceedings.