Although widely distributed throughout Germany in 1948 & 1949, U.S. government authorities decided not to release the film in American theaters.
The film interweaves the courtroom proceedings with excerpts from The Nazi Plan (1945) and Nazi Concentration and Prison Camps (1945) - evidentiary films compiled by John Ford's OSS Field Photo Branch/War Crimes team.
Hans-Otto Borgmann, the composer who scored this film, had previously collaborated with the Nazis on the propaganda film Our Flags Lead Us Forward (1933), from which the song 'Unsre Fahne flattert uns voran' became the official anthem of the Hitler Youth.
The restoration and rerelease of this film, known as the The Schulberg/Waletzky Restoration, was undertaken in 2009.
Nuremberg (1948) ends with a written announcement stating that the picture was produced by the Documentary Film Unit, Information Services Division, OMGUS.
According to modern sources, the documentary was never released theatrically in the United States due to politics with Germany, but had a two-year run in American-occupied Germany. It was withdrawn from distribution by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1950, at the request of the German government. The viewed print stated that the film had been made "available for television by the Department of the Army in the public interest."
According to modern sources, the documentary was never released theatrically in the United States due to politics with Germany, but had a two-year run in American-occupied Germany. It was withdrawn from distribution by the U.S. Department of Defense in 1950, at the request of the German government. The viewed print stated that the film had been made "available for television by the Department of the Army in the public interest."