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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
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John Kampfner

If we want Vladimir Putin brought to justice, Nuremberg has much to teach us

Court room 600 in Nuremberg, southern Germany, in February 2020, prior to the last trial to take place there.
Court room 600 in Nuremberg, southern Germany, in February 2020. Photograph: Christof Stache/AFP/Getty Images

Dictators like Vladimir Putin and populists such as Donald Trump have had a good last couple of weeks. A leak of intelligence documents has exposed highly classified US military secrets, damaging relations with key allies and revealing weaknesses in Ukraine’s defences. And the arraignment of the former US president on hush-money charges may well have boosted his re-election chances. So there are more reasons than usual to be fearful about the resilience of liberal democracy.

Just as confidence may be ebbing, it is salutary to visit Nuremberg to remember what the fight is all about. This city was Hitler’s true home. It was where the Nazis held their annual rallies and promulgated their race laws, differentiating the purity of Aryan blood from that of the Jews, setting in train the Holocaust.

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