We reviewed “letters from Nuremberg” by Senator Christopher J. Dodd. The book is based on the daily letters from his Father, Thomas Dodd, to his wife Grace during his eighteen month appointment as number two prosecutor to the Nuremberg Trials in 1945-1946. The letters had lain, undiscovered until 1990. The book goes beyond being a series of charming love letters or an attempt at damage control for his family’s humiliation over Senator Thomas Dodd’s career-ending censure by the U.S. Senate in 1967.

Note: Thomas Dodd was charged and censured for converting and spending campaign funds for personal use. He subsequently died five months after his failure to be re-elected.

His daily letters describe the atmosphere surrounding the bombed-out city of Nuremberg his meetings and interrogations of the accused Nazi leaders leading to the convictions of all but three of the twenty-five defendants.

The book describes his growing suspicions about the motives of America’s World War II, Russian Allies which lead to his future hard-line anti Communism.

The Author justifies the adherence to the principal of fairness in the War Crimes Trial on two bases. First it brings to the attention of the public a complete record of the crimes against humanity and counters the constant attacks by Holocaust Deniers who, incidentally, dispute some of the evidence presented by Thomas Dodd on You/Tube.

Christopher Dodd used his book during his brief try for the Presidency in 2007 decrying President George W. Busch’s secret Tribunals and wiretaps without court authorization. . The Author states that by giving the defendants a chance to review all of the evidence to enable the accused to defend themselves the Allied Court at Nuremberg took the “high ground” so that the term “Nuremberg” has stood for over sixty years as a symbol of United States fairness and Justice, unlike the term “Guantanamo “ which has come to signify the abandonment of such commitment and we are now associated with George W Bush and secret tribunal.

NLS Annotation
Letters from Nuremberg: My Father's Narrative of a Quest for Justice
Dodd, Christopher J. Read by Barry Bernson. Reading time 12 hours 15 minutes.
World History
U.S. senator from Connecticut compiles letters written to his mother, Grace, from his father, Thomas, while the latter served as a prosecutor at the trial of Nazi war criminals from 1945 to 1946. The letters reveal Dodd's impressions of the proceedings and his encounters with defendants including Hermann Goring. 2007.
Download Letters from Nuremberg: My Father's Narrative of a Quest for Justice,
DB65897,
RC65897
Audible.com: read by Michael Prichard

The group will meet on the first Tuesday of every month and will be facilitated by Don Queen, Email: queens@pacbell.net