Maynes, Seaghan (Oral history)

British civilian Reuters correspondent in North West Europe, 1944-1945 and at International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946

REEL 1: Aspects of period as Reuters war correspondent in North West Europe, 1944-1945: attached to Patton's US 3rd Army; opinion of Patton; description of conditions in various concentration camp following liberation; story of giving sugar cube to camp inmate; burial pits; examples of retribution against camp guards; opinion of accuracy of media coverage about conditions in camps; attitude to truth of story about lamp shade made of human skin; story of stomachs of camp inmate and guard being exhibited in glass jars; attitude to treatment of British paratroopers in Mauthausen camp; parachute training and problem of small stature; description of parachute drop over Rhine carrying kit and typewriter; story of visit to Czech town of Lidice; story of being injured in road accident. Aspects of period as Reuters correspondent at International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, Germany, 1945-1946: description of post-war living conditions for Germans; description of press HQ at Schloss Stein; opinion of accommodation and facilities; number of correspondents; daily routine; description of court room and staff; story of American guards listening to jazz music in nearby room; location of seat in court room; used short hand court proceedings; method of filing reports; correspondents worked on rota system; competition between news agencies to file story first; problem of boredom during opening prosecution case; comparison of work of correspondent and sketch writer. REEL 2 Continues: various memories of Goering's behaviour during trial; dress code of defendants; opinion of Hess's mental condition; attitude to legality of prosecution case against Walther Funk and senior Wehrmacht officers; opinion of Julius Streicher; attitude to press attaching labels such as 'Jew Baiter' and 'Beast of Belsen' to some defendants; opinion of judges; Goering's attitude to court and charges; comparison of different styles during interrogation of Goering by prosecutors Robert H Jackson and David Maxwell Fyfe; responsibility of Goering for ordering execution of POWs following escape from Stalag Luft III; opinion of legality of prosecution case; differing reactions of defendants to film of concentration camps after liberation; question of defendants' ignorance of Holocaust; question of non-Jewish victims of the Nazis receiving less attention; reaction in court room to film of concentration camps after liberation; question of numbers who died of disease and starvation in camps. REEL 3 Continues: further comments on causes of death in camps; attitude of defendants to death penalty; story of Goering's suicide; problem of 'botched' executions carried out by Americans; reason for refusing to attend executions; living conditions for Germans in Nuremberg; relations with German civilians; effects of rationing in Hamburg; story of German secretary; black market; prostitution; attitude of Germans to occupation; story of Goering's final speech; question of legality of trials. REEL 4 Continues: attitude of Russians to trials; attitude to civilian politicians and diplomats being put on trial; attitude to post-war prosecution of war criminals; story of trial of General Kurt Student; opinion of success of Nuremberg trials; story about treatment of collaborators in Chartres, France; opinion of French Resistance; attitude to 'might is right' concept of justice; early career as reporter in Belfast, Northern Ireland; attitude to future international war crimes trials; relations with Americans and other nationalities at Nuremberg; question of Jewish influence during Nuremberg trials. REEL 5 Continues: further comments on Jewish influence during Nuremberg trials; opinion of current (1988) media coverage of Middle East.