Judgment at Nuremberg (1961)

Marlene Dietrich: Mrs. Bertholt

Photos 

Quotes 

• Mrs. Bertholt : We must forget if we want to go on living.

• Mrs. Bertholt : I saw Mr. Perkins today. He told me they'd showed those pictures in the courtroom. Col. Lawson's favorite pictures. He drags them out at any pretext, doesn't he? Col. Lawson's private chamber of horrors. Is that what you think we are? Do you think we knew of those things? Do you think we wanted to murder women and children? Do you believe that? Do you?

  Judge Dan Haywood : Mrs. Bertholt, I don't know what to believe.

  Mrs. Bertholt : Good God. We're sitting here drinking. How could you think that we knew? We did not know. We did not know!

  Judge Dan Haywood : As far as I can make out, no one in this country knew.

• Mrs. Bertholt : Men like Janning, my husband and I, we hated Hitler. I want you to know that. And he hated us. He hated my husband because he was a real war hero - and the little corporal couldn't tolerate that. And he hated him because he married into nobility, which was my family. Hitler was in awe of the nobility, but he hated it. That's why it's so ironic, what happened.

• Mrs. Bertholt : When I was a child, we used to go for long rides into the country in summertime. But I was never allowed to run to the lemonade stand with the others. I was told, "Control your thirst. Control hunger. Control emotion." It has served me well.

• Mrs. Bertholt : One can't live with hate, I know that. Dan, we have to forget, if we are to go on living.

• Mrs. Bertholt : You see, I have a mission with the Americans, as Mr. Perkins can tell you.

  Judge Dan Haywood : Oh, what is that?

  Mrs. Bertholt : To convince you that we're not all monsters.

• Mrs. Bertholt : I was taught discipline. A very special kind of discipline.

• Mrs. Bertholt : You elect judges in the United States?

  Judge Dan Haywood : Yes, in some states.

  Mrs. Bertholt : I didn't know that.

  Judge Dan Haywood : Well, it's either one of the virtues or one of the defects of our judiciary system. I thought it was one of the virtues until last year, when I was defeated.

• Judge Dan Haywood : Things haven't been very easy for you, have they?

  Mrs. Bertholt : I'm not used to them being easy. I'm not fragile, Judge Haywood.

• Mrs. Bertholt : What did he know of the crimes they cited him for? He was placed on trial with the other military leaders. It was part of their revenge. The victors always take on the vanquished. It was political murder.