Self-Review – Nuremberg Redux

Let’s Look at Nuremberg Redux

As you may very well imagine, Nuremberg Redux brings in something all too familiar, yet gives it an alien twist.

I wrote this story during the first quarter of 2021.

Background

For this post-prison story, the prompt word was victims.

Plot

After spending time in a Ziranqui prison, the narrator starts to draw the enemy. Recognizing their talent, the Ziranqui warden starts to provide materials, perhaps to sell the narrator’s creations. But the warden herself never wants to be drawn.

When the war ends, much like at the end of the Earth’s Second World War, the Ziranqui are sought for punishment for their war crimes. The narrator offers their drawings as a means of identifying the warden and ultimately bringing her to justice.

Characters in Nuremberg Redux

The characters are the narrator, who mentions the warden, various Ziranqui guards and their families, and a future tribunal with legal counsel. Oh, and the narrator mentions their dead son.

Memorable Quotes

I’m an architect. My survival was far from guaranteed. But being a design person has its perks, for I can draw.

When we were all in prison, I drew one of the guards in the dust on the floor. I had nothing better to do. Every living human was either lost, fighting or, like me, cooling their heels in a Ziranqui prison.

The guard must have thought it amusing, for he brought over what at the time I thought was just a front-line supervisor. Instead, it was the warden for the entire building. I was given the equivalent of pencils, paper, erasers, and an easel, and pushed to draw anyone who came by.

There were female Ziranqui—wives, I suspect. Sometimes there were young ones who were, I’m quite sure, children of guards and cell block captains and the warden herself. She never let me draw her. I have no idea why.

When our liberators came, the Ziranqui fled. But there were no records. They seemed to have been utterly thorough in their concealment and destruction of any records of war crimes.

And so, I have come here, to get justice for victims like my lost son. Here’s my sketchbook—and I can draw more from memory. Do with that what you will.

Rating

The story has a T rating. When the narrator describes one of the things that happened to humans as a means of identifying them, it’s even worse than the Nazis tattooing numbers on people. If you’re squeamish, consider yourself warned.

FYI, I also use this particular bit of nastiness in Out of the Work Camp Frying Pan.

Takeaways from Nuremberg Redux

As a modernized version of the conditions and liberation of Auschwitz and Belsen and far too many other places, I think this story works relatively well.

Amidst what are clearly horrific conditions, ordinary people rise to the occasion and do whatever they can, whether it’s fighting back or bearing witness.

And perhaps the harshest part of it is that there’s a very real possibility that such horrors would be forgotten, downplayed, and gaslit. You know, just like Holocaust deniers try to do today.

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Want More of my Short Stories and Novellas?

If this story resonates with you, then check out some of my other blog posts about my shorter works.

Short Stories

Finally, for a complete list of my shorter works, please be sure to check out the Hub Page—Short Stories.