CWC Docs: The Memory of Justice

Director Marcel Ophuls’ magisterial documentary The Memory of Justice (1976) posits the Nuremberg Trials as the only consequential reckoning with crimes against humanity. The film asks a question that remains painfully urgent in today’s context of ongoing global conflicts: how do you seek justice after wartime atrocities? Made in the mid-1970s amid the shadows of Algeria and Vietnam, Ophuls’ film confronts this question with his signature candor and moral complexity. The film includes extraordinary interviews with figures including Albert Speer and Telford Taylor, and a musical performance by Joan Baez. A deeply personal work, the film also features an interview with Ophuls’ wife Regine, who grew up in Nazi Germany. At once a rigorous historical investigation and an emotionally transformative experience for audiences, The Memory of Justice challenges viewers to confront the complexities of justice, accountability, and memory across generations. The Carsey-Wolf Center is proud to have presented The Memory of Justice in its full 278-minute running time. This screening was accompanied by a critical and historical introduction by Marcel Ophuls’ grandson Andréas-Benjamin Seyfert (Germanic and Slavic Studies, UCSB) . The Memory of Justice was restored by the Academy Film Archive in association with Paramount Pictures and The Film Foundation. Restoration funding was provided by The Material World Foundation, Righteous Persons Foundation, and The Film Foundation. Andréas-Benjamin Seyfert is a Lecturer in the Department of Germanic and Slavic Studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. He earned his PhD from UCLA’s Department of European Languages and Transcultural Studies and holds Graduate Certificates in Gender Studies and Digital Humanities. He is also a former Skirball Center and Leo Baeck Institute Fellow. Seyfert is co-editor, with Jan-Christopher Horak, of Enchanted by Cinema: Wilhelm Thiele between Vienna, Berlin, and Hollywood (Berghahn Books, 2024) , which was shortlisted for the 2025 Willy Haas Prize. His publications include contributions to the Journal of Film Preservation, Filmblatt, and chapters in edited volumes such as Goethe als Literatur-Figur (Wallstein, 2016) , Rethinking Jewishness in Weimar Cinema (Berghahn, 2020) , Die Musik macht den Ton: Zwischen Filmkomödie und Musical (edition text + kritik, 2025) , and Modernist Aesthetics in Transition: Visual Culture in the Weimar Republic and Nazi Germany (Bloomsbury, 2025) . This event is sponsored by the Carsey-Wolf Center. The Carsey-Wolf Center is committed to screening documentaries from across the world that engage with contemporary and historical issues, especially regarding social justice and environmental concerns. Documentaries allow filmmakers to address pressing issues and frame the critical debates of our time. Media are global by nature; they express culture just as much as they transcend borders. The CWC Global series is dedicated to showcasing media from around the world. This series features screenings and events that place UCSB in conversation with international media makers and global contexts across our deeply connected world.