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Nuremberg fascism. Nuremberg trial

The international trial of the former leaders of Nazi Germany took place from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946 at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg (Germany). The initial list of defendants included the Nazis in the same order as I have listed in this post. On October 18, 1945, the indictment was handed over to the International Military Tribunal and, through its secretariat, transmitted to each of the accused. A month before the start of the trial, each of them was handed an indictment for German. The accused were asked to write on it their attitude towards the accusation. Roeder and Ley didn't write anything (Ley's response was actually his suicide shortly after the charges were filed), but the rest wrote what I wrote in the line: "Last word."

Even before the start of the trial, after reading the indictment, on November 25, 1945, Robert Ley committed suicide in his cell. Gustav Krupp was declared terminally ill by a medical commission, and his case was dropped before trial.

Due to the unprecedented gravity of the crimes committed by the defendants, doubts arose whether all democratic norms of legal proceedings would be observed in relation to them. The prosecution in England and the United States proposed not to give the defendants the last word, but the French and Soviet sides insisted on the opposite. These words, which have entered into eternity, I present to you now.

List of accused.

Hermann Wilhelm Goering(German: Hermann Wilhelm Göring), Reichsmarschall, Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force. He was the most important defendant. Sentenced to death by hanging. 2 hours before the execution of the sentence, he poisoned himself with potassium cyanide, which was given to him with the assistance of E. von der Bach-Zelewski.

Hitler publicly declared Goering guilty of failing to organize the country's air defense. On April 23, 1945, based on the Law of June 29, 1941, Goering, after a meeting with G. Lammers, F. Bowler, K. Koscher and others, addressed Hitler on the radio, asking for his consent for him - Goering - to assume the functions of head of government . Goering announced that if he did not receive an answer by 22 o'clock, he would consider it an agreement. On the same day, Goering received an order from Hitler prohibiting him from taking the initiative; at the same time, by order of Martin Bormann, Goering was arrested by an SS detachment on charges of treason. Two days later, Goering was replaced as Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe by Field Marshal R. von Greim and stripped of his titles and awards. In his Political Testament, Hitler expelled Goering from the NSDAP on April 29 and officially named Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz as his successor in his place. On the same day he was transferred to a castle near Berchtesgaden. On May 5, the SS detachment handed over Goering's guard to Luftwaffe units, and Goering was immediately released. On May 8 he was arrested by American troops in Berchtesgaden.

The last word: “The winner is always the judge, and the loser is the accused!”
In his suicide note, Goering wrote: “Reichsmarshals are not hanged, they leave on their own.”

Rudolf Hess(German: Rudolf Heß), Hitler's deputy for leadership of the Nazi Party.

During the trial, lawyers declared his insanity, although Hess gave generally adequate testimony. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The Soviet judge, who expressed a dissenting opinion, insisted on the death penalty. He served a life sentence in Berlin in Spandau prison. After the release of A. Speer in 1965, he remained its only prisoner. Until the end of his days he was devoted to Hitler.

In 1986, for the first time during Hess’ imprisonment, the USSR government considered the possibility of his release on humanitarian grounds. In the fall of 1987, during the period of the Soviet Union's presidency of the Spandau International Prison, it was supposed to make a decision on his release, “showing mercy and demonstrating the humanity of Gorbachev’s new course.”

On August 17, 1987, 93-year-old Hess was found dead with a wire around his neck. He left behind a testamentary note, handed to his relatives a month later and written on the back of a letter from his relatives:

"A request to the directors to send this home. Written a few minutes before my death. I thank you all, my beloved, for all the dear things you have done for me. Tell Freiburg that I am extremely sorry that since the Nuremberg trial I must was to act as if I did not know her. I had no choice, since otherwise all attempts to gain freedom would have been in vain. I was so looking forward to meeting her. I actually received photos of her and all of you. Your Eldest."

The last word: "I don't regret anything."

Joachim von Ribbentrop(German: Ullrich Friedrich Willy Joachim von Ribbentrop), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany. Adviser to Adolf Hitler foreign policy.

He met Hitler at the end of 1932, when he provided him with his villa for secret negotiations with von Papen. Hitler so impressed Ribbentrop with his refined manners at the table that he soon joined first the NSDAP, and later the SS. On May 30, 1933, Ribbentrop was awarded the title of SS Standartenführer, and Himmler became a frequent guest at his villa.

Hanged by the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal. It was he who signed the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, which Nazi Germany violated with incredible ease.

The last word: “The wrong people have been charged.”

Personally, I consider him the most disgusting character who appeared at the Nuremberg trials.

Robert Ley(German: Robert Ley), head of the Labor Front, by order of which all trade union leaders of the Reich were arrested. Charges were brought against him on three counts - conspiracy to wage aggressive war, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Committed suicide in prison shortly after the indictment was presented before the trial itself began, by hanging himself from a sewer pipe with a towel.

The last word: refused.

(Keitel signs the act of unconditional surrender of Germany)
Wilhelm Keitel(German: Wilhelm Keitel), Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces. It was he who signed the act of surrender of Germany, ending the Great War. Patriotic War and Second world war in Europe. However, Keitel advised Hitler not to attack France and opposed Plan Barbarossa. Both times he submitted his resignation, but Hitler did not accept it. In 1942 Keitel last time dared to object to the Fuhrer, speaking in defense of the broken Eastern Front Field Marshal List. The tribunal rejected Keitel's excuse that he was merely following Hitler's orders and found him guilty on all charges. The sentence was carried out on October 16, 1946.

The last word: “An order for a soldier is always an order!”

Ernst Kaltenbrunner(German: Ernst Kaltenbrunner), head of the RSHA - Main Directorate of Reich Security of the SS and State Secretary of the Reich Ministry of the Interior of Germany. For numerous crimes against civilians and prisoners of war, the court sentenced him to death by hanging. On October 16, 1946, the sentence was carried out.

The last word: “I am not responsible for war crimes, I was only fulfilling my duty as the head of the intelligence agencies, and I refuse to serve as some kind of ersatz Himmler.”

(on right)

Alfred Rosenberg(German: Alfred Rosenberg), one of the most influential members of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP), one of the main ideologists of Nazism, Reich Minister for Eastern Territories. Sentenced to death by hanging. Rosenberg was the only one of the 10 executed who refused to say the last word on the scaffold.

The last word in court: "I reject the charge of 'conspiracy'. Anti-Semitism was only a necessary defensive measure."

(in the center)

Hans Frank(German: Dr. Hans Frank), head of the occupied Polish lands. On October 12, 1939, immediately after the occupation of Poland, Hitler appointed him head of the Office of Population Affairs of the Polish Occupied Territories, and then Governor-General of Occupied Poland. Organized the mass extermination of the civilian population of Poland. Sentenced to death by hanging. The sentence was carried out on October 16, 1946.

The last word: “I view this trial as God’s highest court to understand and bring to an end the terrible period of Hitler’s reign.”

Wilhelm Frick(German: Wilhelm Frick), Reich Minister of the Interior, Reichsleiter, head of the NSDAP parliamentary group in the Reichstag, lawyer, one of Hitler’s closest friends in the early years of the struggle for power.

The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg held Frick responsible for bringing Germany under Nazi rule. He was accused of drafting, signing and implementing a number of laws prohibiting political parties and trade unions, in creating the concentration camp system, in encouraging the activities of the Gestapo, in the persecution of Jews and the militarization of the German economy. He was found guilty on counts of crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. On October 16, 1946, Frick was hanged.

The last word: "The entire charge is based on the assumption of participation in a conspiracy."

Julius Streicher(German: Julius Streicher), Gauleiter, Chief Editor newspapers "Stormtrooper" (German: Der Stürmer - Der Sturmer).

He was charged with inciting the murder of Jews, which fell under Charge 4 of the trial - crimes against humanity. In response, Streicher called the trial "a triumph of world Jewry." According to the test results, his IQ was the lowest of all the defendants. During the examination, Streicher once again told psychiatrists about his anti-Semitic beliefs, but he was declared sane and capable of taking responsibility for his actions, although obsessed with an obsession. He believed that the prosecutors and judges were Jews and did not try to repent of what he had done. According to the psychologists who conducted the examination, his fanatical anti-Semitism - rather a product mentally ill, but overall he gave the impression of an adequate person. His authority among the other accused was extremely low, many of them openly shunned such an odious and fanatical figure like him. Hanged by the Nuremberg Tribunal for anti-Semitic propaganda and calls for genocide.

The last word: “This process is the triumph of world Jewry.”

Yalmar Shakht(German: Hjalmar Schacht), Reich Minister of Economics before the war, Director of the German National Bank, President of the Reichsbank, Reich Minister of Economics, Reich Minister without Portfolio. On January 7, 1939, he sent a letter to Hitler, pointing out that the course pursued by the government would lead to the collapse of the German financial system and hyperinflation, and demanded the transfer of financial control to the hands of the Reich Ministry of Finance and the Reichsbank.

In September 1939 he sharply opposed the invasion of Poland. Schacht had a negative attitude towards the war with the USSR, believing that Germany would lose the war for economic reasons. On November 30, 1941, he sent Hitler a sharp letter criticizing the regime. On January 22, 1942, he resigned as Reich Minister.

Schacht had contacts with conspirators against Hitler's regime, although he himself was not a member of the conspiracy. On July 21, 1944, after the failure of the July Plot against Hitler (July 20, 1944), Schacht was arrested and held in the concentration camps of Ravensbrück, Flossenburg and Dachau.

The last word: “I don’t understand why I’ve been charged at all.”

This is probably the most difficult case, October 1, 1946 Schacht was acquitted, then in January 1947 a German denazification court sentenced him to eight years in prison, but on September 2, 1948 he was released from custody.

Later he worked in banking sector Germany, founded and headed the banking house "Schacht GmbH" in Düsseldorf. Died on June 3, 1970 in Munich. We can say that he was luckier than all the defendants. Although...

Walter Funk(German: Walther Funk), German journalist, Nazi Minister of Economics after Schacht, President of the Reichsbank. Sentenced to life imprisonment. Released in 1957.

The last word: “Never in my life have I, either consciously or out of ignorance, done anything that would give rise to such accusations. If, out of ignorance or as a result of delusions, I committed the acts listed in the indictment, then my guilt should be considered from the perspective of my personal tragedy , but not as a crime."

(right; left - Hitler)
Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach(German: Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach), head of the Friedrich Krupp concern (Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp). From January 1933 - government press secretary, from November 1937 - Reich Minister of Economics and Commissioner General for War Economic Affairs, and at the same time from January 1939 - President of the Reichsbank.

At the Nuremberg trial he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Military Tribunal. Released in 1957.

Karl Doenitz(German: Karl Dönitz), Grand Admiral of the Navy of the Third Reich, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, after the death of Hitler and in accordance with his posthumous will, President of Germany.

The Nuremberg Tribunal for war crimes (in particular, waging so-called unrestricted submarine warfare) sentenced him to 10 years in prison. This verdict was disputed by some lawyers, since the same methods of submarine warfare were widely practiced by the victors. Some allied officers expressed their sympathy to Doenitz after the verdict. Doenitz was found guilty on counts 2 (crimes against peace) and 3 (war crimes).

After leaving prison (Spandau in West Berlin), Doenitz wrote his memoirs “10 years and 20 days” (meaning 10 years of command of the fleet and 20 days of presidency).

The last word: “None of the charges have anything to do with me. It’s an American invention!”

Erich Raeder(German: Erich Raeder), Grand Admiral, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy of the Third Reich. On January 6, 1943, Hitler ordered Raeder to disband the surface fleet, after which Raeder demanded his resignation and was replaced by Karl Doenitz on January 30, 1943. Raeder received the honorary position of chief inspector of the fleet, but in fact had no rights or responsibilities.

Captured in May 1945 Soviet troops and was transported to Moscow. According to the verdict of the Nuremberg trials, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. From 1945 to 1955 in prison. He petitioned to have his imprisonment commuted to execution; The control commission found that it “cannot increase the penalty.” On January 17, 1955, he was released due to health reasons. Wrote a memoir "My Life".

The last word: refused.

Baldur von Schirach(German: Baldur Benedikt von Schirach), leader of the Hitler Youth, then Gauleiter of Vienna. At the Nuremberg trials he was found guilty of crimes against humanity and sentenced to 20 years in prison. He served his entire sentence in the Berlin military prison Spandau. Released September 30, 1966.

The last word: “All troubles come from racial politics.”

I completely agree with this statement.

Fritz Sauckel(German: Fritz Sauckel), head of the forced deportations to the Reich of labor from the occupied territories. Sentenced to death for war crimes and crimes against humanity (mainly for the deportation of foreign workers). Hanged.

The last word: “The gulf between the ideal of a socialist society, nurtured and defended by me, a former sailor and worker, and these terrible events - the concentration camps - deeply shocked me.”

Alfred Jodl(German Alfred Jodl), head of the operational department of the Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces, Colonel General. At dawn on October 16, 1946, Colonel General Alfred Jodl was hanged. His body was cremated, and his ashes were secretly taken out and scattered. Jodl took an active part in planning the mass extermination of civilians in the occupied territories. On May 7, 1945, on behalf of Admiral K. Doenitz, he signed the general surrender of the German armed forces to the Western allies in Reims.

As Albert Speer recalled, “Jodl’s precise and restrained defense produced strong impression. It seems that he was one of the few who managed to rise above the situation." Jodl argued that a soldier could not be held responsible for the decisions of politicians. He insisted that he honestly performed his duty, obeying the Fuhrer, and considered the war a just cause. Tribunal found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Before his death, in one of his letters he wrote: “Hitler buried himself under the ruins of the Reich and his hopes. Let anyone who wants to curse him for this, but I can’t.” Jodl was completely acquitted when the case was reviewed by a Munich court in 1953 (!).

The last word: “The mixture of fair accusations and political propaganda is regrettable.”

Martin Bormann(German: Martin Bormann), head of the party chancellery, was accused in absentia. Chief of Staff of the Deputy Fuhrer "from July 3, 1933), head of the NSDAP party office" from May 1941) and Hitler's personal secretary (from April 1943). Reichsleiter (1933), Reich Minister without Portfolio, SS Obergruppenführer, SA Obergruppenführer.

Associated with him most interesting story.

At the end of April 1945, Bormann was with Hitler in Berlin, in the bunker of the Reich Chancellery. After the suicide of Hitler and Goebbels, Bormann disappeared. However, already in 1946, Arthur Axman, the chief of the Hitler Youth, who, together with Martin Bormann, tried to leave Berlin on May 1-2, 1945, said during interrogation that Martin Bormann died (more precisely, committed suicide) before his eyes on May 2, 1945.

He confirmed that he saw Martin Bormann and Hitler's personal physician Ludwig Stumpfegger lying on their backs near the bus station in Berlin, where the battle was taking place. He crawled close to their faces and clearly distinguished the smell of bitter almonds - it was potassium cyanide. The bridge over which Bormann was planning to escape from Berlin was blocked Soviet tanks. Borman chose to bite through the ampoule.

However, these testimonies were not considered sufficient evidence of Bormann's death. In 1946, the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg tried Bormann in absentia and sentenced him to death. The lawyers insisted that their client was not subject to trial because he was already dead. The court did not consider the arguments convincing, examined the case and passed a verdict, stipulating that Borman, if detained, has the right to submit a request for pardon within the prescribed time frame.

In the 1970s, while building a road in Berlin, workers discovered remains that were later tentatively identified as those of Martin Bormann. His son, Martin Borman Jr., agreed to provide his blood for DNA analysis of the remains.

The analysis confirmed that the remains really belong to Martin Bormann, who actually tried to leave the bunker and get out of Berlin on May 2, 1945, but realizing that this was impossible, he committed suicide by taking poison (traces of an ampoule with potassium cyanide were found in the teeth of the skeleton). Therefore, the “Bormann case” can safely be considered closed.

In the USSR and Russia, Borman is known not only as a historical figure, but also as a character in the film “Seventeen Moments of Spring” (where he was played by Yuri Vizbor) - and, in connection with this, a character in jokes about Stirlitz.

Franz von Papen(German: Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen), Chancellor of Germany before Hitler, then Ambassador to Austria and Turkey. He was acquitted. However, in February 1947, he again appeared before the denazification commission and was sentenced to eight months in prison as a major war criminal.

Von Papen tried unsuccessfully to restart political career in the 1950s In his later years he lived at Benzenhofen Castle in Upper Swabia and published many books and memoirs attempting to justify his policies of the 1930s, drawing parallels between this period and the beginning of the Cold War. Died on May 2, 1969 in Obersasbach (Baden).

The last word: “The accusation horrified me, firstly, by the awareness of the irresponsibility, as a result of which Germany was plunged into this war, which turned into a global catastrophe, and secondly, by the crimes that were committed by some of my compatriots. The latter are inexplicable with psychological point vision. It seems to me that the years of godlessness and totalitarianism are to blame for everything. It was they who turned Hitler into a pathological liar."

Arthur Seyss-Inquart(German: Dr. Arthur Seyß-Inquart), Chancellor of Austria, then Imperial Commissioner of occupied Poland and Holland. At Nuremberg, Seyss-Inquart was charged with crimes against peace, planning and unleashing an aggressive war, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was found guilty on all counts except criminal conspiracy. After the announcement of the Seyss-Inquart verdict in last word admitted his responsibility.

The last word: “Death by hanging - well, I didn’t expect anything else... I hope that this execution is the last act of the tragedy of the Second World War... I believe in Germany.”

Albert Speer(German: Albert Speer), Reich Minister of Armaments and War Industry (1943-1945).

In 1927, Speer received an architect's license from the Technical High School of Munich. Due to the depression in the country, there was no work for the young architect. Speer updated the interior of the villa free of charge to the head of the headquarters of the western district - Kreisleiter NSAC Hanke, who, in turn, recommended the architect to Gauleiter Goebbels for rebuilding the meeting room and furnishing the rooms. After this, Speer receives an order - the design of the May Day rally in Berlin. And then the party congress in Nuremberg (1933). He used red banners and the figure of an eagle, which he proposed to make with a wingspan of 30 meters. Leni Riefenstahl captured in her documentary film “Victory of Faith” the grandeur of the procession at the opening of the party congress. This was followed by the reconstruction of the NSDAP headquarters in Munich in the same 1933. Thus began Speer's architectural career. Hitler was looking everywhere for new energetic people on whom he could rely in the near future. Considering himself an expert in painting and architecture, and possessing some abilities in this area, Hitler chose Speer into his inner circle, which, combined with the latter’s strong career aspirations, determined his entire future fate.

The last word: "The process is necessary. Even an authoritarian state does not absolve each individual of responsibility for the terrible crimes committed."

(left)
Constantin von Neurath(German: Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath), in the first years of Hitler's reign, Minister of Foreign Affairs, then governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

Neurath was accused in the Nuremberg court of having “assisted in the preparation of war,... participated in the political planning and preparation by the Nazi conspirators for wars of aggression and wars in violation of international treaties,... sanctioned, directed and took part in war crimes... and in crimes against humanity, ...including in particular crimes against persons and property in the occupied territories." Neurath was found guilty on all four counts and sentenced to fifteen years in prison. In 1953, Neurath was released due to poor health, aggravated by a myocardial infarction suffered in prison.

The last word: “I have always been against accusations without a possible defense.”

Hans Fritsche(German: Hans Fritzsche), head of the press and broadcasting department at the Ministry of Propaganda.

During the fall of the Nazi regime, Fritsche was in Berlin and capitulated along with the last defenders of the city on May 2, 1945, surrendering to the Red Army. Appeared before the Nuremberg trials, where, together with Julius Streicher (due to the death of Goebbels), he represented Nazi propaganda. Unlike Streicher, who was sentenced to death, Fritsche was acquitted of all three charges: the court found it proven that he did not call for crimes against humanity, did not participate in war crimes or conspiracies to seize power. Like both other acquitted men at Nuremberg (Hjalmar Schacht and Franz von Papen), Fritsche, however, was soon convicted of other crimes by the denazification commission. After receiving a 9-year sentence, Fritzsche was released for health reasons in 1950 and died of cancer three years later.

The last word: “This is the terrible accusation of all times. Only one thing can be more terrible: the coming accusation that the German people will bring against us for abusing their idealism.”

Heinrich Himmler(German: Heinrich Luitpold Himmler), one of the main political and military figures of the Third Reich. Reichsführer SS (1929-1945), Reich Minister of the Interior of Germany (1943-1945), Reichsleiter (1934), Head of the RSHA (1942-1943). Found guilty of numerous war crimes, including genocide. Since 1931, Himmler was creating his own secret service - the SD, at the head of which he put Heydrich.

Since 1943, Himmler became Reich Minister of the Interior, and after the failure of the July Plot (1944) - commander of the Reserve Army. Beginning in the summer of 1943, Himmler, through his proxies, began to establish contacts with representatives Western intelligence services with the aim of concluding a separate peace. Hitler, who learned about this, on the eve of the collapse of the Third Reich, expelled Himmler from the NSDAP as a traitor and deprived him of all ranks and positions.

After leaving the Reich Chancellery at the beginning of May 1945, Himmler headed to the Danish border with someone else's passport in the name of Heinrich Hitzinger, who had been shot shortly before and looked a little like Himmler, but on May 21, 1945 he was arrested by the British military authorities and on May 23 committed suicide by taking potassium cyanide .

Himmler's body was cremated and the ashes were scattered in the forest near Lüneburg.

Paul Joseph Goebbels(German: Paul Joseph Goebbels) - Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda of Germany (1933-1945), imperial head of propaganda of the NSDAP (since 1929), Reichsleiter (1933), penultimate Chancellor of the Third Reich (April-May 1945).

In his political testament, Hitler appointed Goebbels as his successor as chancellor, but the very next day after the Fuhrer’s suicide, Goebbels and his wife Magda committed suicide, having first poisoned their six young children. “There will be no act of surrender signed by me!” - said the new chancellor when he learned of the Soviet demand for unconditional surrender. On May 1 at 21:00 Goebbels took potassium cyanide. His wife Magda, before committing suicide following her husband, told her young children: “Don’t be alarmed, now the doctor will give you the vaccination that all children and soldiers receive.” When the children, under the influence of morphine, fell into a half-asleep state, she herself put a crushed ampoule of potassium cyanide into the mouth of each child (there were six of them).

It is impossible to imagine what feelings she experienced at that moment.

And of course, the Fuhrer of the Third Reich:

Winners in Paris.

Hitler behind Hermann Goering, Nuremberg, 1928.

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Venice, June 1934.

Hitler, Mannerheim and Ruti in Finland, 1942.

Hitler and Mussolini, Nuremberg, 1940.

Adolf Gitler(German: Adolf Hitler) - the founder and central figure of Nazism, founder of the totalitarian dictatorship of the Third Reich, Fuhrer of the National Socialist German Workers' Party from July 29, 1921, Reich Chancellor of National Socialist Germany from January 31, 1933, Fuhrer and Reich Chancellor of Germany from August 2 1934, Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces in World War II.

The generally accepted version of Hitler's suicide

On April 30, 1945, in Berlin surrounded by Soviet troops and realizing complete defeat, Hitler, along with his wife Eva Braun, committed suicide, having previously killed his beloved dog Blondie.
In Soviet historiography, the point of view has been established that Hitler took poison (potassium cyanide, like most Nazis who committed suicide), however, according to eyewitnesses, he shot himself. There is also a version according to which Hitler and Braun first took both poisons, after which the Fuhrer shot himself in the temple (thus using both instruments of death).

Even the day before, Hitler gave the order to deliver cans of gasoline from the garage (to destroy the bodies). On April 30, after lunch, Hitler said goodbye to people from his inner circle and, shaking their hands, together with Eva Braun, retired to his apartment, from where the sound of a shot was soon heard. Shortly after 15:15, Hitler's servant Heinz Linge, accompanied by his adjutant Otto Günsche, Goebbels, Bormann and Axmann, entered the Fuhrer's apartment. Dead Hitler sat on the sofa; a blood stain was spreading on his temple. Eva Braun lay nearby, with no visible external injuries. Günsche and Linge wrapped Hitler's body in a soldier's blanket and carried it out into the garden of the Reich Chancellery; after him they carried out Eve’s body. The corpses were placed near the entrance to the bunker, doused with gasoline and burned. On May 5, the bodies were found by a piece of blanket sticking out of the ground and fell into the hands of the Soviet SMERSH. The body was identified, in part, with the help of Hitler's dentist, who confirmed the authenticity of the corpse's dentures. In February 1946, Hitler's body, along with the bodies of Eva Braun and the Goebbels family - Joseph, Magda, 6 children, was buried at one of the NKVD bases in Magdeburg. In 1970, when the territory of this base was to be transferred to the GDR, at the proposal of Yu. V. Andropov, approved by the Politburo, the remains of Hitler and others buried with him were dug up, cremated to ashes and then thrown into the Elbe. Only dentures and part of the skull with a bullet entry hole (found separately from the corpse) were preserved. They are kept in Russian archives, as are the side arms of the sofa on which Hitler shot himself, with traces of blood. However, Hitler's biographer Werner Maser expresses doubts that the discovered corpse and part of the skull really belonged to Hitler.

On October 18, 1945, the indictment was handed over to the International Military Tribunal and, through its secretariat, transmitted to each of the accused. A month before the start of the trial, each of them was handed an indictment in German.

Results: international military tribunal sentenced:
To death by hanging: Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Seyss-Inquart, Bormann (in absentia), Jodl (who was posthumously completely acquitted when the case was reviewed by a Munich court in 1953).
To life imprisonment: Hess, Funk, Raeder.
To 20 years in prison: Schirach, Speer.
To 15 years in prison: Neyrata.
To 10 years in prison: Denitsa.
Acquitted: Fritsche, Papen, Schacht.

Tribunal recognized the criminal organizations of the SS, SD, SA, Gestapo and management team Nazi Party. The decision to recognize the Supreme Command and the General Staff as criminal was not made, which caused disagreement from a member of the tribunal from the USSR.

A number of convicts filed petitions: Goering, Hess, Ribbentrop, Sauckel, Jodl, Keitel, Seyss-Inquart, Funk, Doenitz and Neurath - for pardon; Raeder - on replacing life imprisonment with the death penalty; Goering, Jodl and Keitel - about replacing hanging with shooting if the request for clemency is not granted. All of these requests were rejected.

The death penalty was carried out on the night of October 16, 1946 in the Nuremberg prison building.

Having convicted the main Nazi criminals, the International Military Tribunal recognized aggression as the gravest crime of an international character. Nuremberg trial sometimes called the "Judgment of History" because it had significant influence for the final defeat of Nazism. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Funk and Raeder were pardoned in 1957. After Speer and Schirach were released in 1966, only Hess remained in prison. The right-wing forces of Germany repeatedly demanded to pardon him, but the victorious powers refused to commute the sentence. On August 17, 1987, Hess was found hanged in his cell.

The initial list of accused included:

1. Hermann Wilhelm Goering, Reichsmarshal, Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force.

2. Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy in charge of the Nazi Party.

3. Joachim von Ribbentrop, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany.

4. Robert Ley, head of the Labor Front.

5. Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces.

6. Ernst Kaltenbrunner, head of the RSHA.

7. Alfred Rosenberg, one of the main ideologists of Nazism, Reich Minister for Eastern Affairs.

8. Hans Frank, head of the occupied Polish lands.

9. Wilhelm Frick, Reich Minister of the Interior.

10. Julius Streicher, Gauleiter, editor-in-chief of the anti-Semitic newspaper Sturmovik.

11. Hjalmar Schacht, Reich Minister of Economics before the war.

12. Walter Funk, Minister of Economics after Schacht.

13. Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach, head of the Friedrich Krupp concern.

14. Karl Doenitz, admiral of the fleet of the Third Reich.

15. Erich Raeder, Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.

16. Baldur von Schirach, head of the Hitler Youth, Gauleiter of Vienna.

17. Fritz Sauckel, leader of the forced deportations to the Reich of labor from the occupied territories.

18. Alfred Jodl, Chief of Staff of the OKW Operations Command.

19. Franz von Papen, Chancellor of Germany before Hitler, then Ambassador to Austria and Turkey.

20. Arthur Seyss-Inquart, Chancellor of Austria, then Imperial Commissioner of occupied Holland.

21. Albert Speer, Reich Minister of Armaments.

22. Konstantin von Neurath, in the first years of Hitler's reign, Minister of Foreign Affairs, then governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

23. Hans Fritsche, head of the press and broadcasting department at the Ministry of Propaganda.

Groups or organizations to which the defendants belonged were also charged.

The defendants were charged with planning, preparing, unleashing or waging a war of aggression in order to establish the world domination of German imperialism, i.e. in crimes against peace; in the killing and torture of prisoners of war and civilians of occupied countries, the deportation of civilians to Germany for forced labor, the killing of hostages, the looting of public and private property, the aimless destruction of cities and villages, in devastation not justified by military necessity, i.e. in war crimes; in extermination, enslavement, exile and other cruelties committed against the civilian population for political, racial or religious reasons, i.e. in crimes against humanity.

The question was also raised about recognizing as criminal such organizations of fascist Germany as the leadership of the National Socialist Party, the assault (SA) and security detachments of the National Socialist Party (SS), the security service (SD), the state secret police (Gestapo), the government cabinet and the General Staff.

October 18, 1945 the indictment was received by the International Military Tribunal and handed to each of the accused in German a month before the start of the trial.

On November 25, 1945, after reading the indictment, Robert Ley committed suicide, and Gustav Krupp was declared terminally ill by the medical commission, and the case against him was dropped before trial.

The remaining accused were brought to trial.

In accordance with the London Agreement, the International Military Tribunal was formed on a parity basis from representatives of four countries. The British representative, Lord Geoffrey Lawrence, was appointed chief judge. From other countries, members of the tribunal were approved:

From the USSR: Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union, Major General of Justice Iona Nikitchenko;

From the US: former Attorney General Francis Biddle;

From France: Professor of Criminal Law Henri Donnedier de Vabres.

Each of the four countries sent its own chief prosecutors, their deputies and assistants to the trial:

From the USSR: Prosecutor General of the Ukrainian SSR Roman Rudenko;

From the USA: Member of the Federal Supreme Court Robert Jackson;

From UK: Hartley Shawcross;

For France: François de Menton, who was absent during the first days of the trial and was replaced by Charles Dubost, and then Champentier de Ribes was appointed instead of de Menton.

During the trial, 403 open court hearings were held, 116 witnesses were questioned, numerous written testimonies and documentary evidence were considered (mainly official documents German ministries and departments, the General Staff, military concerns and banks).

Due to the unprecedented gravity of the crimes committed by the defendants, doubts arose whether democratic norms of legal proceedings would be observed in relation to them. For example, representatives of the prosecution from the UK and the USA suggested not giving the defendants the last word. However, the French and Soviet sides insisted on the opposite.

The trial was tense not only because of the unusual nature of the tribunal itself and the charges brought against the defendants. The post-war aggravation of relations between the USSR and the West after Churchill’s famous Fulton speech also had an effect, and the defendants, sensing the current political situation, skillfully played for time and hoped to escape their well-deserved punishment. In such a difficult situation, the tough and professional actions of the Soviet prosecution played a key role. The film about concentration camps, shot by front-line cameramen, finally turned the tide of the process. The terrible pictures of Majdanek, Sachsenhausen, Auschwitz completely removed the doubts of the tribunal.

The International Military Tribunal sentenced:

To death by hanging: Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Seyss-Inquart, Bormann (in absentia), Jodl (was posthumously acquitted during a review of the case by a Munich court in 1953).

To life imprisonment: Hess, Funk, Raeder.

To 20 years in prison: Schirach, Speer.

To 15 years in prison: Neurata.

To 10 years in prison: Denitsa.

Acquitted: Fritsche, Papen, Schacht.

The Tribunal recognized the organizations SS, SD, SA, Gestapo and the leadership of the Nazi Party as criminal and did not recognize the government cabinet of Nazi Germany as such, General base and the Wehrmacht High Command. A member of the Tribunal from the USSR stated in a dissenting opinion his disagreement with the decision not to recognize these organizations as criminal, with the acquittal of Shakht, Papen, Fritsche and the undeservedly lenient sentence for Hess.

(Military Encyclopedia. Chairman of the Main Editorial Commission S.B. Ivanov. Military Publishing House. Moscow. in 8 volumes - 2004)

Most of the convicts filed petitions for clemency; Raeder - on replacing life imprisonment with the death penalty; Goering, Jodl and Keitel - about replacing hanging with shooting if the request for clemency is not granted. All of these requests were rejected.

Death sentences were carried out on the night of October 16, 1946 in the building of the Nuremberg prison. Goering poisoned himself in prison shortly before his execution.

The sentence was carried out by American Sergeant John Wood.

Funk and Raeder, sentenced to life imprisonment, were pardoned in 1957. After Speer and Schirach were released in 1966, only Hess remained in prison. The right-wing forces of Germany repeatedly demanded to pardon him, but the victorious powers refused to commute the sentence. On August 17, 1987, Hess was found hanged in his cell.

The Nuremberg Tribunal, creating a precedent for the jurisdiction of senior government officials international court, refuted the medieval principle “Kings are subject to the jurisdiction of God alone.” It was with the Nuremberg trials that the history of international criminal law began.

Principles international law contained in the Charter of the Tribunal and expressed in the verdict, were confirmed by the resolution of the UN General Assembly of December 11, 1946.

The Nuremberg trials legally secured the final defeat of fascism.

The material was prepared based on information from open sources

Organization of the tribunal

In 1942, British Prime Minister Churchill stated that the Nazi leadership should be executed without trial. He expressed this opinion more than once in the future. When Churchill tried to impose his opinion on Stalin, Stalin objected: “Whatever happens, there must be ... an appropriate judicial decision. Otherwise people will say that Churchill, Roosevelt and Stalin were simply taking revenge on their political enemies! " Roosevelt, hearing that Stalin was insisting on a trial, in turn declared that the trial procedure should not be "too legalistic."

The demand for the creation of an International Military Tribunal was contained in the statement of the Soviet government of October 14, 1942 “On the responsibility of the Nazi invaders and their accomplices for the atrocities they committed in the occupied countries of Europe.”

The agreement on the creation of the International Military Tribunal and its charter were developed by the USSR, USA, Great Britain and France during the London Conference, held from June 26 to August 8, 1945. The jointly developed document reflected the agreed position of all 23 countries participating in the conference; the principles of the charter were approved by the UN General Assembly as generally recognized in the fight against crimes against humanity. On August 29, the first list of the main war criminals was published, consisting of 24 Nazi politicians, military men, and fascist ideologists.

List of defendants

The defendants were included in the initial list of accused in the following order:

Hermann Wilhelm Goering (German) Hermann Wilhelm Goering), Reichsmarschall, Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force
Rudolf Hess (German) Rudolf Heß), Hitler's deputy for leadership of the Nazi Party.
Joachim von Ribbentrop (German) Ullrich Friedrich Willy Joachim von Ribbentrop ), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany.
Wilhelm Keitel (German) Wilhelm Keitel), Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces.
Robert Ley (German) Robert Ley), head of the Labor Front
Ernst Kaltenbrunner (German) Ernst Kaltenbrunner), head of the RSHA.
Alfred Rosenberg (German) Alfred Rosenberg), one of the main ideologists of Nazism, Reich Minister for Eastern Affairs.
Hans Frank (German) Dr. Hans Frank), head of the occupied Polish lands.
Wilhelm Frick (German) Wilhelm Frick), Reich Minister of the Interior.
Julius Streicher (German) Julius Streicher), Gauleiter, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Sturmovik" (German. Der Stürmer - Der Stürmer).
Walter Funk (German) Walther Funk), Minister of Economy after Shakht.
Hjalmar Schacht (German) Hjalmar Schacht), Reich Minister of Economics before the war.
Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach (German) Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach ), head of the Friedrich Krupp concern.
Karl Dönitz (German) Karl Donitz), Grand Admiral of the Navy of the Third Reich, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, after the death of Hitler and in accordance with his posthumous will - President of Germany
Erich Raeder (German) Erich Raeder), Commander-in-Chief of the Navy.
Baldur von Schirach (German) Baldur Benedikt von Schirach), head of the Hitler Youth, Gauleiter of Vienna.
Fritz Sauckel (German) Fritz Sauckel), head of the forced deportations to the Reich of labor from the occupied territories.
Alfred Jodl (German) Alfred Jodl), Chief of Staff of the OKW Operations Command
Martin Bormann (German) Martin Bormann), the head of the party chancellery, was accused in absentia.
Franz von Papen (German) Franz Joseph Hermann Michael Maria von Papen ), Chancellor of Germany before Hitler, then Ambassador to Austria and Turkey.
Arthur Seyss-Inquart (German) Dr. Arthur Seyß-Inquart), Chancellor of Austria, then Imperial Commissioner of occupied Holland.
Albert Speer (German) Albert Speer), Reich Minister of Armaments.
Constantin von Neurath (German) Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath ), in the first years of Hitler's reign, Minister of Foreign Affairs, then governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.
Hans Fritsche (German) Hans Fritzsche), head of the press and radio broadcasting department at the Ministry of Propaganda.

Remarks to the accusation

The accused were asked to write on it their attitude towards the accusation. Roeder and Ley wrote nothing (Ley's response was actually his suicide shortly after the charges were filed), but the remaining defendants wrote the following:

Hermann Wilhelm Goering: “The winner is always the judge, and the loser is the accused!”
Rudolf Hess: “I don’t regret anything”
Joachim von Ribbentrop: "The wrong people have been charged"
Wilhelm Keitel: “An order for a soldier is always an order!”
Ernst Kaltenbrunner: “I am not responsible for war crimes, I was only fulfilling my duty as head of the intelligence agencies, and I refuse to serve as some kind of ersatz Himmler”
Alfred Rosenberg: “I reject the charge of 'conspiracy'. Anti-Semitism was only a necessary defensive measure.”
Hans Frank: “I view this trial as a supreme court pleasing to God, designed to understand the terrible period of Hitler’s reign and bring it to an end.”
Wilhelm Frick: "The entire accusation is based on the assumption of participation in a conspiracy"
Julius Streicher: “This trial is the triumph of world Jewry”
Hjalmar Schacht: “I don’t understand at all why I’ve been charged”
Walter Funk: “Never in my life have I, either consciously or out of ignorance, done anything that would give rise to such accusations. If, out of ignorance or as a result of delusions, I committed the acts listed in the indictment, then my guilt should be considered in the light of my personal tragedy, but not as a crime.”
Karl Dönitz: “None of the charges have anything to do with me. American inventions!
Baldur von Schirach: "All troubles come from racial politics"
Fritz Sauckel: “The gulf between the ideal of a socialist society, nurtured and defended by me, a former sailor and worker, and these terrible events - the concentration camps - deeply shocked me”
Alfred Jodl: “The mixture of just accusations and political propaganda is regrettable”
Franz von Papen: “The accusation horrified me, firstly, with the awareness of the irresponsibility as a result of which Germany was plunged into this war, which turned into a world catastrophe, and secondly, with the crimes that were committed by some of my compatriots. The latter are inexplicable from a psychological point of view. It seems to me that the years of godlessness and totalitarianism are to blame for everything. It was they who turned Hitler into a pathological liar."
Arthur Seyss-Inquart: “I would like to hope that this is the last act of the tragedy of the Second World War”
Albert Speer: “The process is necessary. Even an authoritarian state does not relieve each individual of responsibility for the terrible crimes committed.”
Constantin von Neurath: “I have always been against accusations without a possible defense”
Hans Fritsche: “This is the most terrible accusation of all time. Only one thing can be more terrible: the impending accusation that the German people will bring against us for abusing their idealism.”

Groups or organizations to which the defendants belonged were also charged.

Even before the start of the trial, after reading the indictment, on November 25, 1945, the head of the Labor Front, Robert Ley, committed suicide in his cell. Gustav Krupp was declared terminally ill by a medical commission, and his case was dropped before trial.

The remaining accused were brought to trial.

Progress of the process

The International Military Tribunal was formed on a parity basis from representatives four great powers in accordance with the London Agreement.

Tribunal members

from the USA: former Attorney General of the country F. Biddle.
from the USSR: Deputy Chairman of the Supreme Court of the Soviet Union, Major General of Justice I. T. Nikitchenko.
for Great Britain: Chief Justice, Lord Geoffrey Lawrence.
from France: professor of criminal law A. Donnedier de Vabres.

Each of the 4 countries sent their own to the process main accusers, their deputies and assistants:

from the USA: US Supreme Court Justice Robert Jackson.
from the USSR: Prosecutor General of the Ukrainian SSR R. A. Rudenko.
from UK: Hartley Shawcross
from France: François de Menton, who was absent during the first days of the trial and was replaced by Charles Dubost, and then Champentier de Ribes was appointed instead of de Menton.

A total of 216 court hearings were held, the chairman of the court was the representative of Great Britain J. Lawrence. Various evidence was presented, among them the so-called for the first time appeared. “secret protocols” to the Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact (presented by I. Ribbentrop’s lawyer A. Seidl).

Due to the post-war aggravation of relations between the USSR and the West, the process was tense, this gave the accused hope that the process would collapse. The situation became especially tense after Churchill's Fulton speech, when arose real opportunity war against the USSR. Therefore, the accused behaved boldly, skillfully played for time, hoping that coming war will put an end to the trial (Goering contributed most to this). At the end of the trial, the USSR prosecution provided a film about the concentration camps of Majdanek, Sachsenhausen, Auschwitz, shot by front-line cameramen of the Soviet army.

Accusations

Nazi Party Plans:
- Using Nazi control for aggression against foreign countries.
- Aggressive actions against Austria and Czechoslovakia.
- Attack on Poland.
- Aggressive war against the whole world (-).
- The German invasion of the territory of the USSR in violation of the non-aggression pact of August 23, 1939.
- Cooperation with Italy and Japan and the war of aggression against the United States (November 1936 - December 1941).
Crimes against peace:
- « All of the accused and various other persons, for a number of years prior to May 8, 1945, participated in the planning, preparation, initiation and conduct of aggressive wars, which were also wars in violation of international treaties, agreements and obligations».
War crimes:
- Killings and ill-treatment of civilians in occupied territories and on the high seas.
- Removal of the civilian population of the occupied territories into slavery and for other purposes.
- Killings and cruel treatment of prisoners of war and military personnel of countries with which Germany was at war, as well as persons sailing on the high seas.
- The aimless destruction of cities and towns and villages, devastation not justified by military necessity.
- Germanization of the occupied territories.
Crimes against humanity:
- The defendants pursued a policy of persecution, repression and extermination of the enemies of the Nazi government. The Nazis imprisoned people without a trial, subjected them to persecution, humiliation, enslavement, torture, and killed them.

Hitler did not take all the responsibility with him to his grave. All the blame is not wrapped in Himmler's shroud. These living have chosen these dead as their accomplices in this grandiose brotherhood of conspirators, and each of them must pay for the crime they committed together.

It can be said that Hitler committed his last crime against the country he ruled. He was a mad messiah who started a war for no reason and continued it senselessly. If he could no longer rule, then he did not care what would happen to Germany...

They stand before this court as blood-stained Gloucester stood before the body of his slain king. He begged the widow as they beg you: “Tell me I didn’t kill them.” And the queen replied: “Then say that they are not killed. But they are dead." If you say that these people are innocent, it is the same as saying that there was no war, no dead, no crime.

From Robert Jackson's indictment

Sentence

International Military Tribunal sentenced:

To death by hanging: Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Seyss-Inquart, Bormann (in absentia), Jodl.
To life imprisonment: Hess, Funk, Raeder.
To 20 years in prison: Schirach, Speer.
To 15 years in prison: Neyrata.
To 10 years in prison: Dönitz.
Justified: Fritsche, Papen, Schacht

Soviet judge I. T. Nikitchenko filed a dissenting opinion, where he objected to the acquittal of Fritsche, Papen and Schacht, the non-recognition of the German cabinet, the General Staff and the Supreme Command of criminal organizations, as well as life imprisonment (rather than the death penalty) for Rudolf Hess.

Jodl was posthumously completely acquitted when the case was reviewed by a Munich court in 1953, but later, under US pressure, the decision to overturn the verdict of the Nuremberg court was annulled.

The Tribunal recognized the SS, SD, SA, Gestapo and the leadership of the Nazi Party as criminal organizations.

A number of convicts submitted petitions to the Allied Control Commission for Germany: Goering, Hess, Ribbentrop, Sauckel, Jodl, Keitel, Seyss-Inquart, Funk, Doenitz and Neurath - for pardon; Raeder - on replacing life imprisonment with the death penalty; Goering, Jodl and Keitel - about replacing hanging with shooting if the request for clemency is not granted. All of these requests were rejected.

The death penalty was carried out on the night of October 16, 1946 in the gymnasium of Nuremberg prison. Goering poisoned himself in prison shortly before his execution (there is an assumption that his wife gave him a capsule with poison during their last kiss).

Trials of lesser war criminals continued in Nuremberg until the 1950s (see Subsequent Nuremberg Trials), but not in the International Tribunal, but in an American court.

On August 15, 1946, the American Office of Information published a review of surveys conducted, according to which an overwhelming number of Germans (about 80 percent) considered the Nuremberg trials fair and the guilt of the defendants undeniable; about half of those surveyed responded that the defendants should be sentenced to death; only four percent responded negatively to the process.

Execution and cremation of the bodies of convicts

One of the witnesses to the execution, writer Boris Polevoy, published his memories and impressions of the execution. The sentence was carried out by American Sergeant John Wood - “at his own request.”

Going to the gallows, most of them tried to appear brave. Some behaved defiantly, others resigned themselves to their fate, but there were also those who cried out for God's mercy. Everyone except Rosenberg was done in last minute short statements. And only Julius Streicher mentioned Hitler. In the gym, where American guards were playing basketball just 3 days ago, there were three black gallows, two of which were used. They hanged one at a time, but in order to finish it quickly, the next Nazi was brought into the hall while the previous one was still hanging on the gallows.

The condemned walked up 13 wooden steps to an 8-foot-high platform. Ropes hung from beams supported by two posts. The hanged man fell into the interior of the gallows, the bottom of which was covered with dark curtains on one side and covered with wood on three sides so that no one could see the death throes of the hanged.

After the execution of the last convict (Seys-Inquart), a stretcher with Goering's body was brought into the hall so that he would take a symbolic place under the gallows, and also so that journalists could be convinced of his death.

After the execution, the bodies of the hanged and the corpse of the suicide Goering were laid in a row. “Representatives of all the Allied powers,” wrote one Soviet journalist, “examined them and signed the death certificates. Photographs were taken of each body, clothed and naked. Then each corpse was wrapped in a mattress along with the last clothes it was wearing, and with the rope on which he was hanged and placed in a coffin. All the coffins were sealed. While the rest of the bodies were being handled, Goering’s body, covered with an army blanket, was also brought on a stretcher... At 4 o’clock in the morning the coffins were loaded into 2.5-ton trucks, waiting in the prison yard, they were covered with a waterproof tarpaulin and driven along by a military escort, with an American captain in the lead vehicle, followed by a French and an American general. Then followed by trucks and a jeep guarding them with specially selected soldiers and a machine gun. The convoy drove through Nuremberg and Having left the city, he headed south.

At dawn they approached Munich and immediately headed to the outskirts of the city to the crematorium, the owner of which was warned about the arrival of the corpses of “fourteen American soldiers" There were actually only eleven corpses, but they said so in order to lull possible suspicions of the crematorium staff. The crematorium was surrounded, and radio contact was established with the soldiers and tank crews of the cordon in case of any alarm. Anyone who entered the crematorium was not allowed to return until the end of the day. The coffins were opened and the bodies were checked by American, British, French and Soviet officers present at the execution to ensure they had not been switched along the way. After this, cremation began immediately and continued throughout the day. When this matter was finished, a car drove up to the crematorium and a container with ashes was placed in it. The ashes were scattered from the plane into the wind.

Conclusion

Having convicted the main Nazi criminals, the International Military Tribunal recognized aggression as the gravest crime of an international character. The Nuremberg trials are sometimes called " By the court of history", since he had a significant influence on the final defeat of Nazism. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Funk and Raeder were pardoned in 1957. After Speer and Schirach were released in 1966, only Hess remained in prison. The right-wing forces of Germany repeatedly demanded to pardon him, but the victorious powers refused to commute the sentence. On August 17, 1987, Hess was found hanged in a gazebo in the prison yard.

The American film “Nuremberg” is dedicated to the Nuremberg trials ( Nuremberg) ().

At the Nuremberg trial I said: “If Hitler had friends, I would be his friend. I owe to him the inspiration and glory of my youth as well as later horror and guilt.”

In the image of Hitler, as he was in relation to me and others, one can discern some sympathetic features. One also gets the impression of a person who is gifted and selfless in many respects. But the longer I wrote, the more I felt that it was about superficial qualities.

Because such impressions are countered by an unforgettable lesson: the Nuremberg trials. I will never forget one photographic document depicting a Jewish family going to death: a man with his wife and his children on the way to death. It still stands before my eyes today.
In Nuremberg I was sentenced to twenty years in prison. The verdict of the military tribunal, no matter how imperfectly the story was portrayed, attempted to articulate guilt. The punishment, always ill-suited to measuring historical responsibility, put an end to my civil existence. And that photograph stripped my life of its foundation. It turned out to last longer than the sentence.

Museum

Currently, the courtroom (“Room 600”), where the Nuremberg trials took place, is the usual working premises of the Nuremberg Regional Court (address: Bärenschanzstraße 72, Nürnberg). However, on weekends there are excursions (from 13 to 16 hours every day). In addition, the documentation center for the history of Nazi congresses in Nuremberg has a special exhibition dedicated to the Nuremberg trials. This new museum (opened November 4) also has audio guides in Russian.

Notes

Literature

Gilbert G. M. Nuremberg Diary. The process through the eyes of a psychologist / trans. with him. A. L. Utkina. - Smolensk: Rusich, 2004. - 608 pp. ISBN 5-8138-0567-2

The international trial of the former leaders of Nazi Germany took place from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946 at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg (Germany). The initial list of defendants included the Nazis in the same order as I have listed in this post. On October 18, 1945, the indictment was handed over to the International Military Tribunal and, through its secretariat, transmitted to each of the accused. A month before the start of the trial, each of them was handed an indictment in German. The accused were asked to write on it their attitude towards the accusation. Roeder and Ley didn't write anything (Ley's response was actually his suicide shortly after the charges were filed), but the rest wrote what I wrote in the line: "Last word."

List of accused.

Hermann Wilhelm Goering(German: Hermann Wilhelm Goring),

Reichsmarschall, Commander-in-Chief of the German Air Force. He was the most important defendant. Sentenced to death by hanging. 2 hours before the execution of the sentence, he poisoned himself with potassium cyanide, which was given to him with the assistance of E. von der Bach-Zelewski.

The last word: "The winner is always the judge, and the loser is the accused!".
In his suicide note Goering wrote: Reichsmarshals are not hanged, they leave on their own".

Rudolf Hess(German: Rudolf He?), Hitler's deputy for leadership of the Nazi Party.

In 1986, for the first time during Hess’ imprisonment, the USSR government considered the possibility of his release on humanitarian grounds. In the fall of 1987, during the period of the Soviet Union's presidency of the Spandau International Prison, it was planned to make a decision on his release, " showing mercy and demonstrating the humanity of the new course"Gorbachev.

The last word: "I don't regret anything".

Joachim von Ribbentrop(German: Ullrich Friedrich Willy Joachim von Ribbentrop), Minister of Foreign Affairs of Nazi Germany. Adviser to Adolf Hitler on foreign policy.

Hanged by the verdict of the Nuremberg Tribunal. It was he who signed the non-aggression pact between Germany and the Soviet Union, which Nazi Germany violated with incredible ease.

The last word: "The wrong people have been charged".

Robert Ley (German: Robert Ley), head of the Labor Front, by order of which all trade union leaders of the Reich were arrested. Charges were brought against him on three counts - conspiracy to wage aggressive war, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Committed suicide in prison shortly after the indictment was presented before the trial itself began, by hanging himself from a sewer pipe with a towel.

The last word: refused.

(Keitel signs the act of unconditional surrender of Germany)

Wilhelm Keitel(German: Wilhelm Keitel), Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces. It was he who signed the act of surrender of Germany, which ended the Great Patriotic War and the Second World War in Europe. However, Keitel advised Hitler not to attack France and opposed Plan Barbarossa. Both times he submitted his resignation, but Hitler did not accept it. In 1942, Keitel dared to object to the Fuhrer for the last time, speaking out in defense of Field Marshal List, defeated on the Eastern Front. The tribunal rejected Keitel's excuse that he was merely following Hitler's orders and found him guilty on all charges. The sentence was carried out on October 16, 1946.

The last word: "An order for a soldier is always an order!"

The last word: "I am not responsible for war crimes, I was only fulfilling my duty as the head of the intelligence agencies, and I refuse to serve as some kind of ersatz Himmler".

(on right)

Last word in court: "I reject the "conspiracy" charge. Anti-Semitism was only a necessary defensive measure".

(in the center)

The last word: "I view this trial as the highest court pleasing to God, designed to understand the terrible period of Hitler's reign and bring it to an end.".

The International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg held Frick responsible for bringing Germany under Nazi rule. He was accused of drafting, signing and implementing a number of laws banning political parties and trade unions, creating a system of concentration camps, encouraging the activities of the Gestapo, persecuting Jews and militarizing the German economy. He was found guilty on counts of crimes against peace, war crimes and crimes against humanity. On October 16, 1946, Frick was hanged.

The last word: "The entire charge is based on an allegation of conspiracy.".

Julius Streicher(German: Julius Streicher), Gauleiter, editor-in-chief of the newspaper "Sturmovik" (German: Der Sturmer - Der Sturmer).

He was charged with inciting the murder of Jews, which fell under Charge 4 of the trial - crimes against humanity. In response, Streicher called the trial "a triumph of world Jewry." According to the test results, his IQ was the lowest of all the defendants. During the examination, Streicher once again told psychiatrists about his anti-Semitic beliefs, but he was declared sane and capable of taking responsibility for his actions, although obsessed with an obsession. He believed that the prosecutors and judges were Jews and did not try to repent of what he had done. According to the psychologists who conducted the examination, his fanatical anti-Semitism was more likely the product of a sick psyche, but overall he gave the impression of an adequate person. His authority among the other accused was extremely low, many of them openly shunned such an odious and fanatical figure like him. Hanged by the Nuremberg Tribunal for anti-Semitic propaganda and calls for genocide.

The last word: "This process is the triumph of world Jewry".

The last word: "I don't understand why I'm being charged at all.".

This is probably the most difficult case; on October 1, 1946, Schacht was acquitted, then in January 1947, a German denazification court sentenced him to eight years in prison, but on September 2, 1948, he was released from custody.

Later he worked in the German banking sector, founded and headed the banking house "Schacht GmbH" in Düsseldorf. Died on June 3, 1970 in Munich. We can say that he was luckier than all the defendants. Although...

Walter Funk(German: Walther Funk), German journalist, Nazi Minister of Economics after Schacht, President of the Reichsbank. Sentenced to life imprisonment. Released in 1957.

The last word: "Never in my life have I, either consciously or ignorantly, done anything that would give rise to such accusations. If, out of ignorance or as a result of delusions, I committed the acts listed in the indictment, then my guilt should be considered in the light of my personal tragedy, but not as a crime".

(right; left - Hitler)

Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach(German: Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach), head of the Friedrich Krupp concern (Friedrich Krupp AG Hoesch-Krupp). From January 1933 - government press secretary, from November 1937 - Reich Minister of Economics and Commissioner General for War Economic Affairs, and at the same time from January 1939 - President of the Reichsbank.

At the Nuremberg trial he was sentenced to life imprisonment by the International Military Tribunal. Released in 1957.

Karl Doenitz(German: Karl Donitz), Grand Admiral of the Third Reich Fleet, Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy, after Hitler's death and in accordance with his posthumous will, President of Germany.

After leaving prison (Spandau in West Berlin), Doenitz wrote his memoirs “10 years and 20 days” (meaning 10 years of command of the fleet and 20 days of presidency).

The last word: "None of the charges have anything to do with me. American inventions!"

In May 1945, he was captured by Soviet troops and transported to Moscow. According to the verdict of the Nuremberg trials, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. From 1945 to 1955 in prison. He petitioned to have his imprisonment commuted to execution; The control commission found that it “cannot increase the penalty.” On January 17, 1955, he was released due to health reasons. Wrote a memoir "My Life".

The last word: refused.

The last word: "All troubles come from racial politics".

The last word: "The gulf between the ideal of a socialist society, nurtured and defended by me, a former sailor and worker, and these terrible events - the concentration camps - deeply shocked me".

As Albert Speer recalled, "Jodl's precise and restrained defense made a strong impression. He seemed to be one of the few who managed to rise above the situation." Jodl argued that a soldier could not be held responsible for the decisions of politicians. He insisted that he honestly performed his duty, obeying the Fuhrer, and considered the war a just cause. The tribunal found him guilty and sentenced him to death. Before his death, he wrote in one of his letters: “Hitler buried himself under the ruins of the Reich and his hopes. Let those who want to curse him for this, but I cannot.” Jodl was completely acquitted when the case was reviewed by a Munich court in 1953 (!) .

The last word: "The mixture of fair accusations and political propaganda is regrettable".

There is an interesting story connected with it.

He confirmed that he saw Martin Bormann and Hitler's personal physician Ludwig Stumpfegger lying on their backs near the bus station in Berlin, where the battle was taking place. He crawled close to their faces and clearly distinguished the smell of bitter almonds - it was potassium cyanide. The bridge along which Bormann was planning to escape from Berlin was blocked by Soviet tanks. Borman chose to bite through the ampoule.

Von Papen tried unsuccessfully to relaunch his political career in the 1950s. In his later years he lived at Benzenhofen Castle in Upper Swabia and published many books and memoirs attempting to justify his policies of the 1930s, drawing parallels between this period and the beginning of the Cold War. Died on May 2, 1969 in Obersasbach (Baden).

The last word: "The accusation horrified me, firstly, with the awareness of the irresponsibility as a result of which Germany was plunged into this war, which turned into a global catastrophe, and secondly, with the crimes that were committed by some of my compatriots. The latter are inexplicable from a psychological point of view. It seems to me that the years of godlessness and totalitarianism are to blame for everything. It was they who turned Hitler into a pathological liar".

Arthur Seyss-Inquart(German: Dr. Arthur Sey?-Inquart), Chancellor of Austria, then Imperial Commissioner of occupied Poland and Holland. At Nuremberg, Seyss-Inquart was charged with crimes against peace, planning and unleashing an aggressive war, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was found guilty on all counts, excluding criminal conspiracy. After the verdict was announced, Seyss-Inquart admitted his responsibility in his last speech.

The last word: "Death by hanging - well, I didn’t expect anything less... I hope that this execution is the last act of the tragedy of the Second World War... I believe in Germany".

Albert Speer(German: Albert Speer), Reich Minister of Armaments and War Industry (1943-1945).

The last word: "The process is necessary. Even an authoritarian state does not relieve each individual of responsibility for the terrible crimes committed.".

(left)

Constantin von Neurath(German: Konstantin Freiherr von Neurath), in the first years of Hitler's reign, Minister of Foreign Affairs, then governor of the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia.

The last word: "I have always been against accusations without a possible defense".

Hans Fritsche(German: Hans Fritzsche), head of the press and broadcasting department at the Ministry of Propaganda.

The last word: "This is the worst accusation of all time. Only one thing can be more terrible: the impending accusation that the German people will bring against us for abusing their idealism".

Heinrich Himmler (German: Heinrich Luitpold Himmler), one of the main political and military figures of the Third Reich. Reichsführer SS (1929-1945), Reich Minister of the Interior of Germany (1943-1945), Reichsleiter (1934), Head of the RSHA (1942-1943). Found guilty of numerous war crimes, including genocide. Since 1931, Himmler was creating his own secret service - the SD, at the head of which he put Heydrich.

Since 1943, Himmler became Reich Minister of the Interior, and after the failure of the July Plot (1944) - commander of the Reserve Army. Beginning in the summer of 1943, Himmler, through his proxies, began to make contacts with representatives of Western intelligence services with the aim of concluding a separate peace. Hitler, who learned about this, on the eve of the collapse of the Third Reich, expelled Himmler from the NSDAP as a traitor and deprived him of all ranks and positions.

Himmler's body was cremated and the ashes were scattered in the forest near Lüneburg.

Paul Joseph Goebbels(German: Paul Joseph Goebbels) - Reich Minister of Public Education and Propaganda of Germany (1933-1945), imperial head of propaganda of the NSDAP (since 1929), Reichsleiter (1933), penultimate Chancellor of the Third Reich (April-May 1945).

It is impossible to imagine what feelings she experienced at that moment.

And of course, the Fuhrer of the Third Reich:

Winners in Paris.

Hitler behind Hermann Goering, Nuremberg, 1928.

Adolf Hitler and Benito Mussolini in Venice, June 1934.

Hitler, Mannerheim and Ruti in Finland, 1942.

Hitler and Mussolini, Nuremberg, 1940.

The generally accepted version of Hitler's suicide

Results: international military tribunal sentenced:
To death by hanging: Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Rosenberg, Frank, Frick, Streicher, Sauckel, Seyss-Inquart, Bormann (in absentia), Jodl (who was posthumously completely acquitted when the case was reviewed by a Munich court in 1953).
To life imprisonment: Hess, Funk, Raeder.
To 20 years in prison: Schirach, Speer.
To 15 years in prison: Neyrata.
To 10 years in prison: Denitsa.
Justified: Fritsche, Papen, Schacht.

Tribunal recognized the criminal organizations of the SS, SD, SA, Gestapo and the leadership of the Nazi Party. The decision to recognize the Supreme Command and the General Staff as criminal was not made, which caused disagreement from a member of the tribunal from the USSR.

The death penalty was carried out on the night of October 16, 1946 in the Nuremberg prison building.

Having convicted the main Nazi criminals, the International Military Tribunal recognized aggression as the gravest crime of an international character. The Nuremberg Trials are sometimes called the "Trial of History" because they had a significant impact on the final defeat of Nazism. Sentenced to life imprisonment, Funk and Raeder were pardoned in 1957. After Speer and Schirach were released in 1966, only Hess remained in prison. The right-wing forces of Germany repeatedly demanded to pardon him, but the victorious powers refused to commute the sentence. On August 17, 1987, Hess was found hanged in his cell.

The Nuremberg Trials was an international military tribunal over Nazi criminals, held in the city of Nuremberg (Germany). The trial lasted about 1 year - from November 20, 1945 to October 1, 1946. At the “trial of history,” 24 people were convicted, among them G. Goering, I. Ribbentrop, W. Keitel, A. Rosenberg, E. Raeder, F. Sauckel, A. Speer and other famous German politicians, military, Nazi propaganda activists who were directly involved in crimes against all humanity and the world.

Nature of the charges

During the London Conference, the USSR, USA, England and France adopted a protocol on the formation of the International Military Court, in which the fight against crimes against all humanity was recognized as global. In August 1945, a list of persons was published (24 Nazi criminal), subject to an international tribunal. Among the grounds for the accusation were the following facts:
 aggressive policy directed against Austria and Czechoslovakia;
 military invasion of Poland and a number of other countries;
 war against all humanity (1939-1945)
 complicity with Nazi countries (Japan and Italy), hostile actions against the United States (1936-1941)
 gross non-compliance with the non-aggression pact (Molotov-Ribbentrop) with the USSR of 08/23/1939 and the invasion of Soviet Union

- crimes against humanity
 crimes in the military sphere (genocide against certain national groups: Slavs, Jews, Gypsies; murders of prisoners of war; numerous violations of the rights and freedoms of citizens in occupied territories, etc.)

The main accusing countries were 4 states: England, France, the USA and the Soviet Union. Among the permanent representatives of member states were:
I.T. Nikitchenko – Deputy Supreme Judge of the USSR
F. Biddle - former Attorney General of America
J. Lawrence - Chief Justice of England
A. Donnedier Vabre - French expert on criminal law

Results of the Nuremberg trial

As a result of the Nuremberg trials, about 400 trials were held. Due to the confirmed death of A. Hitler did not take part in the trial, nor did his comrades Joseph Goebbels (Minister of Propaganda) and Heinrich Himmler (Minister of the Interior). Martin Bormann, A. Hitler's deputy, was charged in absentia, since his death was not officially confirmed. Due to his incapacity, Gustav Krupp was also not subject to conviction.

The process took place in a very difficult situation due to the unprecedented nature of the case. It also reflected the post-war increase in tense relations between the Union of Soviet Republics and the West, especially after the so-called Fulton speech of Winston Churchill, when the British Prime Minister announced the lowering of the “Iron Curtain” - fencing off from the USSR. In this regard, the defendants wanted to delay the trial to the limit, especially Hermann Goering.

Before the conclusion of the verdict, the Soviet side presented a film about the fascist concentration camps, in which Soviet directors showed all the horrors of the death camps of Dachau, Auschwitz, and Buchenwald. Holocaust, extermination of people in gas chambers and widespread torture left no doubt about the guilt of the criminals. As a result, 12 Germans, the most active fascist figures, were sentenced to the highest penalty - hanging - (G. Goering, I. Ribbentrop, W. Keitel, E. Kaltenbrunner, A. Rosenberg, G. Frank, W. Frick, J. Streicher , F. Sauckel, A. Seyss-Inquart, M. Bormann - in absentia, Jodl - posthumously acquitted in 1953). 3 Nazis were sentenced to life imprisonment: R. Hess, W. Funk, E. Raeder. To 10 and 15 years in prison respectively - K. Dönitz (Commander-in-Chief of the German Navy) and K. Neurath (German diplomat). 3 people were acquitted: G. Fritsche, F. Papen, J. Shakht.

06/22/1941 A. Hitler, without declaring war, treacherously violating the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression pact (dated 08/23/1939), treacherously invaded the territory of the USSR. In accordance with the Barbarossa plan, Hitler's troops from the very beginning of the war began to destroy cities, towns, factories, railway stations, hospitals and other critical infrastructure necessary for the functioning of the entire population. Also, many cultural and historical values, museums, monuments, churches, and various attractions were irretrievably destroyed. A huge number of Soviet citizens were deported to concentration camps - Russian, Ukrainian, Belarusian, Jewish nations– they were all forced to work involuntarily, and then massacred due to their unworthiness. From the USSR, fascist leaders sent approximately 400 thousand people into slavery. No one was spared - neither the elderly nor the children.

The global significance of the “court of history”

The most important role of the Nuremberg court was that hostile relations and aggression towards other countries are the main international crimes. Such actions against all humanity and the world have no statute of limitations.
Also, the Nuremberg trial became the first time in modern history that war crimes began to be investigated not only by a national court, but also by a special body in international criminal law. The decisions of which were made in accordance with all legal agreements adopted collectively with all countries of the anti-Hitler coalition. This process played a huge role in the development of international law and became the most important lesson for future generations.

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