The Nuremberg Trial

1142

L’Aube (October 17, 1946)

JUSTICE EST FAITE
Goering a échappé à la potence en s’empoisonnant dans sa cellule

Commencées à 1 h. 14, les pendaisons se sont poursuivies jusqu’à 2 h. 48 a deux gibets utilises alternativement
Les condamnés ont clamé, avant de mourir leur amour pour l’Allemagne

Ils sont morts de la seule mort que méritaient leurs crimes, celle des criminels. Ils sont morts, la tête revêtue d’une cagoule noire, dans cette nuit toute pareille à celle qu’aimaient les nazis pour le déroulement de leurs fastes sacrilèges.

Seul Goering a réussi à échapper au bourreau, comme Hitler, comme Goebbels, Himmler et Ley. Il s’est suicidé devançant le châtiment qui l’attendait.

Le cabinet du Reich n’a pas été condamné, ni le haut-commandement allemand, mais ses membres essentiels ont enfin payé leur lourde dette à la société, à l’humanité, à la civilisation.

Justice est faite.

Des pas dans le couloir

Dans une demi-heure, il sera minuit. Le froid est vif et le silence est lourd. Dans leur cellule, les condamnés attendent. Savent-ils déjà qu’ils vivent leurs derniers moments ? L’ont-ils deviné aux bruits inusités de la prison, à l’insistance du gardien qui les surveille plus attentivement par le judas ? L’ont-ils deviné à ce bruit de moteur d’un camion qui s’arrête dans une cour et dont on décharge de lourdes choses ?

Des pas marchent dans le couloir. La porte de la cellule s’ouvre. La silhouette massive du colonel Andrus, commandant en chef du service de sécurité, s’encadre dans le chambranle.

D’une voix qu’il s’efforce de rendre ferme, il lit la sentence prononcée par le tribunal le 1er octobre.

Ribbentrop n’a rien dit. Il était à genoux et priait en compagnie de l’aumônier protestant. La mort semble déjà s’être emparée de lui et son regard est vide et lointain.

Sauckel qui arpentait fiévreuse ment sa cellule s’est arrêté.

— Je m’incline, dit-il, devant des soldats américains, mais non devant les Juifs de ce pays.

Jodl était assis sur son lit. Il écrivait une dernière lettre à sa femme et à ses dix enfants.

Debout, sanglé dans son uniforme, toujours hautain. Keitel paraissait attendre cet instant qui ne l’étonne point.

Le temps passe, les minutes sont longues pendant lesquelles le colonel Andrus va de cellule en cellule annoncer l’heure de la justice aux coupables.

Un dernier souper, sorte de réveillon sinistre, leur est alors servi. Il se compose d’une salade de pommes de terre, de saucisses, de pain noir et de thé.

Alors le film se précipite. Les ultimes préparatifs commencent. On met des menottes aux mains des condamnés ; on leur lie les pieds avec des ceintures de l’armée. Ils semblent s’étonner. Ils ne savent pas que cette mesure a été décidée à la suite du suicide de Goering que, du reste, ils ignorent et ignoreront toujours.

Il était 23 h. 38 quand le colonel Andrus se fit ouvrir la porte de la première cellule. Un peu avant minuit il avait accompli sa mission.

Il est maintenant 1 h. 11 à l’horloge de la prison.

Pâle, vacillant, le visage rendu plus cadavérique encore par la lumière crue des projecteurs, Joachim von Ribbentrop, ancien ministre des Affaires étrangères du gouvernement nazi, fait son entrée dans la salle des pendaisons. Il est encadré de deux gardes précédés d’un officier supérieur de l’armée américaine.

A pas-hésitants il monte les marches du gibet. On le coiffe de la cagoule noire que lui serrera, au cou, la corde du supplice. Presque immédiatement on entend le bruit de la trappe qui s’ouvre. Le corps du supplicié disparait dans le vide que dissimule d’épaisses tentures noires.

Aussitôt des médecins militaires se précipitent. Un docteur russe constate l’arrêt du cœur avec son stéthoscope. De leur côté les officiers de la justice alliée, accomplissent les constatations légales.

D’un large coup de son coutelas étincelant, l’un des deux bourreaux tranche net la lourde corde de chanvre épais et luisant, et, quelques minutes plus tard, le corps du mort est conduit sur une civière, la tête toujours encapuchonnée de noir, et déposé dans une morgue attenante.

Sous un préau de basket-ball

Ainsi se sont déroulées, de 1 h. 14 à 2 h. 43, les exécutions des dix condamnés, sous un préau qui, jusqu’à dimanche dernier, servait de salle de basket-ball aux gardiens de la prison.

En entrant dans cette salle, brillamment éclairée par de nombreux projecteurs, le spectacle qui se prêtait aux regards des suppliciés était celui de trois hauts gibets fraîchement peints en vert foncé. Deux de ceux-ci furent utilisée alternativement ; le troisième ne servit jamais; il avait cependant été prévu au cas où quelque incident matériel mettrait momentanément hors d’usage l’un des deux autres.

Quarante-cinq témoins au total ont assisté aux pendaisons des grands criminels de guerre nationaux-socialistes : les quatre généraux du conseil de contrôle allié de Berlin, les gardes figés au garde à vous de chaque côté du gibet, des médecins militaires qui n’intervinrent que pour reconnaître les dix décès, les huit représentants de la presse américaine, française, anglaise et russe, des interprètes et enfin quelques officiers de la IIIe armée d’occupation américaine.

Les dernières paroles des condamnés

Voici les ultimes déclarations des condamnés au pied de leur potence :

Von Ribbentrop. — Que Dieu garde l’Allemagne ! Mon dernier vœu, c’est que l’Allemagne réalise son unité et que l’alliance se fasse entre l’Est et l’Ouest. Je souhaite la paix do monde.

Sauckel. — Je meurs innocent. La sentence qui me frappe est injuste. Que Dieu protège l’Allemagne ! Qu’elle vive et redevienne grande un jour ! Que Dieu garde ma famille !

Jodl. — Je te salue, mon Allemagne.

Seyss-Inquart. — J’espère que ces exécutions constituent le dernier acte de cette tragédie que fut la seconde guerre mondiale. Puissent la paix et la compréhension régner entre les peuples! Je crois en l’Allemagne.

Keitel. — J’invoque Dieu toutpuissant et je lui demande d’avoir pitié du peuple allemand. Plus de deux millions de soldats allemands sont morts pour leur patrie devant moi. Je vais, maintenant, rejoindre mes fils. Tout pour l’Allemagne !

Kaltenbrunner. — J’ai aimé mon peuple et ma patrie avec toute la chaleur dont mon cœur est capable. J’ai fait mon devoir selon les lois de mon pays. Je déplore que l’Allemagne ait été divisée par des hommes qui n’ont jamais été des soldats et qui l’ont plongée dans des crimes auxquels je n’ai pas participé. Vive, l’Allemagne !

Streicher hurla en tout premier lieu à pleins poumons :
— Heil Hitler !

Puis il refusa de déclarer son nom en vociférant :
— Vous le savez bien ! Maintenant je m’en retourne à Dieu.

Puis lançant de tous côtés des regards haineux, il ajouta :
— Les bolcheviks vous pendront un jour ! Adieu !

Enfin, s’adoucissant imperceptiblement :
— Je suis près de Dieu mon père. Oh ! Adèle, ma chère épouse !

Le cadavre de Goering est amené dans la salle du supplice

Cependant le dernier acte n’était point joué encore. En effet, un groupe apparut sous le préau ; des hommes portant une civière sur laquelle on reconnaissait le cadavre d’Hermann Goering.

La dépouille de l’ancien commandant en chef de la Luftwaffe fut, sans précaution, posée à même le sol ; une couverture de l’armée américaine avait été jetée sur le corps flasque et cireux du premier grand criminel de guerre après Hitler.

Quand on souleva la couverture, Goering apparut vêtu d’une veste de pyjama grise et d’un pantalon noir. D’allure pauvre et de tissu grossier, cette veste offrait un contraste imprévu avec le pantalon de fine soie d’où sortaient des orteils soignés, d’un blanc diaphane.

Hermann Goering, mort, allongé sur le plancher de cette salle de gymnastique entre deux potences, avait la tête inclinée du côté droit, la joue à même le bois, les yeux clos.

Des tombes anonymes en un endroit secret

Deux camions aux portières scellées ont quitté, hier matin â grande vitesse, la prison de Nuremberg sous escorte armée, emportant les corps de Goering et des dix autres suppliciés.

Le lieu de leur destination est maintenu secret. On sait seulement qu’ils vont être transportés en un lieu où ils seront inhumés dans des tombes anonymes, et l’on croit qu’une partie du voyage se fera par avion.

Deux jeeps, montées par des M.P. brandissant des mitraillettes, accompagnaient les camions. Une longue voiture noire, à l’intérieur de laquelle avait pris place un général, figurait dans le cortège qui prit la route à toute vitesse, accomplissant d’ailleurs à l’intérieur de Nuremberg plusieurs allées et venues et prenant finalement la direction de Fürth, où se trouvent deux aérodromes de l’armée américaine.

De son côté, l’United Press annonce que, selon des bruits non confirmés qui circulent à Nuremberg, les corps des condamnés vont être emmenés secrètement vers un port. Ils seraient embarqués pour une destination inconnue, à moins qu’ils ne soient immergés en mer.

De toute façon, rien ne sera communiqué officiellement à leur sujet. On veut éviter que des nazis fanatiques et obstinés ne viennent faire des pèlerinages sur les tombes de leurs anciens chefs.

1143

Le suicide de Göring

C’est à minuit précis que le colonel Andrus, commandant en chef du service de sécurité du palais de Nuremberg, a annoncé le suicide, dans sa cellule, de Hermann Göring.

Le reichsmarschall fut trouvé gisant, mort, sur le lit de camp, dans sa cellule, à 22 h. 45. La sentinelle, qui avait les yeux constamment fixés sur lui, fut longtemps trompée par son immobilité et ne fut mise en éveil que lorsqu’elle entendit des rôles émanant de la cellule.

Le factionnaire ne l’avait même pas vu porter à sa bouche — vraisemblablement sous les couvertures — le contenu de l’ampoule de cyanure de potassium dont personne, parmi les plus hautes personnalités de la « Security » américaine, ne parvient à s’expliquer l’origine. De même que les autres condamnés à mort, Göring était soumis en effet chaque jour à des fouilles minutieuses tant sur sa personne que dans ses vêtements.

Vaine alerte

La sentinelle alerta alors immédiatement un caporal et l’officier de service. Le médecin allemand de la prison, le docteur Pflücker, mandé aussitôt, ne put que constater la mort du condamné. Les services de l’aumônier protestant de la prison furent également superflus. On a trouvé sur la dépouille de Göring une enveloppe décachetée et portant la simple inscription : Hermann Göring, et contenant trois messages rédigés au crayon. L’un de ceux-ci, adressé au colonel Andrus, écrit en allemand, fut immédiatement transmis au traducteur compétent.

Une capsule de cuivre, constituée par une ancienne douille de cartouche, avait contenu la dose de cyanure de potassium avec laquelle Hermann Göring se donna la mort.

Dans la bouche du cadavre se trouvaient encore des morceaux de verre ; il en émanait également une forte et caractéristique odeur de cyanure de potassium qui ne permit aucun doute.

1144

The Guardian (October 17, 1946)

FINAL SCENES AT NUREMBERG
Unsolved problem of how Göring got his poison

Messages shouted from the gallows
From Selkirk Panton, representing the combined British press

NUREMBERG, OCTOBER 16. Hermann Göring last night died by his own hand. Two and a quarter hours before he was to be executed, he took poison under the eyes of the American security guard watching him every moment through the grating in the door of his cell.

Without the guard noticing any unusual movement Göring – who asked for a soldier’s death before a firing squad and was refused – slipped a phial of cyanide of potassium into his mouth and crushed it with his teeth. He thus used the same type of poison and phial adopted by Heinrich Himmler, who committed suicide 17 months ago.

While Göring was lying in the prison morgue, the ten other Nazi leaders sentenced to death with him were hanged in the dusty-bomb-blasted gymnasium of the prison, its dirty walls lit up by ten blazing lights in the ceiling. The ten Nazis were hanged one after the other in one hour and 34 minutes.

It was 1:11 a.m. when Ribbentrop, the first to be hanged in Göring’s place, walked through the gymnasium door, his face white but set, his grey hair ruffled. It was 2:45 when Seyss-Inquart, shouting, “I believe in Germany!” fell to his death.

LAST MESSAGES

Not one of them broke down. Each was given a chance to say a last word and only Alfred Rosenberg, the Nazi party philosopher and most prolific writer of them all, could find no word except a murmured “Nein” to leave to history.

Ribbentrop said firmly “God protect Germany” and then, “My last wish is that German unity should remain and that an understanding between the East and West will come about and peace for the world.”

Julius Streicher, the Jew-baiter, unrepentant to the end. shouted, “Heil Hitler” as he was led up the steps. From the top of the scaffold he shouted, “The Bolsheviks will hang you all next. Jewish holiday! Jewish holiday, 1946! Now it goes to God.”

The soldiers Keitel and Jodl, in their green uniforms with the red strip down their trousers died as Prussian officers to the last, stiff-lipped and arrogant.

Keitel shouted: “I call on the Almighty. May He have mercy on the German people and show them tenderness. More than two million German soldiers have died for their Fatherland and preceded me. I follow my own sons. All for Germany.”

Jodl drew himself up and cried, “I salute you, my Germany.”

Kaltenbrunner, asked if he had any last words, said in a strangely mild voice: “I have loved my German people and my Fatherland from the bottom of my heart. I have done my duty by the laws of my country. I regret that my people were not led by soldiers only and that crimes were committed in which I had no share. I fought honourably. Germany – Good luck.”

Hans Frank, the “Butcher of Poland,” said in a low voice, “I beg the Lord to receive me mercifully. I am grateful for the good treatment I have received in prison.”

Seyss-Inquart in a quiet voice said, “I hope this execution will be the last act in the tragedy of a second world war and that its lessons will be learned, so that peace and understanding in the world will follow.” Then he shouted, “I believe in Germany.”

After the last execution we reporters were prevented from leaving the prison for three hours. We were told by the prison governor of Göring’s suicide at midnight but were not allowed to send the news out until it was too late for the British morning papers.

THE PHOTOGRAPHS

Photographs of the hanged Nazis were taken behind a curtain and were not seen by those who witnessed the executions. An officer of the photographic branch of the United States Army remained in the mortuary, and each time a corpse was brought out he took a series of pictures, which will be sent to the medical archives of Britain, the United States, Russia, and France.

1145

Preference for American press

From our Special Correspondent

NUREMBERG, OCTOBER 16. While harassed American security officers are striving to solve the mystery of Hermann Göring’s suicide last night, it is being asked equally insistently why the official news of the execution of the remaining ten Nazi leaders was deliberately made a matter of privilege for the American press which, by the suppression of any announcement for several hours, was enabled to publish full reports in this morning’s newspapers when they could not be published in the European morning papers.

Göring killed himself by taking cyanide at 10:45 local time. The night hangings had been completed by three a.m. yet it was not until after six a.m. (midnight in New York) that the eight journalists selected from all four zones of occupation to witness the execution were authorized to transmit their dispatches. By this time the events of the night had become the subject of rumour and inevitable inaccuracy, which could have been avoided by a proper announcement of Göring’s death.

The correspondents inside the prison indeed were informed of it by midnight, but for some inexplicable reason were forbidden to leave the prison to cable the news.

This is by no means the first time since the occupation that unnecessary secrecy and suppression have put the American press in a position of cornering news of world interest, and the question is being asked how far such occurrences are coincidental.

ARRANGEMENTS MADE A MOCKERY

The manner of Göring’s death makes a mockery of the security arrangements and all the little indignities, such as interference with sleep and the manacling to guards during exercise and last farewells, to which the prisoners have been subjected, in the opinion of many observers, with a lack of taste. In German eyes, moreover, it is bound to take something away from the Nuremberg judgment in making a legend of a man whose end was in keeping with his arrogant but by no means uncourageous deportment throughout the trial.

It will be remarked that the four most powerful men of Nazi Germany – Hitler, Himmler, Goebbels, and now Göring – have escaped Allied justice. Their fate, and that of their associates hanged this morning, are of little import compared to the hopes and fears of Nuremberg. They have already passed into oblivion, but there are many Germans, even if they now profess to disavow their former leaders, who will think of Göring with pride. Nuremberg, with its united appeal from the scaffold to purely nationalist sentiments, could yet be a rallying ground. Perhaps a good deal of mocking laughter was to be discerned among the population of Nuremberg to-day.

The burring question to-day, of course, is how Göring, in spite of constant observation and a daily inspection of his cell, came by the poison.

One of the first actions taken by the authorities was to set up a Board of Inquiry of three members under a “disinterested” officer of the American Third Army, which is expected to report to the Control Council in a day or two. Nothing, of course, is disclosed about its deliberations to-day, though apparently no arrests have been made or are expected.

A spokesman of the prison governor, Colonel B. C. Andrus, stated his conviction this evening that for all the minute searching Göring had been in possession of the poison during most of his custody in Nuremberg. It could easily have been smuggled in to him, he said, before the security measures were tightened after the suicide of Robert Ley before the trial opened. Other people see significance in the fact that Göring has refused to take exercise since the judgment was delivered, ostensibly because he objected to being chained to a warder. Still others talk of the large Bavarian pipe he was wont to smoke as a possible place of concealment.

But there is little point in such speculation. The truth may never be known. Göring has paid the penalty for his crimes and his body was taken in and placed beside the others after the hanging were over. There is a strong assumption that as the dawn was breaking they were taken away to unknown graves, with an indication that air transport was used.

The Times & Manchester Guardian Service

1146

Future trials

NUREMBERG, OCTOBER 16. Trials of Nazi industrialists, politicians, S.S. chiefs, and others – now that the major criminals have been executed – will begin “some time next month,” Mr. Peterson, United States Assistant Secretary of War, predicted to-day.

He discussed detailed plans for these new trials to-day with Brigadier General Taylor, who was appointed last spring as Justice Jackson’s deputy in charge of subsequent proceedings. More precise information about these trials must await an announcement from the White House following Justice Jackson’s resignation as chief prosecutor, Mr. Peterson said. This was expected in the near future.

Reflecting an “intense interest” on the part of War Department officials in these next trials, Mr. Peterson said that Washington officials were “specially anxious that subsequent trials should be prosecuted with the same aggressiveness that characterised the first trials.” --Reuter

1147

Wiener Kurier (October 17, 1946)

Das Geheimnis um Görings Selbstmord

Der Kreis der Verdächtigen erweitert sich

Nürnberg (UP—INS.) - Fünfundzwanzig Deutsche, die seit der Urteilsverkündigung zu Göring Zutritt hatten, werden von den amerikanischen Behörden einer strengen Untersuchung unterzogen, um festzustellen, wer für die Einschmuggelung des Giftes verantwortlich ist. Es erscheint nach Meinung der amerikanischen Behörden unmöglich, daß Görings Frau es gewesen sein kann, da sie bei jedem Besuch ihres Gatten entweder durch eine Glaswand oder durch ein Gitter von ihm getrennt war. Damit ist nur noch die Vermutung nicht unbegründet, daß sie ihm beim Abschiedskuß die Phiole zukommen ließ. Unter den am meisten Verdächtigten befindet sich der Gefängnisarzt und ein deutscher Kriegsgefangener, der ihm das Essen zubereitete und servierte. Damit erscheint die Möglichkeit gegeben, daß ihm das Gift im Brot eingeschmuggelt wurde.

Gestern ist eine durchwegs aus Amerikanern bestehende Untersuchungskommission zusammengetreten, um das Geheimnis aufzuklären. Nach dem Selbstmord Leys, der sich mit einem Handtuch in seiner Zelle erhängte, wurden die Gefangenen unter schärfster Beobachtung gehalten. Jedesmal, wenn Göring die Zelle verließ, wurde er von den anderen Gefangenen getrennt gehalten. Auch wurde er öfters unvermutet in eine andere Zelle gebracht, die mehrere Male am Tage durchsucht worden ist.

Woher wußte er den Zeitpunkt der Hinrichtung?

Die zweite Frage, die zu klären bleibt, ist die, wieso Göring vom Hinrichtungs-Zeitpunkt Kenntnis hatte. Als nämlich der Gefängniskommandant Oberst Andrus durch die Gänge schritt, um die Gefangenen zu wecken und ihnen mitzuteilen, daß ihre Gnadengesuche abgelehnt wurden und sie in wenigen Minuten sterben müßten, lag Göring, als der Oberst sich seiner Zelle näherte, bereits im Todeskampf.

Oberst Andrus teilte mit, daß die Untersuchungsergebnisse unmittelbar an den Alliierten Kontrollrat übermittelt werden, wobei die Frage der Veröffentlichung der Ergebnisse noch nicht endgültig geklärt ist.

Andrus betonte, daß er über den Selbstmord Görings völlig überrascht sei, da er nach dessen Charakter und Äußerungen niemals damit gerechnet habe, daß dieser einmal wie Robert Ley handeln würde.

Der amerikanische Sicherheitsoffizier Major Teich wies darauf hin, daß Göring das Gift bereits nach dem Selbstmorde Robert Leys erworben haben könnte Major Teich schloß die Möglichkeit aus, daß Frau Emmy Göring die Phiole dem Gefangenen während eines Besuches zustecken konnte. Auch für den Anwalt Görings, Otto Stahmer, hätte während der letzten Sitzung des Gerichtshofes dazu keine Möglichkeit bestanden, wie dies anfänglich durch den Gefängniskommandanten, Oberst Burton Andrus, vermutet wurde.

Emmy Göring erklärt: „Das Gift war nicht von mir“

„Ich habe meinem Gatten nicht, das Gift gegeben. Ich wurde ja dauernd überwacht.“ Mit einem hysterischen Aufschrei bestritt die Frau des einstigen Reichsmarschalls jede Schuld, ihrem Gatten das Gift zu geschmuggelt zu haben. Unmittelbar nach Bekanntwerden des Selbstmordes ihres Mannes hatte Emmy Göring einen Nervenzusammenbruch erlitten.

Immer wieder betonte Emmy Göring, daß es ihr unmöglich war, auch nur in die Nähe ihres Mannes zu kommen, da bei ihren Besuchen die schärfsten Sicherheitsmaßnahmen beobachtet wurden. „Ich hatte noch einmal die Behörden ersucht, mich mit meinem Gatten sprechen zu lassen“, erklärte sie, „doch wurde mir die Bitte abgeschlagen. Heute sehe ich, wie gut es war, daß man mein Gesuch ablehnte.“

Was geschieht mit den Leichen?

Über das Schicksal der Leichen der Hingerichteten wird strengstes Stillschweigen bewahrt. Es ist nicht festzustellen, ob sie verbrannt oder an einer geheimen Stelle begraben werden, Es besteht anderseits auch die Möglichkeit, daß die Leichen auf hoher See versenkt werden. Diese Meldung brachte der Hamburger Sender, obwohl offiziell darüber keine Mitteilung erfolgte.

1148

Selbstmord enthüllte Görings innere Feigheit

Stellungnahme des USA-Oberrichters Jackson

Washington (INS.) - „Göring hat nicht erkannt, daß er sein letztes großes Ziel, ein deutscher Mätyrer zu sein, verscherzte, als er nicht den Mut fand, am Galgen zu sterben“, erklärte den- frühere amerikanische Hauptanklagevertreter in Nürnberg, Oberrichter Jackson.

„Görings Selbstmord ist wie der Abschluß einer Burleske nach einer Wagner-Ouvertüre. Wäre Göring aus dem Holz geschnitzt gewesen, mit einem patriotischen Ausruf zum Galgen zu schreiten, hätte er sich daran erinnert, daß er seinem Lande nur ein Leben zu geben hatte, wäre er vielleicht ein deutscher Nationalheld geworden.

Göring erklärte mehrere Male seinen Mitgefangenen gegenüber, daß die Deutschen eines Tages noch seine Gebeine ausgraben und sie in einem Marmormausoleum beisetzen würden. Er sah sich in seinen Träumen als eine Art germanischer Napoleon und gefiel sich in einer Rolle großer Kühnheit.

Als Zeuge war er arrogant, aber seine äußere Haltung machte auf viele Leute, die den wahren Göring nicht kannten, einen günstigen Eindruck Aber als es hart auf hart ging, da kam er nicht mit. Der Gründer der Konzentrationslager. in denen Millionen Menschen umkamen, hatte selbst nicht den Mut, den Galgen zu besteigen. Sein Ende enthüllte die Schwäche seines ganzen Lebens.

Die wahre Bedeutung von Görings Selbstmord liegt in der Wirkung auf Deutschland. Er war der einzige, dessen Tod einen Märtyrermythos hätte schaffen können. Gerade der Tod auf dem Galgen gab ihm dazu die beste Gelegenheit, bei der er seine Anhänger von der Tiefe seiner Überzeugung hätte überzeugen können. Aber dazu fehlte es ihm an Charakter. Sogar niedriger gestellte Männer, die seine Untergebenen waren, starben mutiger. Als er sich das Leben nahm, tötete er den Mythos der nazistischen Tapferkeit.“

Deutsche Politiker verurteilen einhellig Görings Selbstmord

Nürnberg (INS.) - Die Vorsitzenden der verschiedenen deutschen politischen Parteien in Nürnberg verurteilten einstimmig Görings Selbstmord’ als Feigheit. Der Vorsitzende der Christlichen Sozialisten, Deggendorfer, erklärte: „Der Mann, der Millionen Menschen in den Tod geschickt hat, hätte den Mut haben sollen, gemäß dem Urteilsspruch zu sterben.“

Der Vorsitzende der Demokratischen Partei, Dr. Fritz Lindert, betonte, daß jemand, der eine Gemeinschaft freiwillig verlasse, ein Feigling sei. Der Kommunist Hermann Schirmer erklärte: „Göring hat ebenso wie Hitler und Goebbels in der letzten Minute seine Komplicen verlassen.“

Der Sozialistenführer Willy Balderer bezeichnete die letzte Handlung Görings als Flucht vor der Anständigkeit. Der Vorsitzende der Rechtsopposition, Loeblein, stellte fest: „Göring ist, ebenso wie die anderen Naziführer zu feige, um die Folgen seiner Handlungen zu tragen.“

England ist empört, daß Göring sich der gerechten Strafe entzog

London (INS.) - Die ersten Berichte über den Selbstmord Görings wurden in der britischen Öffentlichkeit zunächst mit Unglauben, später mit Überraschung und tiefer Enttäuschung aufgenommen. Einmütig ist die Erbitterung darüber, daß es dem Hauptkriegsverbrecher gelang, sich der gerechten Strafe zu entziehen. Heftige Vorwürfe werden gegen die für die Sicherheit der Hauptkriegsverbrecher verantwortlich gewesenen Behörden erhoben.

Die „London Evening News“ schreibt: „Die Alliierten Sicherheitsbehörden haben sich als äußerst wirkungslos erwiesen. Die letzte Handlung Görings war voll politischer Dynamik. Er blieb ein gerissener Betrüger bis an sein Ende.“

Schweden vermutet Nazisabotage

Stockholm (INS.) - Die schwedische Presse befaßte sich gestern unter Überschriften, wie: „Göring gewinnt die letzte Runde“, mit dem Selbstmord des früheren Naziführers. Im Falle Göring erklärten die Blätter, daß entweder die nazistische Untergrundbewegung noch arbeite oder große Nachlässigkeit den Selbstmord ermöglicht habe.

Radio Moskau gab keinen Kommentar

Moskau (INS.) - Radio Moskau meldete gestern den Selbstmord Görings und den Vollzug der Hinrichtung an den anderen zehn Hauptkriegsverbrechern, ohne einen weiteren Kommentar zu geben.

1149

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette (October 17, 1946)

Goering’s suicide still mystery

Probers fail to find how No. 2 Nazi got poison to cheat noose

NUERNBERG, Oct. 16 (AP) – The bodies of 11 Hitler henchmen were spirited away to secret and unmarked graves Wednesday, while harassed guardians of Hermann Goering launched a microscopic, inch-by-inch examination of his cell for clues as to how he had managed by suicide to cheat the hangman.

The prison chaplain and assistant security officer both expressed the opinion that the wily, No. 2 Nazi had carried on his person, ever since his capture a year and a half ago, the deadly potassium cyanide which he gulped less than two hours before he was to march to the gallows.

How he had managed to do this remained unanswered. The plump defendant had been searched at least 100 times during his months in captivity.

Mystery also shrouded the burial of Goering and of the 10 top-ranking Nazis who died on twin gallows shortly after midnight on this cold gray morning.

The 11 corpses of the men who brought death and suffering to millions of people were removed from Nuernberg prison in sealed vans, under armed escort, for an unannounced destination.

Reporters trailed the convoy for a short distance, but finally were prevented from proceeding further by a hastily constructed roadblock.

A brigadier general and U.S. security troops carrying sub-machine guns accompanied the top-ranking Nazis on their final journey, and it was believed that the last leg of the trip was by plane.

Capt. Samuel Binder of the security police detail said the final resting place of the 11 would remain a secret.

Suicide remains mystery

The news of Goering’s grim joke – that he had been able to outwit scores of U.S. troops whose job was to see that he keep his date with the hangman – spread with lightning speed throughout Germany.

A secret three-man investigating board, representing the Allied Control Council, apparently ran up against a blank wall in its attempt to solve the question of how the shrunken fat man had managed to swallow the lethal dose.

Maj. Fred Teich, assistant chief security officer, ruled out the possibility of Goering having obtained the poison during recent months. He said prison security measures were too strict to have allowed anyone to slip the vial to the No. 2 Nazi.

Trained to hide poisons

Members of the prison security detail said top ranking Nazis had been trained in concealing deadly poisons, and that all of them carried potassium cyanide during the last days of the war.

Unanswered even was the question of how the once-swaggering Reichsmarshal managed to take the poison, since prison guards who watched him constantly said he never put his hand to his mouth. Also unanswered was the question of how he knew when the executions were to occur, since none of the defendants was informed of the hour of the hangings.

The poison was contained in a brass capsule, fashioned from an old cartridge. Newsmen who looked into Goering’s cell Tuesday night before his suicide was discovered said that his right hand appeared clenched – possibly on the cartridge.

Goering prediction realized

The other 10 defendants, headed by Joachim von Ribbentrop, were executed swiftly on gallows erected on a basketball court in the prison gymnasium. Apparently, none of them knew that Goering had managed to escape the ignominy of the noose.

Some persons speculated that perhaps Frau Emma Goering had slipped her husband the capsule when she visited him last week, but officials pointed out that the two had talked through a screen and were closely watched from both sides of the barrier.

Dr. Friedrich Berghold, defense council for the missing Martin Bormann, said he, too, believed Goering had had the poison for months because of the Reichsmarshal’s seeming assurance that, although he would be sentenced to death, he would not hang.

The brunt of blame for Goering’s suicide apparently fell on U.S. Col. Burton C. Andrus, prison commandant, who had maintained ever since the suicide here last year of Robert Ley, Nazi labor leader, that self-destruction would be impossible in the future in the jail.

Andrus last year found a capsule of poison in a can of prepared coffee in Goering’s room. It was similar to the poison taken last night by the Reichsmarshal.

1150

GI stayed overseas to hang Nazi chiefs

Buddies think executioner hated to see Goering get away from his rope

FRANKFURT, Oct. 16 (AP) – Master Sgt. John C. Woods hoped he would get the job of hanging the Nazi war criminals convicted at Nuernberg – and he did.

Now the veteran of 233 executions and four years of overseas Army duty is ready to go back to his home near San Antonio, Texas, his friends said tonight.

“He was going to stay overseas until he could hang those Nuernberg Nazis and then he was ready to go back to the states,” said T/4 James J. Gibilante of Abington, Pennsylvania, a mess sergeant at one of the leading Army hotels in Germany.

“But, gee, I’ll bet he hated to see Goering get away from him,” Gibilante added.

Gibilante was waiting tonight for Woods to come back from Nuernberg so they could have a celebration they planned.

But nobody – not even his buddy Gibilante – seemed to know where Woods was today or when he would return.

“I think the Army may be hiding him out so he won’t talk about the Nuernberg executions,” one GI suggested.

Apparently Woods doesn’t talk much about his work, even without an Army gag, however.

“He wouldn’t even tell us whether he was going to do the job on those Nazis,” Gibilante said. “But he said several months ago he hoped he would get it and we all thought he would. He’s supposed to be good at this hanging business.”

“Woods says he doesn’t get any extra money for these hangings, just regular army pay,” said Gibilante. “He volunteered for the job after the fighting was over.”

The hanging of the 10 Nuernberg Nazis was Woods’ most publicized, but not his biggest day’s work with the rope.

He hanged the 28 Nazis convicted of the Dachau concentration camp atrocities last summer.

1151

The Wilmington Morning Star (October 17, 1946)

Deep mystery…
Source of Goering poison stumps Army

Security police start inch by inch hunt for clues to where lethal dose kept; bodies of top Nazis spirited away

NUERNBERG, Germany, Oct. 16 (AP) – The bodies of 11 Hitler henchmen were spirited away to secret and unmarked graves Wednesday, while harassed guardians of Hermann Goering launched a microscopic, inch-by-inch examination of his cell for clues as to how he had managed by suicide to cheat the hangman.

The prison chaplain and assistant security officer both expressed the opinion that the wily, No. 2 Nazi had carried on his person, ever since his capture a year and a half ago, the deadly potassium cyanide which he gulped less than two hours before he was to march to the gallows.

How he had managed to do this remained unanswered. The plump defendant had been searched at least 100 times during his months in captivity.

Mystery also shrouded the burial of Goering and of the 10 top-ranking Nazis who died on twin gallows shortly after midnight on this cold gray morning.

The 11 corpses of the men who brought death and suffering to millions of people were removed from Nuernberg prison in sealed vans, under armed escort, for an unannounced destination.

Reporters trailed the convoy for a short distance, but finally were prevented from proceeding further by a hastily constructed roadblock.

Interment secret

A brigadier general and U.S. Security troops carrying sub-machine guns accompanied the top-ranking Nazis on their final journey, and it was believed that the last leg of the trip was by plane.

Capt. Samuel Binder of the Security police detail said the final resting place of the 11 would remain a secret.

The news of Goering’s grim joke – that he had been able to outwit scores of U.S. troops whose job was to see that he keep his date with the hangman – spread with lightning speed throughout Germany.

Although many Germans cursed with deep hatred the once arrogant Luftwaffe head, there were others who were delighted that he had managed to escape the verdict of the International Military Tribunal composed of August jurists of Russia, Great Britain, the United States and France.

A secret three-man investigating board, representing the Allied Control Council, apparently ran up against a blank wall in its attempt to solve the question of how the shrunken fat man had managed to swallow the lethal dose.

Maj. Fred Teich, assistant chief security officer, ruled out the possibility of Goering having obtained the poison during recent months. He said prison security measures were too strict to have allowed anyone to slip the vial to the No. 2 Nazi.

Prison Chaplain H. F. Gerecke of St. Louis, Mo., who had talked to Goering every day for the last four months, said he believed that Goering had hidden the poison on his person throughout the war crimes trial.

The theory was supported by other members of the prison security detail, who said top ranking Nazis had been trained in concealing deadly poisons, and that all of them carried potassium cyanide during the last days of the war.

Unanswered even was the question of how the once-swaggering Reichsmarshal managed to take the poison, since prison guards who watched him constantly said he never put his hand to his mouth.

Also unanswered was the question of how he knew when the executions were to occur, since none of the defendants was informed of the hour of the hangings.

The poison was contained in a brass capsule, fashioned from an old cartridge. Newsmen who looked into Goering’s cell Tuesday night before his suicide was discovered said that his right hand appeared clenched – possibly on the cartridge.

It was clear, however, even in death that Goering had managed to steal the limelight from his co-despoilers of Europe.

The other 10 defendants, headed by Joachim von Ribbentrop, were executed swiftly on gallows erected on a basketball court in the prison gymnasium. Apparently, none of them knew that Goering had managed to escape the ignominy of the noose.

With a grim clatter, the trap was sprung on Von Ribbentrop at 1:14 a.m. (7:14 p.m. Tuesday EST). The grisly job was completed at 2:57 a.m., when Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the Austrian turncoat, plunged to death.

Goering’s body was brought into the gymnasium while Seyss-Inquart and Col. Gen. Alfred Jodl were still dangling from nooses. It was placed between the two gallows, which had been used alternately, in symbolic execution of the Reichsmarshal.

The covering was turned back for all witnesses to see that he was dead.

The Reichsmarshal was clad in black silk pajamas. His face was twisted from the agony of the poison. The medals and the dashing, well-tailored uniforms were gone now.

1152

Goering gets last word in battle with legal giants of Allied world

By James D. White, Associated Press staff writer

The most important thing about the suicide of Hermann Goering still isn’t known.

That is what the Germans will think of it.

Meager reaction reported thus far quotes a few Germans as saying it’s too bad that the gallows were cheated by the man they considered the greatest Nazi criminal after Hitler. These Germans were answering questions put to them by American correspondents, and they may hope that elimination of Goering and the other top Nazis will expiate them and Germany in the eyes of the world.

Perhaps significantly, but not one of the Germans questioned thus far said he considered Goering’s suicide cowardly.

One German girl actually said she had doubted all along that the once-bemedalled Reichsmarshal ever would allow himself to be hanged.

In life, Hermann Goering personified the German big shot. Although Bavarian by birth, he affected the grand manner of the East Prussian. He wore his clothes and threw his weight around in a manner that the Nazi Party did nothing to curb. He took up where Von Richthofen had left off with German air power, and made the Versailles-banned Luftwaffe live again as a terrible arm of German might.

The Germans joked among themselves about his ham acting, and admired him just the same.

The chief U.S. Army psychiatrist and surgeon at Nuernberg, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, describes Goering as “a buccaneer who could have been a hero instead of a pirate,” who “had the classic type of extroversion,” and whose devotion to the Hitler cause “was born of disappointment and disillusionment following World War I.”

One cannot forget that the Nazis rose to power partly because the Germans in the mass were wallowing in that same disillusionment. Hermann Goering did big things in a big way, and as long as he got away with them the Germans found little to criticize. There is a difference between laughing at an official and unseating him.

In death, he outsmarted his guard and made one last gesture.

He had the last word, and if you ever have argued with a Nazi, you will realize how important that is in his mind.

It will be surprising if unreconstructed Germans don’t like it.

1153

Editorial: Nuernberg executions

Ten men were hanged in Nuernberg yesterday. They had been convicted by an international court of war crimes, crimes against the peace and crimes against humanity. The eleventh man, Hermann Goering, similarly convicted, defeated the court’s sentence by swallowing cyanide, his possession of which no one is able or willing to explain.

Thus ended an unprecedented episode. Never before had such a trial been conducted. Never before had such a tribunal existed. Never had any man been executed for “crimes against humanity.” Conquerors had frequently disposed of defeated adversaries out of hand. As frequently warmakers had been exiled. Napoleon on St. Helena is a notable case. But in all history no court had previously centered its attention upon proving that the makers of war were guilty of a crime against humanity. This is something new in jurisprudence.

Now the graves of these offenders are dug. What effect their execution will have upon the course of history can only be surmised. The thought is that with this precedent, later men of the Hitler type, who would become world rulers and in the effort to achieve their purpose needlessly would slaughter millions of mortals, will think twice before setting forth on world conquest. It can only be hoped that the objective, which inspired creation of the Nuernberg tribunal, will be achieved. Otherwise, the trial and the death of these eleven men will have been in vain.

1154

The Oregonian (October 17, 1946)

Executions leave Jews unsatisfied

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 16 (AP) – The execution of the Nazi ringleaders was no satisfaction to escaped Jews of Germany, the former chief rabbi of Berlin declared Wednesday.

Speaking at a meeting of the Philadelphia Zionist organization, Rabbi Joachim Prinz described his recent tours of displaced persons camps in England, France and the Netherlands.

“Walther Funk alone was responsible for the deaths of uncountable numbers of Jews. What that total was will never be known,” the rabbi said.

Funk was sentenced to life by the International Military Tribunal at Nuernberg.

1155

The Evening Star (October 17, 1946)

Bodies of Nazis cremated, ashes are ‘dispersed’

Disposition details still kept secret by Allied Council

NUERNBERG (AP) – The bodies of Hermann Goering and the 10 hanged Nazi war criminals have been cremated and the ashes “dispersed secretly,” it was officially announced today.

The announcement of the disposition of the bodies was made at 5:35 p.m. by Col. B. C. Andrus, prison commandant. He spoke in the name of the Allied Control Council, which was in charge of all details of the hangings and burial.

A six-line communique cleared up the major mystery in the wake of the hangings. The bodies were removed from the prison at 5:34 a.m. yesterday (11:34 p.m. Tuesday EST) in two sealed trucks, guarded by jeeps.

Where cremation took place was not disclosed. The dispersal details were wrapped in equal secrecy.

The text of the announcement:

“The body of Hermann Wilhelm Goering, together with the bodies of the war criminals executed in Nuernberg on October 16, 1946, in accordance with the sentences imposed by the International Military Tribunal, have been cremated and the ashes dispersed secretly.

“Signed, the Quadripartite Committee for the detention of war criminals.”

Prison authorities disclosed that Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel had planned, like Goering, to evade the gallows with suicide, but was foiled by a watchful guard.

As a special board of three U.S. Army officers combed every possibility to determine how Goering managed to poison himself, Col. Andrus, the commandant, revealed the Keitel story for the first time:

Keitel had returned to prison after a court appearance one day recently and was changing to old clothing, as was customary. As he shifted his wallet, he pushed something down in a fold.

An alert guard noticed it and grabbed the wallet. In a corner he found a long, sharp piece of metal easily capable of slashing the wrists or the throat. Keitel shot the guard a dirty look, but said nothing. He refused to explain how he got it.

Two exonerate widow

Col. Andrus and Maj. Fred Teich, his assistant, both exonerated Mrs. Emmy Goering, widow of the second ranking Nazi, who Wallowed potassium cyanide in an unexplained manner two hours before he was to die on the gallows.

Maj. Teich said it was impossible for her to have given Goering anything during all their visits, because a glass screen always separated them. Mrs. Goering learned of the suicide from her maid in nearby Naunaus and burst into tears. Neighbors said she apparently had no prior knowledge of her husband’s intent.

Col. Andrus and Maj. Teich both said the inquiry was out of their hands; that in fact they themselves would be questioned closely by the Investigating Board.

Capt. N. F. Gerecke, Protestant prison chaplain, said Goering died without communion, although he had requested it the day before. The St. Louis churchman said he refused to give Goering communion because the German was not repentant and such a service would have been sacrilegious. He said he told Goering these were the reasons for his refusal.

Forecast own suicide

An attorney for Grand Adm. Erich Raeder said Goering had told Dr. Walter Siemers, Raeder’s chief counsel, almost a year ago that he would never hang, but would take his own life. Dr. Friederich Bergold, attorney for the missing Martin Bormann, said Goering told him in July to remember the old proverb about catching a man first before you hang him.

Col. Andrus, in his interview, said guards occasionally found such things as a sliver of glass in a prisoner’s tobacco pouch. He commented, “After such incidents, I was convinced my searchers were doing a good job all the time.”

We said Goering and the others were searched constantly, especially when they had their semiweekly baths. Several days before the executions, all were given complete examinations.

Col. Andrus said none of the prison attaches had any idea that Goering would commit suicide. A psychologist expressed such an opinion as late as last Thursday, he said.

The commandant said that if Goering had his poison vial any length of time that he, Col. Andrus, was completely baffled as to where he hid it.

He said Goering, despite his personal bravery, was a changed man from the time he was sentenced until the approach of execution day. “He grew old very fast,” Col. Andrus said.

The colonel said he did not know what Goering said in the note left for him because he had turned it and two others over immediately to the Allied Control Council.

Goering refused to take exercise walks in the corridor after he was sentenced to death and this action was linked to his suicide.

Prison officials, looking back, opined that the former Reichsmarshal did not want to leave his cell or do anything that might jeopardize the hiding place of the poison.

Widows of the hanged men remained in seclusion away from Nuernberg, except for Mrs. Louisa Jodl, whose husband was Hitler’s last chief of staff.

Mrs. Jodl was seen on the streets of Nuernberg today. She wore black and appeared dazed.

Dozen Germans held

Sources inside Nuernberg Jail said 12 German employes were under constant scrutiny in connection with a three-man Army board’s closely veiled investigation of how, where and when Goering got the cyanide with which he beat the hangman by two hours Tuesday night.

These sources, unidentifiable by name, said the Germans were not under arrest but described them as being “protectively held” until they are completely cleared of all possible complicity in the eleventh-hour suicide by which Goering managed to precede his 10 doomed colleagues in death.

The Amy board investigating the Goering suicide, meanwhile, called in, one by one, every person who conceivably might have had some connection with the pudgy Reichsmarshal in his last days and nights in the death block.

No arrests made yet

Col. Richard McConnell, public relations officer, told reporters the board was working without any special technical assistance thus far and added that no decision had been reached as to whether such special assistants in crime detection would be called in.

He stated emphatically that no arrests have been made in connection with the investigation and that none, as yet, were “contemplated.”

In the meantime, the Allied Control Council’s commission which conducted the executions disclosed that it had translations of the three notes Goering left in his cell but said the contents of the notes would not be divulged.

1156

Manilan offers $2,500 for Nazi hanging rope

MANILA, Philippines (CDN) – Walter Budd was chased out of Germany by the Gestapo. Now he is offering $2,500 for the rope or ropes used to hang the 10 top Nazis in Nuernberg.

Mr. Budd, now a Manila restaurateur, attempted to cable his offer to Germany but found the message could not be transmitted to the occupied zone concerned without approval of the U.S. Army in the Philippines.

1157

British press scores U.S. authorities for hanging news delay

BERLIN (AP) – Editorials in the British press which blamed American authorities for delay in announcement of the Nuernberg executions and Hermann Goering’s suicide, drew a sharp rejoinder to day from American Military Government public relations officers.

They said arrangements for carrying out the executions and news coverage of the hangings was a four-power responsibility executed by a quadripartite commission appointed by the Allied Control Council.

They added that charges that a “gag” was imposed on the press “comes with ill grace from the British, because their representative in the Control Council, along with the French representative, wanted to restrict press and picture coverage of the executions to a minimum.”

British newspapers complained last night that the handling of the news about Goering’s suicide and the hangings had been “bungled” and the London Daily Mail, in apparent reference to an unofficial report by Dana – American-controlled German news agency – that Goering had been hanged with the other 10, charged that “the world’s press and the German people were completely deceived by an official American announcement….”

A Daily Express correspondent termed the long delay in announcing Goering’s suicide – almost eight hours – the “worst hush-hush ban yet.”

An American officer who attends Control Council sessions said the American representative, Gen. Joseph T. McNarney. had led the fight to give the world press access to the executions and that in this effort he had the support of the Russians.

“The Americans were for the freest access to all, short of making the executions a circus,” this officer said.

“McNarney argued this was necessary to maintain our tradition of a free press and also for psychological effect on the Germans. He wanted full coverage, especially pictorially, go that it could be proved to the Germans beyond the shadow of a doubt that these men were really dead so as to prevent the birth of any rumors or legends that some might have escaped. The British argued against pictures and the release of any photographs of the executions for publication.

“It was on McNarney’s motion that the Council agreed to permit two correspondents from each of the four occupying powers to witness the executions,” the American officer added.

“The American representatives didn’t get all they asked for, but what privileges the press was accorded at the executions were all the result of McNarney’s intervention, with support of the Russians.”

American officials also said that British Prime Minister Attlee had spoken in the House of Commons against publication of lectures of the execution.

1158

Writers’ visit gave Goering suicide cue, reporter Indicates

By Kingsbury Smith, representing the combined American press

NUERNBERG (UP) – A visit by eight Allied correspondents to death row in the condemned block of Nuernberg Jail late Tuesday night have prompted ex-Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering to take the poison which enabled him to cheat the gallows of Allied justice.

As one of those eight correspondents, I believe that the commotion caused by our visit may have served to tip off Goering and the other condemned men that the hour of their doom was about to strike.

As the correspondents, escorted by several security officers, shuffled through the narrow corridor, peeking into the small iron-barred portholes of each of the condemned men’s cells, it naturally caused a stir.

At the front of each cell door stood a GI guard whose duty it was to keep constant watch on the man inside the cell. I noticed at the time that some of the guards turned around to see what the commotion was about as we entered and started to move along the corridor.

With most of the correspondents, Including the writer, stopping to glance over the shoulder of the guards into the condemned cells, it was only human for some of the GIs to turn their heads momentarily to see what was going on.

It is possible that in the moment, or moments, the GI guarding Goering’s cell turned his head and the crown prince of Nazidom managed to slip into his mouth the vial containing the cyanide of potassium.

It was just a few moments before when I had peeked over the guard’s shoulder into Goering’s cell. Lying stretched out full length on a small iron cot was the bulky figure of the man the Allied governments were most eager to have led the parade of death to the gallows.

He was the only one of the old guard, top-level Nazi chieftains they had managed to have convicted and condemned to death by the International Military Tribunal.

Goering had gone to bed, although the lights of his cell and in the prison block were not yet dimmed. His body was covered by an ordinary U.S. Army khaki blanket. One bluish pajama-clad arm was outstretched, the other was folded over his chest with the fist closed.

Appeared to be asleep

He was lying absolutely motionless, with his head resting on one side and his eyes closed, as if in sleep.

Goering was the only one of the condemned 11 who was in bed. Most of the others were pacing their cells. Some were sitting on their beds, others at the frail little wooden table in each cell.

Goering’s cell was the last one the correspondents reached on their initial walk down the corridor. I had seen the inmates of other cells moving around and it struck me as rather strange that Goering should have gone to bed so early and apparently was already asleep.

I turned to the duty officer of the guard, a young lieutenant standing by, and said, “Is he asleep?”

The lieutenant shrugged his shoulders and said he did not know.

A few minutes later. Col. Selby Little, the deputy security commandant, said to me: “Isn’t that just like Goering – going to sleep on his last night?”

I still thought it was strange and so remarked to one of my colleagues.

We were taken into a little room a few cells away from Goering where the possessions of the leading Nazi prisoners were kept.

We were taken next into the little library of the condemned block, on the other side of the corridor, almost directly opposite Goering’s cell. Here we were shown and told about the books the prisoners had been reading. After that, we were led back across the corridor to the prison office.

Coming out of this office, we moved across the corridor again, always within a few feet of Goering’s cell, to narrow stairs leading up to the first tier of the block. About 10 people mounted those stairs. We filed along a catwalk directly above Goering’s cell and were shown the kitchen, first-aid and dental rooms.

We came down the stairs and walked along death row. again peeking into the cells of Goering and the other condemned on our way out.

We had been told by Col. Burton C. Andrus, the security commandant, that after our visit was over, he would return and read to each condemned man the tribunal’s sentence of death. That was to be the first official indication to them that they were soon to start the parade of death to the gallows.

So far as the security guard knew, none of the men had any knowledge that the executions were scheduled to start shortly after midnight.

Council OK’d visit

I was walking beside Col. Andrus and said to him: “If they don’t already know it, they certainly will after this visit of ours and after you have read the sentence to them.”

Putting an arm around my shoulders, the colonel replied: “I know it. That’s why I want to get this over with quickly.”

I do not believe that Col. Andrus was keen about the visit of the correspondents to the condemned block, but they had made a formal request to do so some days ago and he had been authorized by the Allied Control Council’s special commission of four generals to take them through on that last night.

The mistake, in my opinion, was that we were taken through in a body. We should have been taken through one by one, or not more than two at a time.

That is how I had visited the death row for the first time last Saturday morning in the company of Arthur Gaeth, Mutual Broadcasting System representative, and Col. Little.

We had gone through the condemned block quietly and our visit did not cause the commotion that a group of a dozen men was found to do, especially late in the evening.

Goering had been told that the appeals of the condemned men had been rejected.

1159

Russian papers publish short stories on hangings

LONDON (AP) – The Moscow radio indicated today that Russian press accounts of Hermann Goering’s suicide and the Nuernberg execution were limited to a story of less than 200 words written by a correspondent for Pravda, official Community Party organ.

In sharp contrast to the voluminous press reports sent out by representatives of the other major powers, Soviet papers printed a laconic account supplied by Pravda’s correspondent – apparently the only account made available to them.

Pravda prefaced its report with the Allied Control Council’s official statement on the executions and Goering’s suicide.

1160

Pictorial record made of Nazis’ executions

NUERNBERG (AP) – The official Army photographer selected to make a pictorial record of the executions of the 11 Nazi leaders took only pictures of the corpses after they had been removed from the gallows.

Two photographs were made of each of the 10 men executed and of the body of Hermann Goering, who committed suicide. One picture in each case of the body as it was dressed at the time of the execution, and the other was of the nude body. The photographer’s name was withheld.

The photographs, labeled top secret, were taken to Berlin – probably to be filed for record and historical purposes only. The Allied Coordinating Committee will meet tomorrow to decide whether any will be released.

1161

Nazis’ hangman ready to quit with 233 executions to credit

FRANKFURT (AP) – Master Sgt. John C. Wood hoped he would get the job of hanging the Nazi war criminals convicted at Nuernberg – and he did.

Now the veteran of 233 executions and four years of overseas Army duty is ready to go back to his home near San Antonio, Texas, his friends said last night.

“He was going to stay overseas until he could hang those Nuernberg Nazis and then he was ready to go back to the States,” said T/4 James J. Gibilante of Abington, Pennsylvania, a mess sergeant at one of the leading Army hotels in Germany.

“But, gee, I’ll bet he hated to see Goering get away from him,” Gibilante added.

Gibilante was waiting for Wood to come back from Nuernberg so they could have a celebration they planned. But nobody – not even his buddy Gibilante – seemed to know where Wood was today or when he would return.

“I think the Army may be hiding him out so he won’t talk about the Nuernberg executions,” one GI suggested.

Gibilante, who landed on the Normandy beaches with Wood on D-Day, gave this description of the man who has hanged more Germans than most soldiers have shot:

“He’s a good Joe. Quiet, but lots of fun, too. He must be around 35 or 40. A little, heavy-set guy with brown hair, getting kind of bald in front. He’s been in the Army a long time – 18 years, I think.

“Wood says he doesn’t get any extra money for these hangings, just regular Army pay. He volunteered for the job after the fighting was over.”

Wood gets an unusual break for sergeants, in billeting, at least. He stays in a smart hotel which doesn’t normally house enlisted men.

The hanging of the 10 Nuernberg Nazis was Wood’s most publicized, but not his biggest day’s work with the rope. He hanged the 28 Nazis convicted of the Dachau Concentration Camp atrocities last summer.