Nuremberg executions

Executions that followed the Nuremberg Trials

The Nuremberg executions took place on 16 October 1946, shortly after the conclusion of the Nuremberg trials. Ten prominent members of the political and military leadership of Nazi Germany were executed by hanging: Hans Frank, Wilhelm Frick, Alfred Jodl, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Wilhelm Keitel, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Alfred Rosenberg, Fritz Sauckel, Arthur Seyss-Inquart, and Julius Streicher. Hermann Göring was also scheduled to be hanged on that day but committed suicide using a potassium cyanide capsule the night before. Martin Bormann was also sentenced to death in absentia; at the time his whereabouts were unknown, but it has since been confirmed that he died while attempting to escape Berlin on 2 May 1945.

The sentences were carried out in the gymnasium of Nuremberg Prison by the United States Army using the standard drop method instead of long drop.[1]

The executioners were Master Sergeant John C. Woods and his assistant, military policeman Joseph Malta. Woods's use of standard drops for the executions meant that some of the men did not die quickly of an intended broken neck but instead strangled to death slowly.[2][3][4]

Some reports indicated some executions took from 14 to 28 minutes.[5][6] The Army denied claims that the drop length was too short or that the condemned died from strangulation instead of a broken neck.[7] Additionally, the trapdoor was too small, such that several of the condemned suffered bleeding head injuries when they hit the sides of the trapdoor while dropping through.[8]

The bodies were rumored to have been taken to Dachau for cremation, but were in fact incinerated in a crematorium in Munich and the ashes scattered over the river Isar.[9]

Kingsbury Smith of the International News Service wrote an eyewitness account of the hangings. His account appeared with photos in newspapers.[10]

## Order of executions

[edit]

Scheduled order of executions  Order  | Name  | Final statement  | Time of death

|
|
|

1  | Hermann Göring[a] | N/A  | N/A
2  | Joachim von Ribbentrop | "God protect Germany. God have mercy on my soul. My final wish is that Germany should recover her unity and that, for the sake of peace, there should be an understanding between East and West. I wish peace to the world."[11]

Nuremberg Prison Commandant Burton C. Andrus later recalled that Ribbentrop turned to the prison's Lutheran chaplain, Henry F. Gerecke, immediately before the hood was placed over his head and whispered, "I'll see you again."[12]

| 01:30 a.m.
3  | Wilhelm Keitel | "I call on God Almighty to have mercy on the German people. More than two million German soldiers went to their death for the fatherland before me. I follow now my sons—all for Germany."  | 01:44 a.m.
4  | Ernst Kaltenbrunner | "I have loved my German people and my fatherland with a warm heart. I have done my duty by the laws of my people and I am sorry my people were led this time by men who were not soldiers and that crimes were committed of which I had no knowledge. Germany, good luck."  | 01:52 a.m.
5  | Alfred Rosenberg | (Upon being asked whether he had anything to say.) "No."  | 01:59 a.m.
6  | Hans Frank | "I am thankful for the kind treatment during my captivity and I ask God to accept me with mercy."  | 02:08 a.m.
7  | Wilhelm Frick | "Long live eternal Germany."  | 02:20 a.m.
8  | Julius Streicher | "Adele, my dear wife."[b] | Unknown
9  | Fritz Sauckel | "I am dying innocent. The sentence is wrong. God protect Germany and make Germany great again. Long live Germany! God protect my family."  | 02:40 a.m.
10  | Alfred Jodl | "My greetings to you, my Germany."  | 02:50 a.m.
11  | Arthur Seyss-Inquart | "I hope that this execution is the last act of the tragedy of the Second World War and that the lesson taken from this world war will be that peace and understanding should exist between peoples. I believe in Germany."  | 02:59 a.m.
Sources:[13]

* The body of Hermann Göring who had committed suicide pre-empting execution

* The body of Joachim von Ribbentrop

* The body of Wilhelm Keitel

* The body of Ernst Kaltenbrunner

* The body of Alfred Rosenberg

* The body of Hans Frank

* The body of Wilhelm Frick

* The body of Julius Streicher

* The body of Fritz Sauckel

* The body of Alfred Jodl

* The body of Arthur Seyss-Inquart

## Notes

[edit]

1. ^ Committed suicide the night before his scheduled execution.
2. ^ Also reported as "The Bolsheviks will hang you one day."

## References

[edit]

1. ^ By The Neck Until Dead: The Gallows of Nuremberg by Stanley Tilles with Jeffrey Denhart, Jona Books, Indiana: USA.
2. ^ Time Magazine coverage, 28 October 1946, pg. 34.
3. ^ Joseph Kingsbury-Smith: The Execution of Nazi War Criminals Archived 21 September 2012 at the Wayback Machine. Eyewitness Report; accessed 14 March 2018.
4. ^ Turley, Mark (1 September 2008). From Nuremberg to Nineveh. Lulu.com. ISBN 9780955981005 - via Google Books.
5. ^ Shnayerson, Robert (October 1996). "Judgment at Nuremberg" (PDF). Smithsonian Magazine. pp. 124–141. Archived from the original (PDF) on 30 April 2011. "The trial removed 11 of the most despicable Nazis from life itself. In the early morning hours of Wednesday, October 16, 1946, ten men died in the courthouse gymnasium in a botched hanging that left some strangled to death for as long as 25 minutes."
6. ^ "The Trial of the Century– and of All Time, part two". Flagpole Magazine. 17 July 2002. p. 6\. Archived from the original on 2 March 2009. "the experienced Army hangman, Master Sgt. John C. Woods, botched the execution, some alleging intentionally. A number of the hanged Nazis died, not quickly from a broken neck as intended, but agonizingly from slow strangulation. Ribbentrop and Sauckel each took 14 minutes to choke to death, while Keitel, whose death was the most painful, struggled for 28 minutes at the end of the rope before expiring."
7. ^ "War Crimes: Night without Dawn", Time.com, 28 October 1946
8. ^ Spiegel Online, Nürnberger Prozesse: Der Tod durch den Strick dauerte 15 Minuten (German), 16 January 2007.
9. ^ Overy, Richard (2001). Interrogations: The Nazi Elite in Allied Hands. London: Allen Lane. ISBN 0-7139-9350-2., pg. 205
10. ^ "The Nuremberg Trials
The Execution of Nazi War Criminals". Archived from the original on 22 February 2006. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
11. ^ Bloch, p. 456.
12. ^ Andrus, Burton C., I Was the Nuremberg Jailor, New York: Coward-McCann, 1969, p. 195.
13. ^ Smith, Kingsbury (16 October 1946). "The Execution of Nazi War Criminals". Famous Trials. International News Service.

* v
* t
* e

World War II

* Outline
* Battles
* Operations
* Leaders
* Allied
* Axis
* Commanders
* Casualties
* Conferences

General|

| Topics|

* Air warfare of World War II
* In Europe
* Blitzkrieg
* Comparative military ranks
* Cryptography
* Declarations of war
* Diplomacy
* Governments in exile
* Home front
* Australian
* United Kingdom
* United States
* Lend-Lease
* Manhattan Project
* British contribution
* Military awards
* Military equipment
* Military production
* Naval history
* Nazi plunder
* Opposition
* Technology
* Allied cooperation
* Mulberry harbour
* Total war
* Strategic bombing
* Puppet states
* Women
* Art and World War II
* Music in World War II

|

Theaters|

* Asia and Pacific
* China
* South-East Asia
* Pacific
* North and Central Pacific
* South-West Pacific
* Indian Ocean
* Europe
* Western Front
* Eastern Front
* Mediterranean and Middle East
* North Africa
* East Africa
* Italy
* West Africa
* Atlantic
* timeline
* Americas

Aftermath|

* Chinese Civil War
* Cold War
* Decolonization
* Division of Korea
* First Indochina War
* Expulsion of Germans
* Greek Civil War
* Indonesian National Revolution
* Keelhaul
* Marshall Plan
* Occupation of Germany
* Occupation of Japan
* Osoaviakhim
* Paperclip
* Soviet occupations
* Baltic
* Hungary
* Poland
* Romania
* Territorial changes of Germany
* Treaty on the Final Settlement with Respect to Germany
* United Nations

War crimes|

* Allied war crimes
* Soviet war crimes
* British war crimes
* United States war crimes
* German war crimes
* forced labour
* Wehrmacht war crimes
* The Holocaust
* Aftermath
* Response
* Nuremberg trials
* Italian war crimes
* Japanese war crimes
* Nanjing Massacre
* Unit 731
* Prosecution
* Croatian war crimes
* Genocide of Serbs
* Persecution of Jews
* Romanian war crimes
* Sexual violence
* German military brothels
* Camp brothels
* Rape during the occupation of Germany / Japan / Poland
* Rape during the liberation of France / Serbia
* Sook Ching
* Comfort women
* Rape of Manila
* Marocchinate

Participants|

| Allies|

* Algeria
* Australia
* Belgium
* Brazil
* Bulgaria (from September 1944)
* Canada
* China
* Cuba
* Czechoslovakia
* Denmark
* Ethiopia
* Eswatini (formerly Swaziland)
* Finland (from September 1944)
* France
* Free France
* Greece
* India
* Italy (from September 1943)
* Luxembourg
* Mexico
* Netherlands
* Newfoundland
* New Zealand
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Romania (from August 1944)
* Sierra Leone
* South Africa
* Southern Rhodesia
* Soviet Union
* Tuva
* United Kingdom
* British Empire
* United States
* Puerto Rico
* Yugoslavia

|

Axis|

* Albania protectorate
* Bulgaria (until September 1944)
* Wang Jingwei regime
* Independent State of Croatia
* Finland (until September 1944)
* German Reich
* Hungary
* Azad Hind
* French Indochina
* Iraq
* Italy (until September 1943)
* Italian Social Republic
* Empire of Japan
* Manchukuo
* Philippines
* Romania (until August 1944)
* Slovak Republic
* Thailand
* Vichy France

Neutral|

* Afghanistan
* Andorra
* Bhutan
* Ireland
* Liechtenstein
* Portugal
* Spain
* Sweden
* Switzerland
* Tibet
* Vatican City

Resistance|

* Albania
* Austria
* Belgium
* Bulgaria
* Czech lands
* Denmark
* Dutch East Indies
* Estonia
* Ethiopia
* France
* Germany
* Greece
* Hong Kong
* Italy
* Japan
* Jews
* Korea
* Korean Liberation Army
* Korean Volunteer Army
* Latvia
* Lithuania
* Luxembourg
* Malaya
* Netherlands
* Northeast China
* Norway
* Philippines
* Poland
* Romania
* Thailand
* Soviet Union
* Slovakia
* Western Ukraine
* Vietnam
* Quốc dân Đảng
* Viet Minh
* Yugoslavia

POWs|

* Finnish prisoners in the Soviet Union
* German prisoners
* Soviet Union
* Azerbaijan
* United States
* United Kingdom
* Italian prisoners in the Soviet Union
* Japanese prisoners
* Soviet Union
* Soviet prisoners
* Finland
* atrocities by Germans
* Polish prisoners in the Soviet Union
* Romanian prisoners in the Soviet Union

Timeline|

| Prelude|

* Africa
* Second Italo-Ethiopian War
* Asia
* Second Sino-Japanese War
* Battles of Khalkhin Gol
* Europe
* Anschluss
* Munich Agreement
* Occupation of Czechoslovakia
* Operation Himmler
* Italian invasion of Albania

|

1939|

* Invasion of Poland
* Battle of the Atlantic
* Phoney War
* First Battle of Changsha
* Battle of South Guangxi
* Winter War
* 1939–1940 Winter Offensive

1940|

* Norwegian campaign
* German invasion of Denmark
* Battle of Zaoyang–Yichang
* German invasion of Luxembourg
* German invasion of the Netherlands
* German invasion of Belgium
* Battle of France
* Dunkirk evacuation
* Battle of Britain
* Battle of the Mediterranean
* North Africa
* West Africa
* British Somaliland
* Hundred Regiments Offensive
* Baltic states
* Eastern Romania
* Japanese invasion of French Indochina
* Italian invasion of Greece
* Compass

1941|

* Battle of South Henan
* Battle of Shanggao
* Invasion of Yugoslavia
* German invasion of Greece
* Battle of Crete
* Anglo-Iraqi War
* Battle of South Shanxi
* Syria–Lebanon campaign
* East African campaign
* Invasion of the Soviet Union
* Summer War
* Finland (Silver Fox)
* Lithuania
* Battle of Kiev
* Anglo-Soviet invasion of Iran
* Second Battle of Changsha
* Siege of Leningrad
* Battle of Moscow
* Bombing of Gorky
* Siege of Sevastopol
* Attack on Pearl Harbor
* Japanese invasion of Thailand
* Fall of Hong Kong
* Fall of the Philippines
* Battle of Guam
* Battle of Wake Island
* Malayan campaign
* Battle of Borneo
* Japanese invasion of Burma
* Third Battle of Changsha
* Greek famine of 1941–1944

1942|

* Fall of Singapore
* Battle of the Java Sea
* St Nazaire Raid
* Battle of Christmas Island
* Battle of the Coral Sea
* Battle of Madagascar
* Zhejiang-Jiangxi campaign
* Battle of Gazala
* Battle of Dutch Harbor
* Battle of Midway
* Aleutian Islands campaign
* Kiska
* Attu
* Blue
* First Battle of El Alamein
* Battle of Stalingrad
* Rzhev
* Jubilee
* Second Battle of El Alamein
* Guadalcanal campaign
* Torch
* Chinese famine of 1942–1943

1943|

* Tunisian campaign
* Battle of West Hubei
* Battle of Attu
* Bombing of Gorky
* Battle of Kursk
* Allied invasion of Sicily
* Smolensk
* Solomon Islands campaign
* Cottage
* Battle of the Dnieper
* Allied invasion of Italy
* Armistice of Cassibile
* Burma
* Northern Burma and Western Yunnan
* Changde
* Second Battle of Kiev
* Gilbert and Marshall Islands campaign
* Tarawa
* Makin
* Bengal famine of 1943

1944|

* Tempest
* Monte Cassino / Anzio
* Korsun–Cherkassy
* Narva
* Ichi-Go
* Overlord
* Neptune
* Mariana and Palau
* Bagration
* Western Ukraine
* Second Battle of Guam
* Tannenberg Line
* Warsaw Uprising
* Eastern Romania
* Liberation of Paris
* Dragoon
* Gothic Line
* Belgrade offensive
* Lapland
* Market Garden
* Estonia
* Crossbow
* Pointblank
* Vietnamese famine of 1944–1945
* Philippines (1944–1945)
* Leyte
* Syrmian Front
* Hungary
* Budapest
* Burma (1944–1945)
* Ardennes
* Bodenplatte
* Dutch famine of 1944–1945

1945|

* Vistula–Oder
* Battle of Manila
* Battle of Iwo Jima
* Indochina
* Vienna offensive
* Project Hula
* Western invasion of Germany
* Bratislava–Brno offensive
* Battle of Okinawa
* Second Guangxi campaign
* West Hunan
* Italy (Spring 1945)
* Battle of Berlin
* Prague offensive
* Surrender of Germany
* document
* Borneo
* Taipei
* Naval bombardment of Japan
* Manchuria
* Atomic bombings
* Debate
* South Sakhalin
* Kuril Islands
* Shumshu
* Surrender of Japan
* Potsdam Declaration
* document
* End of World War II in Asia

* World portal
* Bibliography
* Category

* v
* t
* e

Nuremberg trials

Legal basis|

* Nuremberg Charter
* Crimes against peace
* War crimes
* Crimes against humanity

Chief prosecutors|

* Robert H. Jackson (United States)
* Hartley Shawcross (United Kingdom)
* Roman Rudenko (Soviet Union)
* François de Menthon (France)
* Auguste Champetier de Ribes (France)

Judges|

* Iona Nikitchenko
* Alexander Volchkov
* Geoffrey Lawrence
* Norman Birkett
* Francis Biddle
* John J. Parker
* Henri Donnedieu de Vabres
* Robert Falco

Defendants|

| Acquitted|

* Hans Fritzsche
* Franz von Papen
* Hjalmar Schacht

|

Sentenced|

* Karl Dönitz (10 years)
* Konstantin von Neurath (15 years)
* Baldur von Schirach (20 years)
* Albert Speer (20 years)

Life|

* Walther Funk
* Rudolf Hess
* Erich Raeder

Death|

* Hans Frank
* Wilhelm Frick
* Alfred Jodl
* Ernst Kaltenbrunner
* Wilhelm Keitel
* Joachim von Ribbentrop
* Alfred Rosenberg
* Fritz Sauckel
* Arthur Seyss-Inquart
* Julius Streicher
* Martin Bormann (in absentia)
* Hermann Göring (suicide)

No decision|

* Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach
* Robert Ley

Witnesses|

| Prosecution|

* Erwin Lahousen
* Otto Ohlendorf
* Dieter Wisliceny
* Walter Schellenberg
* Alois Hollriege
* Erich von dem Bach-Zelewski
* Franz Blaha
* Maurice Lampe
* Marie-Claude Vaillant-Couturier
* Francisco Boix
* Hans Cappelen
* Friedrich von Paulus
* Erich Buschenhagen
* Joseph Orbeli
* Eugene Kivelisha
* Abraham Sutzkever
* Seweryna Szmaglewska
* Samuel Rajzman

|

Aftermath|

* Invention of international criminal law
* Nuremberg Military Tribunals
* International Military Tribunal for the Far East
* Nuremberg principles
* Bibliography

Films|

* That Justice Be Done (1945 film)
* Nuremberg Trials (1947 documentary)
* "Judgment at Nuremberg" (1959 television play)
* Judgment at Nuremberg (1961 film)
* Nuremberg (2000 miniseries)

* v
* t
* e

Major defendants at the Nuremberg trials

Sentenced to death|

* Martin Bormann1
* Hans Frank
* Wilhelm Frick
* Hermann Göring2
* Alfred Jodl
* Ernst Kaltenbrunner
* Wilhelm Keitel
* Joachim von Ribbentrop
* Alfred Rosenberg
* Fritz Sauckel
* Arthur Seyss-Inquart
* Julius Streicher

Imprisoned (terms)|

* Karl Dönitz (10 years)
* Walther Funk (life)
* Rudolf Hess (life)
* Konstantin von Neurath (15 years)
* Erich Raeder (life)
* Baldur von Schirach (20 years)
* Albert Speer (20 years)

Acquitted|

* Hans Fritzsche
* Franz von Papen
* Hjalmar Schacht

No decision|

* Gustav Krupp von Bohlen und Halbach3
* Robert Ley4

* 1 In absentia. Remains discovered in Berlin in 1972 and conclusively identified in 1998; confirmed to have committed suicide on 2 May 1945
* 2 Committed suicide on 15 October 1946 before sentence could be carried out
* 3 Found unfit to stand trial
* 4 Committed suicide on 25 October 1945

*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template