Transcription
These were the last words of some of the Nazis convicted at Nuremberg. On the night of 16 October 1946, in the gymnasium of Nuremberg Prison, ten of the main leaders of the Third Reich convicted in the main trial of the International Military Tribunal were executed by hanging. The following are some of the most interesting statements made before their executions:
Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces and convicted on all four counts defined in the IMT Charter, said in a firm voice as he reached the scaffold: ‘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.’
Joachim von Ribbentrop, Reich Foreign Minister, also convicted on all four counts like Keitel, was the first to be executed. In a calm voice, he declared: ‘God protect Germany. God have mercy on my soul. My last wish is that German unity be maintained, that understanding between East and West will come about and that there will be peace in the world.’
Arthur Seyß-Inquart, Reich Commissioner for the occupied territories of the Netherlands and also convicted on all four counts, was the last to be executed. His last words, spoken softly but intensely, were: ‘I hope that this execution will be the last act in the tragedy of the Second World War and that the lesson learned from this world war will be that peace and understanding must exist between peoples. I believe in Germany.’
Finally, Julius Streicher, Gauleiter of Franconia and editor of the anti-Semitic weekly Der Stürmer, was convicted only of conspiracy and crimes against humanity. However, he was at the same time the most defiant of all in his last words. He had to be pushed up the stairs, and as he stepped onto the platform he shouted loudly, ‘Heil Hitler!’ He then looked at the witnesses and exclaimed, ‘Purim Fest 1946!’, an ironic reference to the Jewish holiday of Purim, in which, according to the Book of Esther, Haman and his ten sons were hanged, alluding to the fact that the ten Nazis executed that night were a ‘Purim gift’ to the Jews.