70 Years Ago: Hermann Goering Takes the Stand

Goering (first row, far left) during the Nuremberg Trials

While 2015 was a year of important milestones from World War II, there were still significant events that took place in the aftermath of V-E Day. One such notable event was the Nuremberg Trials, and seventy years ago this month Hermann Goering, considered the most important surviving Nazi official after the war, would stand to atone for his country's crimes.

A little context is important before the trial: in April of 1945, Berlin was surrounded by the Soviet Red Army. What few German fighting forces were left were battling Soviet forces to the death while many more were almost eager to surrender to American, British, and French forces to escape Soviet occupation.

With Berlin under siege and Hitler more or less sealed in his bunker underneath the Reich Chancellory, Germany's defeat was inevitable, and while no one in the German High Command spoke it aloud, there were concerns about who would assume command of the Nazi government once Berlin fell, since Hitler had repeatedly stated his unwillingness to leave the capital city.

Goering had held the rank of Reichsmarshall since 1940, with Hitler the year before declaring Goering to be his successor. However, as the war turned against Germany, Goering made many promises about 'his' Luftwaffe's abilities that it could not keep, such as failing to break the back of the Royal Air Force and failing to keep the surrounded 6th Army at Stalingrad supplied via airlift indefinitely. These and other failures led to Hitler losing all faith in his old friend as his mental state deteriorated along with Germany.

This led to Goering spending more time outside of Berlin around the time it was encircled. When the communications lines between Berlin and the rest of Germany began to break down, Goering rightly assumed that the capital was going to fall. With this in mind, Goering attempted to enact earlier plans which would transfer command of Germany's armed forces to himself.

However, Hitler got wind of this and assumed that Goering was trying to take power away from him. Outraged, he rewrote his will to place Admiral Karl Doenitz, head of the Kriegsmarine (navy) to be the next President of Germany, with Joseph Goebbels, head of the Propaganda Ministry, becoming the next Chancellor. After Hitler and Goebbels committed suicide on April 30, along with many high ranking Nazi officials, Germany officially surrendered on May 8th, along with Hermann Goering.

When the Nuremberg Trials began in November of 1945, even though Doenitz was officially the highest surviving German head of state, Goering was the highest ranking Nazi that the Allies managed to capture alive. Becuase of this, much emphasis was placed on his testimony, which took place through much of March 1946. He was tried for not only indiscriminate bombing done by the Luftwaffe but also for all of the Nazi atrocities such as the Holocaust.

When he was declared guilty, he requested that he be shot rather than hanged like many of the other condemned war criminals, but his request was denied. In the end, before his sentence was to be enacted on October 15, 1946, he committed suicide with a smuggled in cyanide capsule. None should forget the atrocities committed by the Nazis, and to this day there are still former Nazis who are being pursued for their roles in these tragedies. Nothing can change what happened, but just as in 1946, justice and peace of mind for the survivors, their descendants and the rest of humanity must be sought. Until next time, thank you for reading.

(Photo sourced from Wikipedia. Information sourced from "Illustrated History of the Third Reich" by Alex Cook and "World War II" edited by H.P Willmott, Robin Cross, and Charles Messenger)