Nuremberg defendants

// Information about the condemned of the Nuremberg Trials.


// 

The indictments were read on November 20, 1945. Though 24 men stood accused, only 21 were at the trial:

  • Robert Ley had committed suicide before the trial began;
  • Gustav Krupp was considered too frail to stand trial;
  • Martin Bormann was missing but tried in absentia (sentenced to death).


Each of the accused were charged with one or more of the following:

  1. Conspiracy to wage aggressive war;
  2. Crimes against peace;
  3. War crimes;
  4. Crimes against humanity.

On October 1, 1946, the verdict was read: 12 of the defendants were sentenced to death, 3 sentenced to life imprisonment, 4 given prison sentences ranging from 10 to 20 years, and 3 were acquitted.

 

Convicted Indictments Defense declaration Sentence
Hermann Goering
Hermann Goering


Reich Marshal
1, 2, 3, 4
«The concentration camps, the detentions and the repression were not creation of the Nazism but political needs. All our military actions were due to the need of vital space. I understand that countries which control three quarts of the world don?t easily understand that German need.» Sentenced to Hang

Committed suicide the night before his execution.
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess


Vice-fuhrer
1, 2
«I'm not insane, my head still works. I want make clear that I know my responsibility in those committed or authorized acts. My principle position is that this Tribunal has no competence.» Setenced to Life in Prison

It was the last prisoner of the special war criminals prison, in Spandau until his dead on August 17, 1987.
Joachim von Ribbentrop
Joachim von Ribbentrop


Reich Foreign Minister
1, 2, 3, 4
«As Foreign Minister I had to follow the rules dictated by Hitler. I consider myself not guilty in all accusations.» Sentenced to Hang

Hanged on October 16, 1946.
Wilhelm Keitel
Wilhelm Keitel


General, chief of OKW
1, 2, 3, 4
«I defend myself with the obligation, common to any military, to obey to superior orders.» Sentenced to Hang

Hanged on October 16, 1946.
Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Chief of the RSHA
3, 4
«The first time I've heard about Auschwitz was on November 1943. They said me it was an internment camp. Until February or March 1944, Himmler never admitted butchers in that 'lager'. I?ve firmly protested.» Sentenced to Hang

Hanged on October 16, 1946.
Alfred Rosenberg
Alfred Rosenberg

Minister of the Occupied Eastern Territories
1, 2, 3, 4
«I considered the executions a fact commonly accepted in situations of generalized war. The Wemacht command itself, similar to the media, was announcing the execution by firing-squad of hostages. It can't be excluded that, in agreement to juridical rules and in a war situation, these facts can be considered as a licit reprisal.» Sentenced to Hang

Hanged on October 16, 1946.
Hans Frank
Hans Frank

Governor-General of occupied Poland
3, 4
«In the light of current debates and after a final watching over so many indescribable horrors, in my deep heart, I carry a deep feeling of guilt.» Sentenced to Hang

Hanged on October 16, 1946.
Wilhelm Frick
Wilhelm Frick

Minister of the Interior
2, 3, 4
«I've accomplished my duty as a State worker. If you condemn me you have then to condemn thousands of other workers.» Sentenced to Hang

Hanged on October 16, 1946.
Julius Streicher
Julius Streicher

Editor of the newspaper Der Sturmer
4
«I've the conscience to affirm that, indirectly, I've contributed to the project elaboration of the Nuremberg Laws.» Sentenced to Hang

Hanged on October 16, 1946.
Walther Funk
Walther Funk

Economics Minister, president of Reichsbank
2, 3, 4
«The economical liquidation of the Jews was made by me. In that moment I should had present my resignation. I'm guilty, I consider myself guilty!» Sentenced to Life in Prison

Released due to ill health on May 16, 1957. Died in 1960.
Karl Doenitz
Karl Doenitz

Admiral, commander in chief of the Navy, 1943-45; Chancellor, 1945
2, 3
«I consider clean the way the war actions were executed by the German submarines, believing that I've acted accordingly to my conscience while supreme commander of the Navy and as the last chief of state.» Sentenced to 10 Years in Prison

Released on October 1, 1956 after serving his time and died on December 24, 1980.
Fritz Sauckel
Fritz Sauckel

Plenipotentiary for Labor Allocation
2, 4
«The five millions of workers deported to the Reich acted of free will, choosing to go Germany.» Sentenced to Hang

Hanged on October 16, 1946.
Alfred Jodl
Alfred Jodl

Chief of the Operations of the OKW
1, 2, 3, 4
«It was Hitler and not me which had prepared the aggression against the USSR.» Sentenced to Hang

Hanged on October 16, 1946. In 1953, a German appeals court posthumously found Jodl not guilty of breaking international law.
Albert Speer
Albert Speer

Minister of Armaments and War Production; Hitler's personal architect
3, 4
«In the beginning, I saw fuhrer as the only men capable to maintain the cohesion of the German people. It was that which make me faithfully follow him.» Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

Served his time. Died on September 1, 1981.
Konstantin von Neurath
Konstantin von Neurath

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia
1, 2, 3, 4
«I always feared that, suddenly, happened something to me due to manifest myself against Hitler.» Sentenced to 15 Years in Prison

Released in 1953 due to ill health and died on August 14, 1956.
Erich Raeder
Erich Raeder

Supreme Commander of the Kriegsmarine(1928-1943)
2, 3, 4
«It was not possible to go Hitler and present the resignation. That was considered an action of insubordination. In other hand, I consider myself sufficiently disciplined to act that manner.» Setenced to Life in Prison

Released in 1953 due to ill health on September 26, 1955. Died on November 6, 1960.
Balder von Schirach Balder von Schirach

Chief of the Hitlerjugend
4
«It was a monstrous and satanic butcher on world history.» Sentenced to 20 Years in Prison

Served his time. Died on August 8, 1974.
Franz von Papen
Franz von Papen

Ambassador to Turkey
-
«My duty as a patriot, despite the situation, imposed myself to continue in the diplomacy.» Acquitted

In 1947, a German a German de-Nazification court sentenced Papen to 8 years in work camp; he was acquitted following appeal after serving two years. Died on May 2, 1969.
Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Arthur Seyss-Inquart

Minister of the Interior and Chancellor of Austria
2, 3, 4
«Hitler, Himmler, Bormann and Heydrich are the real guilty of the crimes that you are accusing me.» Sentenced to Hang

Hanged on October 16, 1946.
Hans Fritzsche
Hans Fritzsche

Head of the radio division in the Propaganda Ministry
-
«I've never enter into the party due my discordance to the program and to the principles exposed in Mein Kampf. I always contested the brutal methods of the party.» Acquitted

Died on September 27, 1953.
Hjalmar Schacht
Hjalmar Schacht

Minister of the Economics
-
«I only knew what all Germans knew.» Acquitted

Died on June 3, 1970.

The death sentences were carried out by hanging. The French judges suggested the use of a firing squad for the military condemned, as is standard for military courts-martial, but this was opposed by Biddle and the Soviet judges. These argued that the military officers had violated their military ethos and were not worthy of the firing squad, which was considered to be more dignified.
Streicher is reported to have shouted Heil Hitler! on the gallows.
The incarcerated prisoners were held at Spandau Prison.