Himmler, Goering, Goebbels - we all remember what fate befell the odious leaders of Nazi Germany. People, however, often overlook the fact that each of the bosses of the Third Reich had a family. Of the entire German elite, only Hitler did not bother to have offspring.
But his closest friends and associates took care of procreation. When Germany fell, the children of war criminals were marginalized. Some of them were forced for years to atone for the sins of their fathers in the literal sense of the word. And others, on the contrary, in every possible way defended their own parents!
Martin Bormann, the Fuhrer's personal secretary, concentrated colossal power in his hands. When Hitler committed suicide, the man followed the example of the boss whom he almost deified. Eight of Martin's children were left orphans. After the death of the mother, the unfortunates were scattered to orphanages.
The most interesting thing was the fate of Bormann’s eldest son, Martin Adolf, who was called the “Crown Prince” during the Third Reich. Having matured, the Fuhrer's godson became a Catholic missionary priest.
But later Martin got into a terrible car accident. Having recovered, the priest left the church and married the nun who left him! However, even in the world, Martin invariably condemned the actions of his father...
Name Paul Joseph Goebbels has long been a household name. The main propagandist of the Third Reich sincerely believed in the ideas he promoted.
Solving the Jewish question was Paul Joseph's personal goal, and the man's faith in Nazism and the Fuhrer seemed limitless. In the spring of 1945, realizing that his life’s work was doomed, Goebbels decided to take a terrible step...
The wife of the Minister of Propaganda fully shared her husband's views. Realizing that in the new world the first thing they would be forced to answer for the crimes they committed, the Goebbels, of their own free will, passed away, but before that they poisoned six of their children!
Reichsmarshal Hermann Goering led the Luftwaffe, the air force of the Reich. The Minister of Aviation had long been considered the only possible successor to the Fuhrer, but in the spring of 1945 Hitler blamed the military man for the failure of the campaign, depriving him of all titles and honors. Rumor has it that Goering was preparing a coup, trying to remove the distraught supreme commander from power.
Edda, the only daughter of Herman and his second wife, lived until the age of six without knowing grief. Later, like most children of other war criminals, her fate took a sharp turn.
Rumor has it that even today 80-year-old Edda justifies her father, but, unlike Gudrun Himmler, the woman never advertised her views. Goering’s daughter does not communicate with the press and lives unsociablely.
According to rumors Rudolf Hess the only one of the Fuhrer's closest associates considered the British to be purebred Aryans and did not want a war with the British crown. In 1941, Hitler's deputy personally flew to Britain, wanting to reconcile the queen with his leader, but was captured instead.
After the Nuremberg trials, the politician was imprisoned, where he spent the rest of his life. Conspiracy theorists are still building theories about the background to Hess’s mysterious act!
Wolf Rüdiger, Rudolf's only son, was born 10 years after his parents' wedding. Hitler was the boy's godfather, thereby expressing his joy that his closest associate had finally acquired an heir.
Wolf devoted his entire life to freeing his father. And when Hess committed suicide in 1987, the man said that his father had actually been killed!
Heinrich Himmler, the main organizer of the Holocaust, loved his daughter Gudrun very much. He affectionately called the baby “Doll” and took her with him everywhere. Constantly appearing in propaganda photographs, Gudrun soon received the unofficial nickname “Princess of the Third Reich”!
The only one among the children of the top leadership of Nazi Germany, Himmler's daughter Until the end of her life she believed that her father was right about everything. The woman maintained close ties with neo-Nazi organizations and helped veterans of the Third Reich in every possible way. Gudrun Himmler passed away on May 24, 2018.
The Second World War was undoubtedly the most important and catastrophic event in world history. The echoes of the most devastating conflict of all time can still be heard and will probably always be heard. It’s scary to remember those times when humanity lost its human appearance, and real monsters broke out.
Looking at the main antagonists of World War II who walked under Adolf Hitler in Nazi Germany and their crimes, it seems that humanity has forever lost its humanity. Of course, the Nazis are not the only ones who distinguished themselves in the competition for the most sophisticated atrocity, but this TOP 10 is dedicated only to the fascists.
1. Friedrich Jeckeln.
A World War I veteran, Friedrich Jeckeln became the leader of the SS police in the occupied Soviet Union. He was also in charge of the Einsatzgruppen, which completed the final stage of the plan to cleanse the occupied territories of “racially inferior” ones. He had his own system for committing mass murders, from which even experienced executioners were shocked. He ordered trenches to be dug, where the future dead lay face down, most often on fresh corpses, and then they were shot. He is responsible for the murders of more than 100 thousand people. In 1946, he was hanged by the Red Army.
2. Ilse Koch.
Ilse Koch earned many nicknames during her meteoric career at the Buchenwald concentration camp. Beast, Bitch, She-Wolf of Buchenwald - all these nicknames belong to the wife of Karl Koch, the head of this concentration camp. Officially, she was a simple guard, but by abusing her husband's power, she eclipsed many Nazis in the matter of cruelty. Despite her happy childhood, she made souvenirs and jewelry from human skin. She especially liked the bindings made from tattooed leather. But this could not be proven in court. She beat, raped and tortured prisoners without any reason, and if someone looked askance in her direction, she executed the unfortunate person right on the spot. The SS themselves executed her husband for the murder of a local doctor who treated him for syphilis, and she was acquitted, but later the Americans arrested Ilsa. Already in prison she committed suicide.
3. Greta Bosel.
A nurse practitioner before World War II and then a staff member in concentration camps, Greta Boesel selected prisoners fit for hard work for the benefit of the Third Reich. She threw the sick, crippled and other “defective” into the gas chamber without remorse. The motto of her heart was the words: “If they cannot work, then the path will rot.” After the war, Bosel was accused of mass murder and sentenced to death.
4. Joseph Goebbels.
Meet the man who coined the phrase "total war" - Joseph Goebbels. It was he who was responsible for all government materials and information released to the general public. In other words, he was the Minister of Propaganda. Because of him, the German people turned into aggressive fascist bastards, thirsty for the blood of innocents. Even when the Germans began to lose all their positions at the front, he continued to firmly stand his ground, not allowing his faith in a just cause to succumb to doubt. Goebbels remained in Germany until the very end, until the Red Army found him in 1945. That day he shot and killed his six children, then killed his wife, and finally committed suicide.
5. Adolf Eichmann.
Using his knowledge of Hebrew and Jewish culture, this man became the architect of the Holocaust. He helped lure Jews into the ghetto by promising them a "better life." His person was most responsible for the deportation of Jews within the Third Reich. When his mother-in-law gave the go-ahead to start, Eichmann took sole command of the distribution of Jews from the ghettos to concentration camps. After the war, he managed to escape and hide in South America, however, secret Israeli units tracked him down and executed him in Argentina in 1962.
6. Maria Mendel.
A native of Austria, Maria became the commandant of the concentration camp at Auschwitz-Birkenau between 1942-1944. Known as “the monster,” Mendel became the grim reaper for more than half a million women. Her specialty was human pets, with whom she played for a short time until they died. The Third Reich awarded her a second class cross for her services to the Motherland. For her crimes against humanity, she was executed in 1948.
7. Joseph Mengele.
"Angel of Death" Josef Mengele is the embodiment of the devil on Earth. Being the head of one of the many concentration camps and a doctor by training, he did not spare the prisoners in his experiments. His favorite path was genetics and heredity. Mutilation, amputation, injections are a barbaric mockery of human nature. But his perverted fantasy did not stop there. One day Josef sewed his brother's twin eye onto the back of his head. He was one of the few who managed to escape at least some punishment for his crimes. In 1979, he died of a stroke.
8. Reinhard Heydrich.
“The Executioner from Prague” is one of the most cruel and terrible Nazis in all of Nazi Germany. Even Hitler considered him a man with an “iron heart.” In addition to governing the Czech Republic, which became part of the Reich in 1939, he was actively involved in the suppression and persecution of political dissidents. He is responsible for organizing Kristallnacht, the Holocaust, and creating death squads. Even some SS men, from Berlin to the most remote occupied settlements, were afraid of him. In 1942, he was killed by Czech special forces. agents in Prague.
9. Heinrich Himmler.
Himmler was an agronomist by training. This “collective farmer” counts 14 million people, 6 of whom are Jews. He was one of the “architects of the Holocaust” and became famous for harsh repressions in the Czech Republic. He repeatedly held conferences on the topic: “The extermination of the Jewish people.” When Germany began to concede the war, he negotiated with the Allies in secret from Hitler. Having learned about this, the Fuhrer accused him of treason and ordered his execution, but the British caught the traitor first. In May 1945, he committed suicide in prison.
10. Adolf Hitler.
Elected in democratic Germany, Adolf became the embodiment of horror in just 50 years. There is a debate among historians about who is more worthy of the first place on this list: Adolf Hitler or Heinrich Himmler, but both sides agree that without Hitler the world would not have seen Himmler.
An artist by vocation, a veteran of the First World War, an unsurpassed speaker, he was able to convince the entire nation that the Jews were to blame for all their troubles, and that without war the Aryans would disappear. All of the above sins are attributed primarily to him: genocide, massacres, outbreak of war, persecution, etc. He is personally involved in the death of 3% of the human population of the planet.
P.S. Have you not noticed how clearly “SS-sheep” is written in Russian? Peace to you and don’t be blind patriots.
Material prepared by Marcel Garipov and Admincheg site
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The history of Nazi Germany is short-lived, but very bloody. It began with the Great Depression, a global economic crisis that began in 1929 and particularly affected countries of large capital: the USA and Canada, Great Britain, France and Germany. He destroyed the Weimar Republic and contributed to the rise to power of Adolf Hitler.
Rise to power
Six million unemployed, the general growing discontent of citizens gave rise to a sharp radicalization (extreme uncompromising adherence to certain views) of society. Many supported the communists (almost 17%), but there were almost twice as many NSDAP supporters. Adolf Hitler destroyed both his own and others on his way to power, as a result of which on January 30, 1933 he became Reich Chancellor of Germany.
Nazi Germany was a one-party system (like all similar regimes), whose state policy was internal terror and external expansion.
Fascist state
In the occupied territories, and all of Europe, dotted with concentration camps, was enslaved, terror became the norm and law. Nazi Germany died along with its demoniac Fuhrer, but officially ceased to exist on May 23, 1945, at the moment when the Flensburg government, headed by Karl Dönitz, was dissolved. Destruction and discrimination of enslaved peoples is the official policy of this vampire state, which existed for 12 years. Who ruled the vast conquered territories, who was responsible for establishing and maintaining the “new order” in the lands entrusted to him?
Administrative-territorial unit
A Gauleiter in Nazi Germany is an official burdened with full power in the administrative-territorial unit, or “Gau,” where the Fuhrer personally appointed him. Actually, this is the head of the district. In 1933, he was the head of the electoral district, of which there were 33. Subsequently, when the conquered territories appeared, the districts (non-electoral) became 43. Back in 1925, after the failed “Beer Hall Putsch,” the NSDAP was reorganized, as a result of which the post of Gauleiter appeared. And in 1928, this position was included in the list of party ranks, and its emblem was two oak leaves in the buttonholes.
Hierarchy in the Third Reich
Titles in Nazi Germany, like ranks and badges, were army, SS, and party. Since the head of the Gau belonged to the latter structure, it is necessary to take a closer look at the party structure of the Reich. The highest rank at the imperial level was held by the Reichsleiter (the most senior after Hitler), then at the Gau level was, naturally, the Gauleiter, the regional level was represented by the Kreisleiter, and the Orstgruppenleiter was the main one at the local level. It can be stated that the Gauleiter in Nazi Germany is the head of the NSDAP in the territory given to him for undivided use, that is, he occupies the highest party position in this area. His power there was undivided; he had only the task of the Fuhrer. He had his own subordinates, namely: immediately behind the Gauleiter was his deputy, to whom the Hauptamtsleiter, or the responsible executive for internal party affairs, reported. Then, in order, came Amtsleiter, Haptstellenleiter, Sttellenleiter and Mitarbeiter.
Party rank
As already noted, Gauleiter in Nazi Germany is one of the highest ranks in the National Socialist Workers' Party of Nazi Germany. Until 1939, “Gauleiter” was both a position and a title, after which it was only a position. So is the Deputy Gauleiter - after 1939, this post could be occupied by functionaries with the rank of Befelsleiter and Hauptdinstleiter. They were required to wear an armband confirming their position. The party hierarchy of the Third Reich is quite confusing. Hitler created a unitary state, in which the government and party apparatuses merged as much as possible.
Who is a Reichskommissar
Gauleiter in Nazi Germany is at the same time the imperial governor. He was a kind of chief president of the “Gau” entrusted to him. That is, there is nothing more important. The provincial government was completely subordinate to the Gauleiter appointed by the Fuhrer.
However, there were also posts of Reich Commissioners or Governors. In fact, the Reich Commissioner performed the functions of the government without being part of it, and was directly subordinate only to the Fuhrer. The most striking example is Hermann Goering as Reich Air Commissioner. But as more and more lands were enslaved, these posts began to be introduced in new territories to implement imperial policies in them. Its only goal was the following: at the first stage - to squeeze everything possible out of these regions, mercilessly exploiting economic and human resources, at the second - to clear the local population, completely destroying it or turning it into draft cattle, and prepare the territories for German settler colonists.
Territorial division of enslaved territories
To maximize the enslavement of the annexed lands, the following Reichskommissariats were created: the Netherlands, Norway, Ostland, Ukraine (formed on August 20, 1941 with the capital in Rivne), Muscovy, the Caucasus and Turkestan. The last two were only planned; Muscovy was established, but for known reasons was dissolved. Ukraine was less fortunate - in 1942, Gauleiter Koch took over the post of Reich Commissioner of this country.
Who is he - Erich Koch, above whom only the sun was higher, and only Hitler was cooler? He had plenty of posts and titles. In this regard, it should be noted that, in addition to all the above-mentioned posts, titles, ranks, implying one single thing - unlimited power, there was also the position of head of the civil administration, and this was also occupied by Erich Koch (Bialystok district).
All holding Koch
In addition, this SA Obergruppenführer (Leutnant General of the Army) was a Gauleiter and Chief President. He served as Reichskommissar of Ukraine until 1944, combining all of the above posts. And in all positions he was distinguished by extreme rudeness, and his cruelty surpassed all other Nazi executioners. This major Nazi functionary is better known than others in our country precisely because he was the master of Ukraine, although his name is associated with both the disappearance and the arrival of the Ribbentrop delegation in 1939 in Moscow.
Nazi bonze
Erich Koch, in the literal sense, was not the Gauleiter of Ukraine, he was a Reichskommissar, because the title of “Gauleiter” was abolished in 1939. Most likely, in the public consciousness this term was inextricably linked with the concept of the owner, vested with unlimited power, which he enjoyed to the fullest. Although in some articles he is called “Gauleiter of the Reichskommissariat of Ukraine.” In a word - a slave owner, who did not intend to be one in relation to Russians (or rather Soviets). Koch stated that for Greater Germany the life of these people is unprofitable, therefore there is no talk of any colonization or exploitation of them, they will all simply be destroyed. It can be added that this inquisitor spent 36 years in a fairly comfortable prison, built by himself, and the Soviet government did not demand his extradition. He lived to be 90 years old.
Sprouts of neo-Nazism
The Gauleiters of Germany were Adolf Hitler's most loyal dogs. After the war, this title was remembered in the 50s in connection with the “Naumann Circle”, or “Gauleiter Circle”.
Then the neo-Nazi movement became very active in this country. Rallying around Werner Naumann (Minister of Press and Propaganda of the Third Reich), former fascist functionaries wanted to penetrate the highest legislative and executive bodies of the Federal Republic of Germany.
Das Dritte Reich - "The Third Empire" - the official Nazi name for the regime of government that existed in Germany from January 1933 to May 1945. Hitler regarded Nazi rule as a logical continuation of the two previous German empires. The First Reich - the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation - existed from 962, from the coronation in Rome of Otto the Great, the second ruler of the Saxon dynasty, until its conquest by Napoleon in 1806. The Second Reich was founded by Otto von Bismarck in 1871 and existed until 1918 until the end of the Hohenzollern dynasty. In 1923, German nationalist writer Arthur Möller van den Broek used the term "Third Reich" for the title of his book. Hitler enthusiastically accepted this name to designate a new empire, which, in his opinion, would last a thousand years. This name also attracted him because it had some mystical connection with the Middle Ages, when the “third kingdom” was considered thousand-year-old.
Origin of the term
German word "Reich"(German) Das Reich) can be translated into Russian both as a state and as an empire. The creator of the concept of the “Third Reich” is considered to be the German writer and translator Arthur Möller van den Broek, who held nationalist views, and so named his book published in 1923. In Meller van den Broek's view, the Reich is a single state that should become a common home for all Germans. According to this concept, the First Reich was the Holy Roman Empire of the German nation. It existed from 962, when Otto I the Great was proclaimed emperor at St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, in a move meant to emphasize continuity from the Roman Empire, and ceased to exist in 1806 after a series of defeats inflicted on it by Napoleon's troops. The Second Reich was the German Empire, proclaimed in 1871 during the reign of Wilhelm I of Hohenzollern and liquidated as a result of the November Revolution of 1918. The Third Reich was supposed to replace the weak Weimar Republic.
Hitler adopted the idea of the Third Reich from Meller van den Broek. The writer himself personally met with Hitler and had a low opinion of him. In 1925, Meller van den Broek committed suicide.
The Third Reich is often called the "Thousand Year Reich" (German). Tausendjähriges Reich). This name came into use after Hitler's speech at the party congress in Nuremberg in September 1934. Hitler's Thousand Year Reich echoes Christian mysticism.
Story
The global economic crisis of 1929 marked the beginning of the end of the Weimar Republic. Already in the summer of 1932, the number of unemployed reached 6 million. The political situation in the country has become greatly radicalized. Most ordinary Germans wanted strong power in the country, but were afraid of the communists, being impressed by the “Red Terror” and dispossession in the Soviet Union. In addition, the Germans wanted to restore national pride. Therefore, the popularity of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP) grew.
In July 1932, the National Socialists collected 37% of the vote - more than all the others combined. But this was not enough to create a government. Therefore, repeat elections were scheduled for November 1932, in which the NSDAP received even fewer votes - 34%. During 1932, President Hindenburg repeatedly invited Hitler to join the government, including inviting him to take the post of vice-chancellor. But Hitler agreed only to the post of Reich Chancellor, and also demanded the post of Reich Minister of the Interior for one of the members of the NSDAP and emergency powers for himself as head of government. Only at the end of January 1933 did Hindenburg agree to these conditions of Hitler.
On January 30, 1933, Adolf Hitler became Reich Chancellor. This event marked the end of the Weimar Republic and the beginning of the Third Reich.
On February 1, 1933, the Reichstag was dissolved. Decree of the Reich President "On the Defense of the German People" of February 4, 1933 became the basis for the ban on opposition newspapers and public speeches. Using the Reichstag fire on February 27, 1933 as a pretext, Hitler began mass arrests. Due to a lack of prison space, concentration camps were created. Re-elections were called.
In the elections to the Reichstag, held on March 5, 1933, the NSDAP emerged as the victorious party. The votes cast for the communists were annulled. The new Reichstag, at its first meeting on March 23, retroactively approved Hitler's emergency powers.
Part of the intelligentsia fled abroad. According to the law of July 14, 1933, all parties except the Nazi one were banned. However, activists of right-wing parties were not only not arrested, but many of them became part of the NSDAP. Trade unions were dissolved and banned. Instead, the German Labor Front was created, led by one of Hitler's associates, Reichsleiter Robert Ley. Strikes were prohibited, entrepreneurs were declared the owners of enterprises. Soon compulsory labor service was introduced.
At the end of June 1934, Hitler liquidated the senior leadership of the SA assault troops, led by Chief of Staff Ernst Röhm, who demanded a “second revolution”, socialist in spirit, as well as the creation of a “people's army”. Hitler accused the leadership of the SA of treason and declared them enemies of the state. During these events, called the “Night of the Long Knives,” a considerable number of people disliked by the Nazis who had no relation to the SA and its leadership were eliminated. Thus, the former Reich Chancellor Kurt von Schleicher and Hitler's former deputy in the party Gregor Strasser were killed.
Thanks to the end of the Great Depression, the destruction of all opposition and criticism, the elimination of unemployment, propaganda that played on national feelings, and later territorial acquisitions, Hitler increased his popularity. In addition, he achieved major successes in the economy. In particular, under Hitler, Germany came out on top in the world in the production of steel and aluminum.
In 1936, the Anti-Comintern Pact was concluded between Germany and Japan. Italy joined it in 1937, and Hungary and Spain in 1939.
On November 9, 1938, a pogrom against Jews occurred, known as Kristallnacht. It was from this time that mass arrests and extermination of Jews began.
In 1938, Austria was captured, in October 1938 - part of the Czech Republic, and in March 1939 - the whole Czech Republic.
Higher administration of the Third Reich before the war
Its structure was extremely confusing, and the areas of competence of the individual branches of government were not only extremely poorly defined, but in many cases overlapped each other. This greatly complicated state leadership and, in particular, the specific management of combat operations in a future war.
The Second World War
On September 1, 1939, German troops invaded Poland. Great Britain and France declared war on Germany. During 1939-1941, Germany defeated Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Greece, and Yugoslavia, but failed to capture British territory. In 1941, the Nazis invaded the Soviet Union and occupied part of its territory.
There was a growing labor shortage in Germany. Recruitment of civilian guest workers was carried out in all occupied territories. In Slavic territories, mass deportations into slavery in Germany were also carried out. In France, a forced recruitment of workers was carried out, whose position in Germany was intermediate between the position of free workers and slaves.
A regime of intimidation was established in the occupied territories. The mass extermination of Jews began immediately, and in some areas, the partial extermination of the local non-Jewish population to fight the partisans. The number of concentration camps, death camps and prisoner of war camps grew in Germany and some occupied territories. In the latter, the situation of Soviet, Polish, Yugoslav and French prisoners of war differed little from the situation of prisoners in concentration camps. The position of the British was generally better.
The escalation of the conflict caused the growth of the partisan movement in Poland, Belarus and Serbia. Gradually, guerrilla warfare also unfolded in other occupied territories of the USSR and Slavic countries, as well as in Greece and France. In Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, Latvia, Lithuania, and Estonia, there were fewer anti-Nazi protests, and the occupation regime was softer. Separate underground organizations also operated in Germany and Austria.
On July 20, 1944, a group of Wehrmacht generals carried out an unsuccessful attempt at an anti-Nazi coup with an attempt on Hitler's life. This conspiracy was later called the “Conspiracy of the Generals.” Many officers were executed, even those who were only indirectly related to the conspiracy.
In 1944, the Germans also began to feel a shortage of raw materials. Aviation from the countries of the anti-Hitler coalition bombed cities. Aircraft from England and the USA almost completely destroyed Hamburg and Dresden. Due to large losses of personnel, the Volkssturm was created in October 1944, into which local residents, including old men and young men, were mobilized. Werewolf units were trained for future partisan and sabotage activities.
On May 8, 1945, the act of unconditional surrender of Germany was signed. Soon, on May 23, the government of the Third Reich was arrested by the Americans in Flensburg.
Administrative-territorial structure of the Third Reich
Elimination of the federal structure
The Weimar Constitution established a federal structure in Germany, the country's territory was divided into regions (states), which had their own constitutions and authorities. Already on April 7, 1933, the Second Law “On the Unification of the Lands with the Reich” (German) was adopted. Zweites Gesetz zur Gleichschaltung der Länder mit dem Reich), which introduced the institution of imperial governors in the federal states (Reichsstatthalter, Reichsstatthalter). The task of the governors was to monitor the activities of local bodies, for which they were granted virtually emergency powers (including the right to dissolve the Landtag and remove the head of government - the minister-president). Law “On the New Structure of the Reich” ( Gesetz über den Neuaufbau des Reichs) on January 30, 1934, the sovereignty of the states was abolished, the Landtags in all states were dissolved. Germany became a unitary state. In January 1935, the imperial governors became permanent government representatives in the states.
The Reichsrat (the upper house of the German parliament, the body representing the states under the Weimar Constitution) was at first almost completely deprived of its powers, and in February 1934 it was liquidated.
Administrative division
Administrative division of the Reich and dependent territories in 1943.
During the existence of the Third Reich, the German states retained their borders, and state governments headed by minister-presidents remained. However, the real administration was carried out by imperial governors appointed from the center. The exception was Prussia, where the post of governor was never introduced: at first, the functions of the imperial governor in Prussia were assigned to the Reich Chancellor, and on April 10, 1933, Hitler appointed Hermann Goering as Minister-President of Prussia. In parallel, there were regional party districts - Gau, headed by Gauleiters. Often the same person combined the government position of imperial governor and the party position of Gauleiter.
Territories included in the Reich during the territorial and political expansion and inhabited mainly by ethnic Germans were part of the Reich in the status of Reichsgau - imperial districts. Austria was divided into seven Reichsgau, the Sudetenland, the Danzig-West Prussia region and Wartheland (a Polish region centered in Poznan) became separate Reichsgau. In most of the territory of the Czech Republic, a dependent state entity was created, the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (since 1939). At the head of the protectorate was the Reich Protector, appointed directly by Hitler. After the occupation of Poland, a formation was formed on its territory
John Woods was a good executioner. When his victim hung in the air, he grabbed her by the legs and hung with her, reducing the suffering of the one dangling in the noose. But this is in his native Texas, where he has already executed more than three hundred people.
On the night of October 16, 1946, Woods abandoned his principles.
The American pro had to hang the bosses of the Third Reich: Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Kaltenbrunner, Jodl, Sauckel, Streicher, Seys-Inquart, Frank, Frick and Rosenberg. In this group prison photo they are almost in full force.
The Nuremberg prison where the Nazis were held was in the American zone, so the executioner was also provided by the US government. In this photo, American Sergeant John Woods demonstrates his know-how - his legendary 13-knot loop.
Goering was supposed to be the first to ascend the scaffold, followed by Ribbentrop, but two hours before the execution, the Reichsmarshal committed suicide by taking a capsule of potassium cyanide, which (according to one possible version) his wife gave him with a farewell kiss during their last meeting in prison.
How Goering found out about the upcoming execution is unknown; its date was kept strictly secret from the condemned and the press. Before death, the convicts were even fed, offering one of two dishes to choose from: sausages with salad or pancakes with fruit.
Goering bit into the ampoule during dinner.
They were executed after midnight in the gym of Nuremberg prison. Woods built the gallows in just 24 hours: just the day before, the soldiers were still playing basketball in the hall. The idea seemed good to him: three gallows, replaceable ropes, body bags and, most importantly, hatches in the platforms under the feet of the guilty, into which they immediately had to fall when hanged.
No more than three hours were allotted for the entire execution, including the last word and conversation with the priest. Woods himself later proudly recalled that day: “Ten people in 103 minutes. That’s fast work.”
But the downside (or upside?) was that Woods hurriedly miscalculated the size of the hatches, making them very small. Falling inside the gallows, the executed person touched the edges of the hatch with his head and died, let’s say, not immediately...
Ribbentrop wheezed in the loop for 10 minutes, Jodl for 18, Keitel for 24.
After the execution, representatives of all the Allied powers examined the corpses and signed death certificates, and journalists photographed the bodies with and without clothes. Then the executed were loaded into spruce coffins, sealed and, under heavy escort, transported to the crematorium of the Eastern Cemetery of Munich.
On the evening of October 18, the mixed ashes of the criminals were poured into the Isar Canal from the Marienklausen Bridge.
Interior view of the solitary cell where the main German war criminals were kept.
People like Goering
Lunch of the defendants of the Nuremberg trials.
Goering at lunch in his cell.
Goering during lunch during a break in the Nuremberg trials in the common dining room for the accused.
Opposite him is Rudolf Hess
Goering, who lost 20 kg during the process.
Goering during a meeting with his lawyer.
Goering and Hess
Goering on trial
Kaltenbrunner in a wheelchair
The Foreign Minister of the Third Reich, Joachim von Ribbentrop, was the first to be hanged.
Colonel General Alfred Jodl
Chief of the SS Reich Security Directorate Ernst Kaltenbrunner
Chief of the Wehrmacht High Command Wilhelm Keitel
Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia Wilhelm Frick
Gauleiter of Franconia Julius Streicher
Head of the Foreign Policy Department of the NSDAP Alfred Rosenberg
Reichskommissar of the Netherlands Arthur Seyss-Inquart
Gauleiter of Thuringia Friedrich Sauckel
Governor General of Poland, NSDAP lawyer Hans Frank
The corpse of Heinrich Himmler. The Reichsführer SS committed suicide on May 23, 1945, while being detained in the city of Luneburg, by taking potassium cyanide.
The corpses of the leader of the National Fascist Party Benito Mussolini and his mistress Clara Petacci, who shielded the Duce during the execution on April 28, 1945 on the outskirts of the village of Mezzegra.
The dead bodies of Mussolini and Petacci, along with six bodies of other fascist hierarchs, were transported to Milan and hung by their feet from the ceilings of a gas station in Piazzale Loreto.
Deputy Fuhrer for the party Rudolf Hess. The only one of the three defendants sentenced to life imprisonment who served the entire term - 41 years. In August 1987, 93-year-old Hess was found hanging from an electrical wire in the courtyard gazebo of Berlin's Spandau prison.
P.S. Nuremberg executioner John C. Woods died on July 21, 1950. According to legend, from electric shock when testing an electric chair of his own design. In life, everything is more prosaic: he actually died from an electric shock, but while repairing electrical wiring in his own house.
