Lecture 6: Herman Goring

Herman Goring was also equivalent to being the Furors deputy. He had been a world war 1 fighter
pilot. He was shot in the abdomen and had been confined to a bed for a long time even after his
wound healed. He took to eating, and put up an enormous amount of weight. He was addicted to
food and morphine. During world war 2 he was head of Luftwaffe The German Air-force. He was a
huge man, always smiling condemning people to death with a smile. He had been given a title the
Rikes Marshal which was the highest rank possible. He was a big personality in every way.

When he was taken prisoner after world war 2, he thought he was going to be treated as a celebrity.
Somebody had to break it to him that he would be tried as a war criminal. Even when he came to the
trials, he wanted to tell the world why Hitler and him were right. Even though Goring was
completely involved in everything, he did not know what was happening in the concentration camps.
This was the chink in the armour which they found.

Herman Gorings trial was an eye opener.

One of the judges was from the Soviet cases. Hence 1/3 of the panel had lost its credibility. Out of
the 3 prosecutors one was called Robert Jackson and he felt that it was him who would bring the
Nazis to their knees. Goring almost convinced Jackson. There was also a British prosecutor who was
a genius. Goring was calling the shots and he was like a mentor for even all the other 24 accused. He
was speaking on their behalf.

VIDEO

There were 24 accused brought in, 1 called Robert Lay Hitlers marketing person hung himself using
a bed sheet in his own room. Hitler and Goebbels were already dead. If these nazis would end up
suiciding before the trials then what would the trial count for anyway. Goring seemed to want to
vociferously voice his opinions hence he was not seen as a potential suicide case, but then a number
of bullet casings were found in his luggage. This brought to light the fact that each one of them had
these in store, and on losing hope they could chew into any one of them. Hence it became pretty
evident that the day he felt the trial was not going in his favour he too would suicide.

Extra precautions were taken. Prisoners had to even sleep with their hands above their bed sheets.
Somebody is checking them with torches. Goring said that this was deliberate to unstable them by
not letting them speak so that they speak unstably.

VIDEO

Goring makes a comment saying it is interesting how in the prosecution The British are accusing us
of expansion, the French for art looting, the Russians for crimes against humanity and the Americans
will just stage the show and pay the bills. He tries to create a light envmt.

VIDEO

The American prosecutor Robert Jackson knew no documents for the concentration camps would be
signed by Goring. He just took Germany to war, which was by Hitlers orders. Jackson wanted to
show that all the nazis already knew that there was going to be a holocaust. By proving this he
would prove Goring guilty.
The British prosecutor told him that in a lot of interactions Hitler had, even Britain was involved and
even Britain has decent tied with Hitler to a certain extent. Hence, even Churchill would have to be
tried for knowing about what was to come. Hence, this aim is too ambitious. They couldnt work on
this.

Goring kept laughing and creating a humorous situation. He kept saying that the countrys that were
trying them were equally guilty, the only difference being Germany had now lost. He also said that
how come eye witnesses were suddenly enough for prosecution and was being considered absolute
evidence. Goring used this to question the legitimacy of the trials entirely.

VIDEO

On seeing the videos he did realize that he him been part of a massive criminal tragedy. The
prosecution refused to believe that this was happening to which Goring said he only knew that they
were being taken away, but was not aware of what was really happening inside. The man
responsible for this carnage was Hitler. Goring started saying even Hitler was not aware. He starts
defending himself and Germany and he does it successfully enough to almost overturn the trial.

VIDEO

One German officer is caught and he testifies. He testified against Hitler. But goring is still convinced
that Hitler was right and people are going against him just to save themselves.

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Prosecution sees that on seeing footage of concentration camps he gets disturbed. His defence his
that he was an army officer and he only followed orders and did just what he was asked to. You
couldnt blame him for anything even violation of treaties were on orders. The question now was,
that goring not being targeted was failure of American Prosecution. The british prosecution - They
kept trying to get Ghorring to say that hitlet knew about the carnage all along. The more ghorring
would defend Hitler, he would get deeper into it and would take the blame on his shoulders. They
try to put him into a fix. They ended up putting charges of perjury on him. He was trying to back
hitler and the prosecution just wanted him to make on mistake. He was forced to accept almost
everything his life wasnt about. He was made out to be a part of a criminal enterprise and even to
say Hitler wasnt good. His final excuse in hitlers defence was that hitler had nice eyes and this
was almost pitiable.

Herman Ghorring is finally a broken man, aware of the extent of the carnage. He was convicted of
death by hanging. He however says that Rilke Marshal shall never hang. He managed to smuggle in a
capsule, despite being in solitary confinement.

People were celebrating that these dark times at passed. A song of celebration was in the furors
face. It tells the world at Nuremburg that Nazism is over.

The international criminal court was born out of these trials, but due to NAM, India isnt a member.