Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm GöringOne German, a fine man. Two Germans, a bund. Three Germans, a war. One Englishman, an idiot. Two Englishmen, a club. Three Englishmen, an Empire.
Capt. Gustav Gilbert"A rat catcher catching rats". Is that the kind of thinking it takes to carry out state sanctioned mass murder? Not just blind obedience but also a belief that your victims are not human?
Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm GöringLet me ask you this: what was Hiroshima? Was it not your medical experiment? Would Americans have dropped bombs as easily on Germany as it did upon Japan killing as many civilians as possible? I think not. To an American sensibility, a Caucasian child is considerably more human than a Japanese child.
Capt. Gustav GilbertAmerica was at war with Japan, a country that had attacked it without provocation. You murdered millions of your own citizens.
Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm GöringAnd what about the American citizens of the Japanese race who were put into protective custody in your own concentration camps?
Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm GöringWhat about the Negro officers in your own army? Are they not allowed to command troops in combat? Can they sit on the same buses as the whites? The segregation laws in your country and the anti-Semitic laws in mine, are they not just a difference of degree? Let me tell you: from the beginning of the century, through the first war, until the rise of Hitler, the freemasonry of the Jewish merchants consistently undermined the German economy and nationhood of the Fatherland! That is why we made anti-Semitic laws and why you, my friend, could never understand anti-Semitism. Why? Because you are a Jew!
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Lt. Tex WheelisRough day, Reichsmarschall?
Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm GöringOn the contrary. We had an excellent lunch, a nice view of the city, and in the courtroom, we had the best seats in the house.
Justice Robert H. Jackson[to Göring]From the very beginning, you regarded the elimination of the Jews from the economic life of Germany as under your jurisdiction, did you not?
Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm GöringJa. The elimination from economic life, that is partly correct. Large industries, also armament industries under Jewish directors.
Justice Robert H. JacksonAnd another that all damage caused to Jewish property by the anti-Jewish riots of 1938 must be repaired by Jews at their own expense with their insurance claims forfeited to the Reich?
Justice Robert H. JacksonSpontaneous sincerity, in other words? Did you not also personally sign a decree in September, 1940, ordering seizure of all Jewish property in Poland?
Justice Robert H. JacksonYour signature, on a decree dated July, 1941, asking Himmler and Heydrich and the SS to make plans for the final solution of the Jewish question.
Justice Robert H. JacksonThese are your words to Himmler: I charge you to send me before long an overall plan concerning the organizational, factual and material measures necessary for the desired solution of the Jewish question. Is that an accurate translation of what is written in this order from to Heydrich and Himmler?
Justice Robert H. JacksonThis document states you personally ordered all government agencies to cooperate with the SS! You sent this letter to SS Gruppenführer Heydrich!
Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm GöringI must say this clearly: I did not know anything that took place of the methods that were used in the concentration camps later. These things were kept secrets from me. And I might add that in my opinion, even the Führer did not know the extent of what was happening.
Justice Robert H. JacksonWitness, there is evidence before this court that nearly ten million people have been exterminated, murdered in cold blood. You mean to say that you did not and, in your opinion, Hitler did not know what took place in the concentration camps?
Justice Robert H. JacksonDo you know that Hitler said in 1943, in a recorded meeting, I read you his words now: The Reich's Minister of Foreign Affairs declared that the Jews should be exterminated, taken into concentration camps. There is no other possibility. The Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ribbentrop, talked with Hitler about extermination. And you were above Ribbentrop. YOU were Hitler's second-in-command! YOU were in charge of the economic four-year plan, so you knew all about the gold wedding rings and gold teeth and the gold eyeglasses that the victims left behind! And you have heard that it took five extra minutes to kill the women because they had to cut their hair off to be used in making mattresses! And nothing was told to you about this material that came from these people that had been murdered?
Albert SpeerNazi Germany was built on empty platitudes.
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Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm GöringThis has been a poor excuse for a trial. But firstly, I must reiterate my lack of knowledge for these terrible mass murders, which I cannot begin to understand and furthermore, I condemn wholeheartedly. As to the trial, the statements of the defendants were accepted as true only when they supported the prosecution. They were treated as perjury when they refuted the indictment. This is not a basis of proof. Why am I in the dock being treated as a common criminal? I say to my judges, have no illusions. Since the three greatest powers on Earth, together with other nations, fought against us, we finally were conquered by tremendous enemy superiority. Justice has absolutely nothing to do with this trial.
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Hjalmar Schacht[introducing himself to Col. Andrus]Hjalmar Horace Greeley Schacht, formerly President of the Reichsbank and Minister of the Economy. I do not understand why I have been accused here.
Col. Burton C. AndrusI'm your jailer, not your lawyer. You'll get your day in court.
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Fritz Sauckel[about to be executed]I'm dying an innocent man.
Großadmiral Karl Dönitz[to Col. Andrus]Colonel, this man, Streicher, is a disgusting person! A pornographer and a Jew baiter! I do not wished to be housed with him.
Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel[to Col. Andrus]Colonel, may I respectfully protest our arrest? We were only following orders, nothing more. As a fellow soldier, surely, you must understand.
[Andrus hands his baton to an aide and then rips off the epaulets on Keitel's and another high-ranking Nazi officer's shoulders]
Col. Burton C. AndrusNow you're no longer a soldier. You are all WAR CRIMINALS! ALL OF YOU!
Maj. Airey Neave[entering Göring's cell]Good morning. I am Major Neave. I'm the officer appointed by the International Military Tribunal to serve upon you a copy...
Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm GöringAirey? Major Airey Neave... I have heard this name before. Airey, like the wind. Why... Why would I have heard this name?
Maj. Airey NeaveI was captured, tortured by the Gestapo, and escaped twice.
Maj. Airey NeaveI am the officer appointed by the International Military Tribunal to serve upon you a copy of the indictment in which you are named as defendant.
[hands indictment to Göring, along with a set of documents]
Maj. Airey NeaveI'm also here to advise you as to your rights to council.
[Göring takes the documents and drops them on the ground]
Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm GöringI care nothing for lawyers. You can find one for me, Major Airey of the Wind. We're men of culture. We both know the truth: the victors will always be the judges, the vanquished always the accused, yes?
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Julius Streicher[about to be executed]Heil Hitler!
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Albert Speer[receiving his indictment]Until I studied this, I cannot speak to the accuracy of the charges against me. But I acknowledge the necessity of this trial and accept my inclusion in it.
Maj. Airey NeaveHow can you say that before reading the charges?
Albert SpeerThere's a common responsibility for the crimes that were committed in the name of the Third Reich. No one is blameless, apart from the victims.
Francis BiddleDefendant Albert Speer. The Tribunal finds you not guilty on counts one and two. But you have been found guilty on counts three and four. Albert Speer, the Court sentences you to twenty years imprisonment.