Joachim von Ribbentrop 2

From The Case of Rudolf Hess by J. R. Rees (The reactions of Hess's fellow defendants to the above statement are noted.): Ribbentrop, upon learning the news, was dumbfounded, and was hardly able to speak when told Hess's statement, and merely kept repeating: 'Hess, you mean Hess? The Hess we have here? He said that?' Ribbentrop became quite agitated and seemed to feel such action was not possible. He stated: `But Hess did not know me. I looked at him. I talked to him. Obviously he did not know me. It is just not possible. Nobody could fool me like that.

From Justice at Nuremberg by Robert E. Conot: An insomniac who could not go to sleep until three or four o'clock in the morning, Ribbentrop had customarily awakened between nine-thirty and noon. Since at Nuremberg he was aroused at 6 AM, he was obtaining no more than two or three hours of sleep a night. He lost so much weight that beneath his gray, unkempt hair his skin fell away from his gaunt eyes loosely and without texture. He had the haggard appearance of a man haunted by a thousand devils. His sight was failing and his state of mind suicidal. Despite exhortations and warnings, he could not be induced to make his bed or clean his cell. He scribbled endlessly, but had no sooner written something than he crumpled the paper and threw it on the floor. Pacing up and down, he kicked through the discarded papers as if they were an array of snowballs. Whenever the psychiatrist, Dr. Douglas Kelly, came to visit him, he implored, "Doctor, what shall I do? What shall I do?" Though he was twenty years younger than some of his co-defendants, his appearance placed him among the oldest of the accused.

From The Nuremberg Trial by Ann and John Tusa: It was poor testimony, made worse by the fact that Steengracht read every word of it--and was told off by the judges for so doing. The only interest in his evidence lay in confirmation of a point which had appeared in the prosecution case and would be stressed by the Defense—that the Nazi state, coordinated by Hitler, had consisted of innumerable overlapping, competing, antagonistic agencies. .... Increasingly listeners would question the stereotype of German bureaucratic efficiency, and indeed wonder how the Nazi government ever survived so many back-biting officials, non-communicating departments and fights over resources.

From the memoirs of Dr Gilbert, the Nuremberg psychologist, who recorded (between March 26 and April 3, 1946) the reactions of Ribbentrop's fellow defendants to his testimony: Papen: "Now you see it! That was the Foreign Office." Fritsche: "And just imagine German soldiers going to war, confidently thinking that there is a competent Foreign Office and a responsible administration..." Funk: "Disgraceful! Disgraceful—the whole thing!" Schacht: "Ugh! Such a washrag for a Foreign Minister—and look at the people he had working for him—Such a good-for-nothing, stupid weakling!" Toward the end of Ribbentrop's testimony, Gilbert overheard Goering remark to Raeder in court: "Ribbentrop is all washed up." (Gilbert)

From The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials by Telford Taylor: Joachim von Ribbentrop ran a close second against Kaltenbrunner and Streicher for the title "man most disliked by his fellow defendants." But the other two were Nazi thugs—Kaltenbrunner was hated with horror and Streicher with loathing—while Ribbentrop was regarded with utter scorn. .... Ribbentrop's continuing tenure at the Foreign Office was based solely on Hitler's support, not because of Ribbentrop's advice but for his servile obedience, and Hitler's exaggerated notion of Ribbentrop's reputation abroad. The professional staff at the Foreign Ministry could not abide Ribbentrop, who was arrogant, overbearing, and inept. Genuine "vons," like von Neurath and von Papen, laughed at Ribbentrop's "von," which came from adoption rather than birth. But scorn reached its apex at Nuremberg, where it soon became obvious that Ribbentrop was in a constant state of terror. True, he had plenty to worry about, but Ribbentrop was not the only defendant in that box, and he paraded his fears to a degree that none could tolerate. ....

Given his reputation, it is not surprising that Ribbentrop got little help from others. His counsel, Dr Martin Horn, was awkward and no favorite of the Tribunal, especially when he presented nine document books containing some 350 documents. .... Ribbentrop's testimony was so tangled in lies and mistakes that devastating cross-examination was easy. In fact, it seemed hardly necessary, but Fyfe could not let such an opportunity pass, and the British had plenty of bones to pick with the former ambassador to London who had been despised there. Fyfe took nearly a full day, and Faure, Amen, and Rudenko another four hours of cross-examination. Dr. Horn did not reexamine.

From Ribbentrop's Memoirs: The defense had no fair chance to defend German Foreign policy. Our prepared application for the submission of evidence was not allowed... Half of the 300 documents which the defense had prepared were not admitted without good cause being shown. Witnesses and affidavits were only admitted after the prosecution had been heard; most of them were rejected. For instance, statements by some policemen or private individual who had served on a government commission were admitted as official evidence, but correspondence between Hitler and Chamberlain, reports by ambassadors and diplomatic minutes etc. were rejected. Only the prosecution, not the defense, had access to German and foreign archives. The prosecution only searched for incriminating documents and their use was biased; it knowingly concealed exonerating documents and withheld them from the defense. In cross-examination tricks and so-called 'surprise documents' were used; there was no fair chance to give a considered reply. ...the defendants are not responsible for the atrocities. Those who committed them or were responsible for them are dead. .... (As regards the) Final Solution of the Jewish Question, (it was) a term which I heard mentioned for the first time here in Nuremberg... (Maser)

From Justice at Nuremberg by Robert E. Conot: The eleven condemned to death were no longer permitted to exercise in the yard. Whenever one emerged from his cell, he was handcuffed to a guard. For a few minutes a day, one at a time, they were marched up and down in the center of the cell block in lock step with a military policeman. When they saw their attorneys in the Palace of Justice, a GI sat with each of them like a Siamese twin joined at the wrist... The Allied Control Council ordered the executions carried out on the fifteenth day after sentencing. The condemned, however, were not informed of the date. Kaltenbrunner, Ribbentrop, Sauckel, and Streicher were in such a state of anguish that it was questionable whether they would retain their sanity till the fatal day. Ribbentrop, suffering from excruciating headaches, kept asking, 'When?'...The British and French were so apprehensive about demonstrations or a possible attempt to rescue the prisoners that they insisted that no prior announcement of the executions be made.

From Nuremberg: A Nation on Trial by Werner Maser, translated by Richard Barry: The "job" had certainly not gone off "A1," as the hangman maintained. Streicher groaned for a long time after his execution. Jodl took eighteen minutes and Keitel as much as twenty-four minutes to die. Some of the victims' faces were scratched and bleeding. Frick had severe wounds on his face and neck. Possibly the trapdoors were too small or the ropes had not been properly positioned. The hangman's story, which is only a story, is that the faces were smeared with blood because "they had bitten their tongues at the moment they fell."

As far as the Allies were concerned all this was a closely guarded secret. When a German journalist named Helmut Kamphausen managed to persuade an American-licensed newspaper in Berlin to publish photographs of the blood-smeared faces and wounded heads, he was promptly arrested. The victors only released 'touched-up' pictures of the eleven bodies lying in a row on the gymnasium floor--with Göring at one end.

That night the bodies were photographed—both naked and clothed—by a US Army photographer; they were in wooden packing cases. Göring's right eye was open, staring glassily at nothing; all the others still had the rope round their necks. Each carried a long narrow identification plate on the chest showing the initial of the Christian name and the surname in full. The bodies, still in their packing boxes, were then taken to Munich on two US Army lorries. There, in the Heilmannstrasse, they were cremated and the ashes scattered into the Conwentz Brook.

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