Historium

Documentary

Nazi Leaders' Final Words Before Execution at Nuremberg

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Description

The final statements attributed to Nazi defendants at Nuremberg have often been repeated apart from the trial that preceded them. Ten men were executed on 16 October 1946 after the International Military Tribunal had examined evidence of aggressive war, persecution, forced labor and mass murder. Their last reported remarks ranged from appeals to religion to continued political defiance.

This video places those statements beside the record of responsibility established in court. A final sentence is evidence of what a speaker chose to say, not a reliable summary of that person’s actions or an answer to the charges. Contemporary reporting, translation and later retelling can also produce differences in wording.

The tribunal’s judgments are the essential starting point for understanding who was convicted and why. The documentary treats the executions as the aftermath of a major legal proceeding, keeping the crimes and their victims in view rather than allowing memorable quotations to dominate the history.

Music: Historium Soundtrack Library

Sources and further reading: International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg

International Military Tribunal: The Defendants

Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Vol. 22 - Judgment

Judgment: Sentences

Historium research desk

Historical context

Contemporary accounts recorded the statements of Nazi leaders hanged at Nuremberg in 1946. Their reported final words belong alongside the tribunal’s evidence, verdicts and victims’ testimony.

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Transcript

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English transcript

This transcript follows the video’s narration. The companion article provides dated sources, historical context and editorial corrections.

0:00 Do you ever wonder what some of the Nazis convicted at Nuremberg said in their
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0:04 final moments?
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0:06 On the night of October 16th, 1946, ten Nazi leaders condemned by the International Military
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0:13 Tribunal were executed by hanging, and the words they spoke just before death were chilling.
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0:20 Wilhelm Keitel, head of the German Armed Forces High Command, was convicted on every count
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0:25 laid out in the tribunal's charter.
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0:28 As he stood on the gallows, he said, I call on Almighty God to have
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0:33 mercy on the German people.
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0:35 More than two million German soldiers went to their deaths for the fatherland before me.
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0:40 I now follow my sons.
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0:42 All for Germany.
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0:44 Joachim von Ribbentrop, Nazi Germany's foreign minister, was also convicted on all counts, just like
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0:52 Keitel.
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0:53 Before his execution, he said, God protect Germany.
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0:56 God have mercy on my soul.
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0:59 My last wish is that German unity be preserved, that understanding between East and West
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1:05 be achieved, and that peace may prevail in the world.
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1:09 Arthur Seyss-Inquart, the Reich Commissioner for the occupied Netherlands, was likewise convicted on all
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1:15 four counts.
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1:17 His final words were, I hope that this execution will be the last act in
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1:22 the tragedy of the Second World War, and that the lesson learned from this war
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1:26 will be that peace and understanding must exist among peoples.
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1:31 I believe in Germany.
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1:33 Then there was Julius Streicher, the Gauleiter of Franconia and editor of the violently antisemitic
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1:40 weekly newspaper Der Stürmer.
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1:43 He was convicted only of crimes against humanity.
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1:46 Even so, he was the most openly defiant of them all in his final moments.
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1:52 He had to be pushed up the stairs, and as he stepped onto the platform,
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1:56 he shouted, Heil Hitler!
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1:58 He then turned toward the witnesses and yelled, Purim Festival, 1946!
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2:04 It was a mocking reference to the Jewish holiday of Purim.
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2:08 In the Book of Esther, Haman and his ten sons are hanged.
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2:12 By saying this, Streicher was implying that the ten Nazis executed that night were a
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2:18 kind of Purim gift to the Jews.
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2:22 And there was also Adolf Eichmann, who was executed in Israel in 1962 for his
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2:28 role in the deaths of one and a half million Jews.
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2:31 His final words were reportedly, I hope you will all follow me.

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