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Cover of episode 05

The defendants · 052:17 min

Göring: he says, the file says

31 August 1946, Nuremberg. Hermann Göring, defendant, gives his final statement. He stands up for what he did, he says, but emphatically denies acting from a desire to murder, rob or enslave.

Then the file: his own letter of July 1941 to Heydrich, Chief of the Security Police and SD, Document 710-PS, signed "Göring". Under cross-examination he says it meant "Gesamtlösung", total solution, not "Endlösung", final solution. The same letter contains both words. The judgment of the Tribunal states: the “final solution” meant the extermination of the Jews.

You hear the original voices from the courtroom, denoised, otherwise unchanged. Every statement in the video is in the transcript or the document, volume and page on screen.

11 documented1 open12 Sources

StatementsSources

Episode 05

Statements

Every on-screen statement of the episode, in order. Red only when the source carries it word for word; open when a check is missing.

  1. 01
    documented

    In 1946 Göring denies any will to murder. In 1941 he wrote to Heydrich.

    IMT Vol. 22, p. 368IMT Vol. 22, p. 366IMT Vol. 26, p. 266IMT Vol. 26, p. 267

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  2. 02
    open

    Hermann Göring, Reich Marshal, defendant.

    IMT Vol. 26, p. 266IMT Vol. 26, p. 267IMT Vol. 22, p. 366

    AI review: this wording does not fully hold, being revised
  3. 03
    documented

    Göring: he stands up for what he did, but emphatically denies acting from a desire to murder, rob or enslave.

    IMT Vol. 22, p. 368IMT Vol. 22, p. 366

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  4. 04
    documented

    July 1941: Göring charges Heydrich, Chief of the Security Police and SD, with preparations for a “Gesamtlösung der Judenfrage”.

    IMT Vol. 26, p. 266IMT Vol. 26, p. 267

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  5. 05
    documented

    Cross-examination: is the document not signed by you? Göring: “That is correct.”

    IMT Vol. 9, p. 518

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  6. 06
    documented

    Göring: it said “total solution”, not “final solution”.

    IMT Vol. 9, p. 519IMT Vol. 9, p. 518

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  7. 07
    documented

    In the same letter: “Endlösung der Judenfrage”. Signed: Göring.

    IMT Vol. 26, p. 267

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  8. 08
    documented

    Judgment of the Tribunal: the “final solution” meant the extermination of the Jews.

    IMT Vol. 1

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  9. 09
    documented

    Göring: his only motive was love for his people.

    IMT Vol. 22, p. 368IMT Vol. 22, p. 366

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  10. 10
    documented

    Judgment of the Tribunal: guilty on all four counts.

    IMT Vol. 1

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  11. 11
    documented

    Sentence: death by hanging.

    IMT Vol. 22, p. 588

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  12. 12
    documented

    Judgment of the Tribunal: guilty on all four counts. Sentence: death by hanging.

    IMT Vol. 1IMT Vol. 22, p. 588

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds

Episode 05

Sources

Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT, “Blue Series”), English edition. Page = printed page.

  1. IMT Vol. 22, p. 368

    Document
    IMT Vol. 22 (Schlusswort Göring, 31.08.1946)
    Volume
    22
    Page
    368 (PDF page 378)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    I stand up for the things that I have done, but I deny most emphatically that my actions were dictated by the desire to subjugate foreign peoples by wars, to murder them, to rob them, or to enslave them, or to commit atrocities or crimes. The only motive which guided me was my ardent love for my people,its happiness, its freedom, and its life. And for this I call on the Almighty and my German people to witness.

  2. IMT Vol. 22, p. 366

    Document
    IMT Vol. 22 (transcript 31.08.1946, Schlussworte)
    Volume
    22
    Page
    366 (PDF page 376)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Saturday, 31 August 1946 Morning Session THE PRESIDENT: Article 24 D (j) provides that each defendant may make a statement to the Tribunal. I therefore now call upon the defendants who wish — whether they wish to make statements. Defendant Hermann Wilhelm Goring. HERMANN WILHELM GÖRING (Defendant): The Prosecution, in the final speeches, has treated the defendants and their testimony as completely worthless.

  3. IMT Vol. 26, p. 266

    Document
    IMT Vol. 26 (Dokument 710-PS, deutscher Originaltext)
    Volume
    26
    Page
    266 (PDF page 286)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    DOCUMENT 710=PS ORDER FROM GÖRING TO HEYDRICH, JULY 1941, FOR THE PREPARATION OF A GENERAL SOLUTION OF THE JEWISH QUESTION WITHIN THE GERMAN SPHERE OF INFLUENCE IN EUROPE (EX

  4. IMT Vol. 26, p. 267

    Document
    IMT Vol. 26 (Dokument 710-PS, deutscher Originaltext)
    Volume
    26
    Page
    267 (PDF page 287)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    An den Chef der Sicherheitspolizei und des SD

  5. IMT Vol. 26, p. 266

    Document
    IMT Vol. 26 (Dokument 710-PS, deutscher Originaltext)
    Volume
    26
    Page
    266 (PDF page 286)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Der Reichsmarschall des Großdeutschen Berlin, den 7.1941 Reiches

  6. IMT Vol. 26, p. 267

    Document
    IMT Vol. 26 (Dokument 710-PS, deutscher Originaltext)
    Volume
    26
    Page
    267 (PDF page 287)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Ich beauftrage Sie weiter, mir in Bälde einen Gesamtentwurf über die organisatorischen, sachlichen und materiellen Vorausmaßnahmen zur Durchführung der angestrebten Endlösung der Judenfrage vorzulegen. Göring

  7. IMT Vol. 26, p. 267

    Document
    IMT Vol. 26 (Dokument 710-PS, deutscher Originaltext)
    Volume
    26
    Page
    267 (PDF page 287)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    beauftrage ich Sie hiermit, alle erforderlichen Vorbereitungen in organisatorischer, sachlicher und materieller Hinsicht zu treffen für eine Gesamtlösung der Judenfrage im, deutschen Einüußgebiet in Europa. Soferne hierbei die Zuständigkeiten anderer Zentralinstanzen berührt werden, sind diese zu beteiligen. Ich beauftrage Sie weiter, mir in Bälde einen Gesamtentwurf über die organisatorischen, sachlichen und materiellen Vorausmaßnahmen zur Durchführung der angestrebten Endlösung der Judenfrage vorzulegen.

  8. IMT Vol. 9, p. 518

    Document
    IMT Vol. 9 (Kreuzverhör Göring, 20.03.1946)
    Volume
    9
    Page
    518 (PDF page 514)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    That document is signed by you, is it not? GÖRING: That is correct.

  9. IMT Vol. 9, p. 519

    Document
    IMT Vol. 9 (Kreuzverhör Göring, 20.03.1946)
    Volume
    9
    Page
    519 (PDF page 515)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    RING: May I read it as it is written here? "Complementing the task which was conferred upon you already on 24 January 1939, to solve the Jewish problem by means of emigration and evacuation in the best possible way according to present conditions, I charge you herewith to make all necessary preparations as regards organizational, " factual, and material matters Now comes the decisive word which has been mistranslated: "for a total solution," not "for a final solution."

  10. IMT Vol. 1

    Document
    IMT Vol. 1 (Urteil)
    Volume
    1
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    In the summer of 1941, however, plans were made for the ''final solution" of the Jewish question in Europe. This "final solution'' meant the extermination of the Jews

  11. IMT Vol. 1

    Document
    IMT Vol. 1 (Urteil)
    Volume
    1
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    The Tribunal finds the Defendant Göring guilty on all four Counts of the Indictment

  12. IMT Vol. 22, p. 588

    Document
    IMT Vol. 22 (Urteilsverkündung 1.10.1946)
    Volume
    22
    Page
    588 (PDF page 598)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Defendant Hermann Wilhelm Goring, on the Counts of the Indictment on which you have been convicted, the International Military Tribunal sentences you to death by hanging.

Further sources of the episode

audio NARA 238.3881B (31 Aug 1946), 238.1563B and 238.1564B (20 Mar 1946) · Document 710-PS, German original IMT Vol. 26, pp. 266 f. · cross-examination IMT Vol. 9, pp. 518 f. · final statement Vol. 22, pp. 366 and 368 · judgment Vol. 1, pp. 250 and 282 · sentence Vol. 22, p. 588 · film NARA 111-ADC-5547, 5562, 5585

How to cite this episode

FUNDSTELLE: „Göring: he says, the file says“, Nuremberg Files 05. https://fundstelle.online/en/f/05/

Found a mistake? Write to us; every correction is listed with its date on the corrections page. Corrections

Narrator voice partly AI-generated (labelled). Original sound, transcripts and films come from public archives, credited per episode.