Nuremberg (2000– )

Brian Cox: Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring

Photos 

Quotes 

• Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : One 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 Göring : Let 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 Gilbert : America was at war with Japan, a country that had attacked it without provocation. You murdered millions of your own citizens.

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : And what about the American citizens of the Japanese race who were put into protective custody in your own concentration camps?

  Capt. Gustav Gilbert : That was wrong.

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : Then why was this not done to citizens of German or Italian descent?

  Capt. Gustav Gilbert : I said it was wrong.

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : What 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!

• Lt. Tex Wheelis : Rough day, Reichsmarschall?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : On 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.

• Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : I say to you all that I would rather die than say we were wrong!

• 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 Göring : Yeah. The elimination from economic life, that is partly correct. Large industries, also armament industries under Jewish directors.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : Was that the first of your legal measures against the Jews?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : I believe removal from office was first, in 1933.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : Then, in 1936, you personally drafted an act making it punishable by death to transfer property abroad?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : That is correct.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : And 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?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : That, I did sign a similar law. Whether it was exactly the same, I...

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : And did you not say about those riots...

  [walks up to Göring] 

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : I show you this transcript.

  [hands it to him] 

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : Did you not say, I wish you had killed 200 Jews instead of destroying such valuables?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : That was said in a moment of bad temper and extreme excitement.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : Spontaneous sincerity, in other words? Did you not also personally sign a decree in September, 1940, ordering seizure of all Jewish property in Poland?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : I assume so, if the decree is there.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : And another which provided the Jews no compensation for damages caused by enemy attacks or by German forces?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : If the law bears my name, then it must be so.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : [pointing to one document]  Is this your signature?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : [looking at it]  It appears to be.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : Is it, or is it not, your signature?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : It is.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : Your 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.

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : [enraged]  That is not a proper translation! I said total solution, not the final solution!

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : These 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?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : That had to do with emigration and evacuation of the Jews.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : And, you ordered all government agencies to cooperate with the SS in the final solution of the Jewish question, did you not?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : There's nothing in there about the SS.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : This document states you personally ordered all government agencies to cooperate with the SS! You sent this letter to SS Gruppenführer Heydrich!

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : That doesn't mean the SS had anything to do with the solution to the Jewish question!

  [everyone gasps and murmurs in reaction as Göring realizes what he said] 

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : Would you mind repeating that?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : I 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. Jackson : Witness, 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?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : Yeah.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : Do you know that Hitler said in 1943, in a recorded meeting, I read you his words now: The Reichs 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?

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : [agitated]  No! No! How can you imagine such a thing? I was laying down the broad outlines of the German economy.

  Justice Robert H. Jackson : The witness is excused.

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : I am not finished!

  Sir Geoffrey Lawrence : The witness is excused.

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : I am not finished!

  Sir Geoffrey Lawrence : The witness is excused.

• Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : This 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.

• 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 Göring : Wait. You're British?

  Maj. Airey Neave : I am.

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : Finally, a civilized man. Neave? Neave? What is your given name?

  Maj. Airey Neave : Airey.

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : Airey? Major Airey Neave... I have heard this name before. Airey, like the wind. Why... Why would I have heard this name?

  Maj. Airey Neave : I was captured, tortured by the Gestapo, and escaped twice.

  Reichsmarschall Hermann Wilhelm Göring : Oh, I see. Well, then, you've earned your given name.

  Maj. Airey Neave : I 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 Neave : I'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 Göring : I 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?