Those Who Hanged at Nuremburg Part 1

Joachim von Ribbentrop – the champagne salesman, who rose well above his station and his abilities, was born in Wessel, Prussia, on 30 April, 1893. He spent much of his early working life in Canada and the United States where he set up a business importing German wines. He returned to Germany in August, 1914, when war seemed imminent, joining the German army where he served on the Eastern Front. He joined the Nazi Party late as a career move. He had never previously been political, had been happy to work closely with Jewish financiers, and was known to be an admirer of the Russians. He did not seem a natural Nazi. But he was a snob and a voracious social climber, and was heartily disliked by almost everyone else in the Nazi hierarchy. For he was the ultimate toady who never seemed to have an idea of his own but would listen carefully to Hitler and then deliver what he thought he wanted, before he knew he wanted it. In February, 1938, his toadying paid off when he was appointed Foreign Secretary. He was involved in the bullying that resulted in the Munich Agreement but his finest moment came with the signing of the Nazi-Soviet Pact on 23 August, 1939, that cleared the way for Germany to declare war. He was arrested in June, 1945, and his performance on the stand at Nuremburg was so pathetic that it drove Goering to remark that, “Ribbentrop deserves to hang. Even at his execution he retained that arrogance and aloofness that had so alienated his colleagues, before the noose was placed around his neck he said, ” I wish peace for the World.”

Artur Seyss-Inquart – his real name was Zajtich, who was yet another leading Nazi who had trained as a lawyer, had been born in Austria in the small town of Stannern on 22 July, 1892. After serving in Italy and on the Eastern Front in World War One, he returned to Austria a man committed to far-right politics. He soon joined the Austrian Nazi Party and became a key figure in the struggle for Anschluss. He was well rewarded for his loyalty when he was made Reich Commissar of the Netherlands. He was a cold and officious man who never allowed sentiment to get in the way of what had to be done. In many respects he was the ideal police official who never allowed the blood on his hands to sully the iron in his soul. Of the 240,000 Jews in Holland fewer than 13,000 survived the war, the rest were exterminated. He was very good at what he did. As the war progressed he allowed thousands of people to starve in north and western Holland despite repeated Allied request to be permitted to drop food supplies. In the dock he did not see this as a crime, he was merely obeying orders. He was the last to be executed, and though he showed signs of nerves on his way to the scaffold he spoke in clear tones, ” I hope this is the last act of tragedy of the Second World War.” It rang true only in terms of a personal tragedy.