Hitler in Nuremberg Trials.

What if Hitler had failed to commit suicide due to having given his last cyanide pill to Blondi by mistake, and the powder in his bullets getting wet due to the damp in "der Bonker"?

How would he have fared in the Trials? What changes would we expect in the other performance of the historical accused? What changes would there be to the historical outcomes, if any? Would there be a rescue by Skorzeny and the Werewolves (no, not the late 50's rock band!)

 

I would assume that Hilter would have fallen into Soviet hands. Now the question is would Stalin have handed Hitler over to Nuremberg or might Hitler have suffered the same fate as say Eichmann?

 

Eichmann? What, shipping Hitler to Argentina to be kidnapped by the Israelis later?

Stalin loved public trials. I'm sure he would be immensely glad in putting up a trial with as much publicity as possible, together with the rest of the Nazi upper crust at Nurnberg.

 

Nice 'What if' with loads of interesting possibilities.

Who got their hands on him may be significant but I think he'd have gone through Nuremberg just like the rest of them. The biggest possible danger would perhaps be of an acquittal. Hitler was protected in a lot of the paper-trail of atrocity and though I'm sure they'd have found the right link the possibility would always exist under the terms of the trials. Acquittal (or a limited imprisonment) would be disastrous if it occured and completely unnaceptable to the Allies, could even a slim possibility of this have led to the Trials not happening in the same way, in order to avoid any chance of Hitler not getting what was due to him?

Or perhaps the best evidence against him would come from his former high-ranking minions attempting to avoid the noose. Would his presence at the trials have 'saved' other defendants as more blame could more convincingly be transferred onto an ex-Fuhrer who was actually present? Or would more defendants have hung as the furious and 'betrayed' Fuhrer spilled the beans left, right and centre as vengeance against all those he felt had let him down so badly?

Another thought is how he would have disported himself at a trial and was he physically up to it? Presumably if able he would have followed Goering's style, a final bit of propaganda in the dock. Yet by all accounts he was falling to pieces from late '44 anyway, the stress of capture and exhibition could quite well finish him off.

If he was captured alive I suspect an immediate bullet in the head would remain the simplest solution to the potential problems of his survival and trial.
:hitlersnipe:

Cheers,
Adam.

 

Anybody read this?

Amazon.com: Operation Lucifer : The Chase Capture and Trial of Adolf Hitler: Books: David B. Charnay

 

It would be interesting to watch Hitler's reaction when the "others" used the 'I was only doing as ordered' routine. As Poop mentioned, Hitler being so frail, I don't think he'd make it through a long trial.

 

Just had a thought; A really spooky combination would be Hitler & Goebbels both surviving.
I'm sure the propaganda wizard would have made maximum use of even such a seemingly hopeless situation, while remaining completely loyal to Hitler. It's also intriguing to think how he'd express his hatred of many other senior nazi's from the dock.

 

My opinion is that the Russians were not too fond of the Nuremburg trials to begin with. I also would suspect that having caught Hitler, they would have taken him to Moscow without the Allies knowledge. Look at how much of a big deal has been made with the treatment of Hitler's bones. Even today there is talk of Hitler now having committed suicide or of the question whether those were really Hitler's bones. I believe that Stalin would have hung Hitler himself and not leave it to the Allies.

 

If the Russians captured him, the Soldiers would probably have ripped him apart before anybody high-ranking new about it.

 

Oooh I don't know.
Russian squaddies certainly seemed to be on 'bring 'em back alive' orders and there were apparently NKVD teams on the ground tasked with finding the man or his remains. Fear of Uncle Joe's requirements could certainly outweigh personal hatred. No sense in getting shot by one's own side so close to war's end.
:flag_USSR: :adolf:

Cheers,
Adam.

 

I would agree with Adam. Lets look at the survivors of the Bunker. None were shot as they attempted their escape. Question would be, how would Hitler end up in the Russian's hands. Would there be a surrender of the bunker in which case there would be no opportunity for the humble soldier to get his hands on Hitler. Would there also be some kind of conditions tied with Hitler's surrender? Would Hitler have attempted escape and got caught? I still would agree with Adam where Hitler would not have been instantly executed.

 

If Hitler was put on on trial today in a British court he would get life and would be out of prison after eight years.

Yes I am being a little sarcastic.


To the point it would not surprise me if Stalin put Hitler in a zoo.

 

Brilliant absolutely brilliant!

 

I can't find the quote right now, but Adolf had said almost exactly that, and that was one of the reasons he said he couldn't be caught alive.

 

Was'nt it something to do with the Mussolini hanging spectacle?


Anyway, I wonder how Eva Braun would have been treated. Would she be a "prize" like Hitler or sent to a gulag? Would the remaining die-hard Nazis have fought on as they did had Hitler surrendered?

 

Another "what if" that I have trouble following along with. If the cyanide hadn't worked or if his gun had jammed Hitler would have simply gotten some more. Cyanide pills and guns were everywhere in the Bunker in those last days and all around the area for that matter. At worst Hitler would have gotten his SS guards to shoot him. The only way he could have been captured alive would have been if his own guards turned on him. This is not very likely, practically the only way I can see this working is if Himmler decided to make a grab for power and use a captured Hitler as a bargaining tool with the Western Allies. However, Himmler, while holding an incredible amount of power, did so only through Hitler. Notice how little power Himmler had as soon as Hitler was dead. I doubt even Himmler would have thought he would have had a snowball's chance in hell of holding power if he tried a coup against Hitler in the last days of the Reich. Since Hitler was dead determined not to be caught alive there was next to no chance he would be.

 

Who said anything about Himmler? You're avoiding the question. I was saying that bullets were not working, cyanide pills had completely run out, and shoelaces had all gone rotten with the bukners damp so he had nothing to hang himself with. It was raining like heck outside so he couldn't immolate himself by fire. No way he could starve himself to death as Frau Manzialy would cajole him into eating her delicious vegetable soup. I'm postulating there was simply no way he could evade capture by dying. So, how would Hitler testify in the Trials?

 

"I am not a crook!"

 

A very good novel covering the subject of Hitler's fate following the German surrender is "The Berkut" by Joseph Heywood. Although the nature of the story is such that the man doesn't get tried at Nuremburg, it is an interesting tale and offers one alternative.

Blenheim

 

As I said, only by envisioning a coup by Himmler can I see any possibility of your scenario panning out. I'm not avoiding the question, I'm pointing out that your question simply doesn't work. In order for a "what if" type question to be interesting it has to have some possibility. I see none of that in your scenario as Hitler had no intention whatsoever of ever being captured and his SS guards were loyal to death (and many of his followers were loyal beyond his death). Surely you can see that having absolutely every single bullet in the government sector fail and having not a single cyanide pill work and not even a single piece of string with which to hang himself simply makes no sense. You may as well say that Hitler was captured by aliens who then beamed him into American custody. That's at least as likely as your scenario. While speculating on such a basis may be fun for some, I simply don't see how any answer to such wild speculation can be anything but wild, irrational speculation itself. But to each his own.

So, how would Hitler testify in the Trials? Through a ghost-writer, naturally.