1945 - the allies got Hitler

[tobstein]

Let's say that the allies got Hitler in 1945. Do you really think that he got a fair treatment in the Nuremberg Trial?


I don't think so. I think the Nuremberg Trial will be without public access when Hitler and let's say Goebbels are caught alive. The allies fear that Hitler and Goebbels are using the trial as a big public promotion celebration for their political thoughts.

What do you think?

Greetz
tobstein

[Phaethon]

A precedent for this could be Hitler's trial for the Munich Putsch which was turned into a circus by Hitler's politicking from the dock. Of course he had a rather sympathetic judge and a number of well placed political allies, all of which helped with the court's indulgence of his speeches and in limiting the potential sentence.

By 1945, Hitler was no-longer young and the war had taken a severe toll on his health, though not as severe as it had for miillions of others. One might not expect to see the same level of perfomance from Hitler in the Nuremberg dock, however, having said that, the allies did a decent job of cleaning up Goering for trial; he was fitter and more clear-headed than he had been for several years. Maybe Hitler's health would have improved drammatically once he had been rescued from those half-baked quacks he relied on.

I cannot imagine that Hitler would have reached trial. An open trial would give him a last chance to be heard and a closed trial would have brought huge public outcry for access. Methinks he would have been interrogated, thoroughly debriefed and then die of 'natual causes' just before trial.

Goebbels I could see on trial, but not making any more headway than Goering did. Physically rather less imposing than Goering, and without the WWI record, Goebbels' communication skills may have been put to some use but can you see him making any more headway than Goering did? I'd see his performance as about halfway between the arrogance of Goering and the rabidity of Streicher.

Just some thoughts,

K.
--
Ken Cocker, London

[Zachary]

Hitler would have probably commited suicide in prison during trial or something. If Hitler doesnt though he would most likely have been sentanced to death, from what I know.

Do you think it would have differed if the Russians or Western Allies got him? The Russians would have been far more brutal toward him, though I can see the west saying "don't kill him"

[wenty]

I think that Hitler would have been put on trial at Nuremberg with the rest of them. I don't believe, however, that he would have been sentenced to death. I think they would have sentenced him to Life Imprisonment so he could be interrogated and tortured for the rest of his life. He would have to have constant suicide watch or somebody with him all the time, however. Cheers.

[peter_suciu]

If the Soviets capture him I imagine he'd be beaten to death by the soldiers, I don't see anyway he'd have a "fair trial" nor did he -- if there was one person who didn't deserve a trial it was him!

[tobstein]

I don't think that he would be beaten to death if the Soviets captured him.
I think they'd have brought him to Moscow or (that's what I believe) to
Stalingrad for a real big show-trial.
But they'd not have sentenced him to death. To the end of his life (and surely they will do ev'rything that this will be in a far far future) he will be shown on a circus-like atmosphere in ev'ry russian town.

That's a really cruel end for what was once the Führer of a nation


Grettz
tobstein

[Mike K.]

Hitler would be the trophy of the Nuremberg trials. There's no way the Allies would allow anything to happen to him.

I doubt Hitler would allow himself to suffer this indignity. I recall a line from the movie Nuremberg that I think sums up the notion well (paraphrasing here, I saw it a few years ago):

"I just wish he [Hitler] had stayed and taken responsibility for his actions."
Goering: "You would having our Führer stand before a court like a common criminal?!"

[Cantankerous]

Months ago I read a late 2005 news story about previously secret documents from late 1942 showing that British prime minister Winston Churchill wanted Adolf Hitler put in an electric chair and executed if captured. If Soviet troops had marched to Berlin in March 1945 and they caught Hitler alive after entering the Führerbunker, General Zhukov would have ordered him flown in a captured German plane in April 1945 to the future Soviet occupation zone in Vienna so that he could be subject to a three-month trial in a courtroom in Vienna. The Soviet occupation authorities in Vienna would then have rented an electric chair from the Soviet government and if Soviet military jurists had lectured Hitler about why his claims about communism being a Jewish invention and Slavs being inferior were false, and Hitler defiantly responded by saying that he justified his heinous deeds out of the fear of European civilization and traditional family values being contaminated by "Bolshevist Jewry", then the Soviets would have put Hitler in the electric chair, electrocuted them instantly, and thrown his body into the banks of the Danube River. Had this scenario happened, there would have been no conspiracy theories about Hitler escaping or faking his death.

[T. A. Gardner]

I think putting Hitler on trial is a very mixed bag. Let's say they do put him on trial. Who defends him? Would he be allowed to testify? Do the Soviets want to try him instead of the Western Allies? After all, they suffered more under his hand than the West did.

It likely would have become a giant cluster f$@^k of a situation.

[Princess Perfume]

Otto Frank confronting Addie in the dock would be fascinating.

[Von Schadewald]

Hitler's biggest fear was that if he was captured alive by the Soviets they would have put him on public display in the Moscow Zoo. This is what they would have done: no way would Stalin hand a living trophy like Hitler over to a Nuremburg trial.

More interesting would be if Hitler has escaped to Ireland, Spain or Argentina, and those countries would have refused to hand him over!

[T. A. Gardner]

More interesting would be if Hitler has escaped to Ireland, Spain or Argentina, and those countries would have refused to hand him over!

Argentina was a reluctant, but participating ally with the US. I doubt any of the three would have refused. They may have tried to set conditions, but they'd hand him over in the end.

[paulrward]

Hello All :

Mr. T.A. Gardner posted:

Argentina was a reluctant, but participating ally with the US. I doubt any
of the three would have refused. They may have tried to set conditions,
but they'd hand him over in the end.

Exactly, in the same way that Argentina handed over Mengele, Priebke, Pavelic, Eichmann, Rudel,
Sakic, Smulovsky, Roschmann, and Skorzeny ......


All that Argentina would have to do is simply deny that Hitler was in their country, and keep him
and his entourage in the hinterlands for a decade or so, on a nice estate with servants, riding
horses, a skilled chef, and any other .... entertainments..... that their guests might have wanted.

Respectfully

Paul R. Ward

[T. A. Gardner]

What would it buy Argentina? Some Germans that went there like Tank and the Horten brothers, brought their talent in building aircraft with them.



Others had the cash to stay on the government's good side. If the Allies thought Hitler was there, they'd likely demand his return and if Argentina refused, it wouldn't go well for Argentina.

The Soviets on the other hand would just send some KGB types there and brutally murder him, or maybe kidnap him, and dispose of anyone who got in their way much as they did to Trotsky.

[Cantankerous]

I think putting Hitler on trial is a very mixed bag. Let's say they do put him on trial. Who defends him? Would he be allowed to testify? Do the Soviets want to try him instead of the Western Allies? After all, they suffered more under his hand than the West did.

It likely would have become a giant cluster f$@^k of a situation.

According to British government documents which were declassified in late 2005, Winston Churchill in late 1942 told members of his war cabinet that if Adolf Hitler was captured by Allied troops, then an electric chair ought to be brought to Europe from the US via Lend-Lease so that Hitler would be put in the electric chair and electrocuted. Given that Hitler would have remained firm in his opinion that he perpetrated the Holocaust to save Western civilization from the supposed threat of "Bolshevist Jewry" even if he had been captured, then British troops would have found it comfortable throwing handcuffs around his wrists and then have the US bring an electric chair to southern Germany so that they put Hitler on the chair and electrocute him to death once and for all. Had this scenario taken place, then there would be no rumors about Hitler escaping or faking his death.