Nuremberg: Before the Trial Trivia Quiz

Answer: Ernst Kaltenbrunner

Believe it or not, the man who the other defendants actually feared, the man who it was said even Himmler himself feared, was inconsolable during the early days of his detention. One person who worked in the Palace of Justice during the trial said that Kaltenbrunner was "the biggest crybaby of the bunch, next to Funk." Kaltenbrunner would later suffer two cerebral hemmorhages, delaying his participation in the trial, and desperately worrying Colonel Burton Andrus, who was in charge of the prisoners.

They had already lost Robert Ley and secondary prisoner Dr. Leonardo Conti to suicide, he didn't want to lose another defendant.

Answer: Hjalmar Schacht

Schacht's score was 143 (His score was adjusted for his age). Interestingly, he told Gustave Gilbert, who administered the test, that he thought his age might hurt him, and that he had problems with simple arithmetic. (Funny that the President of the Reichsbank and Minister of Economics would have mathematical problems!) Seyss-Inquart had the highest "natural" score, with no adjustments made: 141. Goering followed closely behind with 138. Gilbert stated he was surprised when Speer only scored a 128. Julius Streicher, a former schoolteacher, had the lowest I.Q.: 106.

Answer: 2

While being held in England for the main duration of the war, Rudolf Hess had stabbed himself in the chest, then gone on a hunger strike. Meanwhile, Hans Frank had tried, on different occasions, to cut both his throat and his wrists, but was stopped before he could do any fatal damage. (Although he did suffer nerve damage to his left hand and wore a glove while in his cell.) Only Robert Ley succeeded in killing himself.

Answer: 6

As written in Joseph Persico's book "Nuremberg: Infamy on Trial", there was a Protestant Chaplain, Major Henry F. Gerecke, and a Catholic Priest, Father Sixtus O' Connor, on hand for the defendants. When they met for the first time, Father O'Connor shook Gerecke's hand and joked, "At least we Catholics are only responsible for six of these sinners. Your side has fifteen chalked up against you." After the trial, no Catholics were left among those serving prison terms in Spandau.

Answer: 5

Wilhelm Frick, Hans Frank, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Constantin von Neurath, and Artur Seyss-Inquart all either had their own practices or were part of larger law firms at some stage in their lives.

Answer: Ernst Kaltenbrunner

As the end of the war neared, Kaltenbrunner threw his personal seal into an Alpine lake, and surrendered to the Allies under a false name, claiming to be a doctor. Not too long after, his mistress, who hadn't seen him in quite some time, recognized him in public, called his name, and ran to hug him.

It was this that clued the Allies in to who they had in their hands, and he was put on trial. His seal was recovered in 1995 by a vacationing Dutchman. It reads "Head of the Security Police and the SD".

Answer: Erich Raeder

When the indictment was being passed around for all to sign, Raeder had just been brought in from Russian captivity, and categorically refused to put his feelings into writing. Hess had written "I can't remember", von Ribbentrop had written "This indictment is directed against the wrong people", both in English. Goering followed up with "The victor will always be the judge, and the vanquished, the accused" Robert Ley merely told Dr. Gilbert "Why don't you just put us all up against a wall and shoot us?"

Answer: Julius Streicher and Hans Fritzsche

Fritzsche had just been brought to the prison exercise yard for the first time, and Streicher tried to be friendly with him, seeing as how they were both journalists. (He obviously thought this would automatically give them common ground) Fritzsche, however, bitingly told Streicher that he winced whenever he heard his pornographic rantings quoted in the press. Streicher then spit in his face, and a scuffle broke out. For this, Streicher's exercise privileges were revoked for a week.

Answer: Joachim von Ribbentrop

After reading the letter, Jackson ran to Ribbentrop's cell. He asked Ribbentrop if he was planning on taking responsibility for the aggressive war, the violation of treaties, deportation to slave labor camps, shootings of hostages, and the destructions of the Warsaw ghetto and Czech village of Lidice. Stunned, Ribbentrop said no. Jackson then asked if he even planned on taking reponsibility for the foreign policies of the Third Reich. Ribbentrop said that he didn't even know the foreign policy. Jackson left disgusted, saying he would never set foot in the interrogation center again.

Answer: 16

Along with his 16 pieces of matching luggage, he also brought along a personal valet. One bag alone contained 20,000 paracodeine pills, which Goering had been addicted to for years. When Colonel Andrus saw this, he muttered that Goering was the man he was going to whip into shape.