Nuremberg: The Trial of the Century Quiz

Answer: Party rallies

Party rallies were held each year to show the public how strong the Nazi Party and the German military machine were. They moved the people so much that many pledged to die for Nazis. Debate was illegal in Germany under the Nazis. Anyone who dared to do so risked death.

Answer: 1945

In the same year that World War Two ended, 1945, the allied governments decided to hold the trials in one of the most important cities in Germany. The first executions took place in 1946.

Answer: The Palace of Justice

This is the same building that laws had been made in 1935 to reduce the Jews to second class citizens.

Answer: Hermann Goering

Hitler and Goebbels had committed suicide in April of 1945. Himmler, when captured by the British, also committed suicide. So when the trial began Goering was the most senior left. Although he knew a death sentence was imminent, he remained convinced that he was right in all that he did and said.

Answer: Yes

At the beginning of the trial, all defendents pleaded not guilty, but near the end, most had broken down and had said that they had "only been following orders". The judges made their decisions based on one or more of the following counts: 1. Conspiracy to commit aggression, 2.

The act of aggression, 3. Crimes in the conduct of warfare (that is, war crimes in the narrower sense), 4. Crimes against Humanity. Those convicted on all four counts were: Goering, Ribbentrop, Keitel, Rosenberg, Jodl and Neurath.

Answer: Robert Jackson

Robert Jackson had doubts about the way the trial would be run. He thought it would fail, just like the trials after World War I. He would be proved wrong, though. The Nuremberg Trials established a basis for international law which is still used today.

Answer: Joachim von Ribbentrop

Ribbentrop was one of Hitler's most devoted followers. He was a key figure in the conspiracy to launch a war of aggression and was sentenced to death by hanging. Unlike Goering, he was actually hanged.

Answer: 22

22 of the highest ranking Nazi officials were accused. Twelve were hanged, eight received prison terms ranging from ten years to life and two were acquitted. (Politician and diplomat Franz von Papen, and the president of the German Central Bank, Hjalmar Schacht, were acquitted, as was Hans Fritzsche). Goering committed suicide in prison a few hours before he was to be executed. Robert Ley had been charged but had committed suicide before the trial began, and Martin Bormann was tried in absentia.

Answer: U.S, Britain, France, U.S.S.R

Of couse Japan was never included in the talks because they were one of the Axis Powers. At the start, things were very difficult because the four Allied Powers each had different laws. It took many months of hard work but by the time of the trial, everything was working smoothly. (Separate trials were held for Japanese war criminals).

Answer: Hermann Goering

With Goering's death, the Third Reich was over. Its highest leaders were dead, along with their Fuehrer. It is sometimes said, but has never been proven, that Goering's prison guard retrieved a cyanide tablet from his luggage. No charges were ever brought against the man.