Inspired by this thread, I decided to ask what would happen if another top Nazi had been tried at Nuremberg.

Unlike with Goebbels, not much has to change to keep Himmler alive for the Nuremberg trials. Maybe his cyanide pill doesn't work or is found by his captors before he can bite it. While I have no doubt he'd end up dancing the Nuremberg jig unless he somehow managed to kill himself in custody, I'm curious as to what his trial might look like, how people might respond to it and what the reactions and impact might be.
 
He would definitely be executed. The only question is whether he would take responsibility and admit his crimes as a true believer in Nazism or put the blame on Hitler.
 
Death. There were thousands of paper trails, and even an audio recording directly linking him with the extermination orders within the SS and the Einsatzgruppen. With the blood of millions directly on his hands, Himmler is getting nothing but a short drop and a sudden stop. Good fucking riddance- he would get nowhere near the amount of pain he deserved, but at least he wouldn't be able to go out on his own terms as he did in our world.
 
Himmler would likely try to grandstand, but unlike Goering, he didn't really understand his position. I wouldn't be surprised if Himmler gave speeches about how the genocide and war crimes were totally good things and how the allies should be thanking him for his actions.
 
No any chances that Himmler avoids a noose. He is as guilty to war crimes and crimes against humanity as he can be. That shithole would be seen worst nazi at nuremburg evne if Bormann, Goebbles and Eichmann would had been standing there too. I too guess that guards try ensure that Himmler is going to be really painful hanging.

On trials Himmler probably just try defend his actions and give sick explanation how Allies should are grateful for his actions.

Just wondering how this would affect to Himmler's daughter who was in OTL devout neo-nazi. Would she still turn as such way?
 
Himmler to me I think would have had the mindset of “If I am going to hang then I am going to take as many of my opponents with me” and he would have pointed fingers out at Borman, Goring, and with a special emphasis on Albert Speer who was his rival in regards to demands on production as Himmler had his own agenda.
 
Like the majority of defendants, he hangs. If by some massive ASB miracle he escapes punishment entirely, he won't escape Tel Aviv's grasp.
 
Like the majority of defendants, he hangs. If by some massive ASB miracle he escapes punishment entirely, he won't escape Tel Aviv's grasp.

NKVD probably gets Himmler firstly since Mossad is not founded yet. In other hand some Jewish vigilante group might still be first who kill Himmler.
 
I think we're all in agreement that he gets the noose (or if he's lucky, the cyanide pill). But I'm wondering what his defense in the trial would really be. IOTL in the last few days of the war he tried to negotiate with prominent Jewish figures, trying to convince them that actually he tried to protect the Jews in defiance of his fuhrer. Would he still stick to that story in the trial or maybe he'd just realize he'd got no chance and he might as well go down with a blaze of glory, i.e. proudly confessing and gloating about all his crimes?
 
I think we're all in agreement that he gets the noose (or if he's lucky, the cyanide pill). But I'm wondering what his defense in the trial would really be. IOTL in the last few days of the war he tried to negotiate with prominent Jewish figures, trying to convince them that actually he tried to protect the Jews in defiance of his fuhrer. Would he still stick to that story in the trial or maybe he'd just realize he'd got no chance and he might as well go down with a blaze of glory, i.e. proudly confessing and gloating about all his crimes?
Probably like the rest at Nuremberg. Blame Hitler for everything.
 
I think we're all in agreement that he gets the noose (or if he's lucky, the cyanide pill). But I'm wondering what his defense in the trial would really be. IOTL in the last few days of the war he tried to negotiate with prominent Jewish figures, trying to convince them that actually he tried to protect the Jews in defiance of his fuhrer. Would he still stick to that story in the trial or maybe he'd just realize he'd got no chance and he might as well go down with a blaze of glory, i.e. proudly confessing and gloating about all his crimes?

If he was able to tell such bullhorseshit as he actually tried protect Jews he might say whatever shit he wants.

I think that most likely is that he tries defend his actions stating that he tried protect Europe from Judeo-Bolshevik horde or whatever. And perhaps blaiming many other defedants and some some other dead/disappeared nazi leaders from failure.
 
Himmler will be hanged, no question. Unless someone smuggles in a convenient cyanide pill for him, but he doesn't have Göring's talent as a schmoozer.

And he will act in an utterly pathetic, cowardly manner because he'd be trying to save his own skin. Remember, in 1945 he met a representative of the World Jewish Congress and told him that all the deaths in the camps had been due to 'epidemics' and that 'Germans and Jews should bury the hatchet'. And he thought letting some Jewish prisoners go (in return for trucks) would somehow convince the 'Jewish plutocracy to its use its influence' on the West.

When Himmler ended up in Flensburg and tried to ingratiate himself with Dönitz' farcical government, various senior SS officers followed him there. When they asked him what to do, some expected some kind of grand gesture from him. Instead he told them to dive for cover in the Wehrmacht and hide their identities, which is also what he tried to do...very ineffectually in his case. Himmler was a true believer in National Socialism, but also a coward. It might be interesting if he divulges some details about the crimes of the other defendants, since they'll have ample motivation to pin everything on him.

When Kaltenbrunner was put on trial in Himmler's stead, he was so desperate to save his own skin that he denied ever having been truly in charge of the RSHA. Yes, really, he claimed he'd only been responsible for foreign intelligence. He even claimed his signature on various extermination orders had been faked. These all-mighty secret police chiefs are a lot less tough when their life's the one on the line. It's easy to exhort your minions to fight to the death and slaughter the 'impure' as long as you're not the one in danger. Speaking of which, hopefully Kaltenbrunner is still hanged and doesn't escape justice like so many of his colleagues and subordinates.
 
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When Himmler ended up in Flensburg and tried to ingratiate himself with Dönitz' farcical government, various senior SS officers followed him there. When they asked him what to do, some expected some kind of grand gesture from him. Instead he told them to dive for cover in the Wehrmacht and hide their identities, which is also what he tried to do...very ineffectually in his case. Himmler was a true believer in National Socialism, but also a coward. It might be interesting if he divulges some details about the crimes of the other defendants, since they'll have ample motivation to pin everything on him.

When Kaltenbrunner was put on trial in Himmler's stead, he was so desperate to save his own skin that he denied ever having been truly in charge of the RSHA. Yes, really, he claimed he'd only been responsible for foreign intelligence. He even claimed his signature on various extermination orders had been faked. These all-mighty secret police chiefs are a lot less tough when their life's the one on the line. It's easy to exhort your minions to fight to the death and slaughter the 'impure' as long as you're not the one in danger. Speaking of which, hopefully Kaltenbrunner is still hanged and doesn't escape justice like so many of his colleagues and subordinates.
Yezhov and Beria died pretty pathetically too. I wonder if there's something about being a secret police chief that attracts cowards to the position.
 
Yezhov and Beria died pretty pathetically too. I wonder if there's something about being a secret police chief that attracts cowards to the position.
There's a ton of psychology articles out about that sort of thing, actually, though I can't think of what they are at the moment. Basically, though- and it doesn't really matter whether you're talking about the Fuhrer position, the chief of the secret police, or the manager of BigBoxMart- the kind of people who tend to be so machiavellian and remorseless also tend to be fundamentally self-serving. Give them power and they'll commit horrors (whether the holocaust or taking a few dollars from the tills each night) at the expense of everyone else, just so long as they have a gun in their pocket and are behind a desk; take that away and they'll save themselves first, their self-worth second, burning whoever and whatever happens to get in their way.

Sorry if I can't be more specific RN.
 
And he will act in an utterly pathetic, cowardly manner because he'd be trying to save his own skin. Remember, in 1945 he met a representative of the World Jewish Congress and told him that all the deaths in the camps had been due to 'epidemics' and that 'Germans and Jews should bury the hatchet'. And he thought letting some Jewish prisoners go (in return for trucks) would somehow convince the 'Jewish plutocracy to its use its influence' on the West.

His track record in the war's last months really does seem to give credence to this theory. We'll never know for sure - he was a strange cat - but he had a strong impulse for self-preservation - and delusion.

Now, if there's a senior man in the Company who might have gone down defiantly on the stand, it was probably Reinhard Heydrich - if you could take him alive. A true believer down to his bones in a way even Himmler probably wasn't, and certainly not lacking for personal courage. Fortunately for us, the SOE saved the Allied Powers that bother.
 
He would definitely be executed. The only question is whether he would take responsibility and admit his crimes as a true believer in Nazism or put the blame on Hitler.
Given how he abandoned Hitler to save his own skin OTL, he would be a pathetic cringing coward to the end. If Hell is real Goering is never going to let him hear the end of it
 
I don’t believe in Hell but it’s hilarious imagining the Nazi leadership arguing in Hell.
True... imagining the top echelon of the Nazis locked in a room together, somewhere on the Ninth Circle of Hell, and bickering with each other for all eternity is the true definition of eternal damnation :p
 
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