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TMS in German, signed "Hermann Göring," four pages, 8 x 13, no date but circa August 1946. Göring's retained draft of his final statement as read before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on August 31, 1946, in part (translated): "The prosecution in the final speeches has treated the defendants and their testimony as absolutely worthless. The statements made on oath by the defendants were accepted as absolutely true when they seemed to support the Indictment, but characterized as perjury when they refuted the Indictment…The prosecution uses the fact that I was the second man in the State as proof that I must have known all that happened. But it does not present any documentary or other valid proof when I have denied on oath that I knew about certain things, much less desired them. It is therefore only an allegation a conjecture when the prosecution says, 'Who should have known these things if not Goering, who was successor to the Fuehrer?'…
I desire to state clearly once more before the High Tribunal that I never decreed the murder of a single individual at any time, nor did I order or tolerate other atrocities when I had the power and the knowledge to prevent them…Mr. Jackson stated that one cannot accuse and punish a state, but that the leaders must be held responsible. He seems to forget that Germany was a sovereign state and that her legislation within the boundaries of the German nation was not subject to the jurisdiction of foreign countries…The German people placed their trust in the Fuehrer, and under his authoritarian rule they had no influence on events…The German people are free from guilt.
I did not desire the war, nor did I bring it about. I did everything to prevent it by negotiations. After it had broken out. I did everything to assure victory. As the three greatest powers on earth, together with many other nations, were fighting against us, we finally succumbed to their tremendous superiority. I stand on what I have done, but I deny most emphatically that my actions were dictated by the desire to subjugate foreign peoples by war, to murder, rob or enslave them, to commit crimes…The only motive which guided me was my ardent love for my people, its happiness, its freedom, and its life. And to this I call on the Almighty and my German people to bear witness." Göring makes a ten-line handwritten pencil correction in the margin of the first page, and a three-word correction to the second page—reflecting his last attempts to shape his historical legacy and save his own life. In very good to fine condition, with central vertical and horizontal folds, light creasing, and a band of subtle toning across the top.
Hermann Göring—the most infamous surviving Nazi and the main target of the International Military Tribunal—stood trial at Nuremberg as a chief architect of Germany’s war of aggression and the regime’s crimes against humanity. As Reichsmarschall and head of the Luftwaffe, he was accused of orchestrating war plans, exploiting occupied territories, and overseeing institutions that enabled mass murder, including the concentration camps. Throughout the trial, Göring attempted to portray himself as a loyal bureaucrat who acted in the interest of the state and was unaware of the full extent of atrocities, seeking witness testimony to support his claims. Despite his defenses and attempts to manipulate the proceedings, he was convicted on multiple counts, including crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. Sentenced to death, he committed suicide by ingesting cyanide the night before his scheduled execution.
Provenance: Lot 119, Auction 122, Charles Hamilton Galleries, Inc., New York, September 6, 1979.
