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The cold steel bars of Nuremberg Prison held men who once commanded armies, orchestrated invasions, and sent millions to their deaths. Now, stripped of power and awaiting their own execution, the remaining Nazi leaders faced their final hours in quiet isolation. On the night of October 15, 1946, the silence in the cells was broken only by the occasional footsteps of guards and the clinking of cutlery. The condemned men were served their last meals, a final indulgence before the gallows called them one by one.
Hermann Göring, once Hitler’s second-in-command and the head of the Luftwaffe, had long grown bloated on luxury. He had spent years in prison shedding weight from his morphine addiction, but when offered his final meal, he chose something simple—sausages, potatoes, and a side of wine. It was an unceremonious end for a man who once lived in opulent palaces. Yet, in the ultimate act of defiance, Göring never made it to the scaffold. Hours before his scheduled hanging, he bit down on a cyanide capsule, robbing the Allies of their justice.
The others had no such escape. Joachim von Ribbentrop, Hitler’s foreign minister, ate a meager meal of spaghetti before being led away. Wilhelm Keitel, the once-formidable Field Marshal, dined on a plate of roast meat and potatoes, a modest farewell for a man who had signed orders condemning thousands to death. Alfred Jodl, another high-ranking general, opted for something similar.
As the night wore on, the guards watched their prisoners finish their last bites, some eating in silence, others barely touching their food. Some had accepted their fate, while others clung to delusions of dignity. By the early hours of October 16, the prisoners were led, one by one, to the gallows. The makeshift execution chamber inside the prison gymnasium was dimly lit, the thick ropes hanging ominously in the air.
One after another, they climbed the wooden steps, offered their final words, and fell through the trapdoor. The Nuremberg Trials had reached their grim conclusion, and the world had witnessed justice served—not just in the courtroom, but at the end of a rope.