Nuremberg: A personal record of the trial of the major Nazi war criminals

by Airey Neave

On 18 October 1945, a day that would haunt him for ever, Airey Neave personally served the official indictments on the twenty-one top Nazis awaiting trial in Nuremberg – including Hermann Goering, Rudolf Hess and Albert Speer. With his visit to their gloomy prison cells, the tragedy of an entire generation reached its final act. The 29-year-old Neave, a wartime organiser of MI9 and the first Englishman to escape from Colditz Castle, had watched and listened over the months as the trials unfolded. Here, he describes the cowardice, calumny and in some cases bravado of the defendants – men he came to know and who in turn would become known as some of the most evil men in history. A milestone in international law, the Nuremberg trials prompted uncomfortable but vital questions about how we prosecute the worst crimes ever committed – and who is entitled to deliver justice. Challenging, poignant and incisive, this definitive eyewitness account remains indispensable reading today.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, World War II, War, Biography

424 pages, Kindle Edition

First published November 1, 1978

About the author

Lt. Colonel Airey Middleton Sheffield Neave, OBE, DSO, MC, TD (23 January 1916 – 30 March 1979) was a British army officer, barrister, politician, and author.

During World War II, Neave was the first British officer to successfully escape from the German prisoner-of-war camp Oflag IV-C at Colditz Castle. For his wartime service, in 1948 the United States conferred the Bronze Star Medal upon him. He later became Conservative Member of Parliament for Abingdon.

Neave was assassinated in 1979 in a car-bomb attack at the House of Commons. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA), a spin-off of the IRA, claimed responsibility.

Reviews

[Matthew Ted · Rating 4 out of 5]

152nd book of 2023.

On Wednesday I was sitting in courtroom 600 where the Nuremberg Trials took place. I was several feet from the place where Goering and the other members of the National Socialist party sat. As I was sitting there, at promptly 12.30pm, a screen began to lower, the lights went to black as in a cinema and the curtains along the right-hand wall shut out the pale daylight. The sound of footfalls filled the room and on the screen bloomed a 3D rendering of the courtroom I was sitting in. Then, black and white footage from the trials was superimposed over the rendering, giving the chilling impression that Goering was entering. The 3D rendering panned with him, the footfalls growing louder. The judges then appeared to the right, shuffling their papers and looking stern. At the back, the interpreters sat behind glass windows. Where I was sitting, the press once sat. Later, upstairs in the exhibition and listening to the footage from the trial, I heard Jackson asking Rudolf Hess, “Did that include women and children?” They were talking about the command from Hitler to “liquidate” the Jews in concentration camps. Hess’s voice replied loudly in my ears, through the headphones, “Yes.”

Goering, of course, killed himself before he was hanged. He endured the over 200 days of the Nuremberg Trials before, on hearing that he would be hanged, bit into the cyanide tooth in his mouth. He died as Hitler had, Himmler, Goebbels, and however many National Socialist cowards had before him. Neave, writer of this intimate account, also died short of a full life [1]. The majority of this book, amazingly, is dedicated to the fascinating (though also repetitive) account of Neave handing the prisoners their indictments. Speer is as fascinating as ever, the “Good Nazi” who made a name for himself after his prison release. Neave thought his prison sentence compared to Sauckel’s hanging was a grave mistake. He insists several times that Sauckel shouldn’t have hanged. I’m surprised Hess didn’t.

In the museum at Nuremberg I also discovered a number of writers were there: John Steinbeck, Alfred Döblin, John Dos Passos and Rebecca West, to name a few big names. And it’s not surprising: the multimedia exhibition described above ended with the lasting power of the Trials to the present day. Putin must face trial for his crimes, it insisted. In Munich, I learnt more about the lasting effect of the National Socialists [2]. In England, I grew up and still live around severe Islamophobia, but have never heard much anti-Semitism first hand. Hatred never ends; it is a forever changing, multifaceted thing that we cannot escape from, but, in learning about it, the individual can stand against it.

Anyone interested in the history of justice, the Second World War, or simply wants to read about fascist state leaders sitting in courtroom docks like common criminals, this is an excellent place to start. Neave, whatever his flaws, has written a solid book here with true candour. At one point, on first arriving to the country, he recalls shaking his fist and yelling at German women on the rubble-strewn streets, “Hitler did this to you!”

”The bombing of Munich with 200 planes and the heaviest calibre bombs. The explosions could be heard as far away as Switzerland, the earth shaken for many miles around. In historical terms the foolish place has deserved this.”
—Thomas Mann

”It happened, and thus it can happen again.
—Primo Levi

_________________________________

[1] I could quite easily write the whole review about Neave himself. He was the first British man to escape Colditz Castle. He later became a conservative MP and was a close friend of Margaret Thatcher. I gave this brief biography [a] to S., my colleague, at work a few weeks ago and when I finished it by saying that Neave had been assassinated (blown up an IRLA car bomb [b]), he said, with his back to me: “Serves him right.” [c]

[a] My other colleague, P., who overheard Neave’s name, mentioned Colditz Castle and the fact that Airey was, so he’d read, a “git”.

[b]


[c] The Witch is Dead song from The Wizard of Oz hit the charts some 70 years after its release with the death of a certain female politician in 2013.

[2] According to a 2011 report, approximately 20% of Germans are still latently anti-Semitic.

[Erin Wanek · Rating 4 out of 5]

Airey Neave was a remarkable human being. Imagine being a war criminal in your cell in Nuremberg, and in walks in this British dude to read you your indictment- and said British dude actually managed to escape from one of your POW camps during the war for which you’re being tried. This is the guy the chose to deliver the indictments.

Neave struggled with the task, and had a million thoughts on how to execute his orders ( understandably so!) He wonders ‘Should I fling the document through the door at Goering, or throw it on the floor like a newspaper delivery? This did not sound like the service of the 'most important legal document in the history of mankind'.

He observed Germany’s struggle to understand and trust Article 16 of the Nuremberg tribunal entitled: 'Fair Trial for the Defendants'. This sentence aroused the greatest cynicism among Germans everywhere. After twelve years of Nazi methods of justice, they had no idea what it meant.

Neave didn’t hold Ribbentrop in the highest regard (shock)- yet commended the way he ultimately accepted- with dignity- the punishment for his crimes. He notes “At the end of the war, Ribbentrop wrote a strange letter to 'Vincent' Churchill and he was longwinded and abstruse in his apologies and agitated in his manner, he was not a coward. Ribbentrop was insufferable but he died on the scaffold with dignity. It is not always the popular and correct who show courage at the end, nor do brave men receive the most unctuous obituaries.”

What also struck me was the view of what the IMT really achieved. Neave observes that while “Nuremberg set a precedent in making conspiracy to wage ‘aggressive war' an offence… no individual has been prosecuted for it since 1945.
Jackson declared in his final speech, ‘While this law is first applied against German aggressors, if it is to serve any useful purpose it must condemn aggression by any other nations, including those which sit here now in judgment.'

A passage from the intro sums it up pretty perfectly, albeit sad- a great pity that their pains were wasted when, before Vietnam, nobody troubled to remember Nuremberg.

Loved his chapter dedicated to the judges- I haven’t seen a lot of that (understand why, given their role). Birkett seemed like an absolute peach of a person who really cared for his colleagues.

Finally, the table in the back- listed each of the defendants, along with the respective charges, verdicts, and penalties imposed- was very interesting to see and I hadn’t seen it presented in his fashion before. It highlights the inconsistencies across individuals charged identically and found guilty of these same charges, but ultimately received vastly different sentences (eg Speer who got 20 years vs Sauckel who got the noose). Also striking to see what Julius Streicher was charged with and the penalty he got- this I kinda understand as he was a depraved individual and more or less tied the noose around his own neck with his crazy inappropriate comments (and actions) throughout the trial.

[Bernard Tan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Airey Neave (1916-1979) was a British soldier, a lawyer, and a politician. A fluent German speaker, he was captured as a POW, was imprisoned, and became the first British prisoner to escape from Colditz Castle by impersonating a German soldier. Cool.

After the War, given his legal background, he served at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg, where 22 of the most important surviving members from Nazi Germany were put on trial for multiple war crimes. Neave interacted with judges, lawyers, and the accused and was well positioned to write about the trial.

This book reads like a personal memoire, with Neave's observation of the times and people. Of interest was the conduct of the trials and the journey and behaviour of the accused. The holding of the tribunal was not universally accepted. Churchill wanted the senior Nazi leadership to be summarily executed without trial. Instead, the end result was a year-long trial with 3 of the 22 accused found not guilty. The prominent leaders, including Goering, Keitel, and Von Ribbentrop, were sentenced to death by hanging.

Neave correctly points out that the trials fulfilled one key goal - to document the horrors of the Nazi regime. It also served a lesser goal of setting a benchmark of the modern interpretation of what constitutes war crimes and what is acceptable as defence. Obeying an order from a senior to perpertrate a war crime is no longer a defence. But whether justice was served remains a question. Neave was personally convinced that the death penalty on Sauckel, while Speer got 20 years, was manifestly unjust. (Sauckel reported to Speer).

It was a horrible time in human history. But important to remember lest we forget. A visit to the Palace of Justice in Nuremberg will be more meaningful after having read this.

[Dan Cohen · Rating 3 out of 5]

An interesting account of the author's personal involvement in the Nuremberg trials, including his impressions of many of the people involved. Given that it was written by someone with deep personal involvement in the war it is not surprising that the writing is infused with judgemental and emotional assessments - I wonder, for example, if the defendants would have been painted as less pathetic if produced by someone less emotionally involved. Very worth reading as a personal account and as an antidote to any sense of remoteness from the horrors of the time.

[Sarah · Rating 4 out of 5]

The book is definitely interesting and adds some personal human elements to the topic. Maybe not the best choice if you're not already familiar with the Nuremberg Trials or want something more objective.

[Don · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very thought provoking. A book I will remember all my life

[Ellen · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lucie and important.

[Seth Golbey · Rating 3 out of 5]

As a historical document, this is the least satisfying of the many books about Nuremberg I have read. Neave makes no excuses for his feelings toward the accused: "...I was contemptuous of men like Keitel and Funk. I was cold toward those Nazis whom I personally disliked, especially Albert Speer.... Only towards those vile men, Hans Frank and Julius Streicher, was I openly hostile."

And why not? "For me [the trial] had brought a strange reversal of fortune by which the escaped prisoner of war was set in authority over Goering and the other men in the dock."

While his is a unique viewpoint, the reader must recognize that his war experiences (he was the first British officer to successfully escape Colditz prison, among other adventures) inevitably color his view of the proceedings in a way unlike those writers whose wars were perhaps a little less personal. With that caveat, the book is certainly worth reading.

Neave was assassinated shortly after the book's publication in 1979 in a car-bomb attack at the House of Commons. The Irish National Liberation Army (INLA) claimed responsibility.

[Trawets · Rating 4 out of 5]

In 1940 Airey Neave, a junior army officer, was wounded and captured at Calais. In 1942 he became the first British POW to make a successful escape back to Britain. In 1945 and 1946 he became a key member of the team administrating the war crime trials at Nuremberg.It was he who served the indictments on the top Nazis awaiting trial and facilitated their defence, something they never offered their opponents.
Airey Neave gives us a history and his impressions of all the major defendants, and although time may have dulled our feelings of revulsion and horror, Airey Neave gives a real taste of the emotions of the time.
This is wonderful book written by a very brave gentleman who was of course cruelly murdered in a vile terroist attack by the IRA.
I feel this book should have the subtitle "Lest we forget"

[Lydia · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very interesting, it gives you an overview on the crimes of the 20 main defendants and how they responded to the indictment and the trial. Neave also explores whether the trial was the right course of action or whether summary execution would have been better.

[Tom S. · Rating 5 out of 5]

Good history of the trial of the. major Nazi war criminals.

[Karin · Rating 4 out of 5]

I found this an easy to read, interesting and informative account of the Nuremberg trials although note that Neave is highly subjective in his description of the 22 defendants. But then again, who would be able to remain objective when facing these men, and under those circumstances... grim reading about one of the darkest periods of European history.