The Nuremberg Pre-Trial Interrogations
The Nuremberg Pre-Trial Interrogations
Hitler's Inner Circle
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This is a fairly lengthy collection of interviews obtained as part of the preparation of the Allies case for the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial. The interviews were with Goring, Speer, Hess, and Ribbentrop. The characters of these individuals do come through the interviews. Goring seems to be playing with his interrogators. Speer acknowledged what he knew. Hess plays insane. Ribbentrop tries to negotiate a deal based on his taking responsibility in name only.
There are some details that might be gleaned here, but I have to think that a lot of this material is basically untrustworthy without corroboration. All them - even Speer to some extent - attempted to put the blame on the missing Nazis - Himmler and Hitler. They all claimed ignorance of the Holocaust and what was going on in the Concentration Camps. Speer did admit that he knew that he was requisitioning slave labor, but did not know the details of how the slaves were selected (which may have been true.)
Even his fellow Nazis were dumbfounded by Hess's game of pretending that he had no memory of them. There are some unintentionally funny exchanges between old Nazis and the interrogators about Hess's claim that he could not remember them.
As a source, this is interesting and may add some marginal value if you have a research project. I am not sure how much value this would have as a main text.