Nuremberg Diary is Gustave Gilbert's account of interviews he conducted during the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders, including Hermann Göring, involved in World War II and the Holocaust.
Gilbert, a fluent German speaker, served as a prison psychologist in Nuremberg, arriving on October 20, 1945, where he had close contact with those on trial. The text is the verbatim notes Gilbert took immediately after having conversations with the prisoners, information backed up by essays he asked them to write about themselves.
Following the indictments, Gilbert writes: "I asked each of the defendants to autography my copy... with a brief statement giving his opinion of it". Out of the twenty responses received, most either proclaimed personal innocence while blaming Hitler and Himmler, or dismissed the charges entirely. Rosenberg and Streicher blamed the Jews.
Background and Contents of the Book
In 1945, after the end of the war, Gilbert was sent to Nuremberg, Germany, as a translator for the International Military Tribunal for the trials of the World War II German prisoners. Gilbert was appointed the prison psychologist of the German prisoners. During the process of the trials Gilbert became, after Douglas Kelley, the confidant of Hermann Göring, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Keitel, Hans Frank, Oswald Pohl, Otto Ohlendorf, Rudolf Höss, and Ernst Kaltenbrunner, among others. Gilbert and Kelley administered the Rorschach inkblot test to the 22 defendants in the Nazi leadership group prior to the first set of trials. Gilbert also participated in the Nuremberg trials as the American Military Chief Psychologist and provided testimony attesting to the sanity of Rudolf Hess.
Gilbert also administered IQ tests to the Nazi leadership. Hjalmar Schacht scored highest with 143 points, followed by Arthur Seyss-Inquart and Göring. Julius Streicher scored lowest with 106 points.
In 1946, after the trials, Gilbert returned to the US. Gilbert stayed busy teaching, researching, and writing. In 1947 he published part of his diary, consisting of observations taken during interviews, interrogations, "eavesdropping" and conversations with German prisoners, under the title Nuremberg Diary. (This diary was reprinted in full in 1961 just before the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem.)
The following is a famous exchange Gilbert had with Göring from this book:
Göring: Why, of course, the people don't want war. Why would some poor slob on a farm want to risk his life in a war when the best that he can get out of it is to come back to his farm in one piece? Naturally, the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor for that matter in Germany. That is understood. But, after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship.
Gilbert: There is one difference. In a democracy the people have some say in the matter through their elected representatives, and in the United States only Congress can declare wars.
Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
Publication History and Editions
The diary was first published in 1947, again in 1948, and reissued in 1961, just before the trial of Adolf Eichmann in Jerusalem.
The 1948 London edition contains a foreword by Sir David Maxwell Fyfe, Deputy Chief Prosecutor for the British Legation. The edition is abridged, although this is not stated. For example, Göring's comment that "the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country." is not present.
References
- Gilbert, G. M.; Gilbert, Gustave Mark (1947). Nuremberg Diary. Farrar, Straus. p. 9. ISBN 978-0-374-22351-9.
- p. 3-4
- Gilbert, G. M.; Gilbert, Gustave Mark (1947). Nuremberg Diary. Farrar, Straus. p. 10. ISBN 978-0-374-22351-9.
- Ibid. pg. 10-13
- El-Hai 2013. sfn error: no target: CITEREFEl-Hai2013 (help)
- Main 2015. sfn error: no target: CITEREFMain2015 (help)
- Heydecker, Joe Julius (1975). The Nuremberg trial : a history of Nazi Germany as revealed through the testimony at Nuremberg. Westport, Conn. : Greenwood Press. p. 83. ISBN 978-0-8371-8131-8.
- Gilbert, Gustave (16 August 1995). Nuremberg Diary. DaCapo Press. p. 34. Retrieved 17 January 2024.
- New York: Farrar, Straus and Company.
- London: Eyre & Spottiswoode.
- New York: Signet.
- The last paragraph of Ch. 12: Frank's Defense.
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