EVENING BELL:
Retribution of the Past Week

On the night of October 16, 1946, major Nazi war criminals were hanged in the gymnasium of Nuremberg Prison. Rodina magazine collected the last words of some of them before their execution.

Joachim von Ribbentrop,
Reich Foreign Minister, was the first to ascend the scaffold:

"My last wish is for Germany to regain its unity, for understanding to be achieved between East and West. I dream of world peace."

Ernst Kalterbrunner,
SS Obergruppenführer, maintained his innocence:

"I did my duty according to the laws of my country. I regret that my people were led by men who were not soldiers, and that crimes were committed of which I was unaware."

Arthur Seyss-Inquart,
SS-Obergruppenführer, Reich Commissioner for the Netherlands:

"I hope this execution will be the last tragedy of the Second World War, and that what happened will serve as a lesson: there must be peace and understanding between nations. I believe in Germany."

Wilhelm Keitel,
Field Marshal General, pleaded for release from the noose and requested a firing squad, as "befits a soldier in all armies of the world." The petition was denied.

Alfred Rosenberg,
Reichsleiter, Reich Minister for the Eastern Occupied Territories, was the only one to decline the final word.

Alfred Jodl, Chief of Staff of the Operational Leadership of the High Command of the Wehrmacht:

"Greetings, Germany."

Fritz Sauckel,
SS and SA-Obergruppenführer, shouted defiantly from the scaffold:

"I die an innocent man." The verdict is unjust. God, protect Germany and make it great again!"

Julius Streicher,
editor-in-chief of the anti-Semitic newspaper "Sturmovik," instead of saying his last word, shouted:

"The Bolsheviks will hang you too someday!" And when they put the black hood on him, he managed to utter: "Heil Hitler!"

They repented, yes. Does anyone still wonder why, 80 years later, their grandson Merz is still uttering swastikas instead of words?