The Nuremberg Interviews

An American Psychiatrist's Conversations with the Defendants and Witnesses

De: Leon Goldensohn, Robert Gellately

Narrado por: Noah Michael Levine, Joshua Kane

The Nuremberg Interviews reveals the chilling innermost thoughts of the former Nazi officials under indictment at the famous postwar trial. The architects of one of history’s greatest atrocities speak out about their lives, their careers in the Nazi Party, and their views on the Holocaust. Their reflections are recorded in a set of interviews conducted by a US Army psychiatrist. Dr. Leon Goldensohn was entrusted with monitoring the mental health of the two dozen German leaders charged with carrying out genocide, as well as that of many of the defense and prosecution witnesses. These recorded conversations have gone largely unexamined for more than 50 years.

Now, Robert Gellately - one of the premier historians of Nazi Germany - has transcribed, edited, and annotated the interviews, and makes them available to the public for the first time in this volume.

Here are interviews with the highest-ranking Nazi officials in the Nuremberg jails, including Hans Frank, Hermann Goering, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and Joachim von Ribbentrop. Here, too, are interviews with the lesser known officials who were, nonetheless, essential to the workings of the Third Reich. Goldensohn was a particularly astute interviewer, his training as a psychiatrist leading him to probe the motives, the rationales, and the skewing of morality that allowed these men to enact an unfathomable evil. Candid and often shockingly truthful, these interviews are deeply disturbing in their illumination of an ideology gone mad.

Each interview is annotated with biographical information that places the man and his actions in their historical context. These interviews are a profoundly important addition to our understanding of the Nazi mind and mission.

©2007 Leon Goldensohn and Robert Gellately (P)2021 Random House Audio

Reseñas de la Crítica

“A gripping work of history, a series of oral narratives that drag the reader, almost by force, into the nightmarish mental landscape of the Third Reich.” (The New York Times)

“A rare document.... Striking proof of the banality of evil.” (Kirkus)

“Goldensohn serves as a down-to-earth Dante in these anterooms to hell, getting one damned soul after another to reveal himself in his own words." (Newsweek)

Right from the horses mouth

A real Unbelievably sad historical document.
Great, and so sorrowful listening.
Immensely disturbing.
Cut right off the disturbing kinds of minds that could plan, and operate such an elaborate horror.

real and true.

I just found it fascinating to hear what these people had to say for themselves after doing what they did.

Very informative

I listened to this to get a taste of what our life will be under Trump. A fascist to his core.

Extraordinary reading

One forgets the dozens of different defendant's voices are from one actor.

While not knowing these folks on trial, the reader's voice sounds true to those WW2 Germans I did meet in the 1960s.

Great historical information, although a bit dry.

I would recommend this book as it is historically significant to the study of world history. Although the presentation was a bit dry.

The Nazis lack of self awareness and fanciful attitude…

Always fascinated by the thinking of the Nazis. The right to exist at all cost to innocent people…

Important work

Beyond the usual, what I find most interesting is how on the mark these folks were regarding communism, the Russian threat and the incompatibility of sino/Russian systems and western systems.

the interactions and questions

this is a great book to understand the motives of the nazi criminals. it also gives you insight on the relationships within the nazi regime.

Too close for comfort 2025

I picked up this title along, previously Heinz Linge’s memoir (Hitler’s valet)— back to back wanted to get accounts to corroborate the historical tales. L

Of course the introduction is long for disclaimer to how the accounts of each interviwee may be truncated for later tales to be told and will eventually make sense— it proves very worthwhile.

This excursion by me is to try to make sense of the current American administration, which seem altruistically fascist, authoritarian, and dictatorial— which also currently, news reports that the administration in the last few days has the DOJ looking at dissent speech as “hate speech” and likely an angle to take up prosecution as a gaslighted “hate crime” —

And sure each defendant states that the atrocities were outside their control, they still had agency to sacrifice themselves— IN ANY FORM— for the greater good they seemed to believe. I do think they were conflicted, but no less guilty.

What after all, a way a storybook ends, when (no spoiler) Paul O. Schmidt relates
“The Nazis kept talking of a ‘Thousand Years’ Reich’ but couldn’t think ahead for five minutes.”

And that is exactly the state of the vastly incompetent, shortsighted, staff of this current US admin.

What’s worse, is most Americans never have ever been curious to discover the minutia of anything past 10th grade history, even if they passed it in summer school. It’s clearly mob mentality and a populist vote, as we’ve seen how in 1933 Hitler was actually voted in and then what?

Give this book a listen before it’s too late. Raise a voice and an action as small as it can be, share your inspiration to the privileged — for the others who have been “othered”.

TRIED

I actually tried to listen to the entire audiobook but the boredom finally, over, took me.