Inside Nuremberg Prison: Hitler's Henchmen Behind Bars

by Helen Fry

  During 1944, Churchill and Roosevelt were of the opinion that certain named Nazi war criminals should be executed without trial. Britain had argued that once caught, top Nazi war criminals should be executed immediately because their guilt was incontestable. Stalin appeared to agree until he rescinded and told them in October 1944 that there should be a trial, if for no other reason than to assure the world that the Allies as victors were not exacting revenge. Stalin’s motives in suggesting this may have been twofold: to redeem the West’s view of him since he had liquidated millions of his own people, and because he could use the trial as a propaganda tool. The Americans came to see that summary executions were not appropriate and a trial more advisable.

  The situation took a turn with the death of President Roosevelt on 12 April 1945. Roosevelt was succeeded by Harry Truman who immediately endorsed the Soviet demands for a full trial. For the trial to succeed, the four powers had to come to agreement on its form, the charges to be brought, which war criminals would be tried and the location. Each country had a different judiciary system but eventually the British and Americans worked out a compromise on the proceedings. Certain civic rights in the US judiciary system would be denied the accused i.e. calling on the Fifth Amendment (the right to remain silent and not answer a question). The defendants would have to answer questions posed to them by the legal teams during the trial.

  With the agreements made, by the time the trial opened there was no doubt in the minds of the four occupying powers of the purpose of the court. The legal teams were there to ensure that Nazism would never rise again and justice would be executed. In the words of British Prosecutor Sir Hartley Shawcross, it was: ‘first, retribution for those who committed the crimes; second, that right will prevail and thirdly, the individual shall transcend the state.’ He went on to famously say: ‘There comes a point when a man must refuse to answer to his leader if he is also to answer to his own conscience.’

  Shawcross was concerned that the trial should not be seen by the outside world as reprisal by the victors. Instead he emphasized the rule of law so the trial would keep its integrity. Much of the trial of course was taken up with endless complex legal statements and arguments which were largely meaningless and mundane for all those present except the legal teams. The defendants looked to Hermann Goering for advice at key moments during the trial. Goering resented anything which meant he was not the centre of attention and that applied to the courtroom. In his eyes, he had to have the best seat in the court. He disapproved of the other defendants taking a lead role or stealing the limelight from him.

  The daily running of the trial relied on fluent German speakers. These were drawn largely from those German-refugees who had once fled the regime and were now serving in the British and American forces. They were posted to Nuremberg as translators and interpreters to help the justice system in the months preceding the trial and during it. One of those émigrés was Howard Triest whose unique story follows. His life up until 1945 essentially parallels the birth and death of Nazism. It is a tale of two cities: Munich and Nuremberg, cities that symbolised the birth and death of the Third Reich. Munich – the birthplace and cradle of Nazism. Nuremberg – the death place of Nazism.

  Munich had nursed the nascent political aspirations of Adolf Hitler and his henchmen. In November 1923, nine months after Howard Triest was born in the city, it witnessed Hitler’s failed Putsch when he and his closest circle attempted to overthrow the Bavarian government. Amongst the circle were Rudolf Hess and Hermann Goering who would later stand trial in Nuremberg. Munich was also once home to Heinrich Himmler, Hitler’s right-hand man who masterminded the liquidation program of the Jews. After the failed Putsch, Hitler was arrested and spent a year in prison where, with the aid of Rudolf Hess, he wrote his infamous book Mein Kampf. Nuremberg, once the symbol of Nazi might in the 1930s, became the city where justice was ultimately executed and where Howard witnessed first-hand the final downfall of the regime.

  What follows is first a detailed look at Howard’s early life and how the Nazi regime impacted upon it to understand what he lived through and the poignancy of the events which eventually led to his posting to Nuremberg. It is also in stark ironic contrast to the situation he was to find himself during his time at Nuremberg Prison. Howard’s position at Nuremberg gave him an unprecedented insight into life behind bars for the former leaders of the Nazi government. What unfolded in those cells would have seemed implausible if written as fiction. This is a true story and one which sheds light on a little known aspect of the Nazi leaders during the final year of their lives.

  PART 2

  HOWARD’S STORY

  TWO

  MUNICH AND THE HITLER YEARS

  HOWARD TRIEST’S STORY began in Munich as Hans Heinz Triest on 29 March 1923 in a former painter’s apartment at 2-4 Manhardt Strasse. His mother, Lina, and father, Berthold, had married the previous year on 23 April. Berthold was a proud veteran of the First World War, having fought in the German forces for four years in the rank of Feldlazarett Inspektor, for which he was awarded the Iron Cross. The experience of war left its scars and he rarely spoke about his experiences. After the war, Berthold set up a business Neumeyer & Triest in Munich with Mr Neumeyer. They purchased a factory at 2-4 Mueller Strasse and manufactured gentlemen’s clothing, dressing gowns, pyjamas and shirts. The factory employed around 150 people.

  When Howard was 18 months old, his parents moved from Manhardt Strasse to 53 Reitmorstrasse in the suburbs of Munich. His sister Margot was born there on 19 April 1929. Howard and Margot grew up in an upper-middle class environment in which their parents employed a cook and lived in a smart apartment. They were raised as Reform Jews and only attended services for the High Holy Days. Their parents saw themselves as patriotic Germans. As a largely assimilated German Jewish family, Berthold and Lina taught their children to respect their German culture and roots. He recalled:

  ‘German Jews were always German first, Jews second. Our family was no exception. My father loved Germany and was deeply loyal to his country. It was his homeland until the Nazis forced us out. He and my mother share the same birthday, although they were born in different years. My mother was born Lina Westheimer on 8 January 1899 in Karlsruhe; my father in Bamberg on 8 January 1886. We never discussed the religious upbringing of my parents or grandparents. My maternal grandmother ate kosher meat but had other meat in the house for her son Kurt, my uncle, who ate anything.’

  Berthold was a reserved man by nature. Lina was a beautiful, outgoing and vivacious woman who enjoyed entertaining.

  Howard’s earliest childhood memory was of starting school. The first four years were spent at the Gebele School, a German state school. It was a twenty-five minute walk across a large bridge over the picturesque river Isar. Sometimes, his father’s chauffeur Jungmeyer took the young Howard to school if his father did not need the car for work. Jews were a minority in Howard’s school. On occasion, the 1-hour religious studies lesson was provided by a local rabbi. From the Gebele School, Howard attended the Wilhelms Gymnasium where he learnt Latin and Greek. After a year, he transferred to a Real Gymnasium for modern languages where he added English and French to his repertoire. Then he attended the Hoehere Handelsschule where he added subjects such as typing and shorthand to his knowledge of modern languages.

  It was a life sheltered, free from the worries and political instability within Germany in the 1920s. At that time, nothing shattered the idyll that characterised Howard’s childhood or that of other Jews living in Germany. No one foresaw in those early years that within a decade the world would be turned upside and Germany’s Jews hunted down and persecuted.

  In the 1920s, Germany was still reeling from the effects of the 1914-18 war and the subsequent Treaty of Versailles (1919) in which Allies America, France, Britain and Russia forced Germany to pay huge reparations and imposed restrictions on future military rearmament. Germany and much of Europe was suffering the effects of hyper-inflation. ‘Milk sold for a million
marks,’ comments Howard. Germany not only had to cope with hyper-inflation but the financial repercussions of Allied war reparations. The subsequent humiliation led to a nation with a severe loss of pride. The German people yearned for change. The Treaty of Versailles held within it the seeds for Adolf Hitler’s rise to power in the 1930s and another world war. He promised to restore Germany’s pride, build a great nation again and a world without inflation and poverty. All this was soon to impact on Howard’s childhood.

  LIFE UNDER NAZISM

  At the age of ten, Howard experienced the full brunt of the Nazi regime. On 30 January 1933, Adolf Hitler came to power in Germany. The majority of ordinary Germans embraced his leadership because of his persuasive promises of jobs at a time of mass unemployment and high inflation. The new leader raised Germany’s hopes by injecting a much yearned-for pride back into the nation. Howard’s parents and wider family (his aunts and uncles), like many Jews at that time, could not believe it had happened. Howard knew from the adults around him that Hitler’s new power was bad news, but had no real comprehension of why. Although his parents knew the situation was grave, they held to the not uncommon view amongst Germany’s Jews that it would all blow over. They believed that Hitler would not last.

  Like much of Europe, Germany was in a state of political upheaval but it was seen as a temporary state of affairs. Governments in Europe generally were not very secure at that time so, in those early days, the Triests felt they had nothing to fear in the long-term from the Nazi regime. Perhaps Lina, more than any other family member, realized the gravity of the situation because she hired an English expatriate to tutor Howard and Margot in the English language. When later in 1940 Howard found himself living in America, he was able to be understood because of his basic knowledge of English from the tutor.

  On 23 March 1933, Hitler’s power was extended further when the German parliament passed a Bill enabling him to rule by decree. With rapid effect, Hitler turned Germany into a one-party Nazi state. This almost absolute control was to have devastating consequences for the Jews of Europe over the next thirteen years. As Jews, Howard’s family would find themselves irrevocably caught up in these events. For the young Howard the political situation largely passed over his head in those early days because he did not see how it would affect him personally. However one event during 1933 was particularly memorable. He recalls:

  ‘My mother, father, sister and I were having a day out beside a lake with extended family. Some of the adults began to remark that Hitler had just become Chancellor and had gained complete power. I remember this discussion because of their reaction to the news – they were all terribly upset. I didn’t think much about it. I was more concerned about my toys, school and running around having a good time.’

  The visible effects of the Nazi regime were now everywhere. Streets and squares in Munich were re-named. Nazi flags hung from buildings in the main streets, and Stormtroopers (SS) and Sturm Abteilung (SA) men carried out regular patrols. On 1 April 1933, the Nazis ordered a boycott of Jewish shops and businesses in Germany. Signs appeared saying ‘this is a Jewish shop. You are not allowed to shop here’. On non-Jewish shops, signs read ‘Juden sind unerwünscht’ (Jews not allowed here). The same signs eventually appeared on notices at public places like swimming pools, dental and medical practices and cinemas. Fortunately Berthold Triest’s factory at 2-4 Mueller Strasse remained untouched at this time by the boycott of Jewish businesses.

  Just seven days later, on 7 April 1933, a law was passed prohibiting Jews from practicing in the legal profession. This sparked the first wave of emigration of professional intellectual Jews from Germany to countries like Britain and America. Jewish intellectuals were targeted again when Minister of Propaganda Joseph Goebbels ordered the burning of so-called “undesirable” books on 10 May 1933. These included the works by leading figures like Karl Marx, Heinrich Heine and Sigmund Freud. In Berlin’s university square, academics and students gathered to begin an action that would see the burning of at least 20,000 books. Such was the brainwashing of the German nation that most of the younger generation had no knowledge of what they were burning, having never read the books being cast ceremoniously into the flames.

  Reality came closer to home for Howard when, two months later on 15 July 1933, his uncle Kurt Westheimer (his mother’s brother) was arrested by the Gestapo at his place of work in Munich. Uncle Kurt worked for Klaubers, a Munich-based firm which manufactured ladies fine slips and gowns. A group of Gestapo officers arrived on site and demanded to speak to some of the employees. Kurt replied: “Not now. They’re working. You can speak to them on their day off.”

  His reply was deemed anti-Nazi obstruction. He was immediately arrested and taken off to Dachau concentration camp, 7km north-west of Munich. The camp at Dachau, which had opened four months earlier in March 1933, was the first of Hitler’s concentration camps. In the early days, it was used to intern political dissidents of the State and was intended as a deterrent to scare the German people into submission to the Nazi ideal. Over a number of years, the Commandant Theodor Eicke ran a brutal regime under squads of SS “Death head” units.

  During its operational years until liberation by American forces on 29 April 1945, over 200,000 prisoners were incarcerated in the camp. At least 30,000 officially died there, although the figures are probably higher since many deaths went unrecorded. Conditions were deliberately harsh and brutal. Kurt’s arrival is recorded in the Zugangsbuch (entry ledger). The records show that he was deployed to a prisoner roadworks unit in August and September 1933.

  Kurt was one of the lucky ones who survived Dachau. He was finally released after approximately a year, although the archives at Dachau do not record the exact date of release. A year in the camp meant that even in freedom and only in his thirties, Kurt was unfit for proper work. Even if he could have worked, as a Jew he could no longer get a work permit. After his release Kurt did not speak about his time in the camp because if he had, he would have been re-arrested and sent back there. In 1935, he and his wife emigrated to America and settled in Detroit. He changed his name to Kurt West. ‘It was lucky that he got out,’ comments Howard, ‘because if he had stayed, he would certainly not have survived the Holocaust.’

  A MATTER OF SURVIVAL

  Events for Germany’s Jews deteriorated yet further in 1934 when German President Hindenburg died at the age of 86, thus paving the way for Adolf Hitler to grasp a tighter hold on power. Hitler was proclaimed ‘Führer and Reichskanzler’ [Chancellor]. With the death of Hindenburg, Hitler’s power base was absolute. Nothing stood in his way. He embarked on a program of re-armament in direct contravention of the Treaty of Versailles.

  By the following year, he had formed the Luftwaffe (the German air force) and introduced conscription for men between the ages of 18 and 45. There was worse news for German Jews when, in the summer of 1935, the Nuremberg Laws were passed. These racial laws forbade fraternization between Aryans and Jews, and Jews were no longer allowed to marry non-Jews or be seen together. Howard does not remember feeling frightened during this period, except on the odd occasion when there were raids in the neighbourhood: ‘When there were searches by the SA and Gestapo, I would go to my bedroom and pull the covers over my head. I thought that if they came to us no one would see me under the bed sheet!’

  However, as Howard soon discovered, he personally had an easier time under the Nazis. With his blond hair and blue eyes, he looked the perfect Aryan. Neither did he have an obviously Jewish surname. In his lederhosen he passed off as a nice German boy. The newspaper Der Stürmer was distributed everywhere depicting [supposedly] what a Jew looked like. Howard wandered around Munich freely and was never stopped by Gestapo, SS or Brownshirts. It highlighted the failure of the Nazi myth about being able to define who was a Jew. Ironically the same scenario would be played out during Howard’s experience in the Nuremberg Prison eleven years later.

  The only time Howard ever had issue with his Jewishness was at school but
there again he was originally mistaken for an Aryan. On the first day at High School the children chose their seats in the classroom. Howard sat next to his Jewish friend:

  ‘A couple of boys came over to me and said: “you don’t want to sit next to that Jew.” They didn’t realize I was Jewish. I replied: “I am Jewish.”

  “Oh” they said and walked away. German schoolchildren were educated to be attuned to who was a Jew and what a Jew was supposed to look like.’

  Even now Berthold Triest still believed that Hitler would not last, until one day an incident occurred which caused him to take his family immediately to Luxembourg. The family was returning from an afternoon outing in one of the parks outside Munich.

  Howard overheard his parents speaking to his aunt and uncle. They seemed very excited and told Howard and his sister Margot that they would be leaving that night to stay with relatives in Luxembourg. No explanation was given. The family packed that night and left Germany. It was still possible then for Jews to travel and hold a passport then. It was only sometime later that Howard found out the reason for their hurried departure. His uncle Max’s brother, Justin Brandeis (a bachelor), had had an affair with a non-Jewish woman, now forbidden under Nazi law. As a consequence, Brandeis was in hiding from the Gestapo and faced being thrown into prison or killed when caught. Berthold thought this could lead to repercussions for the rest of the family, hence his decision to leave his home and business and take his family to Luxembourg.

  As a precaution, Max Brandeis and his wife Heddy also left with their two children (Walter and Ruth) for Belgium and never returned to Germany. Eventually, they were able to emigrate to Palestine with the help of friends who paid £5,000 (over a year’s salary for some professions) to secure their emigration. Berthold kept the family in Luxembourg for a few days and then decided perhaps they ought to return to Munich because of his business. He still believed that one day things would get better for the Jews.