KARL DOENITZ
Naval Admiral and Commander-in-Chief of the Kriegsmarine. Doenitz was the instigator of the German U-boat campaign, which resulted in the sinking of hundreds of merchant and military ships. A vocal supporter of Adolf Hitler and Nazi ideology throughout the war, Doenitz became President of Germany following Hitler’s suicide in April 1945 and held the office until his arrest the following month.
(Image: Bundesarchiv, Bild, 146-1976-127-06A/CC-BY-SA 3.0.)
CURRICULUM GUIDE VOLUME 4: LIBERATION & LEGACY | THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM
HANS FRANK
Reich Law Leader from 1933-1945. Frank was a lawyer who provided legal counsel to the Nazi Party and also worked as Adolf Hitler’s personal lawyer. In 1939, he took on the role of Governor-General of the German occupation government in Poland. In this position, Frank supervised the movement of Polish Jews into ghettos and the use of the Jewish and Polish population as forced laborers. In a speech to Nazi senior officials, Frank stated, “We must annihilate the Jews wherever we find them and whenever it is possible.” He was captured in May 1945 and put on trial at Nuremberg later that year, where he confessed to a number of the charges leveled against him.
(Image: Office of the US Chief of Counsel, Charles Alexander, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library, 72-918.)
CURRICULUM GUIDE VOLUME 4: LIBERATION & LEGACY | THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM
WILHELM FRICK
Minister of the Interior in Adolf Hitler’s Cabinet from 1933-1943. Frick later became Governor and Reich Protector of Bohemia and Moravia. He was responsible for writing many laws that helped consolidate and strengthen Nazi Party power and legalize attacks on Jewish communities, including deportation to concentration camps. Frick coauthored the Nuremberg Race Laws, which defined “German Blood” as superior and forbade intermarriage between Germans and Jews. He also drafted laws forbidding the hiring of Jewish workers, as well as laws introducing universal military conscription. Frick was arrested and put on trial at Nuremberg, where he refused to testify on his own behalf.
(Image: Office of the US Chief of Counsel, Charles Alexander, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library, 72-919.)
CURRICULUM GUIDE VOLUME 4: LIBERATION & LEGACY | THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM HERMANN GOERING
Commander of the Luftwaffe, Goering also oversaw the creation and acted as the original head of the Gestapo. For a time, Goering was the second-highest ranking member of the Nazi Party and Hitler’s chosen successor. He demanded the registration of all Jewish property and directed the seizure of that property, including artwork, from Holocaust victims. He personally oversaw the import of stolen goods and selected items for his own collection, amassing a personal fortune. In the final days of the war, Goering fell out of favor after Hitler began to doubt his loyalty. Fearing execution by the Nazis, Goering surrendered to US troops on May 6, 1945, and was later tried for his crimes at Nuremberg.
(Image: Office of the US Chief of Counsel, Charles Alexander, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library, 72-911.)
CURRICULUM GUIDE VOLUME 4: LIBERATION & LEGACY | THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM
RUDOLF HESS
Appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler from 1933-1941, and declared next in line for succession behind Hermann Goering. All legislation unrelated to the military required approval from Hess to pass, including the Nuremberg Laws of 1935 that legalized separation and suppression of Jewish communities. Organizer of the annual Nuremberg Nazi rallies, Hess also acted as Hitler’s delegate in negotiations. In 1941, without permission, Hess traveled to Scotland in an attempt to broker peace with the United Kingdom. While there, he was arrested and imprisoned until put on further trial at Nuremberg.
(Image: Office of the US Chief of Counsel, Charles Alexander, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library, 72-912.)
CURRICULUM GUIDE VOLUME 4: LIBERATION & LEGACY | THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM
ALFRED JODL
German General and Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command. Jodl signed the Commissar Order in 1941, which called for all Soviet political or supervisory officers captured with Soviet troops, or any prisoners associated in any way with Bolshevik ideology, to be shot and executed on the spot. In 1942, he signed the Commando Order, which called for all Allied commandos to be killed immediately without trial. At the end of the war, Jodl signed Germany’s unconditional surrender, and he was later arrested on May 23, 1945.
(Image: Office of the US Chief of Counsel, Charles Alexander, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library, 72-926.)
CURRICULUM GUIDE VOLUME 4: LIBERATION & LEGACY | THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM WILHELM KEITEL
German field marshal and Chief of the Armed Forces High Command. Considered to be Adolf Hitler’s mouthpiece, other Nazi officials criticized Keitel as little more than a lackey and simple “yes man” to Hitler. Keitel signed the Commissar Order in 1941, which legalized shooting Soviet political or supervisory officers captured by Germany on sight. He similarly ordered that anyone suspected of committing an offense against Nazi troops be shot without trial. Keitel also signed Hitler’s Nacht und Nebel “Night and Fog” Decree, which resulted in the movement to concentration camps and mass execution of political activists and resistance fighters.
(Image: Office of the US Chief of Counsel, Charles Alexander, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library, 72-915.)
CURRICULUM GUIDE VOLUME 4: LIBERATION & LEGACY | THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM
JOACHIM VON RIBBENTROP
Foreign Minister of Nazi Germany from 1938-1945. Ribbentrop became an adviser on foreign policy to Adolf Hitler early in the 1930s, and he led conversations with foreign governments to conceal Nazi efforts to rearm the German military as it prepared for war. He favored a German alliance with Japan over China, and his diplomatic negotiations helped agitate tensions between Nazi Germany and Poland. Ribbentrop played a key role in securing the Soviet-German Non-Aggression Pact in 1939, which led to Germany’s invasion of Poland, and later France. He also put pressure on regions under Nazi rule to deport Jews to concentration camps. As World War II progressed, Ribbentrop’s importance waned alongside the decreased need for diplomacy. He was arrested on June 14, 1945, following Germany’s surrender and was put on trial at Nuremberg.
(Image: Office of the US Chief of Counsel, Charles Alexander, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library, 72-924.)
CURRICULUM GUIDE VOLUME 4: LIBERATION & LEGACY | THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM
ALFRED ROSENBERG
Writer of racial theory that influenced Nazi ideology, and Reich Minister of the Eastern Occupied Territories from 1941-1945. Rosenberg served as the temporary leader of the National Socialist movement during Adolf Hitler’s imprisonment following the failed Beer Hall Putsch. He published works on racial theory, promoting ideas on the purported purity of Aryan blood over the Jewish race. Rosenberg took on the role of the Nazi Party’s chief racial theorist and educational leader of the Reich, platforms he used to construct justification of Nazi efforts to exterminate those who fell outside of the Party’s idealized Aryan race. Arrested at the end of the war, he was put on trial at Nuremberg.
(Image: Office of the US Chief of Counsel, Charles Alexander, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library, 72-917)
CURRICULUM GUIDE VOLUME 4: LIBERATION & LEGACY | THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM ALBERT SPEER
Minister of Armaments and War Production in Nazi Germany. A trained architect, Speer helped design Nazi Party rallies at Nuremberg, bringing his work to Adolf Hitler’s attention, with whom Speer formed a close friendship. Working as General Building Inspector in 1939, Speer pushed for the removal of Jewish residents in Berlin, using the Nuremberg Laws to evict Jewish tenants. After being appointed to Minister of Armaments in 1942, Speer oversaw German arms production, which relied upon forced labor from concentration camp prisoners. After seeing an increase in production when using forced labor, Speer took this model as the new basis for armament production. Through a task force known as the Jägerstab, slave labor became the basis for arms manufacturing in Nazi Germany. While on trial at Nuremberg after Germany’s defeat, Speer acknowledged his role and responsibilities in Nazi Party war crimes.
(Image: Office of the US Chief of Counsel, Charles Alexander, Courtesy of Harry S. Truman Library, 72-929.)
CURRICULUM GUIDE VOLUME 4: LIBERATION & LEGACY | THE NATIONAL WWII MUSEUM