Why did the top Nazi leaders say they were innocent at the Nuremberg trials?


 In my opinion, the key motives why the elder Nazis used to state their innocence in court hearings were quite straightforward: they needed to live and they still needed their pernicious convictions.

To start with, they were aware that they would have died by telling the truth. And had they said, Yes, we did the horrible murders, the court would have hanged them. And they decided to make plea instead, not guilty. They attempted to put all the blame on leaders who had already passed away such as Hitler or Himmler. Carrying the blame of the dead was easier, right? They would tell me, I was but a little being, or I only did what I was told to do. They insisted that they were just being truthful that they were unaware of the most heinous things going on in the camps.


Second, their minds still were dysfunctional with the toxic Nazi ideology. They had long been conditioned that the people they murdered, particularly the Jewish people were dangerous enemies. Due to such an attitude they failed to view the killings as an enormous crime. They considered it as a national responsibility. They employed secret language when they were talking about mass murder like when they mentioned it as the Final Solution. This made them feel righteous in regards to their atrocious deeds. They also aimed at having a positive legacy to history. These were very strong men who wished to go down to history as great leaders and not mere villains. Their attempt to defend the story of the Nazi Party was through the proclamation of innocence. Evidence was available though the judges: Allied soldiers had unearthed thousands of German papers, which spelled out in detail what they had done. Their deceptions failed them in the end.

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