| Original caption: “German War Crimes Trials. Nuremberg and Dachau. Main section of the prisoners’ call block in the Nuremberg jail. “Cells occupied by Goering and Hess are at the extreme right. Each defendant is watched by an individual guard who is constantly posted at his door.” View of “Criminal Wing 1” on the ground floor, in which, among others, Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe Hermann Goering (January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946) and Stellvertreter des Führers Rudolf Heß (April 26, 1894 – August 17, 1987) were held prisoner. Located directly behind the expansive Palace of Justice were the jail cells, a star-shaped building with 4 tracts of cells, each with 3 stories, attached to a central building constructed of sandstone blocks between 1865 and 1868. This building was also virtually unscathed by Allied bombing. A corridor to the east wing of the hall attached to the courthouse made it possible for the 22 high-ranking Nazi defendants to enter court under strict supervision and to protect them from the elements. Following the suicide of Doctor Robert Ley (February 15, 1890 – October 25, 1945) before the commencement of the trials, security was tightened in the cells of the Nazi inmates; light was required to be on 24 hours a day. Other security measures to reduce the risk of suicide incidence were taken, such as modifying furniture and round-the-clock surveillance of the remaining 21 main defendants (every guard was on duty for 2 hours, then had a 4-hour break). In the other areas, essential witnesses were also held, as well as ordinary prisoners of war, who served as housing for the guards. By the time the trial began, security had already been taken over by a group of displaced persons from the Baltic region. Security provided by American soldiers changed hands in February, 1946, from the battle weary troops of the 18th Infantry Battalion and the 26th Infantry Battalion (“Blue Spaders”), belonging to the legendary “Big Red One,” the nickname of the 1st Infantry Division, to C Company of the 370th Infantry Battalion, a unit consisting almost exclusively of African Americans. The duty of guarding the surrounding grounds was rotated weekly among the 4 Allied Powers; security around the Palace of Justice was taken over by the United States Army, assisted by tanks and several checkpoints. In the courtroom itself, military police were responsible for guarding the defendants. Americans also maintained a so-called Guesthouse in Erlenstegen, run by Hungarian Countess Ingeborg Louise Kalnoky (January 27, 1909 – July 1, 1997), in which they luxuriously housed important Nazi Party members whom they thought would be helpful to witnesses in the trials. Among the “guests” was Führer und Reichskanzler (“Leader and Reichchancellor”) Adolf Hitler’s (April 20, 1889 – April 30, 1945) personal photographer Heinrich Hoffmann (September 12, 1885 – December 16, 1957), and witnesses giving incriminating testimony, such as Lahousen, Doctor Karl Haushofer (August 27, 1869 – March 10, 1946), Hess’s former mentor, and former Chief of Gestapo Rudolf Diels (December 16, 1900 – November 18, 1957), who was later tried. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0959.jpg |
| Image Size | 1,016.74 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2920 x 2388 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | November 24, 1945 |
| Location | Justizpalast |
| City | Nuremberg |
| State or Province | Bavaria |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | NRE-338-FTL(EF)-3161(5) |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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