Hermann Goering
Hermann Goering, the director of the Nazi’s Four-Year Plan, committed suicide in prison in Nuremberg on October 15, 1946. He had been sentenced to hang in the Nuremberg trials, and his execution was scheduled for the following day.
In May 1945, the 636th Tank Destroyer Battalion, an element of the 36th Infantry Division, was assigned the task of capturing Hermann Goering. On May 5, they received word of the German surrender and were told they could come in from their posting. The following day, they reached Kufstein, Austria, spending the night in a hostel. The next morning, the acting staff sergeant ordered them to gather rations for three to five days, as well as ammunition, gas and water, as they had a mission. That mission was, of course, to capture Goering.
They were to follow a senior German officer into Austria to accept a surrender; they did not know who the officer was. Some of the men believed they were to accept Himmler’s surrender. They followed a Mercedes out of Kufstein, later learning that the Mercedes had arrived with letters from Hermann Goering to General Eisenhower under a white flag.
Goering’s plan was to surrender to the U.S., then to join with the U.S., along with German forces, to fight the Russians. His path directly to Eisenhower was blocked, hence the reason U.S. forces at Kufstein were sent to accept his surrender. The Germans had prepared the route, and planned the surrender at Fischhorn Castle. American troops took up guard posts at the castle, alongside SS troops. Goering was not present, and his senior aide had to attempt to find him when the Americans, led by General Stack, arrived.
Goering arrived at the castle late that night, with his wife, daughter, and a nurse accompanying him. He had members of the Luftwaffe with him, but had previously been arrested by the SS. The night was tense. The following day, Goering was taken to the Grand Hotel in Kitzbuhel. There, he sat down to a lunch of chicken, peas and mashed potatoes with American military; this later led to fraternization charges.
Hermann Goering was tried and convicted on four charges; conspiracy, war crimes, crimes against peace, and crimes against humanity. Someone smuggled him a cyanide pill in his cell. In his suicide note, he wrote that while being shot would have been acceptable, his station was too high to accept hanging.