“and despite rumors to the contrary is far from being mentally
deranged. In fact he must be considered a very ‘shrewd cus-
tomer,’ a great actor and professional liar who most likely made
some mental reservations, trying to keep what he might consider
a few aces up his sleeve in order to have some bargaining power
if and when the need arises.” “If you know my speeches,”
Göring said at one point, “you will admit that in none of them
have I attacked foreign statesmen in person.” With the utmost
sincerity he even claimed never to have signed a man’s death
warrant, or sent anybody to a concentration camp “never,
never, never. Unless of course,” he remarked as an afterthought,
“it was a question of military necessity and expediency!”
He still sidestepped all knowledge of atrocities in the
camps. “I always thought that they were places where people
were put to useful work,” he said. Shown grim pictures taken at
Dachau, he pondered overnight and came up with this answer:
“Those pictures that you showed me yesterday must depict
things that happened in the final few days.... Himmler must
have suddenly derived a fiendish pleasure from such things.”
He redoubled his efforts to disclaim any responsibility. He re-
minded his interrogators that the atrocity stories spread after
World War had turned out to be untrue.
Hidden microphones heard him discuss at length with
Hans Lammers the “fraudulent” claim by Dönitz to be the new
head of government. “You know about it,” Göring reminded
Lammers, “only through Dönitz’s broadcast. Anybody might
turn up tomorrow and declare, ‘I received a radio signal after
Dönitz got his now I am head of state!’ But I have written
proof.” Lammers listened intently. “Yes,” he agreed, “that’s
clear. He’ll have to produce documentary proof.”
The two men reexamined the decrees signed by Hitler in
and , then reconsidered the last signal Bormann had