so rotten, just to prolong his wretched life to put it crudely,
to piss in front and crap behind a little longer. Herrgott! Don-
nerwetter! For myself,” he barked, “I don’t care if I get executed.
... But there is still such a thing as honor.”
A few days later, on January , Colonel Andrus heard
from Gilbert of the uproar among the prisoners caused by the
arrest of their next of kin by the CIC. Andrus had little sympa-
thy for the CIC officers, most of whom had only recently been
German citizens themselves. “Göring’s wife,” he protested in a
secret letter to the tribunal, “was reported to have been arrested
and the child taken from her.... She has not written to him
and it may be that she is not permitted to do so.” Fearing that
the defendants might bring this painful matter up in open
court, “which would place the Americans on the defensive,”
Andrus demanded that the womenfolk be released at once.
That day, his final birthday, Göring also complained to the
tribunal, writing in longhand to Judge Lawrence that he had
received only three letters from Emmy and Edda since his cap-
ture and asking the tribunal to order the authorities to allow
them to exchange letters again.
Before my voluntary surrender to American custody
[he explained], I wrote asking General Eisenhower to
take care of my family. Upon arrival at Seventh Army
headquarters (General Patch) I was expressly prom-
ised that my request would be honored. My wife,
daughter, relatives, and next of kin were taken to
Veldenstein Castle, my family property north of Nur-
emberg, and interned there. They were able to move
around the castle freely, though isolated from the
outside world, which was very satisfactory to me.But since their arrest on October , he complained, neither his