this public death spectacle as well.
The entire effort to stop us from doing harm to
ourselves was never motivated by concern for our
welfare, but purely to make sure that all would be
ready for the big sensation.
But ohne mich [count me out]!
.That afternoon Pflücker returned he had just been told that
the condemned men were to be awakened at : .. and noti-
fied that their execution was imminent. He was seen to give
Göring a white pill the usual sedative and place a small
white envelope on the table. Göring felt inside the envelope,
then poured some white powder from it into his tea. Perhaps
what he was looking for was not inside it. (At least two envelopes
would be found in his dead hands. One, marked with his first
initial and name, contained the empty brass capsule and had
had a corner torn off; it is unfortunately no longer in existence.
Did it spell his name “Goering,” the American way?)
A few minutes before : .., Daily Express reporter R.
Selkirk Panton, one of the eight newspapermen privileged to
watch the hangings, cabled to his editor in London: “Eight re-
porters to witness hangings. Am now being taken into prison
whence I unpermitted file anything until hangings over.”
The prison block was now a blaze of light; it was obvious
that tonight was the big night. When the chaplain came at
seven-thirty that evening, the Reichsmarschall complained that
he had not been allowed to see poor Fritz Sauckel, to help him
through these days. After talking of the dishonor of hanging,
there was a silence. “I broke in to ask him once more about his
complete surrender of heart and soul to his Savior. [Göring]
again claimed he was a Christian, but couldn’t accept the teach-
ings of Christ.” He expressed the hope that he could rest during