Nuremberg Executions

By RABBI JOSEPH H. PROUSER

On October 16, 1946 – 80 years ago today – ten Nazi war criminals were executed by hanging, following conviction by the international tribunal overseeing the Nuremburg trials. Aptly, that date coincided with Hoshana Rabbah, the final step in the “Days of Judgement” comprising the Fall holidays.

Among the most notorious of the Nazi officials executed were Joachim von Ribbentrop, foreign minister; Wilhelm Keitel, head of the armed forces high command; Hans Frank, governor of occupied Poland; Julius Streicher, director of propaganda and founder of the antisemitic newspaper Der Stürmer; and Alfred Jodl, chief of military operations.

Upon approaching the gallows, Streicher called out, “Purimfest 1946!” Perhaps he was referring to the parallel between the ten executed Nazis and the ten sons of Haman, executed in the Book of Esther… or acknowledging the ultimate fate of tyrants and regimes persecuting the Jewish People… or defiantly maligning the Nuremburg tribunal as a mockery – just as parody, satire, and mockery are common elements of Purim celebrations!

Hermann Wilhelm Gӧring, President of the Reichstag and Supreme Commander of the Luftwaffe (Nazi Air Force), was also convicted at Nuremburg, but escaped execution through his suicide by cyanide the preceding night.

“With promulgation of this decree, the evil plot they devised against the Jews recoiled on their own heads!” (see Esther 9:25).

Rabbi Joseph H. Prouser is the editor of “Masorti: The New Journal of Conservative Judaism.” The latest edition of Masorti published in the summer of 2026 and honors the American Sestercentennial. A subscription is $18 per annum. Print copies are available from Ben Yehuda Press and Amazon.