He was convicted as a War Criminal
One of the interesting facts about Hermann Goering is that he was convicted as a War Criminal. After Reich President (former Admiral) Karl Dönitz, Goering was the second-highest official to be convicted at Nuremberg. The prosecution filed an indictment with four counts, including conspiracy, waging an aggressive war, war crimes (such as the theft of artwork and other property and its removal to Germany), and crimes against humanity (such as the disappearance of political and other opponents under the Nacht und Nebel decree), torture, and ill-treatment of prisoners of war, as well as the killing and enslavement of civilians, including what was at the time estimated to be 5,700,000 Jews.
The prosecution exhibited films of concentration camps and other horrors on multiple occasions during the trial. The contents of the films were disturbing to everyone present, including Goering who stated they had to be manufactured. Witnesses such as Paul Körner and Erhard Milch attempted to paint Goering as a calm moderate. Milch claimed that opposing Hitler or disobeying his commands was impossible because it would have meant death for oneself and one's family. He gave evasive, complicated responses to straightforward queries and had credible explanations for all of his wartime acts. He utilized the witness stand to expound on his personal role in the Reich, aiming to portray himself as a peacemaker and diplomat before the onset of the war.
On all four counts, Goering was found guilty and condemned to death by hanging. Goering filed an appeal, requesting that he be shot as a soldier rather than hanged as a common criminal, but the court denied his request. He took a potassium cyanide capsule the night before he was to be hanged.
