The Nuremberg Trials, conducted between 1945 and 1946, were a watershed moment in world history, holding Nazi leaders accountable for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and other atrocities committed during World War II. While much focus has been placed on the men who stood trial, little is said about their wives, who often endured a shadowy, complicated aftermath. These women, by association, became symbols of their husbands' crimes, yet their stories are filled with varied and complex fates.
The Lives They Left Behind
The wives of the defendants at Nuremberg experienced a seismic shift in their lives. Many had enjoyed wealth, privilege, and influence during the Third Reich, basking in the reflected power of their husbands. However, as the Allies uncovered the scale of Nazi atrocities, their husbands' high-ranking positions became liabilities. These women faced public scorn, financial ruin, and the psychological burden of reckoning with their partners' roles in one of history's greatest horrors.
Specific Fates of Notable Wives
Magda Goebbels (Wife of Joseph Goebbels)
Magda Goebbels, married to Hitler’s propaganda minister, did not live to see the Nuremberg Trials. She committed suicide in Hitler’s bunker in Berlin in April 1945, alongside her husband. In one of the most horrific acts of loyalty to the Nazi cause, she killed all six of her children before ending her own life.
Emmy Göring (Wife of Hermann Göring)
Emmy Göring, the wife of Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring, enjoyed a life of opulence during the Nazi regime. After her husband was captured and sentenced to death at Nuremberg (though he evaded execution by committing suicide), Emmy faced public disgrace and imprisonment. She was sentenced to one year in a denazification court for her association with the regime. Post-war, she struggled financially and lived a quiet life until her death in 1973.
Elsie Hess (Wife of Rudolf Hess)
Elsie Hess was married to Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s deputy who famously flew to Scotland in 1941 on a failed peace mission. Hess was sentenced to life imprisonment at Nuremberg. Elsie remained loyal to him, visiting him during his imprisonment in Spandau and advocating for his release. She died in 1995, decades after her husband’s death in custody in 1987.
Ilse Kaltenbrunner (Wife of Ernst Kaltenbrunner)
Ilse Kaltenbrunner was married to Ernst Kaltenbrunner, one of the architects of the Holocaust. After her husband’s execution at Nuremberg in 1946, Ilse faded into obscurity. Like many wives of high-ranking Nazis, she faced the stigma of association and lived a quiet life out of the public eye.
Annelies von Ribbentrop (Wife of Joachim von Ribbentrop)
Annelies von Ribbentrop, wife of Nazi foreign minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, remained defiant about her husband’s role and continued to support his legacy after his execution at Nuremberg. She lived in relative obscurity, reportedly clinging to Nazi ideals until her death.