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When the death penalty was confirmed, Churchill requested that he be executed by firing squad rather than hanging, citing that he was a reserve army major.
And of course his request was ignored. The same goes for Stalin and Harris.
According to Hitler's order that war criminals could not be treated as soldiers, they were scheduled to die by hanging rather than firing squad.
When the death penalty, even hanging, became certain, Churchill, in despair, attempted suicide.
He cut the artery in his wrist with a razor to induce excessive bleeding, but the SS military police, who had been keeping an eye on Churchill's cell just in case, noticed abnormal signs and immediately stormed into the room.
"Hey, you bastards! Even dying is not something I want to do!"
"Hold on tight!!"
"The old lady will be fine!"
"Fuck, you're really annoying people."
Stalin attempted suicide by tying his shoelaces, but failed because the laces broke under his weight.
The two who failed to commit suicide were placed under surveillance by the German military 24 hours a day.
When eating, when sleeping, and even when going to the bathroom. The method of shaving was to tie the body and then have a guard shave it for you.
The fact that they could not die by their own hands plunged the death row prisoners into even deeper despair.
Churchill, who was already suffering from depression, attempted suicide several times afterward, taking advantage of the guards' lack of vigilance, but each time he failed.
Unlike Churchill, Stalin did not attempt suicide after his first attempt failed and remained calm.
Of course, it was important that he could not even attempt suicide even if he wanted to because of the presence of guards watching him 24 hours a day, but even considering that, Stalin was very calm.
Like a well-trained hunting dog, he neither made a fuss nor raised his voice.
To prepare for an emergency, death row inmates who attempted suicide ate their meals in their cells, not in the cafeteria, under the watchful eyes of guards.
Since Fork might try to commit suicide with a spoon, I gave him a wooden fork and spoon instead of metal.
Stalin's head rolled as he ate German-style stew Einthopp and rough rye bread with a wooden spoon.
Even as he silently ate the soup, Stalin's eyes were focused on the pistols and clubs carried by the guards.
If I cause trouble here, wouldn't this person shoot me with a pistol? … ?
In fact, there was a high possibility that a club would be used first rather than a pistol.
So, what if you take the club and swing it? Since the club has been taken away, won't we have no choice but to use the pistol?
If the guards had acted as calculated, Stalin could have been shot to death rather than on the gallows.
In fact, no matter how you died, it was still miserable.
Stalin pondered whether to put his decision into action, but then shook his head violently. No, no.
What am I thinking? The guards who were in charge of watching the condemned prisoners were selected among soldiers with good physique and strength.
No matter how quickly he moved, his head would have been smashed before he could even get his hands on the club.
If you make a mistake and fail to commit suicide and are captured, you may end up chained to your bed 24 hours a day like Churchill.
No matter how much death is a reserved fate, I didn't want to spend the rest of my life like that.
"… … "Why did you come here again?"
In the meantime, Hitler came to see him again. Stalin bluntly asked Hitler who came to see him.
"I just came here to talk about this and that."
"I have nothing to talk about."
I guess he came here to make fun of himself. He's like a fox... … .
Stalin hoped that this damn time would pass quickly. But Hitler continued to speak eagerly whether Stalin kept his mouth shut or not.
"Secretary General Stalin. Let me ask you something. Do you want to live?"
"There is no need. "It's better to fall to the ground than to beg for your life from the bastard pigs."
"Oh, but you still have some pride in being the secretary general."
Hitler laughed out loud when he saw the tendon sticking out of Stalin's forehead. Stalin kept his mouth shut no matter what he said.
Talk about whatever you want. I will stay still.
Stalin had no intention of being swayed by the fascist clown in front of him. No matter what he protested, he was only playing into this man's hands. In that case, it is best to stay still like now.
But his resolve did not last long.
"But I came because I thought I should tell this to someone who will be leaving soon. Secretary, this is what you were curious about too."
Hitler handed Stalin a piece of paper. It had people's names written on it in Russian.
"… … ???"
Stalin tilted his head after checking the names written on the paper.
Konstantin Rokossovsky, Nikolai Kuznetsov, Aleksandr Novikov, Kirill Meretskov, Sergei Korolev, Valentin Glushko, Mikhail Yangel... … .
All the names written on the paper were people that Stalin had purged with his own hands.
Why is this suddenly... … ?
"You're not going to say you don't know these people, are you?"
"Why are you suddenly asking that?"
"I'll tell you a secret. In fact, contrary to what you think, they did not communicate with us."
"… … "What does that mean?"
Stalin felt like he had been hit on the head.
What does this mean?
They were executed because they conspired with Germany, but they actually didn't conspire with Germany?
"At that time, before I arrived in Moscow at your invitation, I believed that you would install a bug in your quarters."
Hitler, seeing the change of emotions on Stalin's face, grinned. Stalin later realized his mistake, but it was already too late.
"So I came up with a plan to take advantage of that."
"then-"
Hitler nodded.
"I decided to intentionally spread disinformation. But no one expected it to be this successful. "I couldn't believe that something I had done so little would become such a huge success."
Stalin's hands and feet were shaking. Either way, Hitler continued talking.
"For some reason they didn't kill Zhukov. Still, just getting rid of them was a huge benefit to Germany. If they had been alive, the war would not have been resolved so easily. Even so, Germany would not have lost the war."
"… … ."
Stalin could say nothing. What is this man talking about?
In other words, are you saying that he didn't catch and kill a spy who was communicating with Germany, but was playing to Germany from the beginning?
No. It can't be. Now this guy is lying to me. He forced things from the past in to make fun of himself. At least, Stalin believed that was the case. .
To be precise, I wanted to believe it.
"You even killed the talented people you needed with your own hands. "And yet you believed that you would win the war?"
Hitler clicked his tongue. He said that the most talented people passed away in vain.
"… … You're lying so clearly. Do you think I'll be fooled by something like this?"
"Well, whether you believe it or not, that's up to you."
Stalin pretended to be calm, but Hitler smiled slyly as if he could see through even that.
"That's all I have to say. And I assure you, this will be the last time you and I meet. "There is no reason to see anything in the future."
Hitler stood up and left the room without looking back.
Stalin, who was led back to his cell by the guards, pondered what Hitler had said.
He was being played by Hitler from beginning to end.
Hitler would have laughed hard at seeing Stalin killing his subordinates with his own hands, just as he intended.
Stalin considered Hitler to be his enemy, but Hitler probably did not even consider Stalin to be his enemy.
When the thoughts reached that point, I couldn't bear it.
Stalin stood up, picked up the chair assigned to his cell, and threw it at the wall.
When the chair bounced off the wall and fell to the floor, he grabbed it and this time hit the wall until the chair's legs broke.
As the chair broke, small pieces of wood flew out. After tearing the chair into pieces, he turned the bed over. He tore off the linen pillows and blankets and trampled the mattress with his feet.
-Hwiik!
"Is this old man crazy!"
"Don't stop right now!"
"catch! catch!"
In response to the commotion in the middle of the night, the guards burst into the room blowing whistles.
Stalin screamed and ran wild until he fainted after being hit by the guards' batons.
***
December 23, 1944
Free Russia Moscow Lubyanka KGB Headquarters
Stalin, who put everything aside, spent the time he was allowed to spend his days meditating and reading.
He mainly spent his time reading the Bible and the works of Lev Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky.
Is it because there is not much time left in life? He felt that every day and every hour was special. He indulged in reading just as he had when he was a child, a student who did not yet know the world.
If I didn't die, if I lived, my life would feel endless, eternity, one minute would be like a hundred years, if I survived, I wouldn't neglect a single second of my life... … .
My eye was especially drawn to a sentence written by Dostoevsky, the great and immortal writer of Russia, in his book.
I've read the records from the house of death many times before, but the sentences I had skipped over at the time felt completely different now.
Could it be because he felt that death was just around the corner?
Recently, Stalin remembered what his mother used to say.
'Sweetheart, do you plan on becoming a priest?' Stalin's mother, Keke Geladze, was a devout believer and wanted her son to become a priest.
Even after Stalin became the highest power in the Soviet Union, she often asked her son if he had any intention of becoming a priest.
Even Stalin, who held Marx's saying that religion is the opiate of the people as truth and had abandoned religion a long time ago, could not bring himself to confess to his mother that he had abandoned his religion, so he sometimes made the sign of the cross.
How would your life have been different if you had become a bride according to your mother Keke's wish? What if she or she had continued to work as a poet? Stalin imagined that.
See yourself as a priest or a poet rather than the general secretary of the Soviet Union.
If that were the case, the arrogant Trotsky would have become Secretary General. No, he had so many enemies that Bukharin might have become the Secretary General.
Stalin felt uncomfortable when he thought of his best friend who had been killed by his own hands.
Before his death, Bukharin had sent him a letter. The letter contained the following words:
Koba, why do you need my death?
He would never have dreamed that Stalin, with whom he was close, would try to kill him as well.
Just as Stalin did not know that today he would be on death row awaiting his execution.
Stalin never thought about what Bukharin must have felt while waiting for his execution date. But he had thought about it often lately.
About what the countless people who died were thinking right before they died.
Perhaps they were desperately trying to deny the fact that they were dying, hoping that a pardon would be issued at the last minute. Or would he have accepted his fate and waited for death?
"Come out!"
The door opened and SS military police officers appeared. Is it already bath time? For some reason, it seems a little earlier than usual... … .
The SS military police placed a hood over Stalin's head. This was something they always did whenever they left solitary confinement, so Stalin was not very upset.
But when the hood was removed, he couldn't help but be shaken.
The place he arrived at was the execution platform.
The moment I saw the noose tied with a rope, my body stiffened and my face turned pale.
I knew this day would come, but I didn't know it would be today.
As a final mercy, Stalin was allowed to smoke a cigarette before his execution.
Stalin smiled bitterly as he accepted the German-made Juno cigarettes handed to him by an unknown SS colonel.
I wish it was a flower from Herzegovina. The fact that the last cigarette he smoked in his life was made in Germany struck Stalin bitterly.
"Are you ready?"
"… … "I see."
"What is your will?"
"There is none."
A hood was placed on his head again, and a rope was tied around his hands and feet. Eventually, a noose was placed around his neck.
He could hear the Germans talking, but it did not reach Stalin's ears. Only thoughts about the death that would soon come to him filled his head.
Finally, the scaffolding lowered and his body rose in the air.
The rope became taut.
***
"is it. "Hmm, I understand."
I put the receiver down loudly.
It's over.
I just heard that the executions of war criminals have been completed. Churchill, Harris, Stalin, Vyshinsky.
12 others.
The first person to be hanged was Stalin. He left no will and was executed as is.
As demanded by Free Russia and Finland, which had extreme resentment toward Stalin, a rope that was deliberately shortened was used to inflict maximum pain until death.
As a result, it is said that it took over 20 minutes for Stalin's 'execution' to be completed.
After Stalin, Vyshinsky was his henchman. Unlike his master, who passed away without a will, Vyshinsky left a will.
"One day, you guys will hang yourself like me! "You fasho pigs!"
It took 30 minutes for Vyshinsky to die.
Mr. Gallipoli, who was the British Prime Minister and would have remained a respected great man for a long time according to history, smoked a cigar as his last request before his death.
His execution took place only after he had smoked all of his cigars.
"Long live the British Empire! Long live His Majesty the King! God save Britain!"
Churchill was also painfully executed at the request of Denmark and Norway. As he fell, he hit his head on the edge of the gallows, bled profusely, and slowly died of suffocation.
I just did my duty! Now go to God! This is Harris' last will. Harris also faced a similar end to Churchill.
They were all executed, and 12 other war criminals scheduled for execution today - 3 British and 9 Soviet - passed away.
To prevent executed war criminals from being deified by future followers, instructions were given to cremate their bodies and scatter their ashes in the sea.
Even if they are losers in a war, there are always crazy people who worship them.
While the trial in Moscow has reached its end, the trial in Tokyo has just begun.
Unlike the British government, which fled to Canada, and the Soviet Union, which still had a territory and government, Japan's entire country was occupied by the United States and there was no place to escape to.
As a result, the entire Japanese leadership became prisoners of the Allies.
What is noteworthy is the fact that Emperor Hirohito was also brought to trial as a defendant.
Even in history, the United States considered putting Hirohito on trial and executing him, but it was canceled due to MacArthur's opposition.
However, here, MacArthur may have changed his mind or President Wallace's intentions may have been reflected, but even the Emperor could not avoid the war crimes trial.
Because Hirohito was put on trial, the current emperor of Japan was Hirohito's younger brother, Yasuhito.
Seeing that it was not just a simple dethronement but a trial, it seemed like the United States really had a strong intention to execute Hirohito.
Well, even if the Emperor Amman is a nominal position with little real power, he is the head of a country, so he must take responsibility for starting the war.
Since even Hirohito was put on trial, there was a high possibility that even Japanese leaders who had avoided punishment or received only minor punishments and returned to society in history thanks to the Cold War would not be able to avoid punishment here.
Even the Emperor punishes him, but there is no way the United States will let a man of lower status and more crimes committed than him live.