roughbarked said:

Neophyte said:

captain_spalding said:

For the Nuremberg prisoners, the guards outside were under instructions to let no more than thirty seconds elapse between visual checks on any prisoner, via the peephole slot in the cell doors (the International Military Tribunal was very keen to see that they all faced trial)

The toilets were in small alcoves, just to the side of the cell. When prisoners sat on the toilet, their lower legs and feet were visible through from the cell door.

So, Ley’s guard saw nothing suspicious in Ley being on the toilet for several minutes. When he realised it was too long, it was also too late.

If that is the cell in question then other questions arise.

It was the best thing available.

Nuremberg was pretty badly damaged during the war, and there was a limited choice for venues for holding prisoners and conducting trials.

The Palace of Justice (Justizpalast) was, fortunately, fairly undamaged, and had an adjoining prison where the accused could be held. The court venue still required a massive repair an alteration job, and had 250 German POWs with suitable skills working on it.

The cells were made as ‘safe’ as possible (although, as has been said, human ingenuity is boundless), they were frequently searched for anything ‘naughty’, prisoners were under almost constant scrutiny, and they were moved from cell to cell to deny them access to anything they had hidden in their room.

When suicides like Ley’s happened, there was some almighty rows about it, because they really did want them all to stand trial.

The Russians had wanted to have the trials in Berlin, but the other Allies felt that Berlin was too dominated by the Russians, and voted to deny that, as it would have been too easy for Russian shenanigans there.