Editing Hans Fritzsche (section)

=== Military tribunal ===
[[Image:1946-10-08 21 Nazi Chiefs Guilty.ogv|thumb|left|180px|17 October 1946 newsreel of [[Nuremberg Trials]] sentencing]]
Fritzsche was taken prisoner by Soviet [[Red Army]] soldiers. At first he was held prisoner in a basement and then sent to Moscow for interrogation at [[Lubyanka Prison]] where, according to his own account, three gold teeth were yanked from his mouth upon arrival. He was confined to a "standing coffin", a {{convert|3|sqft|adj=on}} cell where it was impossible to sleep, and placed on a bread and hot water diet. He eventually signed a confession.<ref name=LIFE>"[https://books.google.com/books?id=cU4EAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA92 Why They Confess: The remarkable case of Hans Fritzsche]", Konrad Heiden, ''Life Magazine'', 20 June 1949, pp. 92–94, 96, 99–100, 102, 105. Retrieved 2012-04-16.</ref> Later, he wrote his account of Soviet prison while on trial at Nuremberg,<ref>''Hier spricht Hans Fritzsche'', Zurich: Interverlag.</ref> which was published in Switzerland.<ref name=LIFE/>

Fritzsche was sent to Nuremberg, and tried before the [[Nuremberg Trials|International Military Tribunal]]. He was charged with conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, [[war crime]]s and [[crimes against humanity]]. In his positions in the propaganda apparatus of the Nazi State, Fritzsche played a role to further the conspiracy to commit atrocities and to launch the war of aggression. According to journalist and author [[William L. Shirer]], it was unclear to the attendees why he was charged. Shirer remarked that "no-one in the courtroom, including Fritzsche, seemed to know why he was there – he was too small a fry – unless it were as a ghost for Goebbels".<ref>[[William L. Shirer|Shirer, William L.]] (1960). ''[[The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich]]''. [[New York City]]: [[Simon & Schuster]].</ref>  According to the IMT prosecution, he "incited and encouraged the commission of War Crimes by deliberately falsifying news to arouse in the German People those passions which led them to the commission of atrocities". Fritzsche was acquitted because the court was "not  prepared  to  hold  that  [his  broadcasts]  were  intended  to incite  the  German  people  to  commit  atrocities  on  conquered  peoples".{{sfn|Timmermann|2006|p=828}}  He was one of only three defendants to be acquitted at Nuremberg (along with [[Hjalmar Schacht]] and [[Franz von Papen]]).<ref>[http://www.tercer-reich.com/represion_politica_y_racial/los-argumentos-de-la-defensa-de-hans-fritzsche-durante-el-juicio-de-nurenberg/ Fritzsche case for the defence at Nuremberg trials] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171229112156/http://www.tercer-reich.com/represion_politica_y_racial/los-argumentos-de-la-defensa-de-hans-fritzsche-durante-el-juicio-de-nurenberg/ |date=2017-12-29 }} {{in lang|es}}</ref>

Nuremberg prosecutor [[Alexander Hardy (prosecutor)|Alexander Hardy]] later said that evidence not available to the prosecution at the time proved Fritzsche not only knew of the extermination of European Jews but also "played an important part in bringing [Nazi crimes] about," and would have resulted in his conviction and execution.{{sfn|Gordon|2014|p=579}} Fritzsche was classified as Group I (Major Offenders) by a [[denazification]] court, which sentenced him to nine years of hard labor in a labor camp on 31 January 1947.{{sfn|Gordon|2014|p=579}}{{sfn|Timmermann|2006|p=829}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Schmidt |first=Dana Adams |date=1947-02-01 |title=Germans Give Fritzsche 9 Years; Hitler Photographer Receives 10; Germans Give Fritzsche 9 Years; Hitler Photographer Receives 10 |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1947/02/01/archives/germans-give-fritzsche-9-years-hitler-photographer-receives-10.html |access-date=2022-09-21 |issn=0362-4331}}</ref> He was released under an amnesty in September 1950. He married his second wife, Hildegard Springer, in 1950.<ref name="EoR" /> Fritzsche died of cancer in 1953. His wife died by suicide the same year.

Fritzsche, along with [[Albert Speer]] and [[Baldur von Schirach]], were eventually communed by Lutheran Pastor [[Henry F. Gerecke]] and were administered the [[Eucharist]].<ref>Railton, Nicholas M. “Henry Gerecke and the Saints of Nuremberg.” Kirchliche Zeitgeschichte, vol. 13, no. 1, 2000, pp. 112–137. JSTOR, www.jstor.org/stable/43750887. Accessed 8 Feb. 2021.</ref>

According to British intelligence, Fritzsche was part of the [[Naumann Circle]] in the early 1950s, a group of ex-Nazis who aimed to infiltrate the [[Free Democratic Party (Germany)|Free Democratic Party]] and eventually restore the Nazi state.<ref>''Fritzsche prüfte Werbekraft.'' In: ''[[Die Welt]].'' 7. Februar 1953.</ref>