Editing Robert Ley (section)

== Postwar: arrest and suicide ==
[[File:Robert Ley arrested.jpg|thumbnail|left|upright|Ley is arrested in his pyjamas by [[502nd Infantry Regiment (United States)|US paratroopers]] in May 1945.]]
[[File:R ley cell.jpg|thumb|The cell where Robert Ley hanged himself]]

As Nazi Germany collapsed in early 1945, Ley was among the government figures who remained fanatically loyal to Hitler.{{sfn|Kershaw|2000|p=774}} He last saw Hitler on 20 April 1945, Hitler's birthday, in the ''[[Führerbunker]]'' in central [[Berlin]]. The next day he left for southern [[Bavaria]], in the expectation that Hitler would make his last stand in the "[[Alpine Fortress|National Redoubt]]" in the alpine areas. When Hitler refused to leave Berlin, Ley was effectively unemployed.

On 16 May he was captured by American paratroopers of the [[101st Airborne Division]] in a shoemaker's house in the village of [[Schleching]].{{sfn|Rapport|Northwood|Marshall|1948|pp=741–744}} Ley told them he was "Dr Ernst Distelmeyer," but he was identified by [[Franz Xaver Schwarz]], the treasurer of the Nazi Party and a long-time enemy. After his arrest, he declared: "You can torture or beat me or impale me on a stake. But I will never doubt the greater deeds of Hitler."<ref>{{Cite book |last=Ullrich |first=Volker |title=Eight days in May |publisher=Liveright Publishing Corporation |year=2020 |isbn=978-1-63149-827-5 |pages=262 |language=English}}</ref>

At the [[Nuremberg Trials]], Ley was indicted under Count One ("The Common Plan or Conspiracy to wage an aggressive war in violation of international law or treaties"), Count Three (War Crimes, including among other things "mistreatment of prisoners of war or civilian populations") and Count Four ("[[Crime against humanity|Crimes Against Humanity]] – murder, extermination, enslavement of civilian populations, persecution on the basis of racial, religious or political grounds").{{sfn|Nuremberg Indictment}} Ley was apparently indignant at being regarded as a [[war crime|war criminal]], telling the American psychiatrist [[Douglas Kelley]]<ref>Jack El-Hai : ''The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII'', Publisher: PublicAffairs, 2013, {{ISBN|161039156X}}</ref> and psychologist [[Gustave Gilbert]] who had seen and tested him in prison: "Stand us against a wall and shoot us, well and good, you are victors. But why should I be brought before a Tribunal like a c-c-c- ... I can't even get the word out!".{{sfn|Sereny|1995|p=573}}

On 24 October, three days after receiving the indictment, Ley [[Suicide by hanging|strangled himself to death]] in his prison cell using a noose made by tearing a towel into strips, fastened to the toilet pipe.{{sfn|Sereny|1995|p=573}} The Chief Medical Office of the [[Nuremberg trials|Military Tribunal]], [[Rene Juchli|Lt. Col Rene Juchli]], made a report to [[William J. Donovan|Major General Donovan]] regarding the affect the suicide had on other prisoners, stating "It appears to be the unanimous consensus of opinion among the witnesses that no bereavement was indicated over the self-inflicted death of the late Dr. Ley.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Juchli |first1=Rene H. |title=Observations and impressions of the Prison Population concerning the incident of Dr. Robert Ley's death |url=https://digital.library.cornell.edu/catalog/nur01226 |website=digital.library.cornell.edu |publisher=Cornell University Library |access-date=6 March 2025}}</ref> 
<!--The suicide note, written in German, read: "We have forsaken God, and therefore we were forsaken by God. We put human volition in the place of His godly grace. In anti-Semitism we violated a basic commandment of His creation. Anti-Semitism distorted our outlook, and we made grave errors. It is hard to admit mistakes, but the whole existence of our people is in question; we Nazis must have the courage to rid ourselves of anti-Semitism. We have to declare to the youth that it was a mistake."-->
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