The papers that have come to light include a bizarre but failed application made by one of Hitler`s henchmen to call the Archbishop of Canterbury as a character witness.

Joachim von Ribbentrop was a close aide to Adolf Hitler who was convicted for helping to start the Second World War, for planning the final solution and the death of six million Jews and for war atrocities in France and Denmark.

Before the war he was German ambassador to Britain and claimed to have previously met Archbishop Cosmo Lang.

He wanted the Archbishop to give evidence on his behalf and tell how von Ribbentrop had spoken to him about establishing friendly relations between Germany and England and securing peace for the two nations.

His request was rejected on account Dr Lang had died a month before it was filed.

Other documents relate to Julius Streicher, a Nazi propaganda chief who incited the extermination of the Jews through hate-filled books, article and speeches he was behind.

He requested several witnesses who could apparently attest how he had tried to stop a demonstration against the Jews in 1938 and had ordered people not to physically harm Jews.

But other documents that have come to light show how some of the Nazis remained defiant over their role in the war.

German general Alfred Jodl was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity relating to his signing of the order to execute any Allied commando caught in German territory.


Joachim Von Rippentop called the Arch Bishop of Canterbury as a character witness

After being sentenced to death, he submitted a final statement to the International Military tribunal at Nuremberg, stating how he would leave the court room "with my head held high".

And another item shows that Luftwaffe chief Hermann Goering appointed his fifth-choice attorney to represent him at the historic trials.

At the end of 1945 after he had been arrested for war crimes, Goering made a list of eight lawyers he wanted for the job but was given Dr Otto Stahmer, who had been at number five.


Herman Goring`s list requested possible attorneys

All four defendants were sentenced to hanging at the end of the trials.

Goering committed suicide by cyanide on the eve of his execution but the other three went to the gallows.

The fascinating documents have now surfaced from the archives of Hans Werner, who was the director of printing at Nuremberg and was responsible for the printing of the 42-volume Record of the Trial of Major War Criminals for the Nuremberg Trials that was released in 1949.

Many documents didn`t make it into the final edition as they were not relevant.

They are now owned by a private collector who is selling them at International Autograph Auctions (IAA) in Nottingham.


Alfred Jodl said ‘I shall leave this courtroom with my head held as high as when I entered it’

Richard Davie, of IAA, said: "These first hand documents were submitted at the Nuremberg trials and show, in some cases, their sheer desperation to wriggle out of justice.

"Take the case of Julius Streicher. He spent the whole of the war inciting others to commit crimes against Jews but tried to claim that it wasn`t anything to do with him at Nuremberg.

"Von Ribbentrop was a German diplomat before the war and he may have met the Archbishop of Canterbury at some stage.

"Yet it is quite incredible to think of a Nazi requesting the man in the highest role in the church of England to be a witness for his defence.


Julius Streicher founded and published the anti-Semitic newspaper Der Sturmer

"The very notion of it seems crazy.

"All these documents have come from Hans Werner, the man in charge of printing the final record of the tribunal. I doubt some of these papers were published as they were too peripheral and not relevant."

There are numerous documents relating to Nuremberg coming up for sale for between £400 to £1,500 per lot.

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