Author Description

In 1945, after his capture at the end of World War II, Hermann Gèoring arrived at an American-run detention center in war-torn Luxembourg accompanied by sixteen suitcases and a red hatbox. The suitcases contained all manner of paraphernalia: medals, gems, cigar cutters, silk underwear, a hot-water bottle, and the equivalent of $1 million in cash. Hidden in a coffee can was a set of brass vials containing potassium cyanide. Joining Gèoring in the detention center were the elite of the captured Nazi regime-- fifty-two in all, of whom Gèoring was the dominant figure. To ensure that the captives were fit for trial at Nuremberg, the US Army sent army psychiatrist Captain Douglas M. Kelley to supervise their mental well-being. Kelley realized he was being offered the professional opportunity of a lifetime: to discover a distinguishing trait among these archcriminals that would mark them as psychologically different from the rest of humanity. So began a remarkable relationship between Kelley and his captors, told here for the first time with unique access to Kelley's long-hidden papers and medical records.