In mid-April 1945, as the Third Reich collapsed, Hermann Göring, Reich Marshal and Adolf Hitler's designated successor, attempted to seize power by invoking a decree signed years earlier. This maneuver, interpreted by Martin Bormann as a coup d'état, led to his arrest for high treason and his final expulsion from the regime just hours before Hitler's death in the Berlin bunker. After the German surrender, Göring surrendered to American forces, was interned in Bad Mondorf, and underwent treatment for his paracetamol addiction.

Later transferred to the Nuremberg Palace of Justice prison, he occupied cell number 5 during the International Military Tribunal trial, where he faced charges of crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. His testimony, the interrogations of Robert H. Jackson and David Maxwell-Fyfe, and the statements of figures such as Hjalmar Schacht and Albert Speer marked one of the central moments of the trial.

Sentenced to the maximum penalty, Göring requested an alternative method of execution, a request that was denied. The night before his scheduled death, he ingested cyanide under circumstances that remain unclear despite the numerous hypotheses put forward by historians and researchers over the decades. This account reconstructs, using documentary sources, psychiatric testimonies, and the Nuremberg trial records, the final moments of one of the leading figures of the National Socialist regime.