Wilhelm Keitel: Difference between revisions
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| author = G.M. Gilbert | | author = G.M. Gilbert | ||
| publisher = Farrar, Strauss | year = 1947}}, p. 266</ref> Keitel was in no way intellectually curious, as opposed to his operations officer, [[Alfred Jodl]], and it is just plausible he did not know the details of genocide. Nevertheless, his signature is on violations of the ''military'' laws of war, such as the [[Commando Order]].On 16 December 1942, he issued a general order stating "This war no longer has anything to do with knightly conduct or with the agreements of the [[Geneva Conventions|Geneva Convention]].<ref>Neave, pp. 193-194</ref> | | publisher = Farrar, Strauss | year = 1947}}, p. 266</ref> Keitel was in no way intellectually curious, as opposed to his operations officer, [[Alfred Jodl]], and it is just plausible he did not know the details of genocide. Nevertheless, his signature is on violations of the ''military'' laws of war, such as the [[Commando Order]].On 16 December 1942, he issued a general order stating "This war no longer has anything to do with knightly conduct or with the agreements of the [[Geneva Conventions|Geneva Convention]].<ref>Neave, pp. 193-194</ref> | ||
Other documents suggest he knew of the plans for use of the [[Einsatzgruppe]], if not the [[extermination camp]]s. He told intelligence chief [[Wilhelm Canaris]] on 12 September, "The matter [of the executions of Polish elites] had already been decided by the Fuehrer; the commander of the Army had been informed that if the Wehrmacht refused to be involved, it had to accept the pressure of the SS and the Gestapo. Therefore, in each military district, civilian commanders would be appointed who would carry the responsibility for ethnic extermination.".<ref name=YOE>{{citation | |||
| author = Saul Friedlander | title = The Years of Extermination: Nazi Germany and the Jews, 1939-1945 | |||
| publisher = HarperCollins | year = 2007 | |||
}}, p. 13</ref> | |||
==References== | ==References== | ||
{{reflist}} | {{reflist|2}} | ||
Revision as of 15:12, 28 December 2010
Wilhelm Keitel (1882-1946) was a Field Marshal in the German nilitary forces of World War II, who headed the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), essentially the military secretariat for Adolf Hitler rather than a true combined services headquarters. Despite his high rank, he was often described as a clerk in a marshal's uniform; he was nicknamed "Lakeitel", or "Lackey". The Americans at Nuremberg felt he "would make a fine first sergeant whose life was governed by soldierly obedience." [1]
At the four-power Nuremberg tribunal, after hearing the Auschwitz testimony of Rudolf Hoess, he told psychologist G.M. Gilbert, "But you see, I brought it very clearly that as far as the generals were concerned, if we had known what criminal acts Hitler was planning and executing as we know now, we would have refused to go along."[2] Keitel was in no way intellectually curious, as opposed to his operations officer, Alfred Jodl, and it is just plausible he did not know the details of genocide. Nevertheless, his signature is on violations of the military laws of war, such as the Commando Order.On 16 December 1942, he issued a general order stating "This war no longer has anything to do with knightly conduct or with the agreements of the Geneva Convention.[3]
Other documents suggest he knew of the plans for use of the Einsatzgruppe, if not the extermination camps. He told intelligence chief Wilhelm Canaris on 12 September, "The matter [of the executions of Polish elites] had already been decided by the Fuehrer; the commander of the Army had been informed that if the Wehrmacht refused to be involved, it had to accept the pressure of the SS and the Gestapo. Therefore, in each military district, civilian commanders would be appointed who would carry the responsibility for ethnic extermination.".[4]