At the end of the Second World War, there were very few German Generals and Field Marshall’s
who were brought to justice for their war crimes.
Across the conflict there were hundreds of war crimes committed by the Wehrmacht, but
many of the Field Marshall’s who were involved in these and the commanders were never placed
on trial.
Most of them took their lives before the war was over, or shortly after the German surrender
to prevent their crimes catching up with them.
At the Nuremberg Trials there were a number of military leaders who were then following
the trials either given prison time or a date with the infamous American execution John
C Woods.
But for all the crimes of the German Army, only Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl would
be executed for their crimes.
In later trials there would be further death sentences imposed on Commanders but the executions
of Jodl and Keitel were botched by the executioner.
Join us today as we look at Jodl and Keitel’s actions in the Second World War, and their
executions and remember to support our channel, please make sure to subscribe.
Wilhelm Keitel was the Chief of the Oberkommando Der Wehrmacht, the High Command of Nazi Germany’s
armed forces throughout the Second World War.
This made him one of the most senior figures behind Hitler in the war despite the Fuhrer
of Nazi Germany pulling all the strings and decisions.
Keitel had been a soldier during the First World War, and received many promotions before
he was assigned to the German Ministry of War in 1929 and he then became the Head of
the Organisational Department when Hitler came onto the throne.
He was pivotal in the German rearmament and prepaaration for war, and he also inspected
secret training camps.
Despite a heart attack and two bouts of pneumonia in 1932, he recovered and was then given command
of different infantry divisions.
However in 1935 he was promoted to Major General, and was appointed the Chief of the Reich Ministry
of War’s Armed Forces Office, which oversaw the navy, Air Force and army.
When Hitler seized control of the Wehrmacht in 1938, he replaced the war ministry with
the Supreme Command of the Armed Forced, or the Oberkommando Der Wehrmacht, and Keitel
was appointed as it’s chief.
With this, he was acting as the Minister of War for the country, and was given cabinet
level rank in Hitler’s government.
Hitler was looking for a yes man and he found in it Keitel.
Keitel was an experienced general, however he was a man who was regarded as nothing more
than ‘a stupid follower of Hitler,’ and members of Hitler’s government deemed him
as just a lackey, naming him Lackeitel.
Goring described him as ‘having a servants mind inside a field marshal’s body,’ showing
that he was deemed to be out of his depth, but he displayed upmost loyalty to Hitler
and was nicknamed as a nodding donkey who just agreed with Hitler.
Another general said that he was often subjected to verbal assaults and onslaughts from Hitler
and Keitel just took it as he ‘has the brains of a movie usher, he was made the highest
ranking officer in the Army, because the mans as loyal as a dog.’
But Keitel despite being seen as a puppet figure, did have full knowledge into war crimes
and horrific actions committed by the Wehrmacht.
He was involved in the invasion of Poland, and knew the the Nazi plans included mass
arrest and deportation, execution and mass murder.
He did not oppose anything of this, and basically signed the Einsatzgruppen off to kill and
execute millions of the civilian populations as they followed the army’s advances.
Keitel also issued a number of illegal orders, and these allowed the executions of Jews,
civilians and non combatants for any reason given.
Those carrying out the murders were told they would not face any reprisal or court martial
for these killings, and they would not face war crimes trials.
These orders were signed off by Keitel, and Keitel deemed Soviet POWs as the worst saying
that they should not be taken prisoner, and should be shot.
He deemed it his job to suppress their Bolshevik way of life, and he issued an order to all
of his commanders saying that they should use extreme severity to stamp out Bolsheviks,
ordering executions of Soviet soldiers immediately.
He also stated that executions of 50 to 100 communists would be sufficient reprisal foe
the death of 1 German soldier.
He also signed a decree saying that foreign nationals could be transferred to Germany
where they would be placed on trial, or they could be handed over to the Gestapo and then
deported to Concentration Camps.
Keitel also was in on what was happening in the concentration camps, and despite these
being over seen by the SS he knew what was happening.
Keitel was later succeeded in his job as Chief of the OKW by Alfred Jodl briefly.
Jodl was also an ex First World War soldier who became an officer, but he continued to
rise throughout the ranks He became a major, and then first met Hitler in September 1939.
As the build up to the Second World War came, Jodl was assigned as a commander of a division,
before he then became the Chief of the Operation Staff of the Oberkmmando Der Wehrmacht before
the invasion of Poland.
Jodl then was the chief of staff during the invasion of Denmark and Norway, and following
the fall of France he believed Germany would triumph over Britain.
But he too was involved in signing illegal orders, including the Commissar order of the
6th June 1941.
This stated that all Soviet political commissars should be shot on sight.
He also signed the Commando order in October 1942, which stated that Allied Commandos should
be shot dead without trial.
He spent most of the conflict inside of the Wolf’s lair, and was slightly injured during
the 20th July Plot.
As the War turned against the Germans he was involved in the final days of the conflict,
and following the regional surrenders of German forces, he was sent to demand unconditional
surrender on all fronts following Hitler’s death.
After the arrest of Wilhelm Keitel, Jodl then became briefly the Chief of the OKW.
Jodl and Keitel were arrested along with the rest of the Flensburg government established
in the post Hitler Germany.
They were then brought to the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg Trials.
Keitel and Jodl were both accused of all four counts by the court.
This included, participation in a common plan or conspiracy for the accomplishment of crimes
against peace, planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression and other crimes against
peace, participating in war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The majority of the case against Keitel and Jodl was that their signatures were on a number
of illegal orders as in the Commando and Commissar order that resulted in the unjust executions
of thousands of soldiers who should have been prisoners of war.
Keitel admitted that he knew many of Hitler’s orders were illegal, and his defence entered
mostly on the fact he was only following orders given to him from Hitler, and that if he had
not done this then he would have been executed.
Jodl was accused of also witnessing the mass shootings and executions, and he said when
referring to a mass shooting of Soviet POWs, the only prisoners that were shot were those
who did not want to walk.’
There were further charges levelled at Jodl including unlawful deportation of civilians
and also aiding executions.
Further evidence was given about his signature also being found on an order that deported
thousands of Danish citizens and Jews to concentration camps.
Jodl said that he was not guilty before God, before History and my people.
Keitel along with Jodl was seen as a key member of the German war command, and because of
this he was also seen as someone who must have been informed of the war crimes and mass
shootings.
Keitel said that, ‘As these atrocities developed one from the other, step by step and without
any foreknowledge of consequence, destiny took its tragic course, with its fateful consequences.’
Both Keitel and Jodl for this were found guilty of every charge that was put forward them.
Because of this they were both put to death, and were both to be executed.
Keitel specially asked if he could be shot like a soldier, but the pair were given war
criminals deaths to be hanged.
The Nuremberg executions took place on the 16th October 1946, shortly following the end
of the trials.
They were carried out by the United States Army, and used the standard drop method instead
of the most reliable long drop.
In charge of the executions was Master Sergeant John C Woods who himself had a rather shady
history, and his assistant military policeman Joseph Malta.
Woods has gone down in History as a man who botched the executions of the Nazi War criminals,
and because of this he was seen as a man who performed his job poorly.
He throughout the ten hangings, miscalculated the lengths of the ropes needed to kill the
men instantly, and because of this many did not die from the intended broken neck, but
instead slowly strangled to death.
This meant that some of the executions took as long as 28 minutes from when the defendant
fell through the trapdoor.
Also the trapdoor made was too small, meaning that when they plunged through it, some of
the condemned men suffered rather severe head injuries and cuts to their heads when they
fell through as they hit the side of the trapdoor.
Wilhelm Keitel was brought into the gymnasium of Nuremberg Prison where the gallows had
been created third.
He was supposed to be the third person hanged, but was actually the Second as Hermann Goring’s
dead body was brought into the chamber to show the witnesses he had taken his own life.
Keitel told the prison chaplain, ‘you have helped me more than you know, May christ,
my saviour stand by me all the way.
I shall need him so much.’
He was given communion before also, and he was then led to the scaffold.
It was said that, ‘He held his head high while his hands were being tied and walked
erect towards the gallows with a military bearing.
When asked his name he responded loudly and mounted the gallows as he might have mounted
a reviewing stand to take a salute from German armies.
He certainly did not appear to need the help of guards who walked alongside, holding his
arms.
When he turned around atop the platform he looked over the crowd with the iron-jawed
haughtiness of a proud Prussian officer.’
His execution did not go cleanly.
His final words on the scaffold were that, ‘"I call on God Almighty to have mercy on
the German people.
More than two million German soldiers went to their death for the fatherland before me.
I follow now my sons – all for Germany.”
As he was shuffled over the trapdoor with his arms and legs secured, Keitel’s noose
was placed around his neck by John C Woods.
Woods then released the trapdoor, and Keitel’s head smashed against the side of the trapdoor,
causing him severe cuts to his head and blood was streaming down his face.
Following this, he was dangling and shuffling on the noose, as the drop calculated to kill
him was wrong.
The force calculated was insufficient to snap his neck.
Because of this, he was left hanging and convulsing for around 24 minutes before he was confirmed
dead.
His execution was incredibly botched, and should have been quicker than it was.
Alfred Jodl’s execution was the penultimate to take place for those of the nuremberg trials.
In the same manner as Wilhelm Keitel, he entered the execution chamber inside the gymnasium.
It was said that, ‘Ninth in the procession of death was Alfred Jodl.
With the black coat-collar of his Wehrmacht uniform half turned up at the back as though
hurriedly put on, Jodl entered the dismal death house with obvious signs of nervousness.
He wet his lips constantly and his features were drawn and haggard as he walked, not nearly
so steady as Keitel, up the gallows steps.
Yet his voice was calm when he uttered his last six words on earth: 'My greetings to
you, my Germany.'
At 2:34 a.m.
Jodl plunged into the black hole on the scaffold.’
Six minutes later he was pronounced dead.
His execution went more striaghtforward than Keitel’s did.
Wilhelm Keitel and Alfred Jodl were both prominent members of Hitler’s government and war effort.
They both had great knowledge of the crimes that the Wehrmacht committed which include
mass deportations, and huge scale executions by the Einsatzgruppen.
They were both members of Hitler’s inner circle and were at the top of the German military
being heads of the OKW.
They today are remembered as two of Hitler’s generals who met the hangman following the
Nuremberg trials.
Thanks for watching
To support our channel, please make sure to subscribe
Thanks for watching