The further fate of fm keitel after the signing. Wilhelm Keitel - biography of the commander of the German army
For the majority, the entire Hitlerite generals are about the same person, and, most likely, this is the impassive physiognomy of the head of the Wehrmacht's main command, Wilhelm Keitel, the field marshal who signed the act of surrender of Germany.
Someone now thought - is it worth spending time shaking up the dirty linen of all these von Boks, Yodels, Halders, Guderians and Rommels? We've defeated them! But the question is - what would the brown fuss of the NSDAP be for the world without these same Keitels and von Bokov?
Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, 1942
Two centuries ago, the best French army in the world of the First Republic marched across Europe, sweeping away absolutism. Half a century ago, the best German army in the world moved into crusade to democracy. Unfortunately, until now there has not yet appeared a propaganda-free study of the interaction between the bayonet and the idea, the bullet and the thought, and the consequences of such an interaction. Convention commissioners went to the provinces with orders to wipe out rebellious cities from the face of the earth; American aviation burned out the jungles of Vietnam, struck by communist ideas, with napalm, and somewhere in between we see our “hero” with his conviction that the German idea, “... only after getting off the caterpillars of tanks, will rise like a statue in the cleared and disinfected space of Europe” . Having written this, Keitel put his signature under the order to transfer all administrative power in the occupied territories of the East to Himmler, so that the SS forces could quickly begin this very disinfection.
The question of Keitel by Western historians is often reduced to the question of responsibility for one's signature on orders issued by others.
Yes, Keitel was not an ideologue; yes, the order "on commissars", the order to pay one hundred executed communists for each one who died in the rear German soldier or the order of December 7, 1941 "Darkness and Fog" on the destruction of all persons potentially dangerous to the Reich and others came from Hitler and Himmler and was only signed by Keitel.
We read: “The clarification to the instruction on the behavior of the field units of the Wehrmacht was made by Keitel’s hand and lies in the fact that in addition to the political composition of the Red Army, all female servicemen are also subject to execution on the spot.” Read more: Keitel's handwritten resolution on Canaris' report on the atrocities in the camps where Soviet prisoners of war were held reads: "I, Field Marshal Keitel, fully approve and take responsibility for these measures, since the struggle to destroy the communist idea does not allow the observance of laws chivalry." Well, you take it - so carry it! And don't beat yourself in the chest and don't shout in court that you're just a soldier following orders. "My soldiers don't fight prisoners." This is also a resolution imposed by the hand of another warrior - Guderian. His sentence was different.
Keitel's trouble is that he ended up in a very uncomfortable position.
If Keitel's misfortune was not so much his fault, it was that he found himself in a very uncomfortable, unparalleled position. Introducing the letter and spirit of the Führer-principle into the army command mechanism, he practically ruined it and himself was constantly between the hammer of Hitler's directives and the anvil of the General Staff - annoying to everyone, despised by everyone ... “Lakeitel”, as they called him behind his back.
I think Keitel was still smarter than he looked. Firstly, he was among those generals who clearly saw all the madness of the blitzkrieg against Russia. Proof of this is the resignation filed on the eve of the attack on the USSR. Secondly, he forbade his lawyers to apply for pardon and all he asked the court for was to replace the rope with execution. But the honor to die as a soldier was denied to him.
KEITEL, WILHELM
(Keitel), [Baudouin Johann] (1882-1946), Field Marshal General German army , Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the German Armed Forces (OKW). Born September 22, 1882 in the estate of Helmscherode, Braunschweig. In 1901 he joined the 46th Field Artillery Regiment with the rank of Fahnejunker. On August 18, 1902, he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, he enrolled in instructor courses at the artillery school in Jüterbog. In 1909 Keitel married Lisa Fontaine, the daughter of a wealthy manor and brewery owner. In 1910 he received the rank of Oberleutnant, in 1914 - Hauptmann. During the 1st World War, Keitel participated in the battles in Belgium, was wounded in the arm, after treatment he returned to his 46th artillery regiment as a battery commander. In March 1915 he was appointed to the General Staff. After the end of World War I, when, under the terms of the Versailles Treaty of 1919, the German General Staff was dissolved, and the army was reduced to 100 thousand people and had only 4 thousand officers, Keitel was included in the officer corps of the Weimar Republic and served for three years as an instructor in the cavalry school in Hannover, and then was enrolled in the headquarters of the 6th artillery regiment. In 1923 he was promoted to the rank of major. In 1925-27, he was part of the organizational department of the troops, which was essentially a secret General Staff. In the summer of 1931, Keitel, as part of a delegation of the German military, visited the USSR on an exchange program. In October 1933, Keitel was appointed commander of the 11th Infantry Division in Potsdam. In July 1934 he was transferred to the 12th Infantry Division stationed in Leibnitz, and on October 1, 1934 he was appointed commander of the 22nd Infantry Division in Bremen. In August 1935, on the advice of the Minister of War and close friend Werner von Blomberg, Keitel accepted the appointment to the post of head of the military-political department of the War Ministry. After the resignation of Blomberg and the commander of the ground forces, General von Fritsch (see Blomberg-Fritsch, case), the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) was created, and all power over the armed forces was concentrated in the hands of Hitler. On February 4, 1938, Hitler appointed Keitel Chief of Staff of the OKW. According to the memoirs of General Walter Warlimont, Keitel was "sincerely convinced that his appointment ordered him to identify himself with the wishes and instructions of the Supreme Commander [Hitler], even in cases where he personally did not agree with them, and honestly bring them to the attention of all subordinates ". Keitel created three departments in the OKW: the operations department headed by Alfred Jodl, the Abwehr headed by Admiral Wilhelm Canaris and the economic department headed by Major General Georg Thomas. All three of these departments waged a fierce struggle with each other, and the number of problems and conflicts was constantly growing. In November 1938, Keitel was promoted to the rank of general, and on July 19, 1940, after the fall of France, he became field marshal general. In an attempt to dissuade Hitler from attacking Soviet Union, Keitel drew up a memorandum addressed to the Fuhrer, in which he substantiated his objections in detail and even submitted his resignation. Field Marshals Keitel (left) and Rommel. The picture was taken during the meeting of Rommel in Germany after his unprecedented campaign in North Africa.
Hitler gave Keitel a wild dressing and declared that he himself had the right to decide whom he should leave as head of the OKW. From that moment on, Keitel absolutely obeyed the will of Hitler and began to blindly follow the orders of the Fuhrer, for which he received the nickname "Lakeitel" among the generals. In March 1941, he signed the infamous "order on commissars", according to which all political workers of the Red Army were subject to unconditional physical destruction. In July 1941, by order of Keitel, all power in the occupied territories in the East was transferred to the Reichsführer SS Himmler, which was a prologue to genocide. On December 7, 1941, he signed an order for the destruction of persons "posing a threat to the security of the Reich" - "Darkness and Fog". Despite his position, Keitel practically did not take any part in the development and conduct of purely military operations and was only an obedient tool in the hands of Hitler, who pursued his own policy with the help of an obliging field marshal. After the failure of the July conspiracy of 1944, Keitel led the measures to liquidate the participants in the assassination of the Fuhrer as part of the "officers' court", issued orders for their arrest, without showing the slightest pity. AT last days The Third Reich, having completely lost the sense of reality and not realizing that the war was lost, Keitel unleashed cruel repressions against the "terrorist activities of the enemy" - he issued orders to destroy partisans and saboteurs. May 8, 1945 Keitel, in the presence of representatives of the Soviet Union, signed an act on unconditional surrender Germany. He then left for Flensburg-Mürwik, the headquarters of Karl Dönitz, where a few days later he was arrested by the British military police. During the Nuremberg Trials, Keitel pleaded guilty to following Hitler's orders. He was convicted of crimes against humanity, against peace and war crimes and sentenced to death. On October 16, 1946, he was hanged in the Nuremberg prison. His last words were: "Germany above all!"
Encyclopedia of the Third Reich. 2012
See also interpretations, synonyms, meanings of the word and what is KEITEL, WILHELM in Russian in dictionaries, encyclopedias and reference books:
- KEITEL WILHELM in big Soviet encyclopedia, TSB:
(Keitel) Wilhelm (September 22, 1882, Helmscherode, - October 16, 1946, Nuremberg), Nazi German Field Marshal General (1940). In the army since 1901, participant in the 1st World War 1914-18, later ... - WILLIAM in the Dictionary of Russian Railway Slang:
electric locomotive ... - WILLIAM
Wilhelm I of Hohenzollern (1797-1888) - King of Prussia since 1861 and German Emperor since 1871. In 1862 ... - KEITEL in the Big Encyclopedic Dictionary:
(Keitel) Wilhelm (1882-1946) German Field Marshal General (1940). In 1938-45 he was Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces. The culprit of the mass destruction of prisoners of war and peaceful ... - WILLIAM
(German Wilhelm; French Guillaume; English William; Italian Gulielmo) is the name of many sovereigns and princes. See resp. … - WILLIAM in the Modern Encyclopedic Dictionary:
- WILLIAM in the Encyclopedic Dictionary:
I the Conqueror (William the Conqueror) (circa 1027 - 87), English king from 1066 from the Norman dynasty. From 1035 Duke of Normandy. … - KEITEL
ЌEYTEL (Keytel) Harvey (b. 1947), Amer. actor. In cinema since 1968. Filmed in films: "Who is knocking on my door?", "Street … - KEITEL in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
Keitel Wilhelm (1882-1946), German. gene.-feldm. (1940). In 1938-45 early. top headquarters. high command of the armed forces. The culprit of the mass destruction of prisoners of war and ... - WILLIAM in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
WILLIELM TELL, see Tell ... - WILLIAM in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
WILLIELM III OF ORANGE (1650-1702), stadtholder (ruler) of the Netherlands from 1674, English. king since 1689. Called to English. throne during the state. … - WILLIAM in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
William I of Orange (Willem van Oranje) (William of Nassau) (1533-84), prince, leader of the Netherlands. roar-tion, the leader of the antisp. noble opposition. Spanish killed. … - WILLIAM in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
WILLIAM I the Conqueror (c. 1027-87), Eng. king since 1066; from the Norman dynasty. From 1035 Duke of Normandy. AT … - WILLIAM in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
WILLEM II (Willem) Frederick Georg Lodewijk (1792-1849), King of the Netherlands from 1840, led. Duke of Luxembourg. Command. netherl. troops at Waterloo (1815). … - WILLIAM in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
WILLEM I, Willem (Willem) Frederick (1772-1843), King of the Netherlands in 1815-40 (until 1830 - Dutch-Belg. Netherlands Cor-va), great. Duke of Luxembourg; from … - WILLIAM in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
WILHELM II Hohenzollern (1859-1941), germ. emperor and prus. king in 1888-1918, grandson of Wilhelm I. Overthrown by the November Revolution of 1918 ... - WILLIAM in the Big Russian Encyclopedic Dictionary:
WILHELM I (Wilhelm) Hohenzollern (1797-1888), Prussian. king from 1861 and German. emperor since 1871. The government of the country was actually in ... - WILLIAM
(German Wilhelm; French Guillaume; English William; Italian Gulielmo) ? the name of many sovereigns and princes. See resp. … - WILLIAM in Collier's Dictionary:
(English William, Dutch Willem, German Wilhelm), the name of many European emperors and kings. (The rulers, whose names are preceded by an asterisk, are dedicated to separate ... - WILLIAM in the dictionary of Synonyms of the Russian language.
- WILLIAM in the Complete Spelling Dictionary of the Russian Language:
Wilhelm, (Wilhelmovich, ... - KEITEL in Modern explanatory dictionary, TSB:
(Keitel) Wilhelm (1882-1946), German Field Marshal General (1940). In 1938-45 he was Chief of Staff of the Supreme High Command of the Armed Forces. The culprit of the mass destruction of prisoners of war and ... - WILHELM III in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
King of the Netherlands from the Orange-Nassaugh dynasty, who ruled in 1849-1890. Son of Wilhelm II and Anna of Russia. J .: 1) Sophia, daughter of the king ... - WILHELM II in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
King of the Netherlands from the Orange-Nassau dynasty, who ruled in 1840-1849. Son of Wilhelm I and Wilhelmina of Prussia. J.: from 1816 Anna, ... - WILHELM I THE CONQUEROR in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
- WILHELM I in the Directory of Characters and Cult Objects of Greek Mythology:
- WILHELM III in biographies of Monarchs:
King of England and Scotland 1689-1702 Woman: from 1677 Mary, daughter of King James II of England (b. 1662 ... - WILHELM II in biographies of Monarchs:
King of Prussia and Emperor of Germany in 1888-1918 Son of Frederick III and Victoria of England. Zh.: 1) from 27 Feb. 1881 ... - WILHELM I THE CONQUEROR in biographies of Monarchs:
King of England, who ruled from 1066-1087. The ancestor of the Norman dynasty Zh .: d 1056 Matilda, daughter of Count Baldwin of Flanders (Died ... - WILHELM I in biographies of Monarchs:
From the Hohenzollern family. King of Prussia in 1861 - 1888 it. Emperor of Germany in 1871 - 1888 Son of Friedrich Wilhelm... - FRIEDRICH WILHELM, ELECT OF BRANDENBURG in encyclopedic dictionary Brockhaus and Euphron:
Elector of Brandenburg, nicknamed the Great Elector, son of Elector George Wilhelm and Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, founder of the Brandenburg-Prussian state. Genus. in 1620 He was ... - FRIEDRICH WILHELM, ELECT OF BRANDENBURG in the Encyclopedia of Brockhaus and Efron:
? Elector of Brandenburg, nicknamed the Great Elector, son of Elector George Wilhelm and Elizabeth Charlotte of the Palatinate, founder of the Brandenburg-Prussian state. Genus. in 1620 He ... - WILHELM: KINGS in Collier's Dictionary:
To the article WILHELM Albania. Wilhelm, Prince of Vidsky (1876-1945), third son of Prince Wilhelm of Vidsky, nephew of Queen Elisabeth of Romania, was born in Neuwied … - WILHELM III in Collier's Dictionary:
I (Willem III) (1817-1890), King of the Netherlands, born February 19, 1817 in Brussels. In 1849 he succeeded to the throne of his father - Wilhelm II. … - WILHELM II in Collier's Dictionary:
I (Willem II, prins van Oranje) (1626-1650), Stadtholder of Holland, son of Friedrich Heinrich, Prince of Orange, was born in The Hague on May 27, 1626. ... - WILHELM I OF ORANGE in Collier's Dictionary:
(Dutch Willem, prins van Oranje) (1533-1584), also known as William the Silent (Zwijger, lat. Taciturnus), the first Stadtholder of Holland, Count of Nassau and ... - STAUFFENBERG, KLAUS SCHENCK VON
(Stauffenberg), (1907-1944), Lieutenant Colonel of the General Staff of the German Army, Count, a key figure in the July conspiracy of 1944. Born November 15, 1907 in Greifenstein Castle, ... - SPEIDEL, HANS in the Encyclopedia of the Third Reich:
Speidel (1897-?), General of the Wehrmacht, chief of staff of the occupation forces in France. Born October 28, 1897 in Metzingen, Württemberg. Together with… - Führerbunker in the Encyclopedia of the Third Reich:
(Fuehrerbunker), which was under the Reich Chancellery in Berlin, an underground bunker in which Hitler spent the last days of his life, April 20-30, 1945. It was located ... - TERBOVEN, JOSEPH in the Encyclopedia of the Third Reich:
(Terboven), (1898-1945), Nazi Reichskommissar of Norway. Born May 23, 1898 in Essen. By profession a bank employee. In 1930 he was elected deputy ... - SECRET OFFICE in the Encyclopedia of the Third Reich:
(Geheimer Kabinettsrat), established by Hitler on February 4, 1938 special office ministers who were questioned foreign policy. By sacking the Minister of Foreign Affairs...
Polar assessments, judgments and opinions accompanied Keitel's officer career throughout his life. What can be said about this? In his own words, he was not "quiet, sly, or prude." Thoroughbred horses, jokes about horses, horse breeding auctions, buying, selling - in general, everything that was connected with these noble animals became the only hobby and passion of his whole life. He was fond of hunting, since a passionate admirer of the “male sport”, a distant relative of the Keitels, Fritz von Kaufmann, and his friend Wilhelm Wrede lived nearby in Hedwigsburg on the Steinl estate near Ringelsheim.
Keitel danced beautifully and always opened balls at the court of Prince Regent Albrecht of Prussia in the Brunswick Palace. He was not distinguished by puritanism, he could hit on the person he liked, but he was an implacable opponent of debauchery and carelessness in financial affairs. In the autumn of 1906, Lieutenant Keitel escorted childhood friend Felix Burkner to the Military Cavalry Academy, which stood out from other military educational institutions for the freedom of morals that reigned there, with the strictest parting words:
“No gambling and no love stories…”
With sincere bewilderment and even disgust, he listened to the sad story of his friend, an officer of the hussar regiment, and, shocked by what had happened, wrote in his diary:
"... The unfortunate man married a merchant from Linden, got into debt and was forced to flee from shame to America."
During Keitel’s service in Hanover, a “cavalry scandal” erupted when, during a special investigation, it turned out that exactly a third of the cadets played gambling prohibited by a special decree, the officers were mired in debt ... Military discipline fell into complete decline ... After the Kaiser’s intervention, all “dishonored honor uniform" were expelled from the army in disgrace. Keitel simply refused to understand such excesses. There were anecdotes about his morbid scrupulousness. In 1934–1935 Keitel commanded a division in Bremen. Going to an official reception, he called an official car, but if his wife was also invited, then she got ... by tram. Keitel considered it incorrect to “roll” his wife in a command car.
Keitel's diaries describe in detail the life of a garrison lieutenant - the barracks, firing practice, maneuvers, officer steeplechase and, of course, autumn horse hunting. Another thing is surprising: against the background of carefully drawn out pictures of a regulated soldier's life there is not even a hint of the existence of any hobbies and passions that go beyond purely official duties. It is also difficult to judge the circle of reading of a young man, since, apart from the program methodological literature in military affairs, his notes do not even mention the popular at that time literary works. Discourses about politics first appear on the pages of the diary in 1913 - in the last pre-war year. Apparently, the point is not only that the notes were a kind of draft plan for the future memoirs of the field marshal, written later, in captivity, in 1945, in his own words, "to distract from gloomy thoughts and kill time ...". Most likely, these problems really did not interest him much. He "burned" in the service, and there were still horses, hunting, agricultural exhibitions in Hannover and Helmscherode. And in this sense, he was no different from many officers who came from the "soil" environment.
Meanwhile, the service went on as usual, and soon the command drew attention to the executive and capable young commander. In 1904–1905 Keitel successfully completed the year-long courses of the artillery and rifle school in Jüterbog. In order to encourage academic excellence, leadership educational institution applied for the transfer of Lieutenant Keitel among the best graduates of the course to the training regiment of the artillery school, and he had to make a lot of efforts to stay in Wolfenbüttel and not lose touch with his father and the estate.
In 1908, after a severe injury (double fracture of the pelvis) received during officer riding competitions - when overcoming an obstacle, the horse fell right on him - the question arose of transferring Keitel to the inspectorate of military schools. The only precondition was that the applicant had no family. Keitel reported to the regiment commander Oberst Stolzenberg that he was engaged and was going to enter into a legal marriage. Oberst Stolzenberg, an excellent officer, tough and demanding commander, appointed the lieutenant as regimental adjutant. It is curious that just a few days before this appointment, during training regimental firing, infuriated by the commander’s constant nit-picking, Keitel defiantly threw field glasses at Stolzenberg’s feet, making it clear that he refused to see anything else in the future. Perhaps the Oberst understood that tone better than unquestioning obedience.
Prior to this appointment, Keitel had not had to deal with such strictness and exactingness of the command. For the first time in his life, he had to deal with office work and spend so much time at his desk. The duties of the regimental adjutant included work with the personal files of privates and officers, control over the conduct of mobilization activities, and much more.
On April 18, 1909, the marriage ceremony took place between Lieutenant Keitel and Lisa Fontaine, the daughter of the industrialist and landowner Armand Fontaine. Father-in-law, the owner of the Wülfel estate, which later became part of the city of Hanover, the owner of a brewery, was much richer than his son-in-law. However, he could hardly even dream of a better match for his daughter, a half-blooded German woman, having become related to a "Prussian" lieutenant. Fontaine, a gallant gentleman, a passionate hunter and a great shooter, was doubly happy to find a kindred spirit in his son-in-law officer. Keitel knew a lot about good tobacco and was not averse to draining a glass or two of good old wine ...
In the notes, Keitel tells in detail how he met his future bride and wife in the house of his relative Vissering in Hannover; how long he doubted whether his chosen one would feel at ease in a squalid rural environment; will he be able to match the level of Lisa and satisfy her rich spiritual needs ...
Lisa Fontaine, an icon-painting beauty with ideal proportions of her face and figure, as if descended from the canvases of old Florentine masters, received a brilliant education at home, was fond of literature, music, painting, theater ... Outwardly cold and arrogant, she was more restrained and less sentimental in nature than Wilhelm Keitel. In a certain sense, Lisa was the exact opposite of her husband. As a rule, in such marriages, life partners complement each other - the Keitels were no exception. Hand in hand they went through all the storms and hardships of the century, and in post-war Germany everyone was shocked by the inner dignity and pride with which the widow carried her heavy life cross.
Along with the new adjutant position came an increased sense of inner self-discipline and civic responsibility - no matter how grandiloquent it may sound. Keitel's letters from the pre-war years are more rational and less emotional. During firing practice in Altengrabow in the spring of 1910, the young officer was deeply impressed by his acquaintance with the inspector of the artillery troops, General von Galwitz. Gallwitz, an outstanding strategist and experienced commander - after the end of the war, many predicted a brilliant political career for him - turned out to be one of the few senior officers of pre-war Germany mentioned by Keitel in his notes. Under the influence of Galwitz, for the first time, the young officer thought about the need for a radical reform of artillery - equipping divisions with a large number of light field howitzers, increased ammunition saturation and the formation of artillery escort divisions in infantry units: about everything, the need for which was subsequently confirmed by the course of World War I.
12 steps to the scaffold...
Keitel Wilhelm
Introduction
October 15, 1946 in courtyard Three scaffolds freshly painted with dark green paint appeared in the Nuremberg prison - two "workers" and one spare. The death sentence of ten (the eleventh sentenced to death by hanging - Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering - committed suicide 2 hours and 10 minutes before the execution) to the former leaders of the Third Reich was carried out on the night of October 15-16. At 0.55 in the presence of 8 journalists - two each from the UK, the USSR, the USA and France - the last 12 steps in his life were taken by the former Reich Foreign Minister von Ribbentrop. John Woodd, US Army sergeant, Nuremberg Prison volunteer executioner, deftly manipulating the rope, dealt with the 10 remaining sentenced in less than an hour and a half. On the same night, the bodies of the executed were transported to Munich and cremated, and their ashes were scattered. In the United States of America, Sergeant Woodd improved his financial situation greatly, trading in neatly cut pieces of "historical" rope, which are in great demand among lovers of exotic souvenirs ...
From 1936 to 1945, Adolf Hitler promoted 19 senior army officers and 6 of the Luftwaffe to the field marshal rank. By the end of the war, only two of the nineteen general field marshals of the land army remained in the ranks - the rest were removed from business, retired, or ... dead:
Werner von Blomberg died in Nuremberg remand prison in 1946;
Fedor von Bock died during the bombing in 1945;
Walter von Brauchitsch died in a Hamburg prison in 1948;
Ernst von Busch died in a British prison in 1945;
Erwin von Witzleben was executed by the verdict of the People's Tribunal as an active participant in the 20 July conspiracy in 1944;
Hans von Kluge committed suicide in 1944;
Ewald von Kleist died in Russian captivity in a Vladimir prison in 1954;
Walter Model committed suicide in 1945;
Walther von Reichenau died of a heart attack in 1942;
Erwin Rommel committed suicide in 1944.
Of the 25 field marshals of the Third Reich, Wilhelm Keitel, chief of staff of the German High Command (OKW), was the only one who was sentenced to death in Nuremberg. At the last, 407th, meeting of the Nuremberg Tribunal, Keitel outwardly calmly listened to the verdict and was escorted to the cell through the underground passage connecting the Palace of Justice and the prison. Only there did he give free rein to his feelings: in his book The Nuremberg Diary, Dr. Gilbert, an American officer of the Internal Security Service and a forensic psychiatrist, testifies that Wilhelm Keitel was counting on ... to be shot.
This verdict caused a mixed reaction in the camp of the recent allies. Dwight Eisenhower, former Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Western Europe, during the process - Commander of the US Occupation Forces in Germany, the future 34th US President, remarked:
“I am surprised that the judges found it possible to cold-bloodedly condemn a military man. I believed that the fate of the soldiers would be a special concern of the tribunal ... "
The government and the Senate of Colombia - the only ones among the entire world community - came up with a proposal to commute the sentence and pardon all those sentenced to death ...
A man dies the way he lived. Keitel refused a last meeting with his wife, whom he loved very much and did not want to "injure with a heartbreaking parting scene"; right up to the last minute he wrote his Memoirs. They say that on the threshold of Eternity, a person is always unhypocritical and truthful - a fair verdict from descendants meant more to the field marshal than a near departure into oblivion. Wilhelm Keitel coolly and with dignity kept on the process and, according to eyewitnesses, also accepted death. His last words were:
"Germany above all…"
Part 1. Wilhelm Keitel
Chapter 1. Childhood, adolescence, youth
In 1871, in the days of the rise of Prussia and the birth of the Second German Reich With the iron will of Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, the former district royal councilor Karl Wilhelm Ernst Keitel refused to lease public lands near Burgstemmen in the Alfeld district and acquired property in Gandersheim in the west of the Duchy of Brunswick. The ancient family of tenants, the Keitels, has long enjoyed the honor and respect of fellow citizens. Even the father of Karl Wilhelm Keitel, who received a fief letter to the Poppenburg estate from the Hanoverian crown, received the last sovereign of Hanover, George V, in his house when he happened to be in the country residence of the royal court in neighboring Marienburg.
After the annexation of the small Kingdom of Hanover by Prussia in 1866, Karl Wilhelm Ernst Keitel, a deeply religious man who grew up in a patriarchal Evangelical Lutheran family, renounced “forced Prussian citizenship” and already at an advanced age, having exchanged his seventies, left the family nest and found a second homeland in Brunswick.
On December 18, 1871, Karl Wilhelm Keitel signed the bill of sale for the Helmscherode estate near Gandersheim. The former owner of the estate, Friedrich Ludwig Stender from Lamspringe, a manufacturer and owner of glass-blowing workshops, was engaged not so much in cultivating the land as in developing his troublesome production. According to the Brunswick land register of 1871, “the Helmscherode estate consists of a manor and 920 morgens and 114 square ruts of arable land in Herenrode ...
... Livestock - 14 horses, 52 cows, 38 pigs and 410 sheep ... "
The total value of the estate was 124,000 thalers (approximately 432,000 marks) - a colossal investment for those times. The debt obligations of the family and the need in connection with this to lead a modest and economical existence largely determined the fate of Helmscherode's heir, Karl Wilhelm August Louis Keitel, and his son, the future Field Marshal of the Third Reich.
Since the first owner of the estate was a certain Jonas Burchtorf from Lamshpringe, who bought up several peasant farmsteads devastated by the Thirty Years' War, mentioned in the annals of the 11th century, the lands passed from hand to hand of people from landowner-tenant circles. And this is a very important circumstance for our narrative, since many decades later the Nuremberg Prosecution will try to present Field Marshal Keitel as the embodiment of reactionary Prussian Junkerism and German militarism, although, as the reader will see, the atmosphere of Helmscherode was exclusively patriarchal agricultural. There were foremen and even merchants in the Keitel family, but never military men. Moreover, when in 1872-1873. August Louis Keitel served for a year in the 13th Kassel Hussars, his father forbade him to appear on the estate in the hated Prussian uniform. August Keitel could get into his father's house only by changing into a civilian dress ...
The “Honorable Councilor,” as Ernst Keitel was respectfully called by his neighbors, the landowners, died, as befits a landowner, on his way from the estate to the field. In landau, he had an apoplexy, and the beloved stallion of the owner, turning around on a narrow road, brought an already cooled body to the estate ...
In September 1881, his son and heir married the daughter of a landowner from East Friesland, Apollonia Vissering. Retired councilor Bodevin Vissering was a member of the Reichstag and the Prussian Landtag from the Conservative Party. His wife, Johanna Vissering, nee Bloney, came from an old noble family of French Switzerland. Like the Keitel family, the Visserings were completely alien to the military way of life. From time immemorial, only farmers and landowners were in their family.
On September 22, 1882, the happy married couple gave birth to their first child, Wilhelm Bodevin Johann Gustav Keitel, the future field marshal and chief of staff of the German High Command (OKW). The mother died of puerperal fever at the age of 33, on the first days of Christmas 1888, giving birth to her second son, Bodevin Keitel. The father, who had a hard time surviving the tragic death of his beloved wife, withdrew into himself and plunged headlong into household chores, and Wilhelm Keitel lost the warmth of maternal affection from childhood.
Subsequently, Keitel recalled with admiration the real asceticism of his father, who managed not only to cope with the household alone, but also to get the estate out of debt. He wrote in his diary:
“I am proud that I am the son of a real fighter ...”
Keitel Wilhelm
(09/22/1882-10/16/1946) - Field Marshal of the German Army (1940)
Wilhelm Keitel was born on September 22, 1882 in Braunschweig. Keitel's ancestors had long been farmers, however, despite Wilhelm's desire to remain a farmer, his land was too small to provide for the needs of two families.
This forced him to enlist in the Field Artillery Regiment. In 1902, Keitel was promoted to the rank of lieutenant, and he entered the instructor course at the artillery school in Juteborg, and in 1908 became a regimental adjutant. In 1910 he was awarded the rank of lieutenant, and in 1914 - captain.
At the beginning of the First World War, the regiment in which Keitel served was transferred to Belgium. After being wounded in the hand, Keitel returned to his regiment and began to command an artillery battery. In March 1915 he was transferred to the General Staff.
After the end of the First World War, Keitel was included in the officer corps of the Weimar Republic, spent three years as an instructor at the cavalry school in Hannover, and then was transferred to the headquarters of the 6th artillery regiment. In 1923, Keitel was promoted to the rank of major.
In 1925-1927, he became part of the organizational department of the troops, which was actually the General Staff. In 1929 he was awarded the rank of Oberstleutnant.
With the advent of Hitler in 1933, Keitel's closest friend Werner von Blomberg became Minister of Defense. From October 1933, Keitel moved from headquarters to serve in the troops. Initially, he was an infantry commander and one of two deputy commanders of the 111th Infantry Division in Potsdam.
In May 1934, Keitel was promoted to the rank of lieutenant general, but his father died unexpectedly, and he became the owner of the Helmscherode family estate. Keitel was already considering leaving the army to take up the estate seriously, but was deterred from doing so by his wife.
However, already in July 1934, he was transferred to the 12th Infantry Division, stationed five hundred kilometers from his estate, and again began to think about retirement. Then the commander of the army, General Fritsch, offered him to take command of the 22nd Infantry Division stationed in Bremen.
Already in August 1935, Minister of War Blomberg offered Keitel the post of head of the armed forces, which he accepted after deliberation.
In early 1938, Generals Blomberg and Fritsch were dismissed, which in turn led to the creation of the Supreme High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) and the complete subordination of the German armed forces to the will of Hitler. On February 4 of the same year, Hitler assumed the post of Minister of War, giving Keitel the authority of Chief of the OKW.
In this appointment, Hitler followed his own logic. He needed a person on whom he could rely in carrying out his will and who would carry out all his orders. Keitel, like no one else, was suitable for this role.
Keitel divided the OKW into three divisions: the operations department headed by Jodl, the Abwehr (intelligence and counterintelligence department) headed by Admiral Canaris, and the economic department headed by Thomas. Between these divisions there was a continuous struggle, moreover, each department had rivals in other divisions and departments.
The operations department of the OKW competed with general staffs three services, but above all with the General Staff of the Army, the economic department had rivals in the face of the Todt organization and the five-year plan department, the Canaris (Abwehr) department competed with naval intelligence, Ribbentrop's department of foreign affairs and Himmler's Security Service (SD).
The OKW mainly passed on Hitler's orders and acted in a coordinated manner with regard to the German economy, which was increasingly working for the war.
However, Keitel's role was not limited to leading the OKW. At the beginning of the Austrian crisis, Hitler used Keitel to put pressure on the Austrian Chancellor Kurt von Schuschnigg.
At the beginning of the Second World War, the leadership of military operations was carried out by the General Staff.
After the victory over France, Keitel was promoted to the rank of Field Marshal and paid a reward in the amount of one hundred thousand marks.
When Keitel learned that Hitler was preparing an attack on the Soviet Union, he became very alarmed and, having come to the Fuhrer, began to report his objections. Hitler gave him a severe scolding, and Keitel asked for his resignation. But Hitler replied that only he could decide what kind of person he needed as head of the OKW. From that moment on, Keitel completely submitted to Hitler and did not dare to object to him anymore. His signature was under documents that were of the most severe nature in relation to the population of the Soviet Union.
Keitel treated his subordinates in the same way, for whom he never interceded before the Fuhrer. For this, many officers and generals called him "Lakeitel".
When a bomb planted by Claus von Stauffenberg exploded at Hitler's headquarters on July 20, 1944, Keitel was momentarily stunned. But as soon as he came to his senses, he rushed to Hitler, shouting: “My Fuhrer! You are alive?" He helped Hitler to his feet, hugged him and then led him out of the hall.
This helped him get even closer to Hitler and become his support in carrying out repressions against the conspirators. He took a direct part in the suppression of the rebellion and personally arrested many officers.
During the Battle of Berlin, Keitel could not think realistically. He blamed Schörner, Wenck, Heinritz, and other generals for the fall of the capital, not realizing that Germany lost the war regardless of these commanders.
On May 8, 1945, Keitel signed the act of unconditional surrender of Germany. After that, he went to Flensburg-Murwig, where the last German government was still located. A few days later he was arrested by the British military police and soon found himself among the defendants at the Nuremberg trials.
He pleaded guilty to carrying out Hitler's orders against the world and humanity and was hanged on October 16, 1946.
His last words were: "Germany above all!"
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