Description:

ALFRED JODL
(1890-1946) Hitler's Chief of Operations who signed the act of military surrender, tried at Nuremburg for war crimes and executed. JODL SEEKS HIS CAPTORS' ASSISTANCE IN OBTAINING LEGAL COUNSEL Historic A.L.S. signed twice ‘Alfred Jodl' and ‘Jodl', 2pp. legal folio, [Nuremberg], Oct. 22, 1945, to AIREY NEAVE (1916-1979) Major of the British Army who was charged with retaining defense attorneys for the criminals. Neave is remembered as the first British soldier to escape from Colditz Castle, then becoming a MP and serving on the Nuremberg Trials as a decorated war hero. Jodl states that he would like to quote several extracts from letters received from his wife, Luise Jodl, regarding the appointment of his defense attorney, in part: ‘…6.9.45: I make the most fervent plea that you will not undervalue the importance of a good lawyer for your defense. Dr. Sack, Berlin, and Prof. Grimm, Munich, have been especially recommended to me…25 Sept. I have been advised that a criminal lawyer would perhaps be better than a civil lawyer…the best ones recommended to me are Prof. Esener in Munich…Dr. Sack…in Berlin, and Dr. Gmund [?], Gottingen…I have been able to find out that if we want to legal counsel retain privately, we will have to pay him ourselves. From what? I suggest that we just let the Americans appoint the German counsel…'. Jodl then adds: ‘…I wrote my wife that I should like to have Prof. Mitteis, Rostock….'. In lieu of the attorneys listed in this letter, which included acclaimed German legal scholar Heinrich Metteis (1889-1952), a family friend of Luise, Jodl was defended by Franz Exner. Exner (1881-1947) was a noted German criminologist who, despite his apparent Jewish heritage, managed to retain his professorship throughout the Nazi regime due to his involvement in drafting racist and exclusionary Nazi legislation. In the de-Nazification movement after the war, Exner was deemed a ‘non-collaborationist'. For Jodl's trial, he teamed up with Hermann Jahrreiss (1894-1992), German attorney whose focus was constitutional and international law. Together the attorneys argued that Jodl was ‘just following orders'; wars were generated from politicians, not soldiers who are not obligated to investigate or question their roles in them. Jahrreiss also attempted to make the argument of ‘ex post facto' to spare Jodl's life, i.e. Jodl could not be retroactively tried for a crime that was not designated as such at the time of its commission. However, this argument was already being invalidated within the sphere of international law as far back as 1947, and obviously was ineffective. Katerina Luise Jodl (1905-1998) was Jodl's secretary, whom he married on Apr. 7, 1945 upon the death of his wife Irma. Expertly inlaid, file holes at top margin, otherwise very good. Ex: the archives of Dr. Hans Werner, who was responsible for directing the printing of the Record of the Trial of Major War Criminals in 42 volumes and in three languages, following the Trials themselves.

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November 29, 2023 10:00 AM EST
Chesapeake City, MD, US

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