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 JODL DEMANDS ACCESS TO PROSECUTORIAL EVIDENCE: ‘As a defendant, I possess nothing but my memory…' Very late, historical content A.L.S. signed twice ‘Alfred Jodl' and ‘Jodl', 2pp. legal folio, [Nuremberg], Oct. 22, 1945, in German to the Secretary General of the International Military Tribunal. Jodl writes to formally object to the indictment handed to him at the Trials, and states: ‘On 19.10 the indictment was handed to me, but without being accompanied by any of the evidence upon which it is based. The representatives of the prosecution are in possession of all the files. At their will, they can use evidence which would work against me and discard that which would be in my favor. As a defendant, I posses nothing but my memory, which during five and a half years of war and six months' imprisonment has not noticeably improved. That might suffice for a burglar or a highwayman, but not in the case with such a complexity of questions as the ones against me. Under such circumstances, the preparation of an adequate defense is impossible, and I wish to enter a formal objection…'. Jodl continues by requesting ‘The most important pieces of evidence upon which the prosecution is based…My notebook and my official notations (my diary)…My notes for a lecture delivered by me in Munich, 7.11.1943…a copy of the Geneva Convention Rules and the Hague Treaty…One copy each of the collections of the German Foreign Office concerning breaches in neutrality in Norway, Holland and Belgium…and the common-law crimes committed by Poland, France, England, Greece (Crete), all of which were presented at Geneva…[and] a Collection of all of the infringements and crimes against common law committed by the former enemies of Germany…'. Jodl was indicted specifically on charges of conspiracy to commit crimes against peace; the planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression; war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The principal charges against him related to his signing of the criminal Commissar Orders on June 6, 1941, which ordered German soldiers to shoot Soviet Communist officials (known as ‘political commissars') taken as prisoners. Its text reads, in extreme small part: ‘The originators of barbaric, Asiatic methods of warfare are the political commissars.... Therefore, when captured either in battle or offering resistance, they are to be shot on principle…'. Jodl was further indicted for signing the Commando Order of Oct. 18, 1942, which stated that all commandos captured in both Europe and Africa be summarily executed without trial. This order was written by an irate Hitler, who was reeling from ‘Operation Basalt' carried out by British commandos on the Channel Island of Sark that resulted in captured German soldiers being shot with their hands tied behind their backs. Claiming that the British commandos were using barbarous methods of warfare prohibited by the Geneva Convention, Hitler chooses to join in rather than formally charge the Brits with violating the Convention: ‘In future, Germany will adopt the same methods against these Sabotage units of the British and their Allies; i.e. that, whenever they appear, they shall be ruthlessly destroyed by the German troops…'. Jodl was correct in believing that his personal evidence would doom him: a very small sampling from his diary details important and damning event such as his preparing for the invasion of Norway in 1939 and planning against Greece and Yugoslavia in 1941. Also in 1941, Jodl signed an order from Hitler that Germany would not accept an offer of surrender of Leningrad or Moscow, but on the contrary he insisted that they be completely destroyed. In a 1943 speech, he also indirectly connected himself with the slave labor program, ordering the Gauleiters to act with ‘remorseless vigor and resolution' towards citizens compelled to work on the Atlantic Wall. Expertly inlaid, toning at top margin along with some wear, a hole and two smaller staple holes, 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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