Subsequently, interviewed by Gitta Sereny, researching her biography of Albert Speer, Luise alleged that in many instances the Allied prosecution made charges against Jodl based on documents that they refused to share with the defence. His wife Luise attached herself to her husband's defence team. Although he denied his role in this activity of the Third Reich's rule, the court sustained his complicity based on the evidence it had examined with the French judge, Henri Donnedieu de Vabres, dissenting. Presented as evidence was his signature on an order that transferred Danish citizens, including Jews, to concentration camps.
#Alfred jodl trial#
When confronted with mass shootings of Soviet POWs in 1941, Jodl claimed the only prisoners shot were "not those that could not, but those that did not want to walk." Īdditional charges at his trial included unlawful deportation and abetting execution. The principal charges against him related to his signature of the Commando Order and the Commissar Order, both of which ordered that certain classes of prisoners of war were to be summarily executed upon capture. Jodl was accused of conspiracy to commit crimes against peace planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression war crimes and crimes against humanity. Jodl was arrested and transferred to Flensburg POW camp and later put before the International Military Tribunal at the Nuremberg trials. Jodl signs the instruments of unconditional surrender in Reims on At the end of World War II in Europe, Jodl signed the instruments of unconditional surrender on in Reims as the representative of Karl Dönitz. Jodl was among those slightly injured during the 20 July plot of 1944 against Hitler where he suffered a head concussion by the explosion planned by Claus von Stauffenberg. Jodl signed the Commissar Order of 6 June 1941 (in which Soviet political commissars were to be shot) and the Commando Order of 28 October 1942 (in which Allied commandos, including properly uniformed soldiers as well as combatants wearing civilian clothes, such as Maquis and partisans, were to be executed immediately without trial if captured behind German lines). Following the Fall of France Jodl was optimistic of Germany's success over Britain, on 30 June 1940 writing "The final German victory over England is now only a question of time." Jodl acted as a Chief of Staff during the swift occupation of Denmark and Norway. Jodl was chosen by Hitler to be Chief of Operation Staff of the newly formed OKW. In the build-up to the Second World War, Jodl was nominally assigned as a commander of the 44th Division from October 1938 to August 1939 during the Anschluss. In September 1939 Jodl first met Adolf Hitler. Jodl's appointment as a major in the operations branch of the Truppenamt in the Army High Command in the last days of the Weimar Republic put him under command of General Ludwig Beck. Jodl, between Major Wilhelm Oxenius (left) and Admiral Hans-Georg von Friedeburg (right), signing the German Instrument of Surrender at Reims, France Jodl was married twice, in 1913, and then in 1944, after becoming a widower.
#Alfred jodl professional#
After the defeat of the German Empire in 1918, he continued his career as a professional soldier with the much reduced German Army in the guise of the Reichswehr. In 1918 he was again awarded the Iron Cross for gallantry in action. In 1917 he served briefly on the Eastern Front before returning to the West as a Staff Officer. įrom 1914 to 1916 he served with a Battery unit on the Western Front, being awarded the Iron Cross for gallantry in November 1914, and being wounded in action. The philosopher and psychologist Friedrich Jodl at the University of Vienna was his uncle. Ferdinand Jodl, who also was to become a General in the Army, was his younger brother. Found guilty on all charges, he was sentenced to death and executed in 1946.Īlfred Jodl was educated at a military Cadet School in Munich, from which he graduated in 1910. The principal charges against him related to his signature of the criminal Commando and Commissar Orders. info) – 16 October 1946) was a German general and war criminal during World War II, who served as the Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces High Command ( Oberkommando der Wehrmacht).Īfter the war, Jodl was indicted on the charges of conspiracy to commit crime against peace planning, initiating and waging wars of aggression war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Allied-organised Nuremberg Trials.
Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak LeavesĪlfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl ( listen ( help