Ü.»::IGI o_u*s. CHIEF COUNSEL FOR THE PROSECUTION OF: AXIS CRIMINALITY

INTERROGATION DECISION SUMMARY

Interrogation of Wilhelm Kei'tel

By; Mr. T.J.Dodd, 8 October -1945, a.m. Nurenberg

Persons and organizations implicated, and subjects

1. K e i t e l , Wilhelm

a. Aticj^essive war a g a i n s t Russ ia ( p . 1 - 2 ) b. P e r s e c u t i o n of Tews ' p , 3 J c. P e r s e c u t i o n of chur-'-hes (p# 4 ) d . Aggress ive war a g a i n s t A u s t r i a

( l ) I n i t i a l s on Dec anient ' o p e r a t i o n o t t o " (p .8 ) e . Aggressive war Bga.tnst .V'.-iand (p . 9-10)

(1) Discuss ion of Document 795>-PS ( p . 9-10) (2) The " Dirsc-.hEiu inc iden t 1 ' ; j j . 9-10)

2 . Hess and Bormann

a. Efforts to eliminate army Chaplains' services (p. 4)

3 . Jod l and Warllmont'

a . I n i t i a l s on Document " Operat ion Otto1 ' ( p .8 )

4. Hitler a. persecution of Jews (p.,3)

b. Signature or. document ' Operation Otto" (p.8)

5. Brauchitsch and Bock a . Meeting with fcitlar concerning m i l i t a r y a c t i o n a jo iAst >

A u s t r i a (p , 6-9) 6 . Canar is

a . Author of dooiiGcnt 795-PSi concerning war a g a i n s t Poland (p .9-10)

7. SS a. Methods of 3D in persecution of Jews (p.3) b. Concentration;. camps (p.7)

8. NSDAP a. Unlimited power (p. 5-6)

By; Mr. Doüdd, 6, October 154p, a.u. Nttornber̂

AGGRBS .-IVE WAR /̂ GAINST RUSSIA

Keitel states definite pluns against Rus ia became active only in the fall of 1940. Then were only 7 divisions on the Eastern Front, tmü in June 1940 only 5. Ho said: " The visit of Molotov in November 1940 was the test as to whether or not one would come to an arrangement with Russia." (PP 1-2).

Persecution of the Tews

The Jewish problem v/ere head led by the Party in an

fashion one might call absolutely immodreate or unbridled". ( p.2). Keitel claims to have defended Jewish soldiers, parttoulary those that won decorations in World var I, and to have obtained a decree protecting them. He said: " The SD would simply bring up some alleged crime or utterance of this man, and then his decorations, would be taken away from him, and the SD,. as I said, would make certain statements^ and the man would be lost any way". He added: " Hitler did not; in any way stop those elements that were tackling these problems in a radical fashion", (p.3).

Pers<ocu1ion of the Churches

He said it was similar in respect to the church problem. " There were in the Party a consideraole number of people that had an absolutely uncompromising attitude towards the church, that is, regardless whether they were Catholic or Protestant". Keitel stated that a dispute that went'back to the period of Blomberg," when the representatives of Hitler, Hess and Borr.ia.nn, were trying to eliminate the religious protection in the Wehrmacht", continued through his own period of office. In 1939 - 1940, Keitel had a long talk with Hitler on the subject, and Hitler promised'-the Army Chaplain Service would continue undisturbed. (p»4).

Power of the SD and of the Nazi Party

The invisible power of the SD is shown by the fact that his (Keitel1 s) own telephone conversations were tapped (p.5) and'that General Stuelpnagel, on the third day after the war began, " disappeared" bocause of an alleged telephone conversation with the Crown Prince, although Brauchitsch had selected him to head up the Third Service Command,

The police power was independent of the executive

or administrative power. The career of a man who was suspicious to the SD and Gestapo, sooner or later would end in the concentration camps (p.7).position of protecting or

defending t h i s p e r s o n " . ( p . 7 ) 4

The subs tence of power formerly belonging to t h e Prucs ion a d m i n i s t r a t i v e p a t t e r n had passed to the Gau­l e i t e r or K r e i s l e i t e r , ( p . 7 ) .

AGGRESSIVE W R̂ AGAINST ,-AJSTRIA

K e i t e l i d e n t i f i e d •» Operat ion Ot to" dated 11-3-38 , signed by H i t l e r . " The s i g n a t u r e cannot be doubted; and here a r e the i n i t i a l s of j o d l , Warlimont and K o i t e l " , ( p . 8 ) . I t was the f i r s t s t r a t e g i c o rde r drawn a f t e r K e i t e l ' s appointment as Qliief of the OKW. There was a meeting at" the Reich Chancel lory on 10 Llarch 1938 ( wi th Brauch i t s ch a n l Book), a t which H i t l e r d i r e c t e d p lans for the march in to A u s t r i a for Sunday s i n c e Schuschnigg had c a l l e d for c genora l e l e c t i o n . On l e a v i n g t h o conference K e i t e l t o l d Jodi of t h e meeting and had him draw up t h e p l a n s . ( pp 3 - 9 ) .

AGGRäSSJTTE - ^ AtklttST POLAND

795 - TS» The au thor of t h o memorandum - C a n a r i s . K e i t e l was r e f e r r e d to the Dir^c-hau i n e i d o n t , but professed . not to know what the P o l i s h uniforms were to bo used f o r , a l though be s t a t e d H i t l e r may have s a id " Well., l e t ' s see i f we c a n ' t got some p o l i s h uniforms for Heydrich" and perhaps people with p o l i s h uniforms were put i n a r a d i o s t a t i o n in tho P o l i s h Corr idor to r e p o r t whether the re were c o n c e n t r a t i o n s of p o l i s h t r oops or peop l e , but s ince t h i s was not a m i l i t a r y ( p a t t e r n ) H i t l e r should have c a l l e d on Heydrich t o perform i t . ( p . 9 and 1 0 ) .

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