Skip to content
Partly AI · Narrator voice
Cover of short format F1

Short formats · Rewind · F11:11 min

1 October 1946: Keitel’s sentence, file by file in reverse

1 October 1946, Nuremberg: Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces, is sentenced to death by hanging. We rewind, file by file: the judgment, his note of September 1941, his order of 16 Sept 1941, his decree of May 1941.

6 documented1 open17 Sources

StatementsSources

Short format F1

Statements

Every on-screen statement of the episode, in order. Red only when the source carries it word for word; open when a check is missing.

  1. 01
    documented

    1 October 1946: death by hanging for Keitel.

    IMT Vol. 22, p. 588IMT Vol. 22, p. 524

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  2. 02
    documented

    Wilhelm Keitel was Chief of the High Command.

    IMT Vol. 22, p. 533

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  3. 03
    documented

    Lord Justice Lawrence, President, member for the United Kingdom.

    IMT Vol. 1

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  4. 04
    documented

    Judgment: superior orders cannot be considered in mitigation where crimes so shocking and extensive have been committed consciously, ruthlessly, and without military excuse or justification.

    IMT Vol. 22, p. 536

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  5. 05
    open

    September 1941, Keitel's handwritten note: this is the destruction of an ideology. Therefore I approve and back the measures.

    IMT Vol. 36, p. 317IMT Vol. 22, p. 535

    Check in progress, approval pending
  6. 06
    documented

    16 Sept 1941, order signed Keitel: for the life of one German soldier, the death penalty for 50 to 100 communists.

    IMT Vol. 25, p. 530IMT Vol. 25, p. 531IMT Vol. 25, p. 532IMT Vol. 22, p. 535

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  7. 07
    documented

    May 1941, decree signed by Keitel: no obligation to prosecute soldiers' acts against enemy civilians.

    IMT Vol. 34, p. 254IMT Vol. 34, p. 252IMT Vol. 22, p. 535IMT Vol. 34, p. 255

    Quote checked verbatim, two AI reviewers: holds
  8. 08
    question

    Which file should I rewind next?

Short format F1

Sources

Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (IMT, “Blue Series”), English edition. Page = printed page.

  1. IMT Vol. 22, p. 588

    Document
    IMT Vol. 22 (Strafen, 1.10.1946)
    Volume
    22
    Page
    588 (PDF page 598)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Defendant Wilhelm Keitel, on the Counts of the Indictment on which you have been convicted, the Tribunal sentences you to death by hanging.

  2. IMT Vol. 22, p. 524

    Document
    IMT Vol. 22 (transcript)
    Volume
    22
    Page
    524 (PDF page 534)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    DAY Tuesday, 1 October 1946

  3. IMT Vol. 22, p. 533

    Document
    IMT Vol. 22 (Urteil Keitel)
    Volume
    22
    Page
    533 (PDF page 543)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    KEITEL Keitel is indicted on all four Counts. He was Chief of Staff to the then Minister of War Von Blomberg from 1935 to 4 February 1938; on that day Hitler took command of the Armed Forces, making Keitel Chief of the High Command

  4. IMT Vol. 1

    Document
    IMT Vol. 1 (Mitglieder des Gerichtshofs)
    Volume
    1
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    LORD JUSTICE LAWRENCE, Member for the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, President

  5. IMT Vol. 22, p. 536

    Document
    IMT Vol. 22 (Urteil Keitel, 1.10.1946)
    Volume
    22
    Page
    536 (PDF page 546)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Superior orders, even to a soldier, cannot be considered in mitigation where crimes so shocking and extensive have been committed consciously, ruthlessly, and without military excuse or justification.

  6. IMT Vol. 36, p. 317

    Document
    IMT Vol. 36, Dokument 338-EC (Randvermerk Keitel)
    Volume
    36
    Page
    317 (PDF page 331)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Hier handelt es sich um die Vernichtung einer Weltanschauung! Deshalb billige ich die Massnahmen u. decke sie. K.

  7. IMT Vol. 36, p. 317

    Document
    IMT Vol. 36, Dokument 338-EC
    Volume
    36
    Page
    317 (PDF page 331)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    DOCUMENT 338-EC MEMORANDUM FOR REPORT BY COUNTER-ESPIONAGE OFFICE (AMT AUSLAND ABWEHR), 15 SEPTEMBER 1941, ON THE DIRECTIVE CONCERNING THE TREATMENT OF SOVIET PRISONERS OF WAR OF 8 SEPTEMBER 1941

  8. IMT Vol. 22, p. 535

    Document
    IMT Vol. 22 (Urteil Keitel)
    Volume
    22
    Page
    535 (PDF page 545)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    On this memorandum, in Keitel's handwriting, dated 23 September and initialed by him, is the statement: "The objections arise from the military concept of chivalrous warfare. This is the destruction of an ideology. Therefore I approve and back the measures."

  9. IMT Vol. 36, p. 317

    Document
    IMT Vol. 36, Dokument 338-EC (Beschreibung: Randvermerk und Paraphe Keitels)
    Volume
    36
    Page
    317 (PDF page 331)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Deshalb billige ich die Massnahmen u. decke sie. K." (Purpur) I r n „Herrn Chef OKW": K 23/9

  10. IMT Vol. 25, p. 530

    Document
    IMT Vol. 25, Dokument 389-PS
    Volume
    25
    Page
    530 (PDF page 544)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Der Chef des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht WFSt/Abt. L (IV/Qu) Nr. 002060/41 g.Kdos. F.H.Qu., 16.9.41 Geheime Kommandosache 40 Ausfertigungen 25. Ausfertigung. Betr.: Kommunistische Aufstandsbewegung in den besetzten Gebieten.

  11. IMT Vol. 25, p. 531

    Document
    IMT Vol. 25, Dokument 389-PS
    Volume
    25
    Page
    531 (PDF page 545)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Als Sühne für ein deutsches Soldatenleben muss in diesen Fällen im all- — gemeinen die Todesstrafe für 50 100 Kommunisten als angemessen gelten.

  12. IMT Vol. 25, p. 532

    Document
    IMT Vol. 25, Dokument 389-PS (Unterschrift)
    Volume
    25
    Page
    532 (PDF page 546)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    4.) Die Befehlshaber in den besetzten Gebieten sorgen dafür, dass diese Grundsätze allen militärischen Dienststellen, die mit der Behandlung kommunistischer Aufruhrmassnahmen befasst werden, unverzüglich bekanntgegeben werden. Keitel.

  13. IMT Vol. 22, p. 535

    Document
    IMT Vol. 22 (Urteil Keitel)
    Volume
    22
    Page
    535 (PDF page 545)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    On 16 September 1941, Keitel ordered that attacks on soldiers in the East should be met by putting to death 50 to 100 Communists for one German soldier, with the comment that human life was less than nothing in the East.

  14. IMT Vol. 34, p. 254

    Document
    IMT Vol. 34, Dokument 050-C (Erlass 13.5.1941)
    Volume
    34
    Page
    254 (PDF page 268)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    1. Für Handlungen, die Angehörige der Wehrmacht und des Gefolges gegen feindliche Zivilpersonen begehen, besteht kein Verfolgungszwang, auch dann nicht, wenn die Tat zugleich ein militärisches Verbrechen oder Vergehen ist.

  15. IMT Vol. 34, p. 252

    Document
    IMT Vol. 34, Dokument 050-C (Erlass 13.5.1941)
    Volume
    34
    Page
    252 (PDF page 266)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Der Führer und Oberste Befehlshaber der Wehrmacht. Führerhauptquartier, d. 13. Mai 1941. Erlass über die Ausübung der Kriegsgerichtsbarkeit im Gebiet „Barbarossa" und über besondere Massnahmen der Truppe.

  16. IMT Vol. 22, p. 535

    Document
    IMT Vol. 22 (Urteil Keitel)
    Volume
    22
    Page
    535 (PDF page 545)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    On 12 May 1941, five weeks before the invasion of the Soviet Union, the OKW urged upon Hitler a directive of the OKH that political commissars be liquidated by the Army. Keitel admitted the directive was passed on to field commanders. And on 13 May Keitel signed an order that civilians suspected of offenses against troops should be shot without trial, and that prosecution of German soldiers for offenses against civilians was unnecessary.

  17. IMT Vol. 34, p. 255

    Document
    IMT Vol. 34, Dokument 050-C (Unterschrift)
    Volume
    34
    Page
    255 (PDF page 269)
    Check
    quote found verbatim on the page

    Wording of the source

    Der Chef des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht gez. Keitel

Further sources of the episode

audio NARA 238.3937B · IMT Vol. 22, pp. 535 to 536 and 588 · Vol. 36, p. 317 (338-EC) · Vol. 25, pp. 530 to 532 (389-PS) · Vol. 34, pp. 252 to 255 (050-C) · film NARA 111-ADC · stamp sound: Subhashish Panigrahi, CC BY 3.0 (Wikimedia Commons)

Portraits in the video (1): image credits
  • Wilhelm Keitel: United States Army Signal Corps photographer · public domain · Wikimedia Commons (Wilhelm Keitel at Nuremberg Trials November 1945.jpeg)

How to cite this episode

FUNDSTELLE: „1 October 1946: Keitel’s sentence, file by file in reverse“, Nuremberg Files, Short format F1. https://fundstelle.online/en/short/f1/

Found a mistake? Write to us; every correction is listed with its date on the corrections page. Corrections

Narrator voice partly AI-generated (labelled). Original sound, transcripts and films come from public archives, credited per episode.