The Wehrmacht, the Holocaust and War Crimes

The Wehrmacht, the Holocaust, and War Crimes

[Please see the note concerning the provenance of files in this presentation]

Order #21 Signed by Keitel Concerning Jurisdiction of Miitary, SS, and Police Forces During Barbarossa, 13 March 1941

Fuhrer Decree on Disciplining of German Troops and Handling of Resistance in District Area "Barbarossa", 13 May 1941

Heydrich Directives Concerning Handling of USSR Prisoners of War, 28 June 1941/July 1941

Hitler's Order of the Day to Troops on the Eastern Front, October 2, 1941

Keitel Order Concerning Ruthless Suppression of Resistance in Occupied USSR, 16 September 1941

The copy reproduced of this document is dated 16 September 1941. The date given in the collation of the list of documents, Vol. 8 of the series, p.816, is 16 December 1941

Statement by the Commissar of Foreign Affairs of the USSR, Molotov, on German Attrocities in Occupied USSR, 1941

Rosenberg Letter to Keitel Concerning Maltreatment of USSR Prisoners of War, 28 February 1942

Combatting Single Parachutists, Keitel Order, 4 August 1942

Fuehrer Order Concerning Handling of Commandos, 18 October 1942

Memorandum by Brautigam Concerning Conditions in Occupied Areas of the USSR 25 October 1942

Kugel Erlass ("Bullet Decree"), 4 March 1944

Decree stipulating that escaped POWs are to be handed over to the SD for handling. They were then sent to Mauthausen Concentration Camp where they were executed.

A Short Historical Consideration of German War Guilt, by Alfred Jodl, 6 September 1945

The Origins of the Directives of the Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces, by Wilhelm Keitel, 15 September 1945

The Position and Powers of the Chief of the OKW, by Wilhelm Keitel, 9 October 1946

Notes by Keitel Concerning Actions of German Armed Forces During the War and in Occupied Territory 19 October 1945

These notes were prepared by Wilhelm Keitel, Chief of the High Command of the German Armed Forces, OKW, for the Chief of Investigation before the Nurnberg Tribunal, Mr. Dodd. They are noteworthy for the accounts advanced to justify those policies classified by the Allied powers as war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Affidavit of Generaloberst Franz Halder 22 November, 1945

This affidavit is of interest in connection with the decisions relating to the Anschluss, the invasions of Czechoslovakia, Poland and France, the approach of the OKW to the neutrality of Belgium and Holland, the reasons for the attack on the USSR, and details concerning the Commissar Order and the handling of USSR POWs.

Affidavit of Otto Ohlendorf, 20 November 1945

Ohlendorf was a senior officer in the RSHA, an early Nazi Party member (1925) and, most importantly, the commander of Einsatzgruppe D, which was one of four special purpose Action Groups charged with the extermination of Jews, Commissars, Partisans and other "undesirable" segments of the USSR populace.

Political Way by Otto Ohlendorf, 20 November 1945

Otto Ohlendorf, commander of Einsatzgruppe D, expounds his views on Fascism and National Socialism:

"These principles advocated, as the foremost goal of National Socialism, to develop the best characteristics of the people and to form them into a community of equality and to furnish the best possible spiritual and moral existence for the individuals of the people."

Testimony of Erwin Lahousen before the International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg, 30 November 1945

Trial of General Von Mackensen and General Maelzer. United Nations War Crimes Commission, 1949

Trial of Albert Kesserling. United Nations War Crimes Commission. 1949

The Dreierwalde Case. Trial of Karl Amberger. United Nations War Crimes Commission, 1947

Trial of Carl Bauer, Ernst Schrameck, Herbert Falten. United Nations War Crimes Commission. 1949

Affidavit of Erwin Lahousen, 21 January 1946

Lahousen served in the Abwehr, the intelligence service of the OKW, between 1938 and 1943. He was one of Canaris' section chiefs and represented him at various conferences with senior OKW officers. His affidavit, provided to investigating officers for the Nuremberg Tribunal of the Major German War Criminals, provides information concerning plans for the destruction of elites in Poland and the killings of Russian POWs, and the attitude of senior OKW officers to them, particularly Keitel and Reinecke. Only those portions of the affidavit relating to policies pursued respecting the populations of occupied countries and war crimes are reproduced here.

German Crimes Against Soviet Prisoners-of-War in Poland. Central Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes in Poland. 1946

Nuremberg Charges

Hans Frank (Governor-General of non-annexed occupied Poland)

Alfred Jodl

Ernst Kaltenbrunner (Chief of the RSHA 1943-1945)

Wilhelm Keitel

Alfred Rosenberg

Artur Seyss-Inquart Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV

Julius Streicher

The General Staff and High Command of the Armed Forces Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V

The SS, Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V

The Geheime Staatspolizei (GESTAPO) and Sicherheitsdienst (SD) Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI