TRANSLATION OF STATEMENT V

Notes Concerning Actions of German Armed Forces
During the War and in Occupied Territory

Wilhelm Keitel
19 October 1945

Notes To the Chief of Investigation Mr. Dodd, from the 18 October 1945 until the presentation on the 22 Oct. 1945.

I. The examinations and interrogations so far evidently concern three main subjects:

a. Political connections, ambitions, and measures, as well as actions, are exclusively the affairs of the politicians, never those of soldiers!

b. Military preparations, operational plans, preliminary arrangements and execution of the campaigns: the broad coherences explained by documents (" information") supplied by us, respectively supplemented by discovered documents (Colonel Schmundt of the Navy [sic] ) and interrogations.

c. Occupied Territories and their populations (war against partisans), as well as our military procedure in the treatment for the protection of our own armed forces; furthermore, treatment of prisoners of war. That means, therefore, the handling of the "International agreements."

II. I should like to give detailed arguments, because the causes and justifications for measures taken by us have yet never been discusssed.

Under "International agreements" I understand the following:

1. Hague Convention regarding the usages of land warfare.

2. The Geneva Convention regarding the treatment of prisoners of war.

The Soviet Government had from the start refused the acknowledgment of either of them! They had placed themselves inten tionally outside of these and thereby openly declared their intended attitude. The Hague Conventions unfortunately did not apply to air warfare, as proposed by Germany while England declined the corresponding extensions. The whole deciding factor responsible for the origin and the development of conditions was the attitude of the population towards the marching in and later on the occupying troops, the administration of the occupied territories. One talks generally of the "occupation forces" and only thinks in this connection of the "armed forces." But the decisive factor is the person who exercised the power, that is, the "executive power," namely, who was actually responsible; if it was either: the military Commander in Chief or: the civil administration in conjunction with or by their police forces.

We used to distinguish between (a) operational territory; (b) occupied territory. As for (a) in the operational territory the Army (Commander-in-Chief of the Army) was solely responsible, until he was relieved in full or in part of the responsibility by handing it over to the civilian organs (for example in Poland towards end of September 1939), Norway, Holland, Alsace-Lorraine, Luxemburg and others, and in Russia after the summer of 1941 by the Reich Commissioners, "Eastland" and "Ukraine" under the "Reich Minister for Occupied Eastern Territories" (parts of the Province of East Prussia).

From time to time the operational territories were newly defined with the advance to the rear of the armies and the territories lying farther backward were taken away from the Commander- in-Chief of the Army. Responsibility for the Armed Forces, that is, the responsibility of the Commander-in-Chief of the Army- with the exception of the area close behind the front lines in Russia-remained only in Belgium, France, Yugoslavia and for Crete (not Greece).

In France, unfortunately, the police powers were transferred in the winter of 1941/ 42 to the Reich Leader of the SS, that is in this case were transferred to the "Higher SS and Police Leader," appointed by him; the military commander was precluded.

III. Regarding the handling of international conventions quite a number of "documents" were shown to me; they concern only partially the Armed Forces themselves. Moreover, Russia to start with is excluded, because it had rejected the acknowledgment of the conventions.

1.Against the population: (I mention only examples):

a. "Night and Fog" decree (Deportations into Germany in certain cases).

b. Orders to the Military Commander-in-Chief (v.Stuelpnagel) of December 1941: The shooting of hostages if culprits were not discovered. (French police were at first cooperative, but not later on; the population shielded culprits.)

c. Italy: Employment of the order East against partisans in December 1942.

d. Fuehrer order of the 4th July 1944 concerning Anglo-American terror raiders.

e. Norway: (Leter to Terboven regarding the avoidance of sabotage against ships)

f. Treatment of the civilian population in case of resistance and attempts to revolt (order of the 14th May 1941, no court martials, summary courts of the Commandants).

g. Plenipotentiary Powers for the Reich leader SS in the conquered Eastern territories of Russia in regards to political super-vision.

h. Most severe measures against the "partisan war" organized and conducted by the Russian army.

i. Putting out of action (blocking) of fortifications behind the frontier by the use of gas.

2. Against POW (only Eastern territories):

a. SD-Commander in Russian POW camps (Staleg S).

b. Giving of distinguishing marks to Russian POW.

c. Delivery of escaped POW except British and American to the Police (RSHA)

IV. Certain obvious comparisons are made and connections seen:

a. Pure miitary defense and self-protection measures against partisans, formation of gangs, agents, sabotage, and other criminal attacks, and:

b. Civil and police activities in Germany itself or occupied territories, which are, or will be blamed on the armed forces.

Polizei, SD, or other parts of the SS (except units of the Waffen-SS) were never under jurisdiction of the Armed Forces or received orders from it. They were under the sole jurisdiction of Reich Leader Himmler.

The Armed Forces had for their purposes:

a. Secret Field Police and Feldgendarmerie

b. Defense units for the detection of espionage and sabotage.

The Armed Forces and the OKW were very concerned to obey international agreements since any violation would automatically result in repercussions against our own soldiers, e. g., .in case that such actions were initiated by us and not reprisals against proved and known violations of the enemies. One could not prevent the common soldier from jumping to the defense. He thought: "Eye for eye and tooth for tooth."

V. All orders and decrees of the Fuehrer and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces (whether issued by him or through myself) were exclusively:

Repercussions and countermeasures to misbehavior and rebellion in the occupied territories, if according to confirmed reports there was intentional violation of international agreements or of orders of the occupation troops whose number and security were limited. The Hague rules of land warfare required that the population submit to the orders of the occupying force and neither commit nor shield sabotage! The material in our possession proves beyond doubt that this was violated on the widest scale; the material is in Geneva and was found as non-attackable according to court decision.

VI. 4 Elements of different kind were active:

a. Underground movements of hate-instilled criminals of the particular country, mostly of communist origin.

b. Agents (hired subjects), refugees of their own countries, often Englishmen (secret service) in all western countries, including Yugoslavia, Italy, and Czechoslovakia.

c. In the East Russian political commissars and agents, also in Yugoslavia.

d. English Commando actions, organized bands (Partisans) assisted and supplied by England and Russia.

The German armed forces entered the Polish and Western campaigns under full observation of and respect for international agreements. No excesses have become known, individual violations were severely punished! On the other hand, we were immediately flooded with reports and legally investigated accounts of atrocities of the worst kind and killings of German soldiers by our adversaries. They all were gathered, investigated, and sent to Geneva with photographs.

Our opponents have more and more poisoned the heretofore chivalrous atmosphere of the fight, which was bound to lead to the sharpest counter-measures. Examples to be given orally: Poland, France, Yugoslavia, Crete.

In 1941 the underground movement in France started. The atrocities in the Balkans defied any description. Already in 1941 the unscrupulous Partisan war started in Russia, using all. means. Later Italy, France, Poland, and Czechoslovakia followed suit. Everywhere the western enemies organized these "guerilla" mischiefs through agents, "commissions," and assisted and enlivened them with airborne supplies. It was necessary to threaten the population with the heaviest counter-measures, because the populace covered and hid Partisans and murderers and Gendarmerie and police of the particular countries which never found out anything because they did not want to find out anything. Thus there could be applied no other law than to strike back with barbaric methods!

The reason for issuing such strict orders even before the Russian campaign was the behavior of the population in Yugoslavia which at that time was already led and nourished by Bolshevist elements of Moscow (political commissars and Russian agents). It was not the armed German forces who started illegal methods of war, atrocities, and murders or provoked them; their shield was clean from the beginning in defense and self-protection. Please question General Jodl to this effect; he gathered all reports and made daily reports to the Fuehrer.

[signed] W. Keitel