Alfred Jodl
German military officer and convicted war criminal
Alfred Josef Ferdinand Jodl (born Alfred Josef Baumgärtler; 10 May 1890 – 16 October 1946) was a German military officer and convicted war criminal. Throughout World War II, he held the position of Chief of the Operations Staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, the German Armed Forces High Command. Following the war, the Allied-organised Nuremberg trials indicted him on charges including conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, planning and waging wars of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The most serious accusations stemmed from his signing of the Commando Order and the Commissar Order, both of which were deemed criminal. Convicted on all counts, Jodl was sentenced to death and executed by hanging in Nuremberg in 1946.
Jodl began his military education at a cadet school in Munich, graduating in 1910. His younger brother, Ferdinand Jodl, also became an army general. He was the nephew of philosopher and psychologist Friedrich Jodl of the University of Vienna. Raised Roman Catholic, he later abandoned the faith. During World War I, he served with a field artillery regiment on the Western Front from 1914 to 1916, earning the Iron Cross 2nd Class for bravery in November 1914 and later being wounded. In 1917, he spent a short time on the Eastern Front before returning west as a staff officer. He received the Iron Cross 1st Class for gallantry in 1918. After Germany’s defeat, he remained a professional soldier in the reduced Reichswehr. He married twice: first in 1913, and again in 1944 after becoming a widower.
In the final years of the Weimar Republic, Jodl served as a major in the operations branch of the Truppenamt within the Army High Command, under General Ludwig Beck. He first met Adolf Hitler in September 1939. Following the Anschluss, from October 1938 to August 1939, he was nominally assigned as artillery commander for the 44th Division. On 23 August 1939, just before the invasion of Poland, Hitler appointed him Chief of the Operations Staff of the newly formed OKW. He served as chief of staff during the invasions of Denmark and Norway. After France fell, Jodl expressed confidence in defeating Britain, writing on 30 June 1940 that victory was merely a matter of time. He signed the Commissar Order on 6 June 1941, which ordered the shooting of Soviet political commissars, and the Commando Order on 28 October 1942, which mandated the immediate execution without trial of captured Allied commandos, including uniformed soldiers and civilians like Maquis and partisans. Jodl spent most of the war at Hitler’s Wolf’s Lair in East Prussia. He was promoted to Generaloberst on 1 February 1944 and was slightly injured in the 20 July 1944 plot against Hitler. On 6 May 1945, Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, who had succeeded Hitler, awarded Jodl the Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross. After regional surrenders, Dönitz sent Jodl to respond to Allied demands for unconditional surrender on all fronts. Jodl signed the German Instrument of Surrender on 7 May 1945 in Reims on behalf of the OKW, with the final surrender concluded in Berlin on 8 May. On 13 May, following the arrest of Generalfeldmarschall Wilhelm Keitel, Jodl succeeded him as Chief of OKW.
Jodl was arrested with the rest of the Flensburg Government by British troops on 23 May 1945, held at Camp Ashcan, and then tried at Nuremberg. The charges included conspiracy to commit crimes against peace, planning and waging wars of aggression, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The key evidence against him was his signature on the Commando and Commissar Orders, which mandated summary executions of certain prisoners of war. When confronted with the 1941 mass shootings of Soviet POWs, Jodl claimed only those who refused to walk were shot. Additional charges involved unlawful deportation and abetting executions, with his signature on an order transferring Danish citizens, including Jews, to Nazi concentration camps. He denied involvement, but the court found him complicit, though the French judge Henri Donnedieu de Vabres dissented. His wife Luise assisted his defence. She later alleged to biographer Gitta Sereny that the prosecution withheld documents from the defence. Jodl did prove some charges false, such as helping Hitler gain power in 1933. He pleaded not guilty “before God, before history and my people.” Found guilty on all four counts, he was hanged at Nuremberg Prison on 16 October 1946. His last words were reportedly “I salute you, my eternal Germany.” His remains, along with those of the other executed men and Hermann Göring, were cremated at Ostfriedhof, and the ashes were scattered in the Wenzbach, a tributary of the River Isar.
- born
- 10 May 1890
- died
- 16 October 1946
- field
- Military officer
- nationality
- German
- known_for
- Chief of the Operations Staff of the OKW; convicted war criminal at Nuremberg
Lore & Background
Alfred Jodl was educated at a military cadet school in Munich, from which he graduated in 1910. Ferdinand Jodl, who also became an army general, was his younger brother. He was the nephew of philosopher and psychologist Friedrich Jodl at the University of Vienna. Jodl was raised Roman Catholic but rejected the faith later in life. From 1914 to 1916, he served with a field artillery regiment on the Western Front, being awarded the Iron Cross 2nd Class for gallantry in November 1914, and for being wounded in action. In 1917, he served briefly on the Eastern Front before returning to the West as a staff officer. In 1918, he was awarded the Iron Cross 1st Class for gallantry in action. After the defeat of the German Empire in 1918, he continued his career as a professional soldier with the much-reduced German Army (Reichswehr). Jodl married twice: in 1913 and (after becoming a widower) in 1944. Jodl's appointment as a major in the operations branch of the Truppenamt ('Troop Office') in the Army High Command in the last years of the Weimar Republic put him under the command of General Ludwig Beck. In September 1939, Jodl first met Adolf Hitler. During the build-up to the Second World War, Jodl was nominally assigned as commander of artillery in the 44th Division from October 1938 to August 1939 after the Anschluss. He was chosen by Hitler to be Chief of the Operations Staff of the newly formed Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW) on 23 August 1939, just prior to the German invasion of Poland. Jodl acted as chief of staff during the invasion of Denmark and Norway. Following the Fall of France, Jodl was optimistic of Germany's success over Britain, writing on 30 June 1940 that 'The final German victory over England is now only a question of time.' 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). Jodl spent most of the war at the Wolf's Lair, Hitler's forward command post in East Prussia. On 1 February 1944, he was promoted to the rank of Generaloberst ('colonel general', a four-star rank). He was among those slightly injured during the 20 July plot of 1944
Reader's Guide
Alfred Jodl was a professional soldier who served in the German army from before World War I, where he was decorated for gallantry and wounded in action, through the interwar Reichswehr. He first met Adolf Hitler in 1939 and was soon appointed Chief of the Operations Staff of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, a position he held throughout the war. In this role, he was responsible for operational planning, including during the invasions of Denmark and Norway, and he expressed confidence in a swift German victory over Britain after the fall of France. Jodl spent much of the conflict at Hitler’s forward command post in East Prussia and was slightly wounded in the 1944 assassination plot against Hitler. His most significant actions were signing the Commissar Order, which mandated the immediate shooting of Soviet political commissars, and the Commando Order, which required the summary execution of captured Allied commandos and partisans. He also signed orders related to the deportation of Danish citizens, including Jews, to concentration camps. After the war, he was arrested with the remnants of the German government and tried at Nuremberg. The court found him guilty on all counts, including conspiracy, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, with his signature on the execution orders forming the core of the case against him. Despite his defence that some charges were based on documents withheld from his legal team, he was sentenced to death and executed by hanging in 1946.
Did You Know?
- Jodl first met Adolf Hitler in September 1939.
- He was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross by Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz on 6 May 1945.
- Jodl signed the German Instrument of Surrender on 7 May 1945 in Reims on behalf of the OKW.
- A West German denazification court posthumously declared Jodl not guilty of breaking international law in 1953, but this was later revoked.
Notable Quotes (Wikiquote)
"(10 August 1938), as cited in Eugene Davidson The Trial of the Germans (1997), p. 347." — Alfred Jodl "Munich Conference (29 September 1938), as cited in William Lawrence Shirer The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich: A History of Nazi Germany (1990), p. 422." — Alfred Jodl "Order issued to the German Army (23 July 1941), as cited in George Ginsburgs The Nuremberg Trial and International Law (1990), p. 163." — Alfred Jodl "Speech to Gauleiters in Munich (7 November 1943), as cite in Eugene Davidson The Trial of the Germans (1997)." — Alfred Jodl
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