Generaloberst
Alfred Jodl, former Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces
High Command, at the Nuremberg Trials in 1946. Jodl was arrested by
British forces on 23 May 1945 along with the remnants of the Flensburg
Government, he was transferred to Nuremberg and became one of the 24
major defendants tried before the International Military Tribunal (IMT)
starting in November 1945, facing charges of conspiracy to commit crimes
against peace, planning, initiating, and waging wars of aggression, war
crimes, and crimes against humanity. The prosecution's case against him
centered heavily on his personal responsibility for issuing or
transmitting directives such as the Commando Order, which mandated the
summary execution of captured Allied commandos, and the Commissar Order,
which called for the shooting of Soviet political commissars, alongside
his central role in planning aggressive campaigns including the
invasions of Poland, France, the Soviet Union, and Yugoslavia, as well
as reprisals and scorched-earth policies in occupied territories. During
the trial, Jodl mounted a vigorous defense, testifying at length about
his duties, claiming he had often acted as a professional soldier merely
following superior orders while sometimes attempting to moderate
Hitler's more extreme demands, and asserting his personal opposition to
certain violations of international law, yet the tribunal rejected these
arguments, emphasizing his high-level involvement and knowledge in the
criminal enterprise. On 1 October 1946, Jodl was convicted on all four
counts and sentenced to death by hanging; he was executed on the morning
of 16 October 1946 at Nuremberg Prison, where, showing visible
nervousness as he ascended the gallows in his Wehrmacht uniform, he
uttered his final words, "My greetings to you, my Germany," before his
body was cremated and ashes scattered. His conviction and execution
remain subjects of historical debate, particularly regarding the
application of superior orders as a defense and the tribunal's judgment
of military leaders for state-directed policies.
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