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Wilhelm Keitel

Wilhelm Keitel

September 22, 1882 –October 16, 1946

Politician, Military officer, Military personnel, Generalfeldmarschall, Major general, Soldier

Lived 64 years

Born in
Helmscherode
Passed away in
Nuremberg

Wilhelm Bodewin Johann Gustav Keitel (German pronunciation: [ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈkaɪtl̩]; 22 September 1882 – 16 October 1946) was a German field marshal who held office as chief of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), the high command of Nazi Germany's armed forces, during World War II. He signed a number of criminal orders and directives that led to numerous war crimes.

Keitel's rise to the Wehrmacht high command began with his appointment as the head of the Armed Forces Office at the Reich Ministry of War in 1935. Having taken command of the Wehrmacht in 1938, Adolf Hitler replaced the ministry with the OKW and Keitel became its chief. He was reviled among his military colleagues as Hitler's habitual "yes-man".

After the war, Keitel was indicted by the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg as one of the "major war criminals". He was found guilty on all counts of the indictment: crimes against humanity, crimes against peace, criminal conspiracy, and war crimes. He was sentenced to death and executed in Nuremberg by hanging in 1946.

Awards: Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, Golden Party Badge, Silver Cross of Merit of the Ducal Saxe-Ernestine House Order, War Merit Cross (Brunswick), Friedrich-August-Kreuz, Hanseatic Cross (Bremen), Clasp to the Iron Cross, Honour Cross of the World War 1914/1918, Wound Badge (1918) in Black, Anschluss Medal

Source: Wikipedia — https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_Keitel