TOP SECRET By officer only
Fuehrer HQ. 23 July 1941 Chief, High Command of the Armed Forces No. 441254/41, Top Secret, by officer only Armed Forces Operational Staff/Dept. L (1 Op)
14 copies Copy No. 2.
Supplement to order no. 33
On 22 July, the Fuehrer after receiving the Commander of the Army issued the following order with a view to supplementing and enlarging Order No. 33:
[1 to 5: strategic measures]
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6. In view of the vast size of the occupied areas in the East, the forces available for establishing security in these areas will be sufficient only if all resistance is punished not by legal prosecution of the guilty, but by the spreading of such terror by the occupying forces as is alone appropriate to eradicate every inclination to resist amongst the population.
The respective Commanders, with the troops available to them are to be held responsible for maintaining peace within their areas. The Commanders must find the means of keeping order within the regions where security is their responsibility [Sicherungsraume], not by demanding more security forces, but by applying suitable, draconian measures.
[Signed] Keitel
Distribution: * * *
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Fuehrer order that commanders in the eastern occupied territories establish order by use of "terror" and "draconian measures"
Authors
Wilhelm Keitel (Field Marshal, Chief of the High Command of the Armed Forces)
Wilhelm Keitel
German field marshal
- Born: 1882-09-22 (Helmscherode) (country: German Empire; located in the administrative territorial entity: Duchy of Brunswick)
- Died: 1946-10-16 (Nuremberg) (country: Allied-occupied Germany)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: military officer; military personnel; politician
- Member of political party: Nazi Party
- Military rank: general field marshal
- Military branch: artillery
- VIAF ID: https://viaf.org/viaf/74027425
Adolf Hitler (Fuehrer, Reich Chancellor, Supeme Commander of Wehrmacht)
Adolf Hitler
Austrian nationalized German politician, leader of the National Socialist party and dictator of Germany (1889-1945)
- Born: 1889-01-01 1889-04-20 (Braunau am Inn) (country: Austria-Hungary; located in the administrative territorial entity: Archduchy of Austria above the Enns; statement is subject of: Adolf-Hitler-Geburtshaus)
- Died: 1945-04-30 (Berlin Führerbunker) (country: Nazi Germany; located in the administrative territorial entity: Berlin; statement is subject of: death of Adolf Hitler)
- Country of citizenship: Cisleithania (period: 1889-04-20 through 1918-11-11); First Republic of Austria (period: 1919-01-01 through 1925-04-30); Nazi Germany (end cause: death of Adolf Hitler; period: 1933-01-30 through 1945-04-30); Republic of German-Austria (period: 1918-01-01 through 1919-01-01)
- Occupation: painter (statement is subject of: paintings by Adolf Hitler); political writer; politician (reason for preferred rank: generally used form); soldier
- Member of political party: German Workers' Party (period: 1919-09-12 through 1921-07-11); Nazi Party (series ordinal: 556)
- Member of: Nazi Party
- Participant in: Aktion T4; Beer Hall Putsch; The Holocaust; ethnic cleansing
- Significant person: Albert Speer; Benito Mussolini; Eva Braun; Joseph Stalin
Date: 23 July 1941
Literal Title: Supplement to order no. 33
Defendant: Wilhelm Keitel
Total Pages: 1
Language of Text: English
Source of Text: Nazi conspiracy and aggression (Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality. Washington, D.C. : U.S. Government Printing Office, 1946.)
Evidence Code: C-52
HLSL Item No.: 452033
Notes:The order was made by Hitler on 22 July 1941 and distributed by Keitel on 23 July. A pencilled note states that the document became "GB [exhibit] 485."
Trial Issues
Hostage-taking and reprisal actions, including killings and fines (IMT, NM… Partisan fighters (and commandos), operations against, and treatment of (I…
Document Summary
C-52: Military order. Supplement to Order No. 33 (Photostats) signed by Keitel. Administrator occupied Russia, and use terrorism freely and severely to establish order and security
C-52: 23 July 41 - Supplement to Order No. 33 re punishing resistance, not by legal prosecution of guilty, but by applying draconian measures.