1
Memorandum of a conversation between Canaris and Keitel, on Hitler's actions regarding Poland, including the instruction to provide Polish uniforms for Heydrich, Italy's reluctance to join the war, and the prospects of British actions against Germany
IMT
Authors
Wilhelm Canaris (admiral; High Command of the Armed Forces)
Wilhelm Canaris
German admiral, head of military intelligence service
- Born: 1877-01-01 1887-01-01 (Aplerbeck)
- Died: 1945-04-09 (Flossenbürg concentration camp)
- Country of citizenship: Germany
- Occupation: intelligence officer; naval officer; resistance fighter; submariner
- Participant in: 20 July plot
- Military rank: admiral
- Military branch: German Navy; Imperial German Navy
- Educated at: Naval Academy at Mürwik; Q1499438
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
Date: 17 August 1939
Literal Title: Conversation with General Keitel on 17 August 1939
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: PS-795
Exhibit Code: Prosecution 54
Document Book No: Prosecution 2
Citation: IMT (page 1023)
HLSL Item No.: 450796
Notes:Canaris wrote the memo. In the transcript, the exhibit number is mis-stated as 64; 54 is correct. The Polish uniforms were presumably to be used to stage a fictitious Polish attack upon Germans.
Document Summary
Staff Evidence Analyses
PS-795: Memorandum regarding a conference with Keitel
Red Series Doc Descriptions
PS-795: Unsigned report of a discussion by the writer with, Keitel, 17 August 1939, on the political situation. subjects of discussion: Hitler’s order that Polish uniforms are to be made available; Italy’s attitude in case of war; England’s possible entry into the war; Balkan problems "after the conquest of Poland"