Jodl’s loyalty to the Nazi party doctrine is evident in a speech he delivered on 7 November 1943. He spoke of the National Socialist Movement and its struggle for internal power as the preparation for liberation from the Treaty of Versailles. (L-172) He also stated, in a speech on the occasion of the attempted assassination of Hitler, that his aims had been in general agreement with the aims of the party. (1808-PS)
At the sixth meeting of the Working Committee of the Reich Defense Council on 7 February 1934 Jodl pointed out that the practical execution of the preparations for mobilization, which had been ordered by the Army and the highest Reich authorities, were making a considerable enlargement of personnel necessary. He suggested, however, that this enlargement of personnel ought not to result in “the disquieting of foreign countries through conspicuous mobilization measures.” (EC-405)
In the presence of Jodl, Generalmajor Keitel pointed out at the eleventh meeting that the mobilization year was to begin on 1 April and to end on 31 March of the following year. A “Mobilization Book for Civilian Agencies” was to be issued for the first time on 1 April 1936. Keitel said that this day, to the extent possible, should find the nation ready and prepared. He declared that, according to the will of the Fuehrer, the economic management of the country should put the enhancement of military capacity deliberately above all other national tasks. It was the function of all members of the Reich Defense Council, he emphasized, to use all available resources economically and to ask for only such funds and raw materials that were absolutely and exclusively needed for the defense of the Reich. Colonel Jodl said that the Mobilization Book for the Civilian Departments constituted the unified basis for the carrying out of mobilization outside of the Army (EC-406).
D. JODL’S PART IN PLANNING AND LAUNCHING WARS OF AGGRESSION.
(See “F,” 1 through 7, in Section 4 of this Chapter on Keitel, where the joint responsibility of Keitel and Jodl for these activities is discussed.)
E. JODL’S PART IN THE CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT WAR CRIMES AND CRIMES AGAINST HUMANITY.
(1) Murder and ill treatment of civilian population in occupied, territories and on the high seas. Jodl ordered the forcible evacuation of all persons in a northern district of Norway, and the burning of all their dwellings. This was to be done so that the inhabitants of that area could not help the Russians (754-PS). Shortly thereafter an evacuation took place in Finnmark County in northern Norway, in the course of which 30,000 houses were damaged. (1800-PS)
Jodl was aware that in 1942 there were continual arrests in Belgrade, and that from fifteen to thirty followers of Mihalovic were shot every day. (1383-PS)
Jodl initialled an order signed for Hitler by Keitel, which provided that enemy civilians guilty of offenses against German troops should be killed without a military trial, and that punishment could be waived in the case of German soldiers who committed offenses against enemy civilians. (886-PS)
Rosenberg was appointed by Hitler on 20 April 1941 “Deputy for a Centralized Treatment of Problems concerning the Eastern Territories.” The highest Reich authorities were to cooperate fully, and Keitel was asked to designate a representative of OKW to sit with Rosenberg. Jodl was appointed as Keitel’s representative with Warlimont as his deputy, and Keitel wrote to Rosenberg on 25 April 1941 that Jodl and Warlimont would be the OKW representatives. (865-PS)