German Military Leaders/Nazi Era/Jodl
"Colonel General Alfred Jodl"
Jodl* was born in Würzburg, then part of Franken (Franconia), since the end of World War Two a part of Bavaria. The dialect is not Bavarian, but Frankish. He was an artillery officer prior to achieving his most noted position as Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces (Chef des Wehrmachtführungsstabes) in 1939, which did the military planning. Like much of the military, Jodl supported Hitler's prewar expansion of the armed forces, and his position put him in close contact with Hitler throughout the war. I can't recall the specifics, but Jodl had a disagreement with Hitler in 1942 over operations in the Soviet Union, in which he used Hitler's own words to support his position. Hitler denied ever having said whatever it was, and thereafter ordered a stenographer present to record every word. Hitler had a long memory about people who opposed him, and he was never as close with Jodl after this, although the general remained loyal to Hitler. Jodl was much more respected by his fellow generals than was Field Marshal Keitel, his nominal superior, "perhaps," at least in part, due to the just mentioned confrontation he had with Hitler, although he too was seen as too close to Hitler, but he was also seen as competent.
Jodl signed the the surrender on behalf of the German military and government at the Allied headquarters in Reims, France in May 1945.** Like Keitel, Jodl countersigned many orders issued by Hitler, and he was put on trial at Nuremberg, with the most serious charges against him relating to the Hitler orders about the execution of Soviet commissars and Allied commandos. He was found guilty, sentenced to death and hanged at Nuremberg in October 1946, his request for a firing squad having been denied.
* Pronounced pretty much like "yodel," a word borrowed from German for the sing-song warbling and calling of the mountaineers of Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria.
** The Soviets required a separate signing two days later, and Field Marshal Keitel did the signing for Germany then.
WORD HISTORY:
By-This goes back to Indo European "ambhi," which meant "around." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "umbi," with the same basic meaning. Old Germanic's offspring, West Germanic (English is West Germanic), kept the base word,^ but also separated the second syllable, which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "be/bi," which meant "near, about, around," and should not be confused with the verb "to be." It eventually changed to "by" and has remained so for hundreds of years. Common in the other West Germanic languages, German has "bei" (pronounced like the English word), Dutch has "bij," West Frisian has "by," Low German has bi/by/bie (depending upon dialect). Swedish, a North Germanic language has "bi," which it borrowed from Low German.
^ Old English had "ymbe," meaning "around, about," which has survived as "umb(e)" in some dialects in England and Scotland.
Jodl* was born in Würzburg, then part of Franken (Franconia), since the end of World War Two a part of Bavaria. The dialect is not Bavarian, but Frankish. He was an artillery officer prior to achieving his most noted position as Chief of the Operations Staff of the Armed Forces (Chef des Wehrmachtführungsstabes) in 1939, which did the military planning. Like much of the military, Jodl supported Hitler's prewar expansion of the armed forces, and his position put him in close contact with Hitler throughout the war. I can't recall the specifics, but Jodl had a disagreement with Hitler in 1942 over operations in the Soviet Union, in which he used Hitler's own words to support his position. Hitler denied ever having said whatever it was, and thereafter ordered a stenographer present to record every word. Hitler had a long memory about people who opposed him, and he was never as close with Jodl after this, although the general remained loyal to Hitler. Jodl was much more respected by his fellow generals than was Field Marshal Keitel, his nominal superior, "perhaps," at least in part, due to the just mentioned confrontation he had with Hitler, although he too was seen as too close to Hitler, but he was also seen as competent.
Jodl signed the the surrender on behalf of the German military and government at the Allied headquarters in Reims, France in May 1945.** Like Keitel, Jodl countersigned many orders issued by Hitler, and he was put on trial at Nuremberg, with the most serious charges against him relating to the Hitler orders about the execution of Soviet commissars and Allied commandos. He was found guilty, sentenced to death and hanged at Nuremberg in October 1946, his request for a firing squad having been denied.
* Pronounced pretty much like "yodel," a word borrowed from German for the sing-song warbling and calling of the mountaineers of Switzerland, Austria, and Bavaria.
** The Soviets required a separate signing two days later, and Field Marshal Keitel did the signing for Germany then.
WORD HISTORY:
By-This goes back to Indo European "ambhi," which meant "around." This gave its Old Germanic offspring "umbi," with the same basic meaning. Old Germanic's offspring, West Germanic (English is West Germanic), kept the base word,^ but also separated the second syllable, which then gave Anglo-Saxon (Old English) "be/bi," which meant "near, about, around," and should not be confused with the verb "to be." It eventually changed to "by" and has remained so for hundreds of years. Common in the other West Germanic languages, German has "bei" (pronounced like the English word), Dutch has "bij," West Frisian has "by," Low German has bi/by/bie (depending upon dialect). Swedish, a North Germanic language has "bi," which it borrowed from Low German.
^ Old English had "ymbe," meaning "around, about," which has survived as "umb(e)" in some dialects in England and Scotland.
Labels: Alfred Jodl, English, etymology, German History, Germanic languages, Hitler, Wehrmacht
posted by Randy at 5:15 PM
2 Comments:
Eisenhower wouldn't meet with Jodl, right?
I've read Eisenhower's book, "Crusade In Europe," but it has been quite some time ago, and I don't believe Ike met with Jodl, or was even in the room, when Jodl came to sign the surrender; however, I believe he did meet with him in previous days about the actual terms laid out by the Allies. Remember it was unconditional surrender, so the Germans had no imput. Stalin, ever suspicious of some deal between the Western Allies and the Germans, required a separate surrender to be signed by the Germans about a day and a half later, and undoubtedly Eisenhower did not want to make it look, in any way, that he was granting Jodl a chance to negotiate peace terms. Remember, the one hope many German military people had had to turn around an obviously disasterous war, was a separate peace with the West, and then to continue the war against the Soviets, perhaps even with Western participation.Hitler also had that hope. We now essentially know this was unrealistic, but back then Stalin was suspicious.
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