p3-petra

Wilhelm Keitel Perpetrator Wilhelm Keitel was born in __Helmscherode on September 22nd of 1882, to__  a family with a long and rich military history. He joined the German army in 1901 as a member of the artillery corps. Gradually, he rose through the ranks of the officers, and was generally considered to be a good soldier. A year after he joined the army, he was made a second lieutenant. After eight years he received a promotion to the rank of first lieutenant. He was one of Hitler’s leading men and he sanctioned mass murder. He issued orders to the SS and the Gestapo to exterminate the countries Jews. He signed the commissar order which was intended to kill any political Russian commissars. He also signed the order giving Heinrich Himmler the power to implement is racial program in the Soviet Union. Over the next two years he continued issuing orders for execution of striking workers, extermination of Jews and killing of captured partisans. He suggested that German civilians should be encouraged to lynch captured Allied Airmen. He was tried at Nuremberg, as a major war criminal, on four counts: crimes against peace, planning initiating and waging wars of aggression, war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was hanged on October 16, 1946. He was a perpetrator because of all the orders he issued, all of the orders were for murder and racism. He was also tried at Nuremberg were all the major war criminals get tried. All of the orders he signed killed millions of people, millions of generations, wiped out by this mans doings. Millions of children who never got the chance to live, just because he believed we were superior over them. If it weren’t for Wilhelm Keitel maybe families would have survived, less people might have been killed. Wilhelm Keitel sanctioned mass murder; he definitely impacted our world, negatively.

Works Cited:

Simkin, John. "Wilhelm Keitel: Nazi Germany." __Spartacus Educational__. 13 May 2009 .

Trueman, Chris. "Wilhelm Keitel." __History Learning Site__. 13 May 2009 .

"Wilhelm Keitel." __Jewish Virtual Library__. 13 May 2009 .