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WILHELM KEITEL AND ALFRED JODL

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WILHELM KEITEL AND ALFRED JODL
ALFRED JODL (1890 - 1946) Hitler's Chief of Operations who signed the act of military surrender, tried at Nuremburg for war crimes and executed, and WILHELM KEITEL (1882 - 1946), German field marshal and army chief of staff under Adolph Hitler, convicted of war crimes and executed at Nuremburg. Initialed T.L.S. "K" and "Jo" at the top of a letter to them by Dr. Oswald Denerling, 5pp. 4to., Munich, July 13, 1940. The letter, addressed to the "High Command of the Armed Forces", seeks to "Germanize" war reports, eliminate any terms attributed to Jewish expressions or language, and generally improve grammar. In part: "…the reports that were distributed to the German people (in previous wars) were always known for their use of excellent direct language…Excuse me when I express here a few requests….". Denerling goes on at great length giving examples of abbreviations used in the media, such as "flak" and "Stuka", contends that some abbreviations are Jewish words and should therefore be avoided, and even seeks to give oceans more "Germanic-sounding" names. The letter bears marginal notes made by a recipient seeking to clarify the text. Amazingly, both Keitel and Jodl took time from their duties directing the war on the Western Front to read this clap-trap. Indeed, included in the lot is a T.L.S. "J" by Jodl to Denerling, 1p. 4to., Berlin, July 22, 1940, in part: "…All reports are always prepared under constant pressure…a number of military points of view have to be considered. Time to write is always very short; some of it shows up as not being in the proper linguistic format…To remodel the entire language cannot be my job…the High Command has to set a prime example…". Denerling in turn responds with an A.L.S. to Jodl, 3pp. 4to., Bavaria, June 29, 1940, continuing his tirade and claiming that "U-Boat" is a Jewish abbreviation, and rails against "soul-less Jews" who "glue words together…". Marginal files holes, else very good.