- Nero Decree
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The Nero Decree (German: Nerobefehl) was issued by Adolf Hitler on March 19, 1945 ordering the destruction of German infrastructure to prevent their use by Allied forces as they penetrated deep within Germany. It was officially titled Demolitions on Reich Territory and has subsequently become known as the Nero Decree, after the Roman Emperor Nero, who was supposed to have engineered the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD.
Contents
Background
By 1945, Hitler's vision of a Nazi-ruled Europe had unraveled. Allied armies were advancing from both the East and the West. However, Hitler was not willing to lay down arms and accept the unconditional surrender.
This was not the first time Hitler had tried to destroy infrastructure before it could be taken. Shortly before the Liberation of Paris, Hitler ordered explosives to be placed around important landmarks, such as the Eiffel Tower, and key transportation hubs. If the Allies came near the city, the military governor, Dietrich von Choltitz was to detonate these bombs, leaving Paris "lying in complete debris."[1] von Cholitz, however, did not carry out the order and surrendered to the Allies, remarking later on that "If for the first time I had disobeyed, it was because I knew that Hitler was insane."
The Decree
Its most pertinent section reads as follows:
- "It is a mistake to think that transport and communication facilities, industrial establishments and supply depots, which have not been destroyed, or have only been temporarily put out of action, can be used again for our own ends when the lost territory has been recovered. The enemy will leave us nothing but scorched earth when he withdraws, without paying the slightest regard to the population. I therefore order:
- "1) All military transport and communication facilities, industrial establishments and supply depots, as well as anything else of value within Reich territory, which could in any way be used by the enemy immediately or within the foreseeable future for the prosecution of the war, will be destroyed."[2]
Actions
The decree was in vain. The man on whom fell the responsibility for carrying it out was Albert Speer, Hitler's Minister of Armaments and War Production. Speer was appalled by the order and lost faith in the dictator. Just as von Cholitz had several months earlier, Speer deliberately failed to carry the order. Upon receiving it, he requested to be given exclusive power to implement the plan, instead using his power to convince the generals and Gauleiters to ignore the order. Hitler remained unaware of this until the very end of the war, when Speer admitted to him that he deliberately disobeyed. Hitler, then confined to his bunker in Berlin, was angry with his minister, but there was little he could do at that point. Hitler committed suicide on April 30, 1945, 42 days after issuing the order. Shortly afterwards, On May 7, 1945 General Alfred Jodl signed the German military surrender, and on 23 May Speer was arrested on the orders of U.S. General Dwight D. Eisenhower, together with the rest of the provisional German government led by Admiral Karl Dönitz, Hitler's successor as head of state.
See also
Notes
- ^ "... Brennt Paris?". Amazon.de. http://www.amazon.de/dp/B0000BH4NK/. Retrieved 25 August 2008.
- ^ Hugh R. Trevor Roper (ed) Blitzkrieg to Defeat: Hitler's War Directives 1939-1945 (NY: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1971) pp. 206-207
Categories:- Orders by Adolf Hitler
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