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ALS in German, signed “A. Jodl,” one page, 8 x 11.75, U.S. Government "Prisoner of War" letterhead, March 24, 1946. Handwritten letter to an unnamed woman, in full (translated): "I received your kind thoughts after only four days. They emanate from a region of life which I love very deeply and which I already inhabit more than you may suppose. That you should have drawn for me this silent, noble picture with the aid of a few words proves to me what a fund of warm-hearted sympathy you have for men who stand in need of it. I thank you with all my heart for this. I also see the spring, the tiny fragment which my prison exercise walk allows me, and the singing of blackbirds penetrates into my cell; that produces such a sensation of vitality and recreation, after the atmosphere of the court-room, in which I have nothing but artificial light, and in which I have already spent 88 days. I wonder if my aunt has ever come back there again? I have never had any direct news of her. I send my best wishes to you and your husband." Jodl writes his full name and Nuremberg internment address at the bottom. In fine condition.
Written from Nuremberg Prison in the midst of the International Military Tribunal, this unusually reflective letter offers a glimpse of Jodl’s daily confinement away from the proceedings. By March 24, 1946, the trial had been underway for more than four months, and Jodl contrasts the oppressive atmosphere of the courtroom—where he says he had already spent 88 days under artificial light—with the brief prison exercise periods and sounds of spring that reached his cell.
Jodl, formerly chief of the Operations Staff of the German Armed Forces High Command, would later take the stand for several days in June 1946. The tribunal ultimately found him guilty on all four counts, including crimes against peace and war crimes, and sentenced him to death; he was executed on October 16, 1946.
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