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Partly-printed DS, in German, one page, 7.75 x 11.75, November 5, 1945. Document headed (translated), "The International Military Tribunal, Defendant's Application for Summons for Witness," made while preparing his defense for the Nuremberg trials. Keitel and his defense lawyer request testimony from "Admiral Canaris, Chief Office Foreign Counter Intelligence Armed Forces High Command," noting that he "had been arrested by the Gestapo upon information of having had knowledge of the plot of July 20, 1944"—Colonel Claus von Stauffenberg's 'Operation Valkyrie' plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler.
Keitel cites Canaris's knowledge of "reasons for orders of the Führer against sabotage, guerrilla warfare, and foreign agents…whether and if so, what kind of a 'common plan' existed for the perpetration of war crimes…activities of enemy agents, sabotage, promotion of resistance and underground organizations." Signed at the conclusion in pencil by Wilhelm Keitel, and countersigned by his defense counsel. Backed by a lightweight cardstock sheet and in fine condition. Accompanied by a contemporary English translation.
Keitel’s request to summon Wilhelm Canaris was already impossible when it was filed. The former head of the Abwehr had been arrested after the July 20, 1944 attempt on Hitler’s life and was ultimately implicated in the German resistance. On April 9, 1945, just weeks before the end of the war, Canaris was executed by the SS at Flossenbürg concentration camp. Unaware—or at least not acknowledging—that Canaris was dead, Keitel sought his testimony on the justification for Hitler’s orders against sabotage, partisan warfare, and enemy agents, as well as the prosecution’s allegation that Germany’s leadership had participated in a “common plan” to commit war crimes.
Ironically, surviving evidence associated with Canaris proved damaging rather than helpful to Keitel. In 1941, Canaris had transmitted legal objections to the proposed treatment and execution of Soviet prisoners of war; Keitel responded in the margin by dismissing those objections and endorsing the ideological basis of the measures. The memorandum was introduced at Nuremberg as evidence of Kettle’s knowledge and approval of criminal policies. His broader effort to portray himself as a military subordinate carrying out unavoidable orders failed: Keitel was convicted on all four counts before the International Military Tribunal and executed by hanging on October 16, 1946.
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