Nero order
Adolf Hitler's order regarding destruction measures in the Reich territory of March 19, 1945, later called Nero order for short , ordered a " scorched earth tactic ", as it had been practiced in German conquered and occupied areas under the euphemistic name ARLZ measures , now also in the Reich territory in which allied troops were advancing in the meantime . This should only fall into the hands of unusable infrastructure .
The term "Nerobefehl", which is commonly used by German historians today, was first found in print in 1957. It alludes to the Roman Emperor Nero , who was posthumously accused of having caused the Great Fire of Rome in 64 to promote his urban development plans, which is historical is incorrect.
The Nero order was in part deliberately circumvented - among other things by the Reich Minister for Armaments and Ammunition Albert Speer - or was no longer executable in the chaos of the last days of the war. Finally, on May 6, 1945, Karl Dönitz, as President of the Reich, prohibited the permanent or temporary destruction of industrial and infrastructure facilities, thereby revoking the order for "destruction measures in the Reich territory".
Hitler's order
The order for destructive measures in the Reich territory was signed by Hitler on March 19, 1945 (see Fuehrer's Decree ), distributed as a secret commando by the High Command of the Wehrmacht (OKW) and documented as a telex to Speer. It says:
“It is a mistake to believe that traffic, communication, industrial and supply systems that have not been destroyed or that have only been paralyzed for a short time can be put back into operation for their own purposes when reclaiming lost areas. In retreating, the enemy will leave us only a scorched earth and abandon all consideration for the people. I therefore order:
1. All military traffic, communications, industrial and supply facilities as well as material assets within the Reich territory that the enemy can somehow use immediately or in the foreseeable future to continue his fight must be destroyed. "
Speer's intervention
Speer wrote a petition to Hitler dated March 29, 1945, in which he asked that the destruction order be withdrawn. After the inset - "if I have not misunderstood you" - Speer gives in an indirect speech what Hitler explained to him on the evening of March 18:
“If the war is lost, the people will be lost too. [...] It is not necessary to take into account the fundamentals that the people need for their most primitive survival. On the contrary, it is better to destroy these things yourself. Because the people would have turned out to be the weaker and the future would then belong exclusively to the stronger people of the East. What was left after the fight was only the inferior anyway; because the good guys have fallen. "
These words of Hitler have come down only in Speer's version. The historian Max Domarus (1911–1992) described them as only partially authentic. Hitler made derogatory remarks about the German people on other occasions and there was “no doubt that he was basically indifferent to the fate of the German people”. But Hitler wanted to be recognized as a hero ; he would never have uttered such words publicly. Even Magnus Brechtken urged to carefully manage Speers representation. The rumored conversational quotes from Hitler's reactions to Speer's memoranda were post-war formulations intended to portray Hitler as the main villain. In fact, the Nero order leaves out such contemptuous thoughts while saving face. All destructive measures should only make the use of infrastructure impossible for the Allies (despite the hopeless military situation).
At the end of March Speer finally succeeded in persuading Hitler to give him overall responsibility for carrying out all the destructive measures and thus to eliminate the Gauleiter . Ian Kershaw shows that Hitler was well aware of the sabotage policy of his armaments minister and also knew that Speer wanted to avoid the kind of destruction he had ordered in the Nero order.
Destruction
A well-known event that is associated with the Nero order is the blowing up of the north-south S-Bahn tunnel of the Berlin S-Bahn under the Landwehr Canal , which was carried out by the SS on May 2, 1945 at 7:55 a.m. as a result also led to extensive flooding of the subway .
rating
“The purpose of this' Hitler's mass murder campaign, which is now directed against Germany 'is' to punish the Germans for not having given themselves willingly enough for a heroic final battle, that is, for having withdrawn from the role Hitler had determined them. In Hitler's eyes, that was a crime worthy of death [...] In fact, Hitler's resolution was more cruel than the enemy: The enemy armies [...] were not out to destroy the foundations that the German people needed for their most primitive survival. ' "
Web links
- Ralf Blank : March 19, 1945 - the "Nero command" . On the Internet portal Westphalian History of the LWL Institute for Westphalian Regional History and the Foundation Westphalia Initiative
- The Nero order in full
Individual evidence
- ^ With Friedrich Blumenstock: The invasion of the Americans and French in northern Württemberg in April 1945 , Kohlhammer 1957, p. 40 books.google and 1960 in the parts of Knaurs Deutsche Geschichte , p. 829 books.google , written by Albert Wucher
- ↑ a b Speer's answer to Hitler of March 29, 1945
- ↑ Ian Kershaw : The End. Fight to the end. Nazi Germany 1944/45 . DVA, Munich 2011, ISBN 978-3-421-05807-2 , p. 404.
- ↑ Photomechanical Reprint Munich 1989, Vol. 41 (= Doc-Vol. 17), p. 430 (Doc. Speer-25); [1]
- ↑ Photomechanical Reprint Munich 1989, Vol. 41 (= Doc-Vol. 17), p. 428 (Doc.Speer-24).
- ^ Max Domarus: Hitler - Reden und Proklamationen 1932-1945 , Würzburg 1963, Vol. 2, p. 2214.
- ↑ Magnus Brechtken: Albert Speer. A German career. Munich 2018, ISBN 978-3-570-55380-0 , p. 200.
- ↑ Ian Kershaw: Hitler. Vol. 2: 1936-1945. Stuttgart / Munich 2000, ISBN 3-421-05132-1 , p. 1014.
- ^ Michael Braun: North-South S-Bahn Berlin . GVE, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89218-112-5 , pp. 188 .