| Original caption: “The uniformed body of Wermacht leader Alfred Jodl, rests on its coffin after his execution by hanging, at Nuremberg.” The body of Generaloberst Alfred Jodl [(May 10, 1890 – October 16, 1946)], Chef des Wehrmachtführungsstabs im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (“Chief of the General Staff in the High Command of the Armed Forces”), chief of military operations, after his execution. The bodies were photographed to prevent later rumours that leading figures in the regime had survived. United States Army 1st Lieutenant Gustave M. Gilbert (September 30, 1911 – February 6, 1977), a translator and psychologist, observed Jodl after the verdict: “I marched to his cell, rigid and upright, avoiding my glance. After he had been unhandcuffed and faced me in his cell, he hesitated a few seconds, as if he could not get the words out. His face was spotted red with vascular tension. ‘Death by hanging! That, at least, I did not deserve. The death part – all right, somebody has to stand for the responsibility. But that? His mouth quivered and his voice choked for the first time. That I did not deserve.’” Joseph Kingsbury-Smith (February 20, 1908 – February 3, 1999) of the International News Service was chosen by lottery to represent the American press at the executions. Smith wrote in an internationally syndicated article, “Jodl Ninth to Die – Ninth to come was Generaloberst Alfred Jodl, Hitler’s strategic adviser and close friend. He wet his lips constantly, and his features were drawn and haggard as he walked forward, not nearly so steady as Keitel in mounting the gallows steps. Yet his voice was calm when he uttered his last six words on earth: ‘My greetings to you, my Germany.’ At 0234 Hours, Jodl plunged into the black hole of the scaffold’s death.” He later wrote, “Ninth in the procession of death was Alfred Jodl. With the black coat-collar of his Wehrmacht uniform half turned up at the back as though hurriedly put on, he entered the dismal death house with obvious signs of nervousness. He wet his lips constantly, and his features were drawn and haggard as he walked, not nearly so steady as Keitel, up the gallows steps. Yet his voice was calm when he uttered his last six words on earth: ‘My greetings to you, my Germany.’ At 0234 Hours, Jodl plunged into the black hole of the scaffold. He and Sauckel hung together until the latter was pronounced dead six minutes later and removed.” Jod was posthumously exonerated by a denazification court. On February 28, 1953, after his widow, Luise von Benda Jodl (September 10, 1905 – January 26, 1998), sued to reclaim her pension and his estate, a West German denazification court posthumously declared Jodl not guilty of breaking international law, based on French International Military Tribunal Judge Henri Donnedieu de Vabres’s July 8, 1880 – February 14, 1952) 1949 disapproval of Jodl’s conviction. This not guilty declaration was revoked by the Minister of Political Liberation for Bavaria on September 3, 1953, following objections from the United States; the consequences of the acquittal on Jodl’s estate were, however, maintained. The corpses were photographed to scotch future rumors that any of them still lived, and the bodies were then cremated, though not, as legend later had it, at Dachau. Their ashes were scattered in a river. | |
| Image Filename | wwii0969.jpg |
| Image Size | 478.42 KB |
| Image Dimensions | 2856 x 2200 |
| Photographer | |
| Photographer Title | United States Army Signal Corps |
| Caption Author | Written or Adapted by Jason McDonald |
| Date Photographed | October 16, 1946 |
| Location | Justizpalast |
| City | Nuremberg |
| State or Province | Bavaria |
| Country | Germany |
| Archive | National Archives and Records Administration |
| Record Number | |
| Status | Caption ©2026 MFA Productions LLC Please Do Not Duplicate or Distribute Without Permission; Image in the Public Domain |
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