Wilhelm Keitel - Chief of the Wehrmacht Documentary
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#Biography #History #Documentary
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Can you please do an episode on the Conqueror of Berlin Field Marshall Zhukov?
This year yes we will 😊
@@PeopleProfiles Perhaps you can do Stepan Bandera? There are no substantive documentaries about him, just a 15 minute narrative by UATV.
👍🏼 then 👍🏼 necessarily not fals 🧸 🏖 ⏺⏺⏺⚧ QEI 🐐 Allen Ginzberg 🧩🐻
P
Keitels last words were "now I get to be with my sons" Son Hans Georg killed in Russia in July 1941. Yet son Ernst Willhem a POW with the Soviets that Wilhelm thought was dead. Ernst returned to Germany in 1956 with the last 400 POWs in the Soviet Union. So it is known that Wilhelm did not shield his sons from serving in front line service.
I have read that the army high command regarded him as nothing more than an office manager, someone who answered the telephone for Hitler. It was just his misfortune that he was too close to Hitler to survive
Hitler's nephew fought on the Eastern front.
Awesome series! The narrator has a great voice that keeps the subject interesting
Hear hear!
Great video
@@garyholbrook4698 no doubt
I sleep to a nazi collection probably once a week, his voice helps soothe me, I can't explain it, just helps me sleep.
It's AI. Wisely they selected a British voice which is best for any voiceover.
Brilliant program! Thank you for producing it!
You're one of the best documentary makers on. KZhead. Please keep up your excellent work.
Nicely done, guys!?👏👏👏👏. I always enjoy your channel!!
In 1961 during the trial of Adolf Eichmann, philosopher and writer Hannah Arendt coined the term “banality of evil” in reference to the bureaucratic structures that supported the Nazi regime’s most horrendous atrocities, and it seems to apply to this case as well.
Thanks once again!
And today. Anything learned? Ahrent?
"Keitel was predisposed to manipulation because of his limited intellect and nervous disposition; Hitler valued his diligence and obedience." Given his agricultural background, an apt metaphor is that Keitel was a capable workhorse: he meekly permitted himself to be harnessed to a giant machine plowing, smoothing, seeding, watering, cultivating, then torching the crop to the ground. What a useful idiot he made himself into. And killed 2 of his 3 sons in the process. But his wife got to live in Berlin again as she wanted. So there's that. Which is nice.
Outstanding job. Much better than TV costly productions, we are definetely entering a new age of content, and of watching mindset.
As Hollywood dies, new talent is emerging.
superb material, excellent video library.
So glad that I found People Profiles. EXCELLENT.
This was fantastic! Thanks, @ThePeopleProfiles. I've read and watched a lot about Keitel, but didn't have the backstory. It makes it so much more interesting when you do. You added a whole lot to my understanding of who this man really was. One small request? I'd greatly appreciate a bio of Keitel's handmaid, Alfred Jodl. Thanks again!
Keitel epitomized the corrupt spirit that polluted Germans during WWII. They were happy to follow Hitler when he brought victory, so didn't mind the pitiless cruelties Germany brought to Europe and post-war world.
That would be AWESOME if they did Jodl!!!
Kietel couldn’t hold a candel to Von Runstant! He was Hitler’s buttboy throughout the war.
Great Work as always! Thank you 🙏 🫡
Being german, i'm happy about the quality and the perfect research. Well done, thank you!
I agree
Do you find it accurate to the facts??
@@micanopykracker902 hi Most of it, yes.
@@benediktpress2383 i alway welcome the word of German folks as its more believable to me...the victor will always be the judge.the vanquished the accused....i believe those words
@@benediktpress2383 hi thanx for replyong back ..do you know of Otto clarius book??
The family always said that great grandpa was a bit of a fanatic but I can see now they were holding back quite a bit.
Excellent presentation!
Well done, college level, educational, historical, excellent program!
Thanks for the awesome vid!
Thank you for this amazing videos on people who shaped WWII Can you please do an episode on the Conqueror of Berlin Field Marshall Zhukov?
Another amazing documentary. One of my favourites you have done is James Connolly. I'd love it if you done another one on Ireland's greatest, Michael Collins. He almost single handedly changed the course of history for Ireland and Great Britain.
He was obviously a very good manager at getting the difficult things that Hitler wanted done. His great weakness was just accepting all the tasks given to him.I actually feel sorry for him
I winder often what all rthe people judging today. From the counch. With internet would have.done. many times i wonder so selfrightshess....and arrogant and the oscars celebrates again best foreign film. Guess what? Nazis. Rhe queen if auschwitz. The hate never stops....and we also gave gaza.....anf Ukraine...
3rd video this month?!? Great job as always and happy you’re cranking them out so quickly without sacrificing any of the quality that I’ve come to expect from your channel!! Thanks for all your hard work!
I have been looking for a documentary on Keitel's life for quite a while. This is a dream come true.
Best pic is the one with a rope around his neck
Thanks I enjoyed this..❤
Great documentary as always! Is there one about a mad doctor turned mad dictator in Haiti? Would love to see that one! Thanks for this one as well!
@Frank Skoda-Simmons Thanks! Will do.
You will never see. Ask why, the USA .....🤔
As a military man myself I just have to say one thing about this video. Nobody in the military can simply say “NO” when given an order. You will be punished and at worst thrown into the brig. With that said there are other ways to be human and not take part in these atrocities such as leaving his post and the country. Knowing what we do about the nazi party I’m sure that this too would have resulted in his death in some way, shape, or form. Please don’t think that in any way I am defending this man because I am not, he got the exact punishment he deserved for what he did. I just felt compelled to say that it’s not as easy to refuse an order or to tell your superior to “fuck off” in the military as most people thinks it is.
I totally agree with what you say. Plus it is in the German psyche to never question your superiors. If I was the Judge in this case I would never have given him the Death sentence., but as they say the victors have the advantage. And the Allies had the biggest mass murderer on their side. Stalin, and he was never brought to book. Got away with everything.
Exactly, that plus the virulent sexism, anti-LGBT sentiment and my unwillingness to die for a government really sums up why I'd never join the army x
Very true mate
Just like Hitler's number two that flew to Scotland to try to make peace between the Germans and the English and he was in prison for the rest of his life. That was before the war even actually started I think.
@@QueerChica OK.
50 seconds in. Subbed! Superb channel
Excellent work.
This documentary is very well done!
While this is a reasonably good documentary, Gerd von Rundstedt is repeatedly shown in place of Keitel.
I noticed that too!
Don't worry, it's only Keitel.
They look alike. How does that affect this ..stuff... ?
@yamit465 this question is frightingly stupid, man
Hitler was fully aware of K3e⁹eitel's inability to act independently on his own initiative. Hitler described him as having the brain of a movie usher.
love your series
"Why did the generals who have been so ready to term me a complaisant and incompetent yes-man fail to secure my removal? Was that all that difficult? No, that wasn't it; the truth was that nobody would have been ready to replace me, because each one knew that he would end up just as much a wreck as I." - "The Memoirs of Field-Marshal Keitel". Book by Walter Gorlitz, p. 52, 1966. "Hitler gave us orders - and we believed in him. Then he commits suicide and leaves us to bear the guilt. He should have remained alive to bear his share." - "The Nuremberg Interviews". Book by Leon Goldensohn, ed. by Robert Gellately, 2004.
Can we have a documentary about Alfred Jodl? Ernst Kaltenbrunner? Fritz Sauckel? Julius Streicher? Artur Axmann? I bet you could make great ones of those individuals too, as you have made so far about all these individuals.
You can and will!
@@PeopleProfiles And to add the previous names: Alfred Rosenberg and Arthur Seyss-Inquart
@@PeopleProfiles And Rudolf Hess. I bet there would be many, many more worth making.
@@PeopleProfiles Ludendorff who initially supported the Nazis but later turned against them would be good. Not to mention Hindenburg, never seen a documentary on him.
@@GeiserichtheVandal 9
Aside from failing to mention that the Blitzkrieg invasion of France was largely successful because of the masses of tanks invading through the Ardennes, this documentary was a well-researched depiction of Keitel's role in the war. In terms of his intelligence, my feeling is that Keitel was not so much weak-minded as weak-willed. He surely possessed considerable logistic and bureaucratic skills through which he supported and sustained the Nazi war effort. His ultimate guilt lies in not using those skills to try to counter Hitler's brutal insanity.
Keitel’s IQ score at Nuremberg was 129 not exactly a genius but he was far from stupid however yeah weak willed may be a fair assessment, not an excuse but an explanation.
Calling his inaction to rebel a sin... lol. I wonder just how much action you would have made if you were in his position. And if you really are crazy enough to act out a lot, i doubt you would've had the capability to climb to his position. His prime sin was simply the sin of losing the war.
Seems like once you were in the final outcome was inevitable
Excellent piece of work.
Excellent documentary.
Outstanding historical documentary. Very well done. Best regards. LTC (GS) Ulrich Schnier, M.A., German Luftwaffe
A few of the clips used repeatedly when talking directly about Keitel seem to have been von Rundstedt instead. He had a droopier face and a Hitler moustache while Keitel looked slightly less like a leather handbag and had a Poirot moustache.
Excellent doc fellas
The drawing of Keitel around 2:37 looks similar to John Cleese!
Awesome awesome awesome...great work...thank you
The epitome of 'its not who you are but who you know' .
In my readings of the German Officer corp of the WW2 the common theme i came across was the contempt and scorn his contemporaries had for him...
At 10:21 I think what is shown is a famous crossing in Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
Very enjoyable program.
A great documentary! But why do they show so many photos Gerd of von Rundstedt? Was that a mistake?
can make a documentary of the chief of operations, Alfred jodl?
what would be very interesting is the Russo German cooperation before the war , we would like to know more how Keitel and other officials interacted with Soviets representatives and what personal connections were established.
As with Hitler and Stalin the two nations militaries hated and feared each other. Both were weakened by political considerations, their leaders' paranoia and their great difficulty in speaking truth to power.
@@kindnessfirst9670 yeat since Treaty of Rappalo ( April 1922) German Republic and Soviet Russia worked together on military arena benefitting Whermacht and Red Army.
The only common ground the parties tried connecting with was their anti-capitalism. They obviously still hated each other
Victors justice. If Keitel was hanged over some draconian measures regarding commandos, then shouldn't the Allies be held responsible for the Dresden and Hamburg and Tokyo firebombings of civilians??
A beautiful documentary.
Haven't watched it yet, but the fact that my parent named me Keitel is strange when I'm watching this, knowing what this man did. And the fact that I was born exactly 1 century after this guy, August 27 1982, is even stranger.
😂😂😂
@@grassysands8857 hopefully I was born in Haiti, and still in Haiti, so no chance to do whatsoever. Yes I'm circumcised, I guess most people are now.
@@grassysands8857 yes I'm black, probably with a mixture of Europe, Autochthonous people in America and Africans over time.
@@KeitelDOG heil keitel
I do not think video mentions this but Keitel was a cousin of Oppenheimer's wife.
Great documentary any chance of doing one on richard walter darre the agriculture minister
Seeing these documentaries back to back gets exhausting as the first 3/4 of the episodes are explanations of the time and i think its important, but after beeing explained german history from 1871 to 1939 12 times we dont need that, id rather just hear about the individual in question. Idk how best to find the way between beeing able to watch only one episode and understanding the story, and watching it all and getting sick of the 20minute explanation of how ww1 and ww2 happened. Love this channel tho, amazing work!
the german march is the best kind of march ever, nothing matches
Ah, finally a nice voice to follow a story on yt
Keitel had Nothing to do with taking down von Blomberg: Canaris sent a man with the photos to give them to von Blomberg, but his plane was very late So the Abwher agent instead gave them to Goring who used them to take down von Blomberg.
"Binky" Keitel , always ready for a laugh , a beer and a sing song round the piano , a grand lad.
Very interesting account. Some video footage incorrectly IDs others as Keitel e.g. Von Rundstedt.
Great work thank you.
0:45 wait I watched another documentary that mentions his mother later on in his life, maybe that was supposed to be his step mother. If so who was his step mother?
Does John Cleese know you used his image?
Excellent.
Great man
When are you going to make a documentary on Napoleon Bonaparte.
My KZhead feed has been so good today. Glad to see you upload
I did not listen to the entire video yet but here is some interesting While Keitel was on the German side and Oppenheimer was leading the technical effort on the Manhattan project, I am not sure it was known that Kitty Oppenheimer, his wife was first cousins or first cousins once removed of Keitel. I do not know if the military knew this or even for sure she did or if she did, no idea if she ever met Keitel.
Legendas em português por favor guarde amigo!!! Não quero perder esse documentário.
Portuguese is not a global language together either French
He got caught up in a system that he could not escape like many others . If you tried some was waiting in the wings to kill you...Field Marshall Rommel is a good example !!
You can´t fool me, that´s clearly John Cleese!
That's what I said also. It's uncanny.
Keitel could always be relied upon to support Hitler's rigid point-of-view when responsible and capable Field Commanders argued for more realistic deployments of their forces...
Heinrichi and spear called him a yes man
Not all of Hitler's subordinates were realistic. Guderian didn't want to look beyond his panzer group when things went south during Barbarossa, and Manstein actually suggested to Hitler that Stalingrad be held- even though he denied this in his memoirs. Some of them protested at the treatment of the Jews and slavs- then accepted monetary gifts from Hitler. The truth is that a number of Hitler's subordinates were ruthlessly ambitious yes men who covered their tails after the war ended
Excellent work, thanks for the documentary, informative, well researched and covering so many years and events. Very well done. One thing I find difficult to understand regarding the declaration of war by the United Kingdom and France against Germany over the invasion of Poland on the 1st of September 1939, as both the UK and France had an alliance with Poland, is that the USSR invaded Poland only 16 days later, on the 17th of September 1939. The UK and France didn't declare war on the USSR. Why? Poland had not surrendered at this time and were still fighting. Why didn't France and the UK declare war against the USSR? It was well known that Germany and the USSR had signed a non-aggression pact through Joachim Von Ribbentrop, German Minister of Foreign Affairs, and Vyacheslav Molotov, the Soviet Minister of Foreign Affairs. The Soviet Union got a free pass to invade Poland, but Germany warranted a declaration of war? If anyone has an answer to this question that makes sense, let me know. It was later revealed, many years later, that Germany and the USSR had agreed to invade Poland on the same day, but the Soviet Union delayed their invasion, intentionally.
Could you do one on Gerd Von Rundstedt plz?
good video.
57:22 Wilhelm Keitel got it worse than anyone else in the Gallows at Nuremberg, 28/24 (some sources say it was 24 minutes and others say 28 minutes I’m not sure which is right) minutes is a VERY long time to strangle to death. Jodl’s face looked quite bruised up but Keitel’s face literally looked like someone tried to cut it off and gave up half way through. I find it ironic that Keitel suffered the most of all the defendants when he was perhaps the most remorseful of all the Nazis condemned (according to his interpreter Lion Le Tanson he cried when shown pictures from Dachau Concentration Camp of Holocaust victims needing to be scrapped up into piles with bulldozers as though they were just garbage) to death, admitting his (as well as making his peace with God through the help of Protestant Chaplain Henry Gerecke) guilt, accepting execution as his consequence and acknowledging his failure to see that there is a limit even for a soldier’s performance of duty which involves obeying orders.
Yes I've seen that picture. Very gruesome. Apparently the hangman of Nuremberg was a NCO from an American division who was quite new to the job. He was known also to be somewhat of a sadist. I suppose the powers that be wanted the hangings not to be as professionally done as they could have been! In essence, as far as I'm concerned, Keitel was hanged essentiall for being a lickspittle. His nickname amongst fellow staff officers was the Lackey
The man responsible was a army Master Sargent named John C Woods. Woods lied about being a experienced hangman and nobody bothered to see if he was telling the truth.
Woods managed to electrocute himself in1950 while trying to repair some lights.
I am glad he suffered!!!!!!
hello, CbsOmegaOmni! ^^
43:46 John Cleese, indeed.
24:05 and thumbnail - that's John Cleese.
I found self feeling some sympathy for Keitel whilst watching this. It is very easy to say he should have opposed Hitler but how many of us would have taken the easy path of ignoring what was going on if we were in the same position. This was the pure evil of the Nazi system, otherwise decent people were ever so slowly drawn into it's spell and went on to commit or at the very least go long with committing terrible crimes.
A desplicable subject and a very good documentary.
The pic used for the video looks like a cross between Neville Chamberlain and John Cleese !
I thought the still pic was John Cleese! 😂
This was a wonderful documentary.. Keitel was guilty as charged, who seemed to forget his humanity in favor of serving Hitler. As a result it was a long drop and a short rope his reward.
If keitel had remembered humanity he would have been eliminated by Hitler. That is the nature of dictators. No one would have dared to criticise or stop Stalin from killing millions of soviets. Stalin would have hung him in a public place. Dictators are dangerous.
He was found guilty as charged in a trial. Had the war turned out differently, he'd have been regarded as a hero. It's not about how you play the game, it's whether you win or lose.
The only time Keitel said no to Hitler was when Hitler after giving Keitel some military instructions asked Keitel at the end "Any questions?" (Much like in the film Downfall).
This is a very good documentary. It's tempting to imagine that if we had been in Keitel's position we would have done something different. Unfortunately most of us would have been collaborators rather than opponents.
Who was George Marshall's parallel in Germany and Russia, please?
It feels as though he was a regular human being who found himself out of his depth and although initially appalled by the Nazis got swept up by it all and didn’t have the strength of character to give voice to or act on his true feelings aka ‘just following orders’.
An episode on the Russian General Zhukov will be great.
It's difficult to make an accurate assessment from this documentary but undoubtedly Keitel got his just desserts. I found the political analysis a little muddled and not enough debth into Keitel's character. In my view there was also too much padding with irrelevant content. However, I did learn a little from this documentary and am glad I watched it.
Obviously, a high political officer doesn't stay in office without expressing extreme enthusiasm for what is going down... And, of course, we know Hitler never committed suicide but escaped to Argentina...
🇦🇷🎯🇦🇷
Can you please do an episode on Sultan Suleiman the Ottoman Sultan?
The missing element not mentioned in evaluating Keitel's guilt or otherwise is the Prussian military tradition he was trained in. Were they like the Japanese Samurai required to give absolute obedience to their superiors? - I tend to think not as the idnependence of the earlier military heads showed but I'm no expert in Prussian military mores.
No keitel was a real Hitler's licker he was nicknamed as lakeitel from others
Okay, well, as a human being, I will tell you this. If you create or follow an order that involves committing mass murder for the mere sake of committing mass murder, you're a criminal. End of story, done.
@@JCinerea if your military culture emphasises absolute unquestioning obedience to orders where is the intent needed to make the act criminal. Pre-war Prussian and Japanese military structures had this requirement
@@nerfnerfification, do we really need to have this conversation? Look, the infamous "Commissar Order" demanded that any POWs who were suspected of being communist commissars or agents be shot without trial. Not only that, but the Soviet POWs who made it to Nazi POW camps were deliberately given starvation rations. The intent was to starve them to death. This was policy. I don't care what Prussian officers were taught. These orders were criminal.
@@nerfnerfification, and don't start with the false equivalencies of the RAF's and the USAAF's carpet bombing of Axis cities. The RAF's and the USAAF's campaigns were horrifyingly cruel and repulsive. But they were carried out against certain targets, with the aim of ending a war. Britain and the USA were trying to win a war with few other feasible tactical alternatives. Those campaigns stopped when the war ended. The "Commissar Order" the POW starvation campaign, and the Holocaust were carried out with the express intention of exterminating entire classes of people. These were against civilians and POWs, not active military personnel or military targets. These campaigns were only going to end when entire classes and religions of people were exterminated.
I must say Keitel does have a remarkable resemblance to John Cleese!
You got that, from serving the Germans dinner in 'Faulty Towers'.....!
That's because Keitel was eager to adopt joke warfare.
You have rats in Spain.....or did Franco have them all shot ...hamsters are small and cuddly......cuddle this and your never play guitar again
@@richardcurtis2469 Que?
He's not a Feldmarschall - he's a very naughty boy!
Great vidoe, very informative but FYI, saying Panzer tanks and U-boat submarines is redundant. Much like how Master Shifu (from Kung Fu Panda) meand Master MAster, saying Panzer tanks is just saying tank tanks and Ub-oat submarines is saying submarine submarine.
Can we have a documentary on Berija and Ezov, who were Stalin's right arms?
5 seconds in and already liked!!! Always a given for The People Profiles!
I am struck by the uncanny resemblance of the thumbnail and "John Cleese " with a crappy false mustachio. Could they be related? Should we be told?
Another documentary well put together. Would really love to see one on Georgy Zhukov and some of the Soviet Generals in WW2. They don't seem to get as much recognition as they deserve as the soviet victory is often simplified to just being a product of superior logistics and manpower.
Agree completely . Only Soviet Russia represented bulwark of resistance against Nazism and Fascism when most western democracies were adopting a compromising attitude towards Hitler .There are many unsung heroes of this war ,Gen Zukow is certainly one among them .It is largely due to western and US bias against Russia .
Soviet superior logistics ...hmmm ...perhaps "enormous number of guns, T-34s and manpower" would be a little more precise?
Logistics could be reached only when allies have delivered an huge amount of goods and supplies
excellent well done
44:52 let's not forget he was also a vegetarian! Think about how hard that must have made things.
History repeats itself
11:11 sky nodes of rock climbing xo
EXCELLENT, as usual! Bravo 👏👏👏. ☮️💟