Q Now, General, in going through these notes on the 20th of July, I have to get into the matter of Marshal Rommel and his part in the event. Can you address this?
M Rommel? Yes, certainly. What do you want to know about that?
Q Well, we have a study from a former general of his staff that indicates that
Rommel was an active member of the plot and wanted to overthrow Hitler. Also, did Rommel commit suicide or was he killed? This should be within your knowledge.
M Oh yes, it was. I would assume that the study is by Speidel.24 Q Yes.
M I never...we never interrogated Rommel but we did interrogate Speidel and his associates. Speidel was...or came to our attention after the interrogations in Paris and elsewhere of Hofacker. He was a colonel in the air force and a cousin of Stauffenberg. Hofacker was deeply involved in the plot to kill Hitler and was soon caught. Like the others, he at once confessed to his part in the business and again, like the others, fell all over himself to implicate anyone he could. Speidel was one of these. We interrogated Speidel in Berlin in...I believe September of that year...
Q In 1944?
M Obviously. I wasn’t interrogating anybody in September of 1945. If I may go on...Speidel was very cooperative and also very evasive. He stated that Rommel was actively engaged in the plot to kill Hitler and, of course, this information had to be passed on to Hitler. Hitler did not believe Speidel but the matter had to be investigated further.
Q Did you believe Speidel?
M On some things but not on all. He was afraid for his life as most of them were. They could play with fire but they didn’t want to get burned. I believe that Rommel knew nothing about the Stauffenberg murder plot. I do believe that Rommel felt some kind of a solution to the war had to be found. He sent a memo on this to Hitler, after all. But as far as a plot to kill Hitler goes, no, Rommel had no knowledge. You know that Rommel was a difficult sort of person. Very hard to get along with, stubborn, outspoken and abrasive to his staff. None of the senior army officers in France liked him. Also, Rommel was very popular in Germany because of his campaign in Africa and the assassins saw Rommel as a respectable facade for their Putsch. Rommel had no knowledge of the bomb attempt and was, in the final analysis, loyal to Hitler and would never have taken part in an assassination plot. But Speidel accused him, as did Hofacker, and the matter was turned over to the army investigation board. It came down to believing Speidel or Rommel, and Guderian and his clique did not like Rommel so they decided at the least to investigate him. Then something else came up. These gentlemen were afraid to bring Rommel to Berlin to question him for fear of what he might then decide to say about their anti-Hitler friends so Rommel was told to kill himself. I know this because the Gestapo office was involved in some of the details. It was not my decision nor Hitler’s at that point. I know Hitler was upset, but at that time he was very angry and very suspicious of the military. On the other hand, he needed them badly. After we seized Fellgeibel...
Q The signals commander?
M Yes, that one. He was a leader in the plot and we seized him right away. There were others in his headquarters, Thiele25 for example, who were also suspect and there were suicides and so on. I had to make it plain that I had no intentions of bothering further with their department. Hitler told me to leave them alone because loyal or not, he needed their technical services. The same applied to other important officers.
I am sure, for example, that Kluge was trying to surrender to the British but missed his connections. When we wanted him in Berlin, he drew the proper conclusions and killed himself. He knew what we were up to and did not want the disgrace of a trial. Rommel was a different matter though. In the end, he was as much a victim of Stauffenberg as Hitler was supposed to be. Just as an aside, much of the poor military behavior in France after the invasion was due to deliberate attempts on the part of the plotters and their friends to surrender to the West or to let the Americans and British through the lines to get into Germany before the Russians. Units were withheld from combat and all kinds of contacts were initiated with your side. Apparently, the lower level American and British officials were receptive to this but were blocked from acceptance by both Roosevelt and Churchill who only wanted to obliterate Germany from the map. How many people died as a result of this contemptible shortsightedness I cannot say. Now, no doubt, you might wish to employ Speidel in some post. You should use some caution, you know, in dealing with such creatures. If they would betray their seniors and their country so quickly, what would they do to you? I know Halder is working for you and that weak-kneed old grandmother will turn on you if he felt it was to his advantage. Here is a man who went to the CIC Army and asked him to get the police to assist the army in maintaining order in the rear areas in Russia and then later denying this and blaming the SS and Himmler for the excess he personally instigated. These aren’t men at all. You are welcome to them. Why not take the lot to your country and keep them out of Germany? We don’t need or want such filth.
Q In their defense, couldn’t it be said that they saw in Hitler the incarnation of evil, a man who was destroying their country and who had to be stopped?
M Now you sound like the lambs of God. Hitler did not destroy Germany. You and the Russians did that and a country has the right to defend itself against its enemies. And I had the right and the duty to root out your agents and other forms of traitors during this struggle. I have absolutely no regrets whatsoever and if your people use such reptiles, be warned of the consequences. You know about Gehlen and his reports. Of course, I am quite certain that Gehlen does what you tell him to. But insofar as Rommel is concerned, it would be a disgrace to try to lump him in with the Speidels and Stauffenbergs. Rommel was, for all his personality problems, a good soldier, a loyal soldier and a very brave man. I would be personally outraged if you try to paint this war hero as a traitor and coward. I know that my opinions are not of any real importance but you have them and that’s the end of that subject.
World History
