1. Early life

2. Career

3. Governor of Paris

4. Captivity and later life
     Complicity in war crimes  

5. Awards

6. In popular culture

7. See also

8. Notes

9. References
     Citations    Bibliography  

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• Maria Angelika von Choltitz (born 1930), daughter
• Anna Barbara von Choltitz (born 1936), daughter
• Timo von Choltitz (born 1944), son

Dietrich von Choltitz ({{IPA-de|ˈdiːtʁɪç fɔn ˈçɔltɪts}}; 9 November 1894 – 5 November 1966) was a German General who served in the Royal Saxon Army during World War I and the German Army during World War II. He is chiefly remembered for his role as the last commander of Nazi-occupied Paris in 1944, when he disobeyed Adolf Hitler's orders to level the city, but instead surrendered it to Free French forces.^[1][2] He has been called the "Saviour of Paris" for preventing its destruction. Choltitz later asserted that his defiance of Hitler's direct order stemmed from its obvious military futility, his affection for the French capital's history and culture, and his belief that Hitler had by then become insane.

Early life

Choltitz was born in the castle in Gräflich Wiese (now Łąka Prudnicka), near Neustadt in Oberschlesien (now Prudnik), in the province of Silesia as a son of Hans von Choltitz (1865–1935), who was a major of the Prussian Army, and his wife Gertrud von Rosenberg. His uncle Hermann von Choltitz was a governor of Landkreis Neustadt O.S. from 1907 to 1920. His family was large and very athletic – especially good on horseback.

Career

In 1907 Dietrich von Choltitz enrolled in the Dresden Cadet School.^[3]

He joined 8. Infanterie-Regiment Prinz Johann Georg Nr. 107 of the Royal Saxon Army as a Fähnrich just months before the First World War broke out. His unit served on the Western Front, where he fought in the First Battle of the Marne, the First Battle of Ypres the Battle of the Somme and the Battle of St. Quentin (1914).^[3] He was promoted to Leutnant and became Adjutant of the regiment's third Battalion within a year of joining.^[4]

He remained in the Reichswehr during the Weimar Republic, becoming a cavalry captain in 1929. Promoted to Major in 1937, he was made commander of third battalion, Infanterie-Regiment 16 "Oldenburg", a part of 22. Luftlande-Division. In 1938 he was promoted again, this time to Oberstleutnant.

He participated in the occupation of Sudetenland in 1938 and in the invasion of Poland in 1939, where he fought under Łódź and the river Bzura.

In May of 1940, Choltitz participated in the Battle of Rotterdam, making an air landing and seizing some of the city's key bridges. After the bombardment of Rotterdam, during a meeting with the Dutch discussing the terms of surrender of all Dutch forces in Rotterdam, the German Generalleutnant Kurt Student was shot in the head. Student was very popular with his troops and when the German forces moved to execute surrendering Dutch officers in reprisal Choltitz intervened and was able to prevent the massacre. His actions during the assault on Rotterdam earned him the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. In September of the same year, he was given command of the regiment, and the following spring was made Oberst.

At the start of Operation Barbarossa, Choltitz's regiment was based in Romania, advancing as part of Army Group South into Ukraine. As part of Erich von Manstein's 11th Army, the regiment fought in the siege of Sevastopol. The siege was bloody for his regiment, which was reduced from 4,800 men to just 349; Choltitz was also wounded in the arm. Promoted to Generalmajor soon after, he was made acting commander of 260th Infantry division in 1942. He was then promoted to Generalleutnant the following year and given command of 11th Panzer Division, which he led during Battle of Kursk.

In March 1944, Choltitz was transferred to the Italian theatre of operations, where he was made deputy commander of LXXVI Panzer Corps and participated in the Battle of Anzio. Transferred to the Western Front in June 1944, he took command of LXXXIV Army Corps, which he commanded against the Allied breakout from Normandy.

Governor of Paris

On 1 August 1944, Choltitz was promoted to General der Infanterie, and on 7 August was appointed as the military governor of Paris. At a meeting in Germany the following day, Hitler instructed him to be prepared to leave no Parisian religious building or historical monument standing. After Choltitz's arrival in Paris on 9 August, Hitler confirmed the order by cable: "The city must not fall into the enemy's hand except lying in complete rubble."^[5] A week later Hitler, in a rage, screamed, "Brennt Paris?" ("Is Paris burning?")^[6][7]{{efn|Sources differ on whether this comment was directed at Choltitz by telephone or to Hitler's Chief of Staff Alfred Jodl in the Wolf's Lair.}}

On 15 August 1944, the Paris police went on strike, followed on 19 August by a general insurrection led by the French Communist Party.^[8] The German garrison under Choltitz fought back but was far too small to quell the uprising. Choltitz brokered a ceasefire with the insurgents on 20 August, but many Resistance groups did not accept it and a series of skirmishes continued on the next day.^[9]

On 25 August, Choltitz surrendered the German garrison of 17,000 men to the Free French, leaving the city largely intact. Because Hitler's directive was not carried out, Choltitz has been described by some as the "Saviour of Paris".^[10]

General von Choltitz later claimed in his memoir of 1951 that he defied Hitler's order to destroy Paris because he loved the city and had decided that Hitler was by then insane.^[5] It is known that the Swedish consul-general in Paris, Raoul Nordling and president of the municipal council Pierre Taittinger, held several meetings with Choltitz, during which he negotiated the release of political prisoners. The all-night confrontation between the two men on the eve of the surrender, as depicted in the 1965 book, and 1966 film, Is Paris Burning?, and again in the 2014 film Diplomacy—in which Nordling persuades Choltitz to spare the city in return for a pledge to protect his family—was reported as factual in some newspaper stories,^[8] but lacks a definitive historical basis.^[11][12]

Captivity and later life

Choltitz was held for the remainder of the war at Trent Park, in North London, with other senior German officers. Choltitz later was transferred to Camp Clinton in Mississippi. No specific charges were ever filed against him, and he was released from captivity in 1947. In 1956 he visited his wartime headquarters at the Hôtel Meurice in Paris. Reportedly the long-time head barman of the hotel recognized the short, rotund man with "impossibly correct posture" wandering around the bar as if in a daze. After the manager of the hotel met him in the bar, he asked to see his old room. After seeing his old quarters for no more than fifteen minutes, Choltitz declined the manager's offer of champagne and left the hotel to meet with Pierre Taittinger.^[13]

Choltitz died in November 1966 from a longstanding war illness in the city hospital of Baden-Baden. He was buried at the city cemetery of Baden-Baden in the presence of high-ranking French officers, including colonels Wagner (Military Commander of Baden-Baden), Ravinel, and Omézon.^[14] Baden-Baden was the French headquarters in Germany after the end of the Second World War.

His wife Huberta (1902–2001) was the daughter of Otto von Garnier. The couple had a son, Timo (born 1944) and two daughters, Maria Angelika (born 1930) and Anna Barbara (born 1936).

Complicity in war crimes

During his internment in Trent Park many of the officers’ private conversations were secretly recorded by the British in the hope that they might reveal strategic information. In one such conversation, on 29 August 1944, Choltitz was quoted as saying "The worst job I ever carried out - which however I carried out with great consistency - was the liquidation of the Jews. I carried out this thoroughly and entirely."^[15][16] Randall Hansen says that the veracity of Choltitz's involvement in such massacres is uncertain but that it is possible, even probable, that Choltitz was one of the many German generals who did commit atrocities. Hansen goes on to say the quote was out of context and there has never been any corroborating evidence of Choltitz's involvement in the massacre of Jews.{{sfn|Hansen|2014|p=75}} Selected transcripts were dramatized in the History Channel 5-part series The Wehrmacht (2008). In the episode "The Crimes", General von Choltitz is quoted as saying in October 1944,

Awards

• Iron Cross{{efn|Awards of the 1939 version of the Iron Cross to holders of the 1914 version are represented with a Clasp above the 1914 Cross}}
  • 1st Class (2)
  • 2nd Class (2)
  • Knight's Cross{{efn| Awarded as Oberstleutnant and commander of III./Infanterie-Regiment 16. His Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross was presented and is registered by the Luftwaffe-Personalamt (LWA—Air Force Staff Office).^[17] The Heerespersonalamt (HPA—Army Staff Office) received Oak Leaves to his Knight's Cross nomination for Generalmajor von Choltitz on 19 January 1943 for his leadership of the XVII. Armee-Korps. The HPA did not approve the nomination on 27 January 1943.^[18]}} (18 May 1940)
• German Cross (8 February 1942)
• Honour Cross of the World War
• Order of St. Henry (26 December 1917)
• Order of the Star of Romania (1943)
• Wound Badge
  • Silver (1918)
  • Gold (25 March 1943)
• Infantry Assault Badge
• Albert Order
• Civil Order of Saxony
• Order of Michael the Brave (6 October 1942)
• Sudetenland Medal (1938)
• Crimea Shield (July 1942)

In popular culture

• Is Paris Burning? (book)
• Is Paris Burning?, a French-American production of 1966, with Gert Fröbe playing Choltitz.
• Diplomacy, a French-German film of 2014 directed by Volker Schlöndorff, based on the play Diplomatie by Cyril Gely. Depicting events in his headquarters at the Hotel Meurice the night before the Liberation of Paris, Niels Arestrup portrays Choltitz.
• Secrets of the Dead: Bugging Hitler's Soldiers, a PBS documentary which examines how MI19 spied on senior German prisoners of war.^[19]
• Pod presją (Under pressure): a Polish documentary directed in 2015 by Dagmara Spolniak.

See also

• Liberation of Paris

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

• {{Cite book

• {{Cite book

• {{Cite book

• {{Cite book

• {{Cite book

before=General der Panzertruppe Hermann Balck|

after=Generalleutnant Johann Mickl|

title= Commander of 11.Panzer Division|

years=4 March 1943 – 15 May 1943

before=General der Panzertruppe Otto von Knobelsdorff|

after=General der Panzertruppe Otto von Knobelsdorff|

title= Commander of XLVIII. Panzerkorps|

years=6 May 1943 – 30 August 1943

before=General der Panzertruppe Otto von Knobelsdorff|

after=General der Panzertruppe Heinrich Eberbach|

title= Commander of XLVIII. Panzerkorps|

years=30 September 1943 – 21 October 1943

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