C. JODL’S PART IN THE CONSPIRACY TO COMMIT CRIMES AGAINST PEACE.

Jodl’s loyalty to the Nazi party doctrine is evident in a speech he delivered on 7 November 1943. He spoke of the National Socialist Movement and its struggle for internal power as the preparation for liberation from the Treaty of Versailles. (L-172) He also stated, in a speech on the occasion of the attempted assassination of Hitler, that his aims had been in general agreement with the aims of the party. (1808-PS)

At the sixth meeting of the Working Committee of the Reich Defense Council on 7 February 1934 Jodl pointed out that the practical execution of the preparations for mobilization, which had been ordered by the Army and the highest Reich authorities, were making a considerable enlargement of personnel necessary. He suggested, however, that this enlargement of personnel ought not to result in “the disquieting of foreign countries through conspicuous mobilization measures.” (EC-405)

In the presence of Jodl, Generalmajor Keitel pointed out at the eleventh meeting that the mobilization year was to begin on 1 April and to end on 31 March of the following year. A “Mobilization Book for Civilian Agencies” was to be issued for the first time on 1 April 1936. Keitel said that this day, to the extent possible, should find the nation ready and prepared. He declared that, according to the will of the Fuehrer, the economic management of the country should put the enhancement of military capacity deliberately above all other national tasks. It was the function of all members of the Reich Defense Council, he emphasized, to use all available resources economically and to ask for only such funds and raw materials that were absolutely and exclusively needed for the defense of the Reich. Colonel Jodl said that the Mobilization Book for the Civilian Departments constituted the unified basis for the carrying out of mobilization outside of the Army (EC-406).