Bodewin Keitel

Bodewin Keitel
Birth name	Bodewin Keitel
Born	(1888-12-25)25 December 1888 Helmscherode, Brunswick, German Empire
Died	29 July 1953(1953-07-29) (aged 64) Göttingen, West Germany
Allegiance	German Empire Weimar Republic Nazi Germany
Service / branch	German Army (Imperial Army, Reichsheer, Heer)
Rank	Infantry General
Commands	Army Personnel Office
Battles / wars	World War I World War II
Relations	Wilhelm Keitel (brother)

Bodewin Keitel (1888 – 1953) was a German general during World War II who served as head of the Army Personnel Office.

Pre-war career

Bodewin Keitel was born on 25 December 1888 in Helmscherode, the son of a landowner. He was the brother of Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel, later head of the High Command of the Wehrmacht. Bodewin joined the army in 1909 and served during World War I. After the end of World War I, he was retained in the Reichswehr, eventually reaching the rank of colonel. In 1937, he was appointed as the Chief of Training Department ("T4") and was added in the General Staff of the Army.

On 28 February 1938, he was promoted to general and appointed head of the Army Personnel Office. He held this position until 1 October 1942.

World War II

On 1 April 1940 Keitel received his promotion to lieutenant-general and one year later the General of Infantry. In the period from 1 October 1942 to 28 February 1943, he was granted leave to "restore health". His successor in the Army Personnel Office was Rudolf Schmundt. On 1 March 1943 Keitel was appointed commanding general of the Deputy Commanding General XX Army Corps and commander in the military district in XX Danzig.

The liaison officer in the military district XX at the time was Lieutenant Colonel Hasso von Boehmer, who by his friend Henning von Tresckow for his resistance to Adolf Hitler, recruited the brothers Stauffenberg to carry out the assassination of Hitler. On the day of the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler (20 July 1944) Keitel was on an inspection tour in his command area. As first general staff officer, Keitel took Boehmer from the Berlin Bendlerblock and a telegram to Keitel from the conspirators and prompted the first steps. As Keitel learned over the radio from the failed attack, he returned immediately to Danzig, could only be confirmed by phone from his brother William Keitel, that Hitler is alive, then Boehmer was taken before the People's Court and executed in 1945.

On 1 December 1944 Bodewin Keitel was moved into the Führerreserve of the Army High Command (OKH). On 3 May 1945 he became a U.S. prisoner of war, then dismissed on 17 April 1947.

Awards

• German Cross in Silver on 2 October 1942 as Generalleutnant in the OKH/Chief of HPA

Literature

• Deutsches Geschlechterbuch. Band 102. Görlitz 1938.
• Hans-Joachim Keitel: Geschichte der Familie Keitel. Hannover 1989.
• Dieter Lent: Keitel, Bodewin. In: Horst-Rüdiger Jarck, Günter Scheel (Hrsg.): Braunschweigisches Biographisches Lexikon: 19. und 20. Jahrhundert. Hahnsche Buchhandlung, Hannover 1996, ISBN 3-7752-5838-8, S. 315.

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Patzwall, Klaus D.; Scherzer, Veit (2001). Das Deutsche Kreuz 1941 – 1945 Geschichte und Inhaber Band II [The German Cross 1941 – 1945 History and Recipients Volume 2] (in German). Norderstedt, Germany: Verlag Klaus D. Patzwall. ISBN 978-3-931533-45-8.