Dietrich von Choltitz Quotes (12 quotes)

Dietrich von Choltitz: 12 quotes 4 likes

Famous Dietrich von Choltitz Quotes

“No doubt: I was in front of a madman. The awareness that the existence of our people was in the hands of an insane person, unable to dominate the situation […] weighed on me with all its strength.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

About Adolf Hitler.

“We all share the guilt. We went along with everything, and we half-took the Nazis seriously instead of saying "to hell with you and your stupid nonsense". I misled my soldiers into believing this rubbish. I feel utterly ashamed of myself. Perhaps we bear even more guilt than these uneducated animals.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

Quoted in History Channel 5-part series "The Wehrmacht" in the episode "The Crimes".

“If for the first time I had disobeyed, it was because I knew that Hitler was insane.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

About refusing to obey Hitler's orders. Quoted in a 1964 interview.

“Even today, I can not say with certainty whether he himself believed in his words or whether he was knowingly deceiving those around him to urge him to keep to the end.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

About Adolf Hitler.

“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.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

On 29 August 1944 during a private conversation with other officers at Trent Park. 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.

“I asked the Field Marshal von Manstein if he would take part in the actions against Hitler. Manstein was sitting in a chair and reading the Bible. Quick, almost embarrassed, he put it aside and covered it with some papers.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

Ich habe den Feldmarschall von Manstein gefragt, ob er an der Aktion gegen Hitler teilnehmen würde. Manstein sitzt in einem Sessel und liest in der Bibel. Schnell, fast verlegen, legt er sie zur Seite und deckt sie mit Papieren zu.
About Erich von Manstein, "Der Spiegel", nr. 14, p. 12, 2 April 1952, spiegel.de http://www.spiegel.de/spiegel/print/d-21694964.html

Dietrich von Choltitz Quotes

“Oh, Field Marshal, so far it would have been a funeral without military honors, maybe now it can become one with military honors.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

In a conversation with Günther von Kluge, August 1944 (quoted in a book brennt paris? - adolf hitler)

“I stood in front of him and I saw an old, stooped, bloated man with gray, slick hair, barely standing on his legs.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

About Adolf Hitler. Quoted in one of the German newspapers from 1994.

“I was at Stalingrad, you know… And from that time onwards I have done nothing but manoeuvre to escape encirclement by the enemy: retreat on retreat, defeat upon defeat. And here I am in marvellous Paris. What do you think is going to happen now?”

Dietrich von Choltitz

To Raoul Nordling
Dallas, Gregor (2006). 1945: The War That Never Ended https://books.google.pl/books?id=PTEV0CPuhRcC&pg=PA173&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiUp-aI4dTfAhWKw4sKHYBJDg8Q6AEILDAA#v=onepage&q&f=false p. 178. Yale University Press. ISBN 9780300119886

Thinking , Time

“I am a soldier. I get orders. I execute them.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

To Raoul Nordling
The Race to Liberate Paris, warfarehistorynetwork.com https://warfarehistorynetwork.com/daily/the-race-to-liberate-paris/

“He was trembling all over and the desk on which he was leaning shook. He was bathed in perspiration and became more agitated.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

About Adolf Hitler.
Rupert Butler, Legions of Death: The Nazi Enslavement of Europe https://books.google.pl/books?id=Vi_AAwAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA211&lpg=RA1-PA211&source=bl&ots=JrgtEaWRx6&sig=w01m7whjEpZZgHElPfOPJWMXU_8&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjV8L_Wg9zfAhXKa1AKHeAGDmEQ6AEwAnoECAcQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false

“Gentlemen, you are the leaders of the best soldiers in the world. I will give you five or six of my own men; we will cover your back with sustained barrage fire to protect you while you cross the rue de Rivoli. All you need to do is force open a door to fight your way to the tapestry.”

Dietrich von Choltitz

To two SS-Manns about retrieving the Bayeux Tapestry, 21 August 1944
Edsel, Robert M. (2013-07-01). The Monuments Men: Allied Heroes, Nazi Thieves and the Greatest Treasure Hunt in History https://books.google.pl/books?id=hBoh9SAKOVgC&pg=PT91&lpg=PT91&source=bl&ots=Rp0jmiHzUw&sig=j149WGdxMIHBFT-B5RvkcOpkJzc&hl=pl&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjylKfG4tTfAhUP3qQKHeRjCA8Q6AEwBHoECAUQAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false. Random House. ISBN 9781448183159

World , Fight , Way , Men