7128 - Wilhelm Keitel Autograph Manuscript Signed at Nuremberg, Distancing Himself from the Nazi 'White Book' Used to Justify the Invasion of Belgium and Holland

Wilhelm Keitel Autograph Manuscript Signed at Nuremberg, Distancing Himself from the Nazi 'White Book' Used to Justify the Invasion of Belgium and Holland AMS in pencil, in German, signed twice, "W. Keitel," one page both sides, 8 x 12.5, October 5, 1945. Handwritten statement submitted to Col. John Amen, who served as Nuremberg Prison Chief Interrogator during the Nuremberg War Crimes Trials. Keitel addresses a specific document put to him at his examination, the "White Book" (Weißbuch), produced by the German Foreign Office in May 1940 through Under-Secretary of State Gaus, purporting to justify the invasion of Belgium and Holland by claiming secret Allied plans to violate their neutrality first. Keitel states plainly that he never personally read the White Book, that only the military-relevant points were shown to him, and that his signature was wanted precisely because a soldier in a senior post signing it would lend the document credibility. He says he can no longer recall the specific contents "after the most diligent search of my memory," and offers only unreliable conjecture: that Hitler had repeatedly raised fears of a secret Franco-Belgian agreement for a French armored thrust through Belgium into the Ruhr, and a secret British-Dutch agreement for a landing in Holland against the German north flank. He closes saying he cannot assert any of this definitely, only guess at it. In fine condition, with uniform toning. Accompanied by a full English translation. The White Book formed part of Germany’s effort to portray the May 1940 invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands as a preemptive response to alleged Allied plans to violate their neutrality. At Nuremberg, that justification was undermined by Germany’s own captured records, which demonstrated that the attack on the Low Countries had been planned as part of Germany’s wider campaign of aggressive war. The invasion figured in the prosecution of Keitel under Count 1, conspiracy to wage aggressive war, and Count 2, crimes against peace, on both of which he was ultimately convicted. Written during the pretrial interrogations, this remarkable statement catches Keitel already distancing himself from the White Book—admitting that he had never read it in full, acknowledging that his signature was sought to lend it military credibility, and professing himself unable to substantiate the claims it advanced.