The German general who surrendered Paris rather than destroy it
On 25 August 1944, he signed the capitulation of the German garrison in Paris.
Dietrich von Choltitz was a German professional officer who served in both world wars and carried out Nazi Germany’s war on the Eastern and Western Fronts. As military governor of Paris in August 1944, he did not execute Hitler’s order to destroy the city and surrendered the garrison to French forces, helping make the liberation of Paris possible. British recordings made after his capture also preserve his admission of responsibility for the liquidation of Jews in Crimea, so his refusal in Paris does not erase his wider responsibility for the war.
Career Timeline
- 1914–1918Officer, Royal Saxon Army 107th Infantry Regiment, Western Front
- 1919–1939Reichswehr officer, commander of III Battalion, 16th Infantry Regiment
- 1939–1940Commander, 16th Air Landing Infantry Regiment, Poland and the Netherlands campaigns
- 1941–1942Commander, 16th Infantry Regiment, Crimea and Siege of Sevastopol
- 1943Commander, 11th Panzer Division and XLVIII Panzer Corps, Eastern Front
- 1944Commander, LXXVI Panzer Corps and LXXXIV Army Corps, Italy and Normandy
- 1944Commander of Greater Paris and military governor, surrendered on 25 August
- 1944–1947Interned at Trent Park and a US prisoner-of-war camp