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.
Activities and affiliations
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
Related historical events
- 1940–1944The Fall of France and the Vichy RegimeGerman military governor of ParisHe surrendered the garrison and refused to carry out Hitler's order to destroy Paris.
- 1941–1945The Great Patriotic WarRegimental commander in Crimea and SevastopolIn 1941–1942, he commanded the 16th Infantry Regiment in the Crimea and Sevastopol battles.
Captivity and Postwar Admissions of Responsibility
After his capture in Paris, Choltitz was held for the remainder of the war at Trent Park in north London alongside other senior German officers, and was later transferred to Camp Clinton in Mississippi. British authorities secretly recorded the officers' private conversations in the hope of obtaining strategic information, and these recordings survive as evidence that his involvement in war crimes extended beyond his actions in Paris. In a transcript dated 29 August 1944 he was quoted as saying, "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." In October 1944 he was recorded stating, "We all share the guilt. We went along with everything, and we half-took the Nazis seriously... I misled my soldiers into believing this rubbish. I feel utterly ashamed of myself." He was at the very least fully aware that the Nazis were committing mass murder against Jews, estimating that they had shot 36,000 Jews from Sevastopol. Whether he personally ordered massacres, however, is not established by the surviving evidence. No specific charges were ever filed against him, and he was released from captivity in April 1947, living out his remaining years in Baden-Baden.