Hitler oath

The term Hitler oath refers to the oaths of allegiance sworn by German "Wehrmacht" officers and soldiers as well as civil servants during the Third Reich between the years 1934 and 1945. The oath pledged "personal loyalty" to the person of Adolf Hitler in place of loyalty to the constitution.

Background

The death of 86-year-old "Reichspräsident" Paul von Hindenburg on August 2, 1934 removed the final obstacle to Adolf Hitler obtaining absolute power over Germany. Even before Hindenburg's death, Hitler's cabinet had enacted a law combining the offices of Chancellor (the head of government) and President (the head of state); Adolf Hitler would henceforth be known as "Führer und Reichskanzler" (Leader and Chancellor) and was both head of state and commander in chief of the armed forces. The day of the President's death, the cabinet ordered a plebiscite for August 19 for the German people to approve the combination of the two offices.

Germany's voters went to the polls and 89.9% voted their approval for Hitler to assume complete power over Germany. The following day, August 20, 1934, the cabinet decreed the "Law On The Allegiance of Civil Servants and Soldiers of the Armed Forces". ("Gesetz über die Vereidigung der Beamten und der Soldaten der Wehrmacht"), which superseded the original oaths. Prior to the decree, both members of the armed forces and civil servants had sworn loyalty to "the People and the Fatherland" ("Volk und Vaterland"); civil servants had additionally sworn to uphold the constitution and laws of Germany.

The new law decreed that instead, both members of the armed forces and civil servants would swear loyalty to Adolf Hitler.

Text of the oaths

Wehrmacht oath

Civil servant oath

Consequences

By swearing loyalty to the person of Adolf Hitler rather than the nation or the constitution, the officers and men of the armed forces found themselves bound by their honor to the Führer, even after Hitler had set out down the path to war and ordered the "Wehrmacht" to commit war crimes. Among the infamous crimes were atrocities in Poland and the Commissar Order in the Soviet Union.

As the dictator's desire for war became increasingly clear in late 1938 during the Sudetenland crisis, a number of "Wehrmacht" officers hatched plans for a conspiracy against Hitler that was to be launched as soon as the dictator launched the invasion of Germany's neighbor; the Munich Agreement put an end to the dispute as well as the plot against Hitler. Though historians cite a number of factors why Hitler's opponents within the armed forces failed to act when they realized the dictator's aims, their reluctance to violate their personal oath of loyalty is cited as a prominent factor.

See also

* Adolf Hitler
* July 20 plot
* Nazi Germany
* Wehrmacht
* World War II

References

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External links

* http://ddickerson.igc.org/oath-of-loyalty.html
* http://www.digam.net/digam/dokument.asp?ID=378&lput=598
* http://www.verfassungen.de/de/de33-45/vereidigung34.htm