Talk:Hans Speidel

Rommel

This man is famous for one thing. He betrayed Rommel. This fact is not brought out in this article. It should be. Wallie 16:25, 8 December 2005 (UTC)

It is mentioned towards the end of the article, what happened in relation to Rommel (based on known facts rather than suspicions). Although what you have stated is most likely correct, the proof is inconclusive and as a result it can not be stated as fact in Wikipedia. (Khan 23:17, 8 December 2005 (UTC))

Besides, even if it's true, you cannot blame a person for cracking under duress... Gestapo type interrogations make Abu Graib look like a cakewalk. And it wasn't only you who suffered, with the practice of Sippenhaft, the entire family of the condemned shared in his misfortune. Reasons enough for a person to crack. That is if he cracked. -- fdewaele 16:05, 9 december 2005 (CET)

Hearsay

The claim that Speidel betrayed Rommel is unsubstantiated and inadmissible without conclusive documentation.

In my considerable reading on the conspiracy against Hitler, I have never encountered any suggestion that Speidel betrayed Rommel. Quite the contrary. The WWII historian Louis L. Snyder, in "Hitler's German Enemies" (Hippocrene Books, 1990), says Speidel was enlisted by the conspirators to recruit Rommel for the plot, which he cautiously began to do on June 11, 1944, by informing Rommel of Nazi atrocities and genocide in Poland (Snyder, page 210). In the Nazi dragnet following the July 20 assassination attempt, Speidel - Rommel's chief of staff - was arrested on Sept. 7. "Interrogated by the Gestapo, he admitted nothing and betrayed no one" (Snyder, page 212).

Ronald Lewin, a British military historian, writes in "Rommel as Military Commander" (1968) that it was General Karl-Heinrich von Stülpnagel who, having botched an attempt at suicide following the assassination attempt, implicated Rommel under Gestapo interrogation.

The German Wikipedia article on Speidel indicates Speidel was dismissed as NATO commander because DeGaulle could not abide someone who had been a German general under Hitler being in command, whatever anti-Hitler credentials he may have possessed.

It is a basic tenant of evidence, and of journalism, that unsubstantiated accusations, i.e. hearsay, not be accepted as reliable.

FYI, the German term is Sippenhaft, not "sibenhaft."

Sca 16:19, 28 March 2006 (UTC)

As Speidel was 66 when he retired as NATO commander in 1963, methinks it more likely was a matter of retirement because of age. After all in 1963, De Gaulle was already in power for five years so why wait five years to oust him? -- fdewaele 11:45 29 March 2006 (CET)

I've taken out the De Gaulle allegation, which seems to be nothing more than idle speculation. Anyone who can find independent confirmation that Speidel was forced out is welcome to revert it. -- Hongooi 01:59, 25 June 2007 (UTC)

Doctorate Degree

Between the wars Hans Speidel attended universities at Berlin, Tübingen, and Stuttgart, and was awarded a PhD in 1925. This is mentioned in the German Langauge version of Wikipedia. Dan D. Ric 02:52, 16 August 2006 (UTC)

Escape

'...then tried to escape and went into hiding...' - If he got away and went into hiding then the escape was successful, wasn't it. GrahamBould (talk) 08:28, 1 January 2009 (UTC)

I too am a little puzzled by this paragraph. If he supposedly escaped from his captors in 1945, how could he then be "liberated" by French troops? Interestingly, the paragraph doesn't say what happened after he was "liberated" by the French troops. One would suspect Speidel was most likely sent to a POW camp, or detained as a high-ranking officer. In any case, the "liberated" element doesn't seem to make sense. Richard. RM9876 (talk) 20:19, 18 November 2014 (UTC)

Honours

The former Eichelbergkaserne barracks in Bruchsal, Baden-Württemberg, was renamed General-Dr.-Speidel-Kaserne in 1997. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 89.56.206.247 (talk) 13:10, 21 January 2009 (UTC)

His alleged anti-nazi actions

This man was a true nazi new human. Much smarter than Hitler. He has no anti-nazi credentials, the assassination of Hitler would more probably mean even stronger ties between nazi military and NATO later on and thus increase the risk of WW3. This man organized the Operation Teutonic Sword - the assassination of king Alexander I. Karadjordjevic and probably Loius Barthou (allegedly accidentally killed by a policeman but it remained hidden until 1974). He orchestrated it together with Ante Pavelic, one of the most infamous war criminals whose regime murdered hundreds of thousands people. Speidel was one of those who pushed the nazi war machine from the early years through the war and then under NATO banner. Hitler would never make it alone, without talented nazi criminals like this one. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.200.57.137 (talk) 13:37, 25 November 2011 (UTC)

yes, the smartest nazis knew the ship was sinking already by the end of 1942 and envisioned their participation in the upcoming Cold war which they wanted to turn into WW3. Some of these smart opportunist nazis involved themselves in actions against Hitler but not sooner than the moment when it was clear they could not win the war. Wikipedia articles are strongly biased in favor of the most cunning nazis who found their way into NATO. Another example is Reinhard Gehlen. Read his memoirs. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 81.200.57.139 (talk) 13:29, 7 April 2014 (UTC)

Speidel himself plotted assassination? Is there any other evidence to corroborate?

"Hitler had changed his plans at short notice after having intended to fly to Poltava; in this way, he avoided his assassination planned by General Hubert Lanz and Brigadier Hans Speidel." [emphasis added] -- Peter Hoffmann, Die Sicherheit des Diktators, Munich/Zurich 1975, p. 161. Starhistory22 (talk) 19:26, 18 June 2015 (UTC)

Character assassination

Is is unconscionable and a violation of principles of historiography to present material that constitutes character assassination without documentation by publicly available sources. Consequently the following passage, already flagged by another user, has been deleted from the article:

Recent documentation found in Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery's papers at London's Imperial War Museum reveal the deposition made by Manfred Rommel (Erwin Rommel's son) at Riedlingen, Wurttemberg, on 27 April 1945. This was before the war had ended and long before the circumstances of Erwin Rommel's death were public knowledge. In it, Manfred recounted the circumstances of his father's death and suicide, specifically that: "My father's former Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant General Speidel, who had been arrested a few weeks before, had stated that my father had taken a leading part in the 20 July 1944 plot and had only been prevented from direct cooperation by his injuries." Whatever Manfred's later views of Speidel, it is clear that on April 1945 he believed him to have been responsible for his father's death.

If sufficient documentation can be provided, the passage can be reintroduced. Sca (talk) 22:19, 12 August 2015 (UTC)

Jailed or detained?

If in 1944 Speidel did not appear before a court, was he simply detained? I didn't think that the Gestapo had the power to jail anyone for seven months.Royalcourtier (talk) 11:36, 14 June 2017 (UTC)

Kinda Brutal Twin Brothers ?

Not to be mixed up with Ferdinand Schörner - ! --2001:A61:2AAD:AC01:156B:D7FC:B622:3E36 (talk) 16:18, 6 September 2019 (UTC)

"Speidel was a Mussolini-style fascist... who strongly disagreed with their racial policies"

What does "Mussolini-style fascist" mean in the context? Not only the comparison feels unsubstantional, it also ignores that the Fascist Italy under Mussolini had a... complicated and very dirty history with racism and anti-Semitism. Considering that there are no sources cited and no further explanation given in the article, it seems to give a wrong impression of Speidel's political views. --Magnimik (talk) 13:04, 22 January 2020 (UTC)