The Nero Decree wasn’t an order issued by Roman Emperor Nero Claudius Caesar Augustus Germanicus 2,000 years ago, it was issued by Adolf Hitler in 1945, days before Germany surrendered. When it became apparent to Hitler that the Third Reich was crumbling, he commanded complete destruction of Germany’s infrastructure. The official order was titled “Demolitions on Reich Territory” (Befehl betreffend Zerstoerungsmassnahmen im Reichsgebiet), but it became known as the Nero Decree, named after the Roman emperor who is believed to have deliberately instigated the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD.
On 19 March 1945, Adolf Hitler issued the Nero Decree. www.walled-in-berlin.com
What was the intent of Hitler’s Nero Decree?
Hitler issued the Nero Decree on 19 March 1945. Had it been executed, the decree would have resulted in the mass destruction of all military, communication, industrial and supply installations that had not already been destroyed by the Allies, and in the annihilation of anything else that might have been of value to the enemy. Factories, crops, foodstuffs, power plants, railroad lines, bridges, wells and dams were all to be blown up or otherwise permanently disabled. The approaching enemy was to find nothing but “scorched earth.”
When Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin successfully used a “scorched earth” policy to halt the German Army’s advance on Moscow in 1941, Hitler made a mental note of its usefulness and decided to emulate this method of defense in 1945.
Why did Hitler resort to the Nero Decree?
By the beginning of 1945, Hitler’s empire had shrunk considerably. Most of his conquered territories had been liberated or recaptured, the Battle of the Bulge (mid-December 1944 to mid-January 1945) had failed, and Allied armies were advancing relentlessly. The German situation was becoming desperate. As the Soviet Army approached Berlin from the east and American units neared the Elbe River from the west, Adolf Hitler resorted to the Nero Decree. He had decided that if he would go down, the entire country might as well go with him. According to Speer’s memoirs, Inside the Third Reich, Hitler said, “If the war is lost, the people will be lost also. It is not necessary to worry about what the German people will need for elemental survival. On the contrary, it is best for us to destroy even these things.”
Albert Speer deliberately disobeyed the order
The responsibility for carrying the Nero Decree fell on Albert Speer, who had been Hitler’s chief architect (http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/albert-speer-designed-for-ruin-value) and became Minister of Armaments and War Production. By the time Hitler issued the Nero Decree, Speer realized that the war was lost. He decided to deliberately evade the order to save civilian lives. Initially, he did not let on to his planned disobedience. Instead, he requested to be given exclusive power to implement the plan. Once authorized, he quietly used his influence to convince senior generals and Nazi party leaders to ignore the order. Hitler remained unaware of Speer’s undercover work until the very end of the war. By then, Hitler planned his suicide and no longer cared. On 30 April 1945, Hitler committed suicide in his bunker in Berlin. Speer was arrested on 23 May 1945, and eventually tried and convicted by the International Military Tribunal in Nuernberg http://www.walled-in-berlin.com/j-elke-ertle/nuernberg-war-crimes-trials-synopsis for his role in the Nazi war crimes, chiefly for his use of of slave labor and plundering occupied countries. Albert Speer received a 20-year prison sentence.
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Walled-In is my story of growing up in Berlin during the Cold War. Juxtaposing the events that engulfed Berlin during the Berlin Blockade, the Berlin Airlift, the Berlin Wall and Kennedy’s Berlin visit with the struggle against my equally insurmountable parental walls, Walled-In is about freedom vs. conformity, conflict vs. harmony, domination vs. submission, loyalty vs. betrayal.
