Hitler's most loyal lackey was a man named Wilhelm Keitel

How does a proud Prussian officer end up swinging from a noose like a common criminal? In the case of Wilhelm Keitel, the answer is simple: by saying "yes" far too often. Keitel rose to the rank of field marshal and served as chief of Hitler’s Armed Forces High Command. But history remembers him not for battlefield genius or glory, but as Hitler’s most slavishly obedient henchman. At Nuremberg, prosecutor Robert Jackson condemned him as “a weak and willing puppet, a yes-man and lickspittle”. It was a harsh verdict – but one Keitel’s own choices ultimately earned.

The Perfect Soldier Turned Puppet

Raised with strict Prussian discipline, Keitel learned obedience early and carried it into his military career. By 1938, he was head of the Oberkommando der Wehrmacht (OKW), the armed forces high command. In theory he was Hitler’s top military adviser; in practice Hitler made all the real decisions, reducing Keitel to a mere conduit for the Führer’s orders. He was eager to please and went along even when he privately harbored doubts. His sycophancy earned scorn from his peers. They nicknamed him “Lakeitel,” blending Lakai (“lackey”) with his name, and Hermann Göring sneered that Keitel had “a sergeant’s mind in a field marshal’s body”. In short, he was no great strategist – essentially an obedient functionary willing to say jawohl to everything.

"Loyal as a Dog" to Hitler

Keitel’s subservience to Hitler knew few bounds. He rubber-stamped every command from the Führer, never daring to refuse. Even when orders crossed the line of legality and morality, he signed them without protest. He would later insist that he had harbored doubts about some of these atrocities – but at the time his response was always the same: an unwavering “Jawohl, mein Führer.” This blind obedience delighted Hitler. “The man’s as loyal as a dog,” he remarked – though he also joked that Keitel had “the brains of a movie usher.” Hitler subjected Keitel to furious tirades when things went wrong. During these tantrums, Keitel would stand stiffly at attention like a scolded schoolboy, enduring the abuse in obedient silence. He had effectively become Hitler’s bobblehead in uniform, nodding along with every whim of his master.

Despair and Downfall

By 1941, the strain of being Hitler’s yes-man pushed Keitel to a breaking point. After one especially vicious tirade, he even drafted a resignation letter and lifted his service pistol to his head. General Alfred Jodl intervened just in time. Hitler, however, refused to accept Keitel’s resignation – he wouldn’t let his most loyal lackey escape that easily. So Keitel stayed by Hitler’s side to the bitter end.

When Nazi Germany finally collapsed in 1945, the Allies captured Keitel as a war criminal. In custody, he even tried to shoot himself, but guards seized his pistol before he could fire. Instead of a soldier’s swift death, Keitel would face justice. At the Nuremberg trial, the once-proud field marshal appeared a broken man. Confronted with evidence of mass murder orders bearing his signature, he expressed remorse. In his final statement, he admitted that his finest qualities – “obedience and loyalty” – had been “exploited for purposes” of evil, and that he failed to see “there is a limit to a soldier’s duty.” He was sentenced to hang. Keitel even begged to be executed by firing squad like a soldier instead of facing the noose, but this request was denied. On October 16, 1946, Wilhelm Keitel was hanged like any common criminal, paying for his unwavering loyalty with his life.

Avoid Blind Obedience

Wilhelm Keitel’s story is a dark lesson in the perils of unquestioning obedience. He was not a fanatical ideologue, just an officer who let loyalty to a tyrant trump his moral judgment – and in the end his soldierly virtues became his undoing. Today, “Lakeitel” is synonymous with spineless subservience – a cautionary tale for anyone tempted to excuse wrongdoing as “just following orders.” Remember that saying “yes” when you should say “no” can lead to the darkest of ends.