'Wehrmacht' Oath of Loyalty

Wehrmacht Oath of Loyalty

Each member of the German armed forces (Wehrmacht) swore an oath of personal allegiance to Adolf Hitler -- and not to the constitution. This oath went into effect on 2 August 1934, the day that Reich President Paul von Hindenberg died, and Hitler immediately consolidated the offices of president and chancellor.

As Louis L. Snyder succinctly states in his Encyclopedia of the Third Reich, "The rule of traditional law was now finished (156)." (For more information, please refer to the Works Cited at the end of this document.) The text of this oath, in German and in English, is as follows:

Die Vereidigung der Wehrmacht auf Adolf Hitler, 2.8.1934

"Ich schwöre bei Gott diesen heiligen Eid, daß ich dem Führer des Deutschen Reiches und Volkes Adolf Hitler, dem Oberbefehlshaber der Wehrmacht, unbedingten Gehorsam leisten und als tapferer Soldat bereit sein will, jederzeit für diesen Eid mein Leben einzusetzen."

The Wehrmacht Oath of Loyalty to Adolf Hitler, 2 August 1934

"I swear by God this sacred oath that I shall render unconditional obedience to Adolf Hitler, the Führer of the German Reich, supreme commander of the armed forces, and that I shall at all times be prepared, as a brave soldier, to give my life for this oath."

Works Cited

Hofer, Walther (ed.). Der Nationalsozialismus Dokumente 1933-1945 (Frankfurt am Main: Fischer Bücherei KG, 1957), p. 71.

Snyder, Louis L. Encyclopedia of the Third Reich (New York: Paragon House, 1989), pp. 156 and 257.