“Night and Fog” suppresses resistance in Western Europe

General Wilhelm Keitel, the OKW chief of staff, signed an order prescribing repressive measures against resistance movements in the German-occupied countries of Western Europe�France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Denmark, and Norway. To deter all inhabitants of occupied Western Europe from taking action, Keitel ordered the use of extreme measures of terror. The death penalty was introduced for resistance activity. The order prohibited the broadcasting of information on suspects, thereby facilitating their disappearance in nacht und nebel�”Night and Fog.” Keitel sent the minister of justice instructions on how to interpret and implement the order. He stressed that Hitler considered even life imprisonment for anti-German activity an indication of German weakness. The Ministry of Justice expressed no objection to being charged with implementing the punishments stipulated in the order or to the guidelines it was given by the Wehrmacht General Staff. The right to clemency was not applied to Jews and Communists. The surviving “Night and Fog” prisoners were liberated in April and May 1945.