Kommandant von Gross Paris

Kommandant von Gross-Paris.

Dietrich Hugo Hermann von Choltitz (9 November 1894 – 4 November 1966) was a German General who served in the Royal Saxon Army during World War I and the German Army during World War II. He is chiefly remembered for his role as the last commander of Nazi-occupied Parisin 1944, when he disobeyed Adolf Hitler's orders to level the city, but instead surrendered it to Free French forces. In many contemporary accounts he has been called the "Saviour of Paris" for preventing its destruction. Choltitz later asserted that his defiance of Hitler's direct order stemmed from its obvious military futility, his affection for the French capital's history and culture, and his belief that Hitler had by then become insane.