NIGHT AND FOG DECREE

German Nacht-und-Nebel-Erlass secret order issued by Adolf Hitler on December 7, 1941, under which persons endangering German security in the German-occupied territories of western Europe were to be arrested and either shot or spirited away under cover of night and fog (that is, clandestinely) to concentration camps. Also known as the Keitel Order, the decree was signed by Wilhelm Keitel, chief of staff of the German army (Wehrmacht), and was issued in response to the increased activity of the Resistance in France. The German minister of justice established special courts to deal with these cases. Some 7,000 persons are known to have been sent to concentration camps as a result of this decree.