# Fame.am profile — machine-readable export
# Canonical URL: https://fame.am/person/dietrich-von-choltitz
# Generated: 2026-08-31T23:27:39.074Z

schema: https://schema.org/Person
url: "https://fame.am/person/dietrich-von-choltitz"
name: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
slug: "dietrich-von-choltitz"
description: "The Wehrmacht general who supposedly refused Hitler's order to blow up Paris before the liberation — a story of disputed heroism that asks whether he saved the city or simply had no way to destroy it."
tagline: "German general (1894-1966)"
image: "https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Special:FilePath/Bundesarchiv_Bild_183-2003-1112-500%2C_Dietrich_v._Choltitz-2.png"
gender: "male"
category:
  name: "Historical Figures"
  slug: "historical-figures"
profileType:
  name: "Historical Figure"
  slug: "historical-figure"
  entityType: "https://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q2798645"
birthDate: "1894-11-09"
deathDate: "1966-11-05"
livingStatus: "DECEASED"
scores:
  popularity:           61.17
  momentum:             29.27974761020563
  historical:           25.452096
  currentAttention:     75.85714285714286
  sourceConfidence:     60
  profileCompleteness:  60
  trendDirection:       "BREAKOUT"
ranks:
  global:   null
  country:  null
  category: null
tags:
  - name: "Historical Figures"
    slug: "historical-figures"
  - name: "Other"
    slug: "other"
  - name: "20th Century"
    slug: "20th-century"
sources:
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    title: "Wikidata"
    type:  "WIKIDATA"
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    title: "Wikipedia"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "ديتريش فون شولتيتز"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Дитрих фон Холтиц"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
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  - url: "https://fa.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D8%AF%DB%8C%D8%AA%D8%B1%DB%8C%D8%B4_%D9%81%D9%88%D9%86_%D8%B4%D9%88%D9%84%D8%AA%DB%8C%D8%AA%D8%B3"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
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    title: "ディートリヒ・フォン・コルティッツ"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://ko.wikipedia.org/wiki/%EB%94%94%ED%8A%B8%EB%A6%AC%ED%9E%88_%ED%8F%B0_%EC%BD%9C%ED%8B%B0%EC%B8%A0"
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    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://no.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_von_Choltitz"
    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
  - url: "https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Dietrich_von_Choltitz"
    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
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    title: "Wikiquote"
    type:  "WEBSITE"
  - url: "https://af.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dietrich_von_Choltitz"
    title: "Dietrich von Choltitz"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"
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    title: "ديتريش فون شولتيتز"
    type:  "WIKIPEDIA"

# bio (long form, separated for readability)
bio: |
  Born in 1894 to a Prussian military family, Choltitz fought through the First World War and rose through the rebuilt German armed forces between the wars. He saw action in the invasion of Poland in 1939 and led an air landing at Rotterdam in May 1940, seizing key bridges. Named the last Nazi commander of occupied Paris in 1944, he faced Hitler's order to demolish the city before retreat. On 25 August, as Free French forces entered, he surrendered Paris intact. He later claimed he defied the Führer out of respect for the capital's beauty and the certainty that Hitler had lost his mind. Others say the Resistance had already stripped him of control, leaving him unable to execute demolitions even if he'd tried.