248 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
pastries to Hitler and fussed over him, while he relaxed and expatiated upon the
brainless cretins who claimed to admire and understand degenerate modern works
of art. ‘Dr Goebbels,’ he said casually, ‘I want you to think over how we’re to stop
this rot when we take over and you’re in charge of all government propaganda.’
The Goebbels wedding was fixed for December 19, 1931. As a divorcee and convert
to protestantism, Magda could not marry under the rites of the catholic church.
Goebbels’ plea to the bishop of Berlin for a waiver was denied. Marrying as a protestant,
he would be excommunicated. ‘He thereupon saw no further reason to pay
their church tax,’ said Hitler years later, mocking the church’s hypocrisy. ‘But the
church informed him that excommunication … did not affect the obligation to pay
up as before.’
Hitler acted as one witness, and General von Epp as the other. Since a Berlin wedding
was out of the question—the communists would have raised mayhem—it was
solemnized at Severin, the Quandt estate in Mecklenburg. Quandt did not hear about
this until afterwards.82 The village notary of Goldenbow performed the legal ceremony,
then Dr Wenzel, a pastor from Berlin, officiated at the protestant ceremony
in the chapel at nearby Frauenmark; a swastika banner draped the altar.83 Magda’s
mother came, but not her father who disapproved of Goebbels; she had stitched
together a little brown S.A. uniform for her son Harald to wear as a pageboy. ‘We
accept the obligation to bring up our children in the evangelical-lutheran faith,’ the
couple affirmed.84
As for Joseph Goebbels, if Magda looked closely, she would have seen that her new
husband was wearing a gold tiepin shaped like a wolf’s head—a gift, he had once told
a friend, from a girl he had become very fond of at university.85
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 249
1 Diary, Apr 9, 11, 1931.
2 Hans-Otto Meissner; JG diary, Apr 12, 1941.
3 Diary, Apr 14, 1931.
4 Ibid., Apr 14, 1941; Schickedanz to Amann, Mar 19 and Oct 27, 1931 (Rosenberg files,
NA film T484, roll 78, 0109–113).
5 Diary, Apr 21, 25, 1931. Hinkel does not mention his work for Angriff in postwar interrogations.
6 Ibid., Apr 14, 18, 29, 1931.
7 Police report on JG’s speech of Sep 26, 1929, in Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58, itemÊ 2.
8 Diary, Apr 15–16, 1931.
9 Ibid., Apr 18, 1931; Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58, item 23, vol.3.
10 Diary, Jun 17, 1931.
11 Ibid., Apr 18, 1931.
12 Ibid., Apr 20, May 9, 1931.
13 Ibid., Apr 25, 1941.
14 Ibid., Apr 25, 1931; police file author’s film DJ-81).
15 Police file, May 22, 1931. This appears to have become a common police requirement;
see the similar declaration signed by JG on Oct 1, 1931 in Hoover Libr. files, NSDAP papers,
box 1.
16 Diary, Apr 28, 1931; and Lohse MS on the Strasser case. See too the NSDAP archives file
on Gregor Strasser (BA file NS.26/1370).
17 Diary, Apr 23, 25, 1931. There had been rumours in Angriff on Apr 28 that Hinkel was to
replace him.
18 Ibid., Apr 28, 1931.
19 Angriff, Apr 28, 1931.
20 NYT, Apr 28, 1931
21 Diary, Apr 30, 1931; the appeal failed (diary, Jun 2–3, 1931).
22 Memo on file in Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58, item 39, vol.4.
23 Diary, May 12, 1931; Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58, item 24, vol.iv.
24 For a file of JG correspondence with Kamecke see ZStA Rep 90 Go 1, vol.2.
25 Diary, Jun 6, 1931.
26 Ibid., Jun 13, 1931.
27 Ibid., Apr 18, 1931.
28 Ibid., Apr 19–21, 25, 1931.
29 Ibid., May 18, 1931.
30 Ibid., May 26, 1931.
31 Ibid., May 27, 1931.
32 Ibid., May 31, 1931.
33 Ibid., Jun 5–6, 1931
34 Ibid., Jun 13–14, 1931.
35 Ibid., Jun 11, 1931.
36 Schimmelmann to Anka Stalherm, Dec 17, 1931 (Irene Prange papers).
37 Diary, May 2, 1931.
38 Ibid., May 3, 8, 10, 12, 19, Jun 16, 1931.
250 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
39 Ibid., May 20, 1931.
40 Ibid., Jun 8, 1931.
41 Ibid.Jun 10, 1931.
42 Goltz MS (BA file Kl.Erw., 653/2).
43 Werner Schwarz (commanding 3 Standarte) to USchlA, Jun 25, 1931 (BDC; Fritz Tobias
archives).
44 Diary, Jun 21, 1931.
45 Police file, May 29, 1931.
46 Angriff, Jun 30, 1931.
47 In Feb 1945 this very oval would be RAF Bomber Command’s aiming point in a raid that
would kill three times more people thasn were in his audience.
48 Dokumente; for Dietrich’s career see Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, Jul 30, 1941 (ND:
NG-3787); CSDIC(WEA) BAOR report PIR.8, Sep 10, 1945 (NA: RG.219, IRR case files,
XE.003812); defence documents in Nuremberg StA Rep.501; and interrogations (ibid.,
Rep.502).
49 Diary, Jul 17, 1931.
50 Ibid., Jul 24, 1931.
51 Ibid., Jul 27; and see Jul 31, 1931.
52 Gauorganisationsleiter. Born in Lauban, Silesia, on Aug 24, 1903, the son of an engine
driver and four generations of blacksmiths, Karl-August Hanke would become JG’s righthand
man, and then Staatssekretär until 1941.
53 Gaupropagandaleiter. See his lengthy MS dated May 1, 1938 in NSDAP archives (NA film
T581, rolls 47 and /546; BA files NS.26/546 and /133).
54 Hinein in die Betriebe. His opponents scoffed in one samisdat circular to disgruntled S.A.
men, dated Sep 15, 1931, ‘If the little clubfoot Joseph, known as Goebbels the Riding-Whip,
waffles about socialism over the next few months he’s thinking of the reply he gave to the
question “How do you stand on socialism?”—“Socialism is just a means to an end!”’ (NSDAP
archives, files of No.8 Standarte. BA file NS.26/322).
55 JG, Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei. Eine historische Darstellung in Tagebuchblättern (vom 1.
Januar 1932 bis zum 1. Mai 1933). (Berlin, 1934), Jan 6, 1932.
56 Compared with 523 in Saxony, 297 in Silesia, 187 in Brandenburg, 180 in Mecklenburg-
Lübeck, and 128 in Württemberg. NSDAP archives (BA file NS.26/1290).
57 Figures announced by Rudolf Diehls, consultant to the police department of the Prussian
ministry of the interior, on Nov 13, 1931 in Prussian state council; the police had
confiscated 618 firearms, 1,380 knives and coshes, and 12,000 rounds of ammunition.
Grzesinski MS (BA: Kl.Erw.144)
58 Münchner Post, Jun 23; diary, May 17, Jun 24, 30. Major Giuseppe Renzetti, Mussolini’s
agent in Berlin, told JG that Italy took a very dim view of Röhm. JG’s opponents in the gau
expressed disgust that Hitler not only tolerated these homosexuals in high places, but spent
so much time hobnobbing with big business. ‘Ours must be the first “worker’s party” to set
out its ideas in confidential discussions with the captains of industry,’ they mocked in a circular
of Nov 19, 1931, after Hitler met 400 top businessmen in October. (BA file NS.26/322).
59 Diary, Aug 6, 1931.
60 BDC file, Helldorff. That is, incidentally, how he signed his name, not ‘Helldorf.’
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 251
61 SA Standa
rtenführer Gottlieb Rösner to Lutze, Jan 24, 1935 (BDC file, Helldorff).
62 Police report of Feb 9, 1932 (author’s film DJ-81).— A letter from Grzesinski to the
court dated Oct 5, 1931 states that at a conference with several SA Standartenführer three
days before they had been drilled as to what evidence to give. Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58,
item 20, vol.i.
63 Thus the indictment in the trial of those arrested. Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58, item 20,
vol.i.
64 Fischer to Hitler, Nov 1, 1932 (BDC file, Helldorff). He accused Helldorff himself (who
was arrested and imprisoned after the riot) of tipping off the police. ‘When the orders were
given out only Dr Goebbels, [Karl] Ernst and Helldorff were present, but the police still
found out.’ (BDC, Helldorff’s file.) JG’s police file, Feb 9, 1932, confirms that a ‘police
agent’ at gau HQ overheard him and Helldorff plotting the riot.
65 Police report in ibid.
66 A memo in Nazi party archives dated Nov 15, 1931 reports: ‘Miss Stahl, Dr Goebbels’
secretary, has the closest relations with officers of the police whom she always introduces as
her relatives. In fact Miss Stahl is said to report everything that goes on in Hedemann Strasse
to these officers.’ (BA file NS.26/325).
67 Phipps to FO, Feb 22, 1933: Documents on British Foreign Policy, 2nd series, vol.iv, 425.
68 Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58, item 20, vol.vii.
69 Ibid.
70 Leaflet in Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58, item 20, vol.iii.
71 See NA film T581, roll 4 for indignant reports of Hanns-Günther von Obernitz on this.
72 Circular, Oct 12, 1931 (BA file NS.26/322); similar in Rote Fahne.
73 Published as Vom Proletariat zum Volk. Rede gehalten am 1. Oktober 1931 in einer
Arbeitermassenkundgebung im Sportpalast Berlin (Franz Eher Nachf. Verlag, 1932).
74 Grzesinski MS (BA file Kl. Erw., 144).
75 Obernitz, report Dec 21, 1931 (NA film T581, roll 4; BA file NS.26/87).
76 Dr Otto Wagener (now the Munich-based head of the NSDAP’s economics branch), MS
(IfZ: ED.60); and see his recollections in IfZ: ZS.1732 (partially published by Henry A Turner
as Hitler aus nächster Nähe. Aufzeichungen eines Vertrauten 1929–1932.)—JG’s relationship with
Magda was the subject of much malicious gossip at the time; it was said that finally Röhm
took revenge on JG by drawing Hitler’s attention to the gossip, marriage being the only
satisfactory solution. (NA film T581, roll 4; BA file NS.26/87).
77 So he told Henriette von Schirach (author’s interview).
78 Behrend, op. cit., No.14, Apr 5, 1952.
79 Wagener MS.
80 The date is uncertain. According to Günther Quandt, op.cit., Magda invited him to the
foyer of the Kaiserhof in Jul 1931 and told him JG had asked her to marry him.
81 Ebermayer (who interviewed Ello Quandt) and Meissner, Revue, Mar 22, 1952.
82 Hitler’s Table Talk.
83 Quandt memoirs.
84 Copy of the marriage certificate, dated Aug 31, 1995, in Heiber papers (IfZ: F82).
85 The eighteen guests included Hitler, his adjutants Wilhelm Brückner and Julius Schaub,
Ritter von Epp, JG’s mother and sister, Karl Hanke, Walter Grantzow; Viktoria von Dirksen;
252 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
Magda’s schoolfriend Lola Umbreit. A malicious report reached the Berlin police HQ three
days later (evidently from the later SA Obergruppenführer Hanns-Günther von Obernitz)
that JG only married for appearances, ‘to mask his homosexual inclinations—they say he
didn’t marry the woman but her son,’ i.e. Harald. (NA film T581, roll 4).
86 Borresholm, 82.
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 253
Goebbels
17: The Man of Tomorrow
LEAVING Magda alone, Dr Goebbels spent Christmas Eve 1931 with the S.A.
Nationwide, the party now had over eight hundred thousand members.
Two years later he published a popular edition of his diaries for the coming months
entitled ‘From the Kaiserhof to the Reich Chancellery.’ The book would sell half a
million copies by 1939.1
Textual comparison with the handwritten original, which has survived on Nazi
microfiches in Moscow2, shows that Goebbels edited them less severely than his critics
believed. There are the usual exaggerations. The diary’s twenty-thousand people
listening to him speak in Leipzig become ‘30,000’ in ‘Kaiserhof’.3 His meetings are
always ‘overflowing,’ and with the right class of people, ‘almost all artisans’;4 ‘virtually
only workers’ in Essen, and a Sport Palace ‘brimming with workers’ in Berlin.5
‘He who has the working man,’ he defines, ‘has the people.’ He portrays his best S.A.
regimental commander, Richard Fiedler, as ‘a simple worker who has fought his way
to the top.’6 Visiting the cruisers Köln and Schlesien he finds all ranks solidly backing
the party. He learns more, so he writes, from a sleeping car conductor than from far
more august gentlemen.7 The published diary also treats President Hindenburg with
far greater respect (‘this venerable figure’ and ‘the grand old man’)8 than does the
original handwritten text.
As for Hitler, the image that Goebbels offers readers of his book is of a clear thinking,
resolute, pragmatic ‘Führer’ who never hesitates unless for tactical advantage.
254 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
‘He has the tougher nerves and the greater staying power,’ writes Goebbels in his
book.9 Banished from the printed page is the image of Hitler Cunctator, the prevaricating
Munich coffeeshop demagogue familiar from the handwritten diaries of previous
years. ‘The Führer is the best raconteur I know,’ he writes.10 ‘Wonderful,’ he
writes of Hitler’s final appointment as chancellor, ‘how simple the Führer is in his
greatness, and how great in his simplicity.’11
In editing ‘Kaiserhof’ he has however evened up a few old scores. Gregor Strasser
lurks through his apparently clairvoyant essay as a sinister figure unrecognizable as
the man of bonhomie and talent of whom Goebbels has in fact written so recently in
the diary. ‘There is one man in the organization trusted by nobody,’ he thunders in
‘Kaiserhof’. ‘And this man’s name is Gregor Strasser!’12 Unlike the real man, the
book’s Strasser is a boring and ineffective speaker, ‘the one of us most loved by our
opponents—which tells strongly against him.’13 Hermann Göring too is barely recognizable.
Gone are the references to his morphine addiction; no longer a ‘mound of
frozen crap,’ Göring is a massive and powerful speaker against defence minister
Wilhelm Groener.14 In one handwritten entry he has called Göring an arch prig
(urpampig); the published entry reads, ‘I find myself agreeing with Goering [sic] on all
fundamental and tactical issues’.15 The difference is that by 1934, the year of publication,
Göring has become a very dangerous man to cross indeed.
Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death Page 41
