He also postured briefly on the stage of international diplomacy. The League of
Nations disarmament conference was to resume in Geneva, Switzerland, on September
22. Constantin von Neurath, Hitler’s foreign minister, suggested that Goebbels
accompany the German delegation to explain and justify his anti-Jewish measures.75
On the eve of departure Goebbels told reporters: ‘Germany does not want war.
Indeed, we are in no condition for one.’76 Leaving by air from Rüdesheim the next
day he pointed out, ‘It is the “pacifist” nations which always prepare for the next war.’
On the phone, Hitler counselled caution in his speech, and he did as he was told. He
dressed impeccably in a suit and striped tie just like the others; interpreter Paul
Schmidt marvelled at the speed with which the Nazi agitator adopted the local argot
—soon he was speaking with all the oleagenous ease of a practised Geneva diplomat.
77
At the suggestion of Baron Ernst von Weizsäcker, the German envoy to Switzerland
and one of the oiliest of them all, Goebbels was invited to meet lawyers and
academic dignitaries. A professor of economics questioned the Führer Principle. ‘You
are probably a reservist,’ Goebbels explained. ‘If an enemy barrage is beginning, the
Führerprinzip is your only salvation. We Germans are under that barrage.’78 The mood
toward him was initially frosty. For various reasons Goebbels decided to address
only a press conference and not the general assembly. Although the French urged a
boycott, three hundred journalists turned up to hear him in the mirrored salon of
the Carlton Palace hotel. Nobody applauded when he rose, and very few when he
finished speaking. This was not Nazi Germany. In his two hour speech, pronounced
in a serious, baritone voice, he reviewed the Nazi ‘revolution’ and claimed that eighty
percent would vote for Hitler in an election now. Justifying the concentration camps
which the Nazis had set up, he invited any foreigner to inspect them.
Turning to the Jewish problem, he trotted out the familiar figures about how the
Jews dominated the medical and legal professions in Berlin, with similar figures for
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 317
the press, literature, theatre, cinema, Stock Exchange, and Reichstag. ‘By settling the
Jewish Problem legally,’ he argued, ‘the German government has opted for the most
humane method.’ Nobody, he pointed out, had offered to absorb Germany’s Jewish
refugees.79
A Polish woman journalist challenged him on Nazi Germany’s lack of freedom of
expression. ‘You can’t write what you want either,’ retorted Goebbels, baring his
teeth into a smile. ‘But only what your publisher allows.’80
He met the French foreign minister Joseph Paul-Boncour privately for two hnours.
The latter reported to Paris on how vividly Goebbels’ gleaming eyes and elegant
gestures contrasted with his misshapen physique.81 Baron Kurt von Stutterheim, the
Berliner Tageblatt’s former London correspondent, told Anthony Eden that Goebbels
reminded him of the Irish rebel leaders during the Troubles. ‘There is a strong fanatical
strain in him.’82 All in all Baron von Weizsäcker felt that Goebbels had done a good
job. The foreigners who had heard him now felt they would have to pay closer heed
to this new movement after all.83
1 Borresholm, 96f; Kaiserhof, Apr 28, 30; diary, May 2, 1933.
2 Testimony of Otto Wagener, Feb 5, 1960 (IfZ: ZS.1732).
3 His diary, May 11, seems to make clear it was the Nazi students themselves.
4 Gerhard Sauder, ‘Der Germanist Goebbels als Redner bei der Berliner
Bücherverbrennung,’ in Das war ein Vorspiel nur…, Schriftenreihe der Akademie der Künste
(Berlin, 1985), 56ff; Reuth, 286.
5 Bella Fromm, diary, May 11, 1933.
6 In conversation with Perre Bertaux and Brigitte Bermann-Fischer, in Haarmann, Huder,
Siebenhaar (eds.) ’Das war ein Vorspiel nur’. Bücherverbrennung Deutschland 1933 (Berlin, Viena,
1983), 230; Reuth, 286.
7 Golo Mann.
8 NYT, May 11; VB, May 12, 1933: ‘Execution of the People’s Will.’
9 NYT, May 12, 1933.
10 Ibid., Apr 2, May 7, 11, 1933.
11 Fromm diary May 31, 1933 (Boston Univ. Libr.: Fromm papers, box 16).
12 His unpublished diary of Apr 22, 1934 shows he later assessed Hassell as ‘quite clever’;
on May 25, 1935 he found, ‘Hassell … sees things very clearly.’
318 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
13 Diary, Jun 7, 1928. On Aug 29, 1928, agitated by the South Tyrol question, JG noted:
‘Italians are all swine. Except for Mussolini.’ After reading the Duce’s memoirs JG commented
(Jan 19, 1930), ‘Magnificent, this Mussolini! My great contemporary model.’
14 Ibid., Jun 4, 1933.
15 NYT, Jul 9, 1933.
16 Fromm MS (published in New York as Blood & Banquets in 1942), Fromm papers, box 2.
17 Diary, Apr 14, 1933.
18 See his speech at the opening of the exhibition on women, quoted by Knickerbocker
(Syracuse Univ., Thompson papers, box 2).
19 Magda Goebbels broadcast May 14, 1933: Die deutsche Mutter (Heilbronn, 1933) 20pp.;
JG diary, May 15, 1933.
20 Diary, May 10, 1933.
21 Ibid., May 5, 7, Jun 14, 1933; Magda’s mother wrote, ‘The very thought somebody
might think he could be influenced through his relatives used to get his goat.’ (Op.cit., No.17,
Apr 26, 1952).
22 Diary, Jun 6, 1933.
23 Fromm MS (Fromm papers, box 61); JG diary, Jun 11, 18, 1933.
24 Diary, Jul 24, 1933.
25 Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (hereafter: RMVP) budget for
fiscal 1933 (ZStA Potsdam, Rep 50.01, vol.1059); JG diary, Jun 10, 1933.
26 Blind to his own shortcomings, JG referred (diary, Aug 12, 1933) to German broadcasting
as a ‘hotbed of corruption’ that needed cleansing.
27 Diary, Jul 9, 1933. See Hadamowsky’s article on early broadcasting in Angriff, Oct 30,
1936.
28 Diary, Aug 19, 1933.
29 Ibid., Jun 11, 1933. For RMVP personnel, jurisdiction, and filing systems see Yivo file
G–106; telephone directories 1939–1943, G–107, and a list of senior ministry officials, G–
108.—These show that the RMVP had 956 employees on Apr 1, 1939, 1356 on Apr 1,
1940, and 1902 on Apr 1, 1941.
30 George Wilhelm Müller, Das Reichsministerium für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda (Berlin
1940), 10.
31 On Jul 10, 1934 he discussed with Funk ‘how to cast our ministry in an even more
National Socialist mould. And particularly the Reich Chamber of Culture. Ever more tightly
to the party.’ (Unpubl. diary, Jul 11).
32 Diary, Jun 27, 1933; interrogation of Fritzsche, Sep 17, 1946 (StA Nuremberg, F86).
Hanke had been JG’s Gauorganisationsleiter, then Persönlicher Referent (special assistant),
then Adjutant.
33 Much the same on Nov 8: ‘If our opponents afforded us the parliamentary means to get
rid of them, that was their affair. But that’s no reason for us to make the same mistake.’
Frankfurter Zeitung, No.804, Nov 10, 1933.
34 Reichsverband der deutschen Presse; for some if its records under the RMVP, see NA
microfilms T-70, rolls 127–133. See CSDIC(WEA) BAOR report PIR.8
, Otto Dietrich, Sep
9, 1945 (NA file RG.219, XE.003812). For some records
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 319
35 Diary, Aug 14; ten days later Hitler authorised a bill on the Chamber of Culture (ibid.,
Aug 25, 1933). See the interrogation of Alfred Frauenfeld and Hans Hinkel on the
Reichskulturkammer, SAIC/27, May 27, 1945 (NA: RG.165, entry 79, box 756).
36 JG to Lammers, Jul 13, 1933 (BA file R.43II/1244).
37 ‘Basic thoughts on the establishment of a Reich Chamber of Culture,’ Jul 1933 (BA file
R.43II/1241).
38 Diary, Aug 25, 1933.
39 Reichspressekammer. See e.g. War Dept. Historical Branch (Lt Col Oron J Hale) interrogation
of Amann, Aug 22, 1945 (NA: RG.332, entry Mis-Y Sect. box 116); and Dietrich,
op. cit.
40 Diary, Jul 24, 1933: ‘An odd feeling—to sit in front of this great musician.’
41 Reichskammer der bildenden Künste. On which see the 51pp CSDIC(UK) document
PW paper 50 by Erich Mai, a leading member under Dec 1943 (PRO file WO.208/4174).
42 Reichsrundfunkkammer. See OSS R&A report No.2100, ‘News Distribution System of
Germany,’ Apr 25, 1944 (USAMHI, Carlisle, Pennsylvania: Donovan papers, box 35c).
43 Membership of a Chamber was restricted to pure Aryans, ‘second-grade half-Jews,’ and
Aryans married to ‘first-grade half-Jews.’ For the questionnaire used by the chamber of
music, with elaborate questions on candidates’ racial origins, see Yivo Inst. file G-54; similarly
for the film chamber, file G-55.
44 Dated Jul 1936. USFET report DE.496/DIS.202 (Hoover Libr., Lerner papers).
45 Rede des Reichsministers Dr Goebbels bei der Eröffnung der Reichskulturkammer am 15. November
1933 (Frankfurt, 1933).
46 Dodd to FDR, Nov 27, 1933 (FDR Libr., PSFD box 45, Germany, Dodd); cf Ambassador
Dodd’s Diary (New York, 1941) 90f.
47 Dr H E Schmidt-Leonhardt, Das Schriftleitergesetz vom 4. Oktober 1933 mit den einschlägigen
Bestimmungen, erläutert von Dr. H Schmidt-Leonhardt und Dr P Gast (Berlin, 1944); and the
CSDIC(WEA) BAOR interrogation of Otto Dietrich (loc.cit.)—For the preparation of the
press law and its implementation see the papers of Prof. Alfred Herrmann (BA files KL.Erw.
368/13–14).
48 See among other sources CSDIC(UK) PW paper 8, compiled by four prisoners of
limited (local press) horizon, but very illuminating on the RMVP control of editors (PRO
file WO.208/4174); and the interrogation of Werner Stephan, Dietrich’s P.A., Oct 29, 1947
(NA: RG.260, OMGUS fioles, 53-3/7, box 15).
49 Fromm diary, Nov 25, 1933 (Fromm papers, box 1).
50 Diary Mar 29, May 7, 1933.
51 Jahrbuch der Reichsfilmkammer (Berlin, 1937), 194; Hinkel interrogation, SAIC/29, May
28, 1945 (NA: RG.165, entry 79, box 756).
52 When interviewed by the author on Jul 14, 1993; and before that in a TV interview for
Westdeutscher Rundfunk in May 1991.
53 US Seventh Army interrogation PWB/SAIC/3 of Riefenstahl, May 30, 1945 (NA:
RG.332, ETO Mis-Y Sect., box 116).
54 Leni Riefenstahl, Memoiren (Munich, 1987) 181; JG diary, Dec 1, 1929 (he went with
Erika Chulius).
320 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
55 Diary, Nov 8, 1932; under interrogation (see above), perhaps naturally, she stated that
her first meeting with Hitler was after he came to power, which might be what JG refers to
(diary) on Jun 14, 1933: she had been to see Hitler, and ‘will now start work on her film.’
56 Riefenstahl, 186ff, and interview with this author, Jul 15, 1989. The only related diary
entry is on Dec 11, 1932, when General Italo Balbo is entertained an Hermann Göring’s and
both Magda and Leni flirt madly with the dashing Italian aviator.
57 There is no reference to a visit to Riefenstahl in the Christmas Eve diary, which shows
JG with Harald or visiting Magda at the clinic. She ventilated none of these allegations to her
American interrogators in 1945.
58 Riefenstahl, 199f.
59 Diary, May 17, 26, 1933.
60 Riefenstahl, 201.
61 Diary, Jun 12, 1933.
62 Ibid., Jun 16, 20, Jul 4, 9, 18, Aug 14, 16–17, 1933.
63 Riefenstahl, 202ff.
64 So she told Hans Otto Meissner (interview with the author, Apr 22, 1990).
65 Borresholm.
66 Diary, Jul 22; NYT, Jul 20, 25; Fromm diary, Apr 11, 1933.
67 NYT, Sep 15, 1933. JG called the photo an affront to the ‘sacred seriousness’ of the SA
uniform for which three hundred had died.
68 Borresholm, 99f; JG diary, Jul 26; and see Aug 5, 1933.
69 Diary, Aug 15, 1933.
70 Auguste Behrend, No.20, May 17, 1952; his problems with Magda are temporarily over.
‘How happy we both are,’ he writes on Sep 2, 1933, ‘she is my only darling.’
71 Borresholm, 106ff; diary, Aug 19, 1933.
72 Riefenstahl interrogation, and interview, Jul 15, 1989; see JG’s reference to her as fährig
in his unpubl. diary, Aug 26, 1934.
73 NYT, Aug 29; ltr Louis Lochner to Betty, Nov 12, 1933 (State Historical Society of
Wisconsin, Lochner papers, box 47).
74 NYT, Sep 13, Nov 24, 1933.
75 Cabinet meeting, Sep 12, 4:30 P.M. (BA: R.43I/1465); cf NYT, Sep 15, 1933.
76 NYT, Sep 24, 25, 1933.
77 Paul Schmidt, Statist auf diplomatischer Bühne. See La Suisse, Sep 25, 26; JG diary, Sep 28;
and the report by G Motta, chief of the political department, to the Conseil Nationale,
Berne, Sep 27, 1933, publ. in Documents Diplomatiques Suisses (Berne, 1982), 835ff.
78 Burckhardt, 51ff.
79 The full text of JG’s speech of Sep 28 is in Lord Tyrell’s telegram No.226 to FO (PRO
file FO.371/17367 and /16728); see too NYT and La Suisse of Sep 29, and Tribune de Genève,
Sep 29–30, 1933.
80 Borresholm, 111f.
81 Paul-Boncour to Daladier, Sep 29, 1933, in Documents Diplomatiques Français 1932–939
(1st series) vol.iv, No.259.
82 Eden, minute, Sep 26, 1933 (PRO file FO.371/17368).
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 321
83 Weizsäcker, private letter of Oct 1 (Leonidas Hill, Die Weizsäcker Papiere, 76); on Oct 6,
1933 Weizsäcker wrote that he was ‘well satisfied’ with JG’s visit.
322 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
Goebbels
22: Twilight of the Gods and Tally-ho
ONE DAY that September of 1933 twenty thousand well-drilled schoolchildren
formed up into a map of Germany, while clusters of smiling children standing
outside represented the lost German provinces of Memel, Danzig, and the Saar.
At a given signal Germany’s frontiers opened to engulf these communities abroad,
and the whole mass melted into a giant swastika. Germany, Goebbels told the youthful
audience, wanted peace.1 At a ceremony marking the 250th anniversary of the
first German settlement in America he spoke of a new era of understanding between
Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death Page 52
