genocide of six million? The answer, shrilled Goebbels, was the Jews. ‘Cooperation
with bolshevism,’ he concluded, ‘is possible neither on a political nor on a philosophical
basis.’
FOR the next nine years Goebbels was the motor, goading his reluctant Führer into
ever more radical actions against the Jews.87 He sharpened the anti-Jewish provisions
of the Reich Chamber of Culture.88 Meeting in special session at Nuremberg the
Reichstag that September 1936 passed a set of laws circumscribing the rights of Jews
and half-Jews in Germany. Goebbels took no part in their drafting, but he welcomed
these Nuremberg laws.89 Subsequently he demanded a more rigorous interpretation
of them. In April 1936 he would exclude even quarter-Jews and anybody married to
a half-Jew from the chamber of culture. Eugenie Nikolajeva had one Jewish parent;
as a favour, Goebbels secured for her Hitler’s permission to perform. Marianne Hoppe
had a Jewish fiancé. She promised to dump him. His struggle to aryanize the chamber
would continue for four more years.90
To Goebbels’ ill concealed irritation, Hitler leaned toward moderation in applying
the new laws. On September 17 he heard the Führer telling the gauleiters that ‘above
all’ there must be no excesses against the Jews.91 A week later he heard Hitler reiterate
this point to the gauleiters in Munich’s city hall: ‘No [persecution?] of “non-
Aryans”,’ Goebbels scribbled afterwards—the word is illegible but the sense is clear—
he described Hitler’s speech as one long repudiation of Rosenberg and Streicher
(both of whom loudly applauded).92 He tried to talk Hitler round one Sunday at the
end of September. ‘Jewish problem still not resolved even now,’ he recorded afterwards.
‘We debated it for a long time but the Führer still can’t make his mind up.’93
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 377
Sometimes moderate attitudes did surface in Goebbels too. Curiously, he had argued
against overdoing the restrictions on marriages where congenital deformities
were involved.94 When over-zealous Nazis erased Jewish names from war memorials
his diary displayed real irritation.95 But such insights were rare.
The murder of Wilhelm Gustloff, the party’s representative in Switzerland, by a
Jewish medical student in February 1936 at Davos brought to Goebbels’ attention a
shadowy, well-funded World League against Racism and Antisemitism (LICA) dedicated
to attacking Hitler’s Germany. After scanning Emil Ludwig’s gloating book on
the case Goebbels remarked in his diary: ‘It would convert anybody who wasn’t one
already into an antisemite.’ More sinisterly he added, ‘This Jewish plague must be
eradicated [ausradiert]. Totally. Nothing must be left.’96 In LICA he had momentarily
found a worthy enemy. He staged a great funeral ceremony in Schwerin, Gustloff’s
home town, and when Switzerland put the assassin David Frankfurter on trial he
pulled whatever strings he could from Berlin; LICA contributed its vice-president Dr
Léon Castro as the assassin’s lawyer and portrayed the self confessed murderer as a
martyr.97 Frankfurter stated that he had hoped that Hitler would die of the throat
cancer falsely reported in the press, and when this happy event failed to occur he had
intended to bump off Göring or Goebbels; denied that opportunity, he had shot
Gustloff instead. The court handed down an eighteen year sentence. ‘Now we have
to unmask the camarilla behind him,’ wrote Goebbels.98
Uncomfortably conscious that LICA might have put out a contract on his life too, he
warmed toward Julius Streicher again. He decided in one indulgent diary entry that
the gauleiter always would be an enfant terrible.99 ‘I have been told that the Jews are
getting uppity again,’ he intoned on his tenth anniversary as Berlin’s gauleiter. ‘In the
past I over-estimated their intelligence. They are neither intelligent nor clever. If
they were intelligent they would either disappear or play possum.’ The excessively
gentle voice in which he pronounced these lines, which were later omitted from the
official text, struck his British listeners as being ‘the very refinement of cruelty.’100
How much more exhilarating it was to mastermind this ancient feud with the Jews
than to pursue his humdrum ministerial routine—the receptions for gaggles of gig-
378 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
gling maidens in regional costumes, the speeches to international penal experts101,
the lectures to Wehrmacht officers.102
HITLER concealed nothing from Goebbels. Discussing the political situation with
Goebbels, Göring, and Ribbentrop on May 14, two days after Marshal Pilsudski died
taking with him the hopes of an fruitful alliance with Poland, Hitler had predicted
that the years 1936 and 1937 would hold particular dangers for Germany. ‘Rearm,
rearm!’ wrote Goebbels afterwards.103 Mussolini, running into snags in Abyssinia,
was warming towards the Nazis again.104 Even when unable to speak after a throat
operation, Hitler still sent for Goebbels and told him of his worries, writing them
down on paper for him.105Vacationing in August 1935 with Goebbels at Tegernsee
Hitler repeated that his foreign policy was based on an alliance with Britain and an
entente cordiale with Poland. ‘Meanwhile, expansion in the east,’ recorded Goebbels
afterwards. ‘The Baltic states belong to us.’ Peering into the future Hitler envisaged
Britain fighting Italy over her invasion of Abyssinia and, a few years later, Japan fighting
Russia. ‘Then our great historic hour will come,’ wrote Goebbels deeply affected.
‘We must be ready then. A grandiose prospect.’106 He foresaw complications for
Hitler over his support for Mussolini since this would be treading on Britain’s toes;
he briefed his editors accordingly, and Hitler also addressed his ministers and generals
on the danger that Britain might include Germany in any sanctions against Italy.107
‘All of this,’ Goebbels realized, ‘is coming three years too soon for us.’
Their rearmament programme was far from complete, but even so Hitler decided
early in 1936 to stage a new coup. In violation of the Locarno Pact, Paris was negotiating
a treaty with Moscow which Hitler deemed to justify him in moving troops
back into Germany’s Rhineland provinces, demilitarized since the Versailles treaty.
For a while however he bided his time. ‘We are trying to overcome our difficulties,’
declared Goebbels, speaking in Berlin on January 17, 1936, ‘with the cunning of the
serpent.’ He added in a pointed reference that was omitted by most of the German
press, ‘If a treaty has become intolerable there are higher laws than those which are
written in ink.’108 Three days later Hitler notified him in strict confidence that he was
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 379
contemplating reoccupying the Rhineland suddenly, as soon as Italy’s war in Abyssinia
ended.109
Goebbels could scarcely keep the secret. In the Rhineland he spoke threateningly
of both the League of Nations and the Jews, and advised Americans to tackle their
own ‘gangster problems’ before meddling in Germany’s affairs. If Germany had had
just two more army corps in Belgium in the
war, he declared, in an extraordinary
and again unreported passage, Germany would have won. ‘That was a serious blunder,’
he added. ‘It won’t happen the next time.’110
A month passed. On February 27, lunching with Goebbels and Göring, Hitler felt
it was still premature to go into the Rhineland. But on the very next day the French
confirmed their treaty with Moscow. As he would in each of the next three years’
crises, Dr Goebbels initially counselled Hitler against over-hasty action. Still grappling
with the decision Hitler phoned him to join his private train that night; they
argued for hours, and by Munich Goebbels was still urging caution.111
Hitler however had made up his mind. On Sunday March 1, wrote Goebbels, his
expression was calm but determined. Hitler explained his own credo: ‘To the bold
belongs the world!’ Back in his chancellery in Berlin that Monday Hitler unveiled the
plan to his commanders-in-chief. On Saturday (because, wrote Goebbels, Saturdays
were best) he would proclaim that Germany was reoccupying the Rhineland, but
simultaneously he would offer to return to the League of Nations and to sign a nonaggression
pact with France. He was taking a calculated risk: France still had the
biggest army in Europe. Britain, France, and Italy would all be justified in intervening.
‘Nothing venture, nothing gain,’ was Goebbels’ attitude, all his former caution
thrown to the winds.112 After lunching with Hitler that Thursday he mockingly referred
to the throngs of ‘knicker-wetters’ in the foreign ministry.113 In fact the Cabinet,
belatedly briefed on Friday, the eve of the operation, loyally backed Hitler.
Goebbels sent two planeloads of puzzled journalists into the Rhineland ahead of the
marching troops. After Hitler announced his move to cheering Reichstag deputies
that Saturday morning, Goebbels could hear the crowds ‘exulting’ below—a theme
380 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
that would soon become a commonplace in his chronicle. ‘Wiretaps show the world
of diplomacy all at sea,’ he recorded, adding, ‘And the Rhineland a sea of joy.’114
It was perhaps the one moment in history when Hitler could have been stopped.
His own generals had panicked, but Goebbels urged him to hang tough: ‘If we keep
our nerve now,’ he wrote afterwards, ‘we’ve won.’115
1 Deutsche Allgemeine Zeitung, Dec 1, 1934.
2 Berliner Lokalanzeiger, Dec 15, 1934; Berliner Nachtausgabe, Jan 2, 1935.
3 Unpubl. diary, Jan 4, 1935. (From the diary volume Oct 23, 1933-Jun 28, 1935: Moscow
archives, Goebbels microfiches, box 5).
4 Dr Werner Best (IfZ). On Hitler’s speech: diaries of Leeb, Milch, and testimonies of
Raeder, Fritsch (MS) and Adm. Hermann Boehm (IfZ: ZS.12).
5 Unpubl. diary, Jan 6, 1935. ‘Interesting visit.’ Ludmilla Babkova (stage name Lida Baarova)
was born in Prague on Sep 7, 1914. Her recollections, including memoirs in her native
Czech (‘Sweet Bitterness of Life’) are singularly free of spleen against JG. I interviewed her
in Salzburg, Jul 14, 1993; cf Gustav Fröhlich, Waren das Zeiten! Mein Film-Heldenleben (Munich,
Berlin, 1983), 362f., and BA file R.55/412.
6 Unpubl. diary, Jan 6, 1935; confirmed by Baarova, interviews; and MI.14 report NOI/
108, based on data from an unnamed ‘talent scout in the German film world’ repeating very
accurately details known, he said, only to Hitler, JG, Sepp Dietrich, Baarova and himself,
Mar 15, 1944 (PRO file WO.208/4462).
7 Author’s interview of Lida Baarova, Salzburg, Jul 4, 1993.
8 On Jan 29; unpubl. diary, Jan 31; and very similar ibid., Feb 4, 1935.
9 Ibid., Jan 6, 1935.
10 Berliner Lokalanzeiger, Jan 7, 1935.
11 Taubert report.
12 Unpubl. diary, Jan 16, 1935: ‘Triumph of Patriotism!’
13 Confidential report by a Captain Glas in Austria, from Berlin on Jan 18, 1935, forwarded
by Wickham Steed to Orme Sargent, FO, Jan 28, 1935 (PRO file FO.371/18824). When
Giornale d’Italia reported on Feb 8, 1935 ‘A Goebbels speech on a plan of operations to
return all Germans to the Reich,’ specifying particularly the Memel and Austria, JG protested
in VB, Munich, Feb 9, 1935, against this ‘poisoning of the wells’. (NA film T81, roll
667, 5251ff). For Glas, see unpubl. diary, Jul 23, 1939.
14 Unpubl. diary, Jan 22, 1935.
15 Ibid., Dec 17, 1934. “I think I won him. It’s worthwhile talking to such people.”
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 381
16 Ibid., Dec 21, 1934. The German transcripts of these conferences, captured by the
British after the war, are now missing. Some of Rothermere’s fulsome correspondence with
Hitler is in BA file NS.10/5, and the Hoover Libr., Hohenlohe papers.
17 Diary, Jan 27. On Jan 20 Hitler had told JG that Poland was standing by Germany;
France and Britain were preparing to blackmail Poland (unpubl. diary, Jan 22, 1935.)
18 Speech report by Phipps to FO, Feb 25, 1935 (PRO file FO.371/18857). On Jan 22, JG
noted: ‘Become a Power. Everything else then sorts itself out.’
19 Rosenberg to Hess, Feb 26, 1935 (Rosenberg papers, NA film T454, roll 74, 0704f).
20 Diary, Feb 11, 1935.
21 Bella Fromm diary, Jul 15, 1934 (loc. cit.)
22 Darré diary, Mar 28, 1935.
23 Phipps to Simon, Mar 22; and to Sargent, May 9 (PRO file FO.371/18879); unpubl. JG
diary, Apr 5, 1935: ‘A lot of criticism [at Hitler’s lunch table] of Göring’s marriage pomp.
That’ll damage us a lot in the people’s eyes.’
24 Ibid, Mar 18, 1935. That evening Hitler told him Phipps had been astonished, but raised
no objection; François-Poncet had protested briefly, Cerutti had paled, and ‘Lipski was delighted.’
25 Diary, Mar 22, 1935.
26 Unpubl. diary, Mar 25, 1935. Over dinner, after further talks, Hitler told JG that Simon
was in a good mood: ‘Führer again confirms my characterisation of the two.’ JG considered
the talks a success: ‘Now they know what’s what. We sit up with the Führer until 4 a.m. and
gossip. He’s really pleased.’
27 Ibid., Mar 26, 1935.
28 Ibid., Apr 1, 1935. ‘Evening … long time with Führer, together with Göring and
Blomberg… We must remain steadfast and firm. Don’t let them bluff us! But the Führer’s
got good nerves.’
29 Taubert report.
30 Unpubl. diary, Apr 3, 1935: ‘[Hitler] has big worries. Ribbentrop brings fresh news.
None too cheerful. We’ve got to watch out like hell.’
31 Ibid., Apr 5, 1935.
32 Ibid, Apr 7, 1935.
33 Robert T Smallbones to British embassy, Apr 18, 1935 (PRO file FO.371/18857).
34 Phipps told Simon on May 4, 1935, that JG’s May Day speech ‘contained nothing of
interest’ (ibid.)
35 Phipps to Sargent, Feb 13, 1935 (ibid.)
36 Diary, Mar 2; NYT, Mar 1; unpubl. diary, Apr 11, 1935.
37 JG to Rosenberg, Aug 25, 1934 (BA file NS.8/171); and see Wulf, Musik, 194.
38 NYT, Jun 12, 24–26; diary, Jul 5, 13, 1935.
39 Gestapo to Stapoleitstelle, Berlin, Dec 27, 1934; Heydrich to Himmler, Apr 16 (BA file
Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death Page 62
