Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death
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without severe editing.’ Interrogation of Harald Quandt, Apr 4, 1948 (Hoover Libr: Korf
papers.)
2 Mein lieber Gewissensarzt. Diary, Sep 23, 1925.
3 Diary, Oct 29, 1937. For details see Nachrichtenblatt des RMVP, vol.6, 1938 (BA file R.55/
435); for details see Berliner Tageblatt, Westdeutscher Beobachter, etc., Apr 20, 1938.
4 Dietrich affidavit, Oct 1947 (NA film, M.1019, roll 13); and interrogations of Hederich,
Feb 26 and Mar 1, 1948 (ibid., roll 25).
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 443
5 Diary, Dec 1, 1937. Dietrich was Pressechef der NSDAP, Funk Reichspressechef, Hanke Chef
des Ministerbüros. See Dietrich’s interrog. by CSDIC(WEA) BAOR, report IR.28, Oct 29,
1945 (NA: RG.219, IRR Case files. XE.003812). See too Louis Lochner’s letter home, Mar
15, on Dietrich’s speech of Mar 7, 1938 (loc.cit.)
6 Diary, Dec 8, 1937. Naumann was director of JG’s Breslau propaganda office (RPA). The
author has drawn extensively on Naumann’s personnel files in the BDC, and later OSS documentation.
See too the manuscript by Dr Jay W Baird of the Dept. of History, Univ of
Miami, based on extensive interviews of Naumann taped in 1969/70.
7 Unpubl. diary, Feb 23, 1942: ‘He’s the most reliable colleague I have.’ Naumann was
born Jun 16, 1909 in Guhrau; Nazi party number 101,399; his SS number was 1607. Schlesische
Zeitung, Aug 27, 1936, May 19, 1937.—BDC file, Naumann, and NA file, RG.319, IRR,
XE.246725, containing especially the British High Commission’s Jul 1954 report, ‘The
Naumann Circle. The Study of a Technique in Political Subversion.’
8 Report by SA Gruppe Pommern, Jul 27, 1934. During investigations against Gauleiter
Helmut Brückner, he claimed to have had an erotic relationship with Naumann: ‘We kissed
and slept together.’ These were lies, although Naumann admitted to the Breslau Gestapo on
Oct 19, 1935 that Brückner had fondled him, ‘and perhaps there was a kiss too’ after an
election victory. In May 1937 Brückner withdrew his testimony.—BDC file, Naumann.
9 Affidavit by Karl Hederich, Jul 9, 1948 (StA Nuremberg).
10 Diary, Dec 3, 1937.
11 See Hanke’s file of JG’s tax affairs in ZStA Potsdam, Rep.90, Go 1, vol.2. During fiscal
1937, these show, JG received 25,974 marks from his publisher Eher Verlag.
12 Diary, Feb 12, 1938; Albert Speer, Erinnerungen (Berlin, 1969), 35ff.
13 Oven, ‘Jun 1944,’ 362ff.
14 Diary, Aug 27, 1937.
15 Ibid., Sep 9–10, 1937.
16 Ibid., Sep 23–24, 1937.
17 Ibid., Dec 3, 1937.
18 E.g., Ibid., Sep 5, 1937.
19 Ibid., Sep 30, 1937.
20 Ibid., Dec 27, 1937; Stan Czech, loc.cit; interviews of Baarova.
21 Diary, Oct 6, 1937.
22 Ibid., Dec 1, 1937. On Mar 8, 1938 JG noted: ‘Helldorff has given the Schwanenwerder
Jew who wanted to diddle us over the house purchase a going-over. Now it will probably go
through easier.’ And diary Mar 22, 29, 30, 1938.
23 Reuth, 385f, researching in 1954 files of JG’s executor Krech and the Schwanenwerder
land register. On Jun 8, 1939 JG sold off part of the new lot to the industrialist Alfred
Ludwig of Osnabrück for 180,000 marks. See diary, Mar 24, 30, 1941.
24 Ello Quandt, cited by Ebermayer and Meissner.
25 Diary, Dec 12; there was building work at Lanke (Ibid., Dec 21, 1937).
26 Ibid., Dec 19, 1937.
27 Ibid., Jan 6, 1938.
28 Ibid., Jan 12; unpubl. diary Feb 19, Mar 20, 22, Apr 15 (completed), 20, 21, 1938.
444 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
29 Ibid., Jan 16; unpubl. diary, Feb 13, 27, Mar 29, Apr 3, 22, 26, 27; documents on the
plaster model, Jan 31, 1938 (BA file R.43II/1184).
30 This was on Mar 4; unpubl. diary, Mar 5. On Mar 17, 1938 the Münchner Illustr. Beobachter
featured a photo taken at the film ball showing Lida Baarova with Hilde Körber and four
other stars.
31 A ‘selfish little beast’: unpubl. diary, Apr 26, 27, 29, 1938.
32 Unpubl. diary, Feb 14, 1938.
33 Letter to Oberregierungsrat G W Müller (of RMVP) Jan 26, 1939: Magda points out
she is incapable of paying the taxes for Nos 12–14 Insel Strasse from her housekeeping
money in addition to those for Nos.8–10 (Hoover Libr.: Goebbels papers, box 2).
34 Diary, Jan 20; unpubl. diary, Feb 20, 1938.
35 Diary, Jan 15, 1938. On Feb 8, 1935 JG had recorded in his unpubl. diary a similar
private talk with Hitler, on ambassadorial appointments to London and Paris.
36 Diary, Jan 15, 1938.
37 Ibid., Feb 1, 1938.
38 Ibid., Jan 22, 1938.
39 Ibid., Feb 1, 1938.
40 Ibid., Dec 15, 1937; and see Jan 13, 14, 18, 1938.
41 Ibid., Jan 26, 1938.
42 Ibid., Jan 27, 1938.
43 Ibid., Jan 28, 1938.
44 Ibid., Jan 27, 29. The 83pp transcript of the four-hour grilling on Jan 27, 1938 is on NA
film T82 roll 272. I also used Fritsch’s own handwritten record of the scandal, written Feb
1938–Sep 27, 1938 (see IfZ, Irving collection, and BA: N.33).
45 Diary, Jan 30, 1938.
46 Ibid., Jan 31; and see Lutze diary, Jan 30, 1938.
47 Diary, Feb 1, 1938.
48 Ibid., Feb 6, 1938.
49 Ibid. See too Fritsch’s notes, and the diaries of Milch, Eberhard, and von Leeb.
50 Unpubl. diary, Feb 13, 14, 1938: ‘Thank goodness, the world press has still not printed
anything of the true background to our ‘crisis’.’
51 Rudolf Likus described Berndt to Ribbentrop on Feb 11, 1938 as a ‘tactless fellow’ with
less manners than a butcher’s boy (NA film T120, roll 31, 8876f).
52 Lochner to daughter, Mar 15, 1938 (State Hist. Soc. of Wisconsin: Lochner papers, box
47).
53 Ibid. Juliana had married the German Prince Bernhard von Lippe-Biesterfeld at the end
of 1936. At the wedding he had refused to permit the German anthem, speaking in a later
declaration of ‘foreign national anthems that he no longer desired,’ and calling himself somebody
who ‘is and feels Dutch.’ ‘A fine patriot,’ commented JG, launching a bitter press attack
on him with Hitler’s blessing (diary, Jan 1, 3, 5, 25, 1937); and see Nigel Law to Orme
Sargent, FO, May 16, 1937 (PRO file FO.371/20733).
54 Unpubl. diary, Feb 16, 1938.
55 Goebbels had remarked as recently as Dec 27, 1937 (diary) that a long road still lay
ahead to Austria.
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 445
56 Unpubl. diary, Feb 16, 1938.
57 Ibid., Feb 21, 1938.
58 Ibid., Feb 13, 1938.
59 Ibid., Feb 17, 1938.
60 Ibid., Feb 16, 1938.
61 Ibid., Feb 26, 1938.
62 Ibid., Mar 1, 1938.
63 Diary, Jul 3, 4, 6, 1937: Niemöller should ‘never be turned loose’ again.
64 Ibid., Apr 17, 1937. Frick had drafted a new law required all civil servants to have law
degrees. JG suggested an amendment (Apr 20, 1937): ‘Not “only lawyers” may become civil
servants, but “even, in exceptional cases, lawyers”.’
65 Ibid., Jan 21, 1938.
66 Ibid., Feb 5, 8, 1938.
67 Ibid., Feb 9; and unpubl. diary, Feb 14, 20, 23, 1938.
68 Ibid., Feb 23, 25, 26, 1938.
69 Ibid., Mar 3: ‘That’s the clock striking thirteen!’; and Mar 4, 1938. See Franz Gürtner’s
di
ary, Mar 5, 1938 (BA file R.22/946) and Wiedemann, 149.
70 Unpubl. diary, Mar 3, 1938. Niemöller survived the war after a relatively privileged
captivity at Dachau and other camps.
71 Diary, Nov 14, 1937.
72 Ibid., Nov 16, 1937.
73 Ibid., Dec 11, 1937; statement by Ehrhardt to Kurzbein on Apr 22 quoted by Grau to
Himmler, Apr 23, 1938 (Fritz Tobias archives.)
74 Unpubl. diary, Feb 23, 1938.
75 Ibid., Mar 2, 1938.
76 Ibid., Mar 6, 1938.
77 Ibid., Mar 18, 1938.
78 Diary, Jun 15, 1938.
79 Ibid., Aug 12, 13, 1938.
80 Unpubl. diary, Mar 7, 1938.
81 Ibid., Mar 10; JG’s glare was on the Czech parliament, where an anti-German debate
was raging—‘until one day [our] divisions are on the march.’ Party: Milch diary, Mar 9; the
NYT on Mar 10, 1938 quoted JG as stating at this reception that ‘certain journalists of foreign
countries … stand in the service of secret powers and must fulfil their orders, be these
Jewish or Masonic or international-Marxist or capitalistic.’
82 Ibid., Mar 10. To JG’s fury, Daluege’s official police magazine Die deutsche Polizei revealed
‘just about all’ their secrets of Mar 10–13 in an article; he had the journal seized and the
author arrested (Ibid., Apr 3, 4, 1938).
83 Ibid., Mar 11, 1938.
84 Ibid. In fact the telegraphed ‘invitation’ arrived only two days later after the party was
over. Ibid., Mar 14, 1938.—See Seyss-Inquart’s MS on the telegram controversy, in his
papers (copy in IfZ, Irving collection).
85 Unpubl. diary, Mar 13, 1938.
446 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
86 Körber was Harlan’s second wife. Veit Harlan, Im Schatten meiner Filme. Selbstbiographie
(Gütersloh, 1966), 83; and interview of Thomas Harlan, 1994.
87 Ibid., Mar 16, 1938
88 Ibid., Mar 17, 1938: ‘This is a chanting, cheering city.’
89 Ibid., Mar 18, 1938.
90 Ibid., Mar 19, 1938.
91 Ibid., and an unpubl. diary of Colonel Alfred Jodl, Apr 1938, transcribed by this author.
92 See JG’s unpubl. diary, Mar 10; and Mar 21, 1938: ‘They [the Czechs] are too late.’
93 Ibid., Feb 25, 1938.
94 At the Berlin diplomatic reception on Feb 15, 1938, MastnO(y,´) had spoken with him
about a newspaper truce between their two countries. Subsequently MastnO(y,´) did urge
Prague to curb the anti-German press. See the note on his phone conversation with Krofta,
Feb 16, 1938, in Vaclav Král, Das Abkommen von München 1938 (Prague, 1968), 67f, No.16.
95 Unpubl. diary, Mar 20, 1938.
96 ‘Unzeitgemäß’. Ibid., Mar 22, 1938.
97 Ibid., Mar 25, 1938.
98 Ibid., Mar 29, 1938.
99 Ibid., Apr 8, 1938.
100 Ibid., Mar 22, 1938.
101 See the report in NYT, Mar 30, 1938.
102 Monthly report by British vice consul at Breslau, Mar 31, 1938 (PRO file FO.371/
21674).
103 Henderson to F.O. Apr 8, 1938 (ibid).
104 Unpubl. diary, Apr 5, 1938.
105 See the report in NYT, Apr 5, 1938.
106 Unpubl. diary, Apr 10, 1938.
107 Ibid., Apr 11, 1938.
108 Ibid., Apr 12, 1938.
109 Ibid., Apr 11. Of 49,403,028 entitled to vote, 49,279,104 had voted, of which
48,751,857 had voted for Hitler and Anschluss. Analysed: ibid., Apr 26, 1938.
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 447
29: The Gambler
THAT Anschluss vote was the crowning achievement of his first five years as
minister. Foreign rumour often speculated on his replacement and on his
personal life, but he was preoccupied with greater things.1 On March 18 Hitler signed
a decree setting up a new film academy, which would offer courses on film history,
propaganda, and audience-analysis—a subject close to his heart.2
He was also preparing his onslaught on Junk Art (entartete Kunst). In June 1937
he had been shown some sorry examples of what at that time he called ‘artistic bolshevism’,
and he had begun planning a mocking exhibition. At first the mortified and
effete art world of art connoisseurs had given little help.3 Speer had offered to help
him stage the exhibition but later even he baulked and changed his mind.4 On June
Goebbels
29 Hitler authorised Goebbels to confiscate all such works...
exhibition. Goebbels immediately instructed Professor Adolf Ziegler, a radical professor
of art in Munich, to ‘select and secure all works of German decadent art and
sculpture since 1910 in German Reich, provincial, or municipal possession’ for the
purposes of the exhibition.5 It opened in Munich in July 1937. ‘The “Junk Art”
exhibition is a gigantic success,” recorded Goebbels on the twenty-fourth, ‘and a
deadly blow. The Führer stands fast at my side against all enmities.’ Hess, Rosenberg,
Speer and other Nazis all had favourite artists they tried to protect, but Goebbels
was merciless; the next day he phoned Ziegler to purge all the museums—‘It will
take three months, then we’re clean.’6 The concentrated effect of so much that was
448 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
grotesque and avant-garde was stunning. Although only six of the 112 exhibits were
by Jews, Hitler pinned the blamed on them in his introduction to the catalogue:
‘Jewry has been able,’ he wrote, ‘largely by exploiting its position in the press, to
obscure all normal ideas of the nature and function of art.’ Using methods well proven
in the years of struggle, Goebbels hired actors to circulate among the crowds feigning
disgust at the works on display.
Within a few days three-quarters of a million people had thronged the exhibition’s
halls. Professor Ziegler told Goebbels that the Weimar government had forked out
six million Gold marks for this junk art before the Nazis came to power.7 When the
mayors of Stettin and Cologne protested at losing their museum treasures, Goebbels
showed to Hitler the ‘art filth’ that they were promoting, and confidently invited him
to arbitrate.8 With Hitler’s approval, and over the objections of Rust and Rosenberg,
Goebbels drafted a law formally confiscating all of the ‘junk art’ works without compensation.
9 The Reich sold them off to less discerning nations and used the foreign
currency to buy-in real Old Masters.10
Visited eventually by three million people, the junk art exhibition would visit thirteen
cities in Germany and Austria, exhibiting works by Dix, Nolde, and Kokoschka.
A typical item was Kirchner’s ‘Self Portrait as a Soldier,’ showing him holding up a
bloodied stump instead of a hand (‘an insult to German heroes,’ read the exhibition’s
tag). Grosz’s similar indictments of war were branded a deliberate sabotage of national
defence.
THE glorious reunification of Germany and Austria has mellowed Magda. He spends