to Oct 8, 1939 are in the Moscow archives, Goebbels diary microfiches, box 1.
3 Ibid., Oct 27, 1938
4 Ibid., Oct 29, 30, 1938.
5 Ibid., Oct 30, 1938: ‘I spend midday in leaden solitude. Can any man bear and endure all
that?’ VB, Oct 29, 30, 1938.
504 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
6 Ibid., Oct 31, 1938.
7 Diary, Nov 3, 4, 1938.
8 Ibid., Oct 29, 1938
9 Behrend, op.cit., No.17, Apr 26, 1952. Unpubl. diary, Oct 31; report on JG’s Weimar
speech in VB, Oct 30, 31, 1938.
10 Diary, Nov 4, 1938.
11 Sir G Ogilvie-Forbes to Halifax, Oct 24 (PRO file FO.371/21658); and see Henderson’s
report on JG’s speech at Marienfelde, Oct 13, 1938 (ibid., /21655).
12 At the 31st session of Göring’s Defence Council on Oct 14, 1938, two pages were
devoted the de-Jewing (Entjudung) of the economy (NA film T77, roll 131, 3295ff.)
13 Unpubl. diary, Oct 12, 1938: ‘It proceeds according to plan.’
14 Ibid., Oct 13, 15 (Prague was now cracking down on emigrés, Jews and communists, ‘a
nation is beginning to awake’) and 16, 1938.
15 The Star, London, Oct 28, 1938: ‘Nazis swoop on Polish Jews.’ For existing literature,
written before JG’s diaries became available, see Helmut Heiber, ‘Der Fall Grünspan,’ in VfZ,
1957, 154-172; Hermann Graml, Der 9.November 1938 (Bonn, 1958).
16 The Polish Jew Herschel Feibel Grynszpan (Grünspan) had run away from home in
Germany in 1936 and drifted around Paris until Feb 1938 when his passport expired and the
French ordered him out; he stayed on, lived underground. His parents were among the
15,000 Polish Jews hounded out of Germany in Oct 1938.— See F J Kaul, Der Fall des
Herschell Grynszpan (East Berlin, 1965), which exploits the ZStA Potsdam files.
17 Unpubl. diary, Nov 7 (Moscow archives, photocopies only, JG papers).— On
Fürstenberg, see VB, Nov 7.—And yet only on Oct 27, 1938 JG had noted: ‘I have Schäffer
[Willi Schaeffers] warned by Hanke. He’s making political jokes again in the Comedians’
Cabaret.’
18 VB, Nov 8, 1938: ‘Jewish raid on German embassy in Paris.’
19 JG directive cited in Günther Gillessen, ‘Reichskristallnacht,’ anniversary supplement
to FAZ, Nov 5, 1988.
20 Commenting on this entry, author Ingrid Weckert points out to me that the first news of
outrages in Hesse arrived during the dinner on November 9, while the first synagogues were
burned later that night. However the word with which JG prefaced most entries, gestern
(yesterday), is missing. This suggests to me that JG in fact wrote it up on the tenth, with
minor resulting anachronisms.
21 Unpubl. diary, Nov 9, 1938. I am grateful to Ingrid Weckert for her input on problems
in its transcription.
22 It is thus unlikely that Hitler learned of the trouble brewing only after 7 P.M. at the
evening’s reception, with a messenger whispering it into his ear and him passing it on to
JG—the version favoured by Professor Hermann Graml, Reichskristallnacht. Antisemitismus
und Judenverfolgung im Dritten Reich (Munich, 1988), 17ff., and adopted by Reuth, 395.
23 Statement by former SA Gruppenführer Max Jüttner (IfZ, ZS.243).
24 Unpubl. diary, Nov 10, 1938.
25 The Reichspropagandaämter. The source of this is a 1950 MS by Gauleiter Albert Hoffmann
(BA file Kl.Erw.954/II).
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 505
26 According to Brandenburg’s gauleiter Emil Stürtz, speaking to his subordinate Kreisleiter
and Gauamtsleiter afterwards. Kehrl, 141f.
27 Testimony of Friedrich Eberstein, IMT, vol.xx, 320.
28 Jordan to Weckert, quoted by her to the author, May 26, 1978; Jordan, 181.
29 Heinrich Heim statement, Oct 1, 1952 (IfZ: ZS.243).
30 British Consulate in Munich to embassy in Berlin, Nov 11, 1938 (PRO file FO.371/
21637).
31 The witness was SA Gruppenführer Max Jüttner (IfZ: ZS.243). In his unpubl. diary
Lutze enters merely: ‘On the night of Nov 9–10, 1938 reprisals for the murder of v.Rath in
Paris. Jews’ shops are shut down.’
32 Interrogation of Hederich, Nuremberg, Apr 16, 1947 (NA film M.1019, roll 25). Ludwig
Schneider of the Party’s Supreme Court (OPG) confirmed this to him.
33 Carl Röver (Bremen), Jakob Sprenger (Frankfurt), Karl Kaufmann (Hamburg), and
(surprisingly) Julius Streicher (Nuremberg), refused to have anything to do with it. See
Moritz/Noam, 145, and Graml, 33.—Streicher claims to have had a blazing row with his
police chief SA Gruppenführer von Obernitz and dissociated himself from the destruction
of Nuremberg’s synagogue. (Witness-application for Fritz Herrwarth, Streicher defence,
Jan 24, 1946: NA, OMGUS files, box 117).
34 According to testimony by Eugen Maier, one of Otto Dietrich’s staff, on Dec 10, 1947,
he subsequently learned that this Aktion had been ‘initiated and launched’ on this occasion by
JG and Wagner. (StA Nuremberg, G15). JG’s diary appears to clear Wagner.—See too the
testimony of Dietrich’s aide Heinz Lorenz, Dec 1947 (NA film M.1019, roll 43).
35 US First Army interrogation of SA Sturmführer Hans Stech, Apr 18–19, 1945 (NA file
RG.407, entry 427, box 1945R).
36 British Consulate report.
37 Report of Party Court to Göring, Feb 13, 1939 (ND: 3063–PS).
38 Report by SA Gruppe Nordmark, Kiel, on the Aktion of Nov 9/10, 1938 (BDC, file
240/I). Kiel learned only that ‘an unidentified official from the NSDAP headquarters
(Reichsleitung)’ had uttered these orders at a Munich meeting.—At 11:55 P.M. the Gestapo
HQ in Berlin also issued an ‘igniting’ signal (ND: 374–PS), as did Eberstein at 2:10 A.M. to
his police commanders at Nuremberg, Augsburg, etc. (BDC file 240/1 and ND: 374–PS)
39 Ingrid Weckert.
40 First report by Heydrich to Göring (ND: 3058–PS; USA–508).
41 I.e., to destroy the biggest synagogue, at No.79 Fasanen Strasse. Leopold Gutterer,
telephoned with the news, saved the life of the caretaker who had been dragged out of his
home and beaten. Memoirs, 80f (Lower Saxony state archives, Wolfenbüttel.) — Nine of
Berlin’s remaining twelve synagogues were destroyed that night. H G Sellenthin, Geschichte
der Juden in Berlin und des Gabäudes Fasanenstraße 79/80 (Berlin, 1959)
42 Unpubl. diary, Nov 10, 1938.
43 3052–PS; Karl Wolff is evidently wrong (statement in IfZ file ZS.317) in placing Himmler
in Hitler’s apartment at this time.
44 Author’s interview of Col. Nicolaus von Below, May 18, 1968.
45 Testimony of Wilhelm Brückner (IfZ, Irving collection).
506 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
46 Schaub’s unpubl. memoirs, in the author’s collection (IfZ: ED.100/202); this of course
contrasts starkly with JG’s version of Schaub’s activities.
47 Hederich, loc.cit. He was head of JG’s Abteilung Schrifttum (literature department).
48 Fritz Wiedemann, handwritten MS, Feb 1939 (Libr. of Congress, Wiedemann papers,
box 604).
49 ND:3063–PS; repeated as circular 174, BDC file 240/I. At 3:45 A.M. the Berlin Gestapo
HQ reversed its previous order (Groscurth papers).
50 JG to Hitler, Jul 18, 1944 (BA file N.118/107).
51 Joachim von Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau (L
eoni, 1953)
52 Unpubl. diary, Nov 10, 1938.
53 The recordings are in the Frankfurt radio archives (Ingrid Weckert); see the summary in
PRO file FO.371/21637. The VB, Nov 11, 1938 also published the local gau’s proclamation
of twenty mass meetings in Munich that night to demonstrate against the Jews, to be addressed
by Adolf Wagner and twenty others. The British consul reported, ‘I hear that there is
strong opposition to tonight’s meetings from the Gestapo.’ (Ibid.)
54 Gillessen.
55 Unpubl. diary, Nov 11, 1938.
56 JG, Schnellbrief, quoted in order of Gau HQ, Bavarian Ostmark, Nov 10, 1938 (Yivo,
G–198).
57 This was noted by Ogilvie-Forbes to FO, Nov 11, 1938 (PRO file FO.371/21637).
58 Unpubl. diary, Nov 11; VB, Nov 11; and Bruno Werner, Die Galeere (Frankfurt, 1949),
157. The shorthand record of Hitler’s speech of Nov 10 is in BA file NS.11/28; see a different
transcript with commentary by Wilhelm Treue in VfZ, 1958, 175ff, and the summary by
Rudolf Likus, NA film T120, roll 31, 9044ff; to see who was present, see the Hoffmann
negatives NA albums 242-HLB.3555–7, 3564.
59 Ibid.
60 Cited by Weckert. Wächter was promoted to the RPL (JG diary, Jan 3, 1941), headed its
propaganda staff in 1942, and has been missing since 1945.
61 Diary, Nov 12, 1938.
62 Time, Mar 20, 1939.—For German press coverage of this conference, see DAZ, Nov 12,
1938.
63 Likus to Ribbentrop, Nov 11 (NA film T120, roll 31, 9049); see too the FO’s summary
of events in PRO file FO.371/21637. Goebbels, mocked Ogilvie-Forbes to FO on Nov 12,
1938, maintained in his interview that Grynszpan ‘must have’ been taught to shoot: but ‘he
missed with three shots out of five at point-blank range!’
64 Lochner to his children, Jan 1, 1939 (State Hist. Soc. of Wisconsin, Lochner papers, box
47).
65 Likus to Ribbentrop, Nov 11, 1938 (loc. cit.).
66 Ogilvie-Forbes to FO, Nov 14, 1938 (PRO file FO.371/21637)
67 Lutze diary, Nov 9–10, 1938 (Friedr. Ebert Foundation archives).
68 Rosenberg diary, Feb 1939; and see his remarks to Georg Leibbrandt, quoted in interview
with John Toland, Sep 6, 1971 (FDR Libr.: Toland papers, box 52).
69 Testimony of Schirmeister and Fritzsche, Jun 28, 1946, IMT, vol.xvii, 190f and 235ff.
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 507
70 Hassell diary, Nov 25, Dec 29, 1938; for Hess’s condemnation of JG’s actions that night
see the Nuremberg interrogation of his secretary Ingeborg Sperr.
71 Communication of SA Supreme HQ, Dec 19, 1938 (BDC file 240/II).
72 Unsigned letter to Hess, probably from Kurt Daluege, Dec 12, 1938 (BDC file, JG;
author’s film DJ–81).
73 Heydrich, speaking to Nazi politics course (Napola); quoted in Groscurth diary, Dec
29, 1938.
74 Himmler memorandum, cited by Raul Hilberg.
75 Darré diary, Jun 2, 1939; there are signs that Goebbels was indeed feeling the strain, e.g.
his diary of Nov 19, 1938 begins: ‘I’m so ill and so tired. I must slow down my pace of work
a bit.’
76 Kehrl, 142; Burckhardt; and see Göring’s witness summons for Gauleiter Dr Ueberreither
(NA file RG.260, shipping list 74-3/7, box 117).
77 A partial stenogram is ND: 1816–PS; Ernst Woermann’s two-page telephone summary
for Ribbentrop is on NA film T120, roll 722, 1681ff.—General Wenninger, Luftwaffe attaché
in London, told British Intelligence on Nov 21, 1938 ‘that Göring could not bear Goebbels
and that there was bitter enmity between them’ (PRO file FO.371/21665).
78 Opening the Reich Defence Council session in the air ministry building on Nov 18,
Göring said in JG’s presence (see page 3203): ‘The plate-glass windows smashed during the
demonstration against the Jews have not only inflicted a loss on the nation’s wealth but
necessitated the expenditure of four to five million marks in foreign currency… The Führer
has therefore expressly ordered that from this moment on all destruction of assets is categorically
forbidden!’ (NA film T120, roll 131; summary, pages 3088ff, verbatim, pages
3157ff.); cf JG unpubl. diary, Nov 19, 1938—he did not mention Göring’s rebuke.
79 Ogilvie-Forbes, reporting to the FO on Nov 13, lists Frick, JG, Gürtner, Krosigk, Funk
as present, with Göring in the chair (PRO file FO.371/21637). On the economic measures
against 50,000 Jews in the professions, see his telegram of Nov 16, 1938.
80 Diary, Nov 13, 1938.
81 The text is in FO.371/21637; see JG diary, Nov 13, 15; The Times, Nov 15. —The
interview was published with omissions in Germany on Nov 15 (Ogilvie-Forbes to FO, Nov
14, 15, 1938: FO.371/21637).
82 Diary, Nov 14; since Göring was now aryanizing all the Jewish businesses, he said, it
would no longer be possible to get back at them by damaging their shops or businesses. DAZ,
Nov 14: ‘GOEBBELS: THE JEWISH QUESTION WILL BE FINALLY SOLVED.’ See Ogilvie-Forbes to FO,
Nov 14, 1938 (loc.cit.).
83 Diary, Nov 20, 1938.
84 Memo from W W Astor, Nov 9; British consulate in Vienna to Ogilvie-Forbes, Nov 25;
memo by Capt J McLaren, Nov 29; minute by W Ridsdale, Dec 6, 1938 (PRO file FO.371/
21665).
85 Diary, Dec 4, 1938.
86 Wünsche diary, Nov 15, 1938 (BA file NS.10/125). Still further evidence of the
unreliability of the ‘diary’ of Major Gerhard Engel, forged by him after the war and published
by the Institut für Zeitgeschichte in Munich: this ‘diary’ has Hitler and JG ‘convincingly
explaining’ the point of the Aktion to Hitler’s lunch table at the Berlin Chancellery four
508 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
days before on Nov 11, 1938. Reuth and other historians have fallen for the forgery because
of the IfZ imprimatur,
87 Diary, Nov 17, 1938.
88 Wünsche diary, Nov 15; JG diary, Nov 17.—Kirkpatrick to FO, Nov 18, about rumours
that JG was divorced. ‘In order to put an end to them … Hitler made an appearance two
days ago in the same theatre sitting in the same box with Dr Goebbels and Frau Goebbels’
(PRO file FO.371/21655). And see CÊ Burckhardt to League of Nations, Dec 2, 1938 (FO.371/
21804).
89 Wünsche and Eberhard diaries, Nov 16; author’s interview of Gerhard Engel, Apr 5,
1971.
90 Diary, Nov 17, 1938.
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 509
Goebbels
33: On the Verge
NINETEEN thirty-eight has been a traumatic year for Dr Goebbels. As the New
Year, 1939, is rung in he writes: ‘I’d rather go hang myself.’1 ‘I have gained
many grey hairs over the last year,’ he will add a few weeks later.2
Denied marital comforts by Magda for months on end, he allows masculine frustration
to overwhelm ministerial prudence. He invites a Miss U. to his study, offers
routine pleasantries about her latest movie, presses a cheque for several thousand
Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death Page 83
