47 On whom see JG’s diary, Sep 23–24, 1943 and Feb 5, 1944 (‘a swine without a fatherland’.
Yivo also has good files of the League’s publications (Occ E FD.9, 10, and 13).
48 The problem of the prisoners’ letters now arriving was dealt with by Wächter and
Berndt in Propaganda Parole No.57, May 26, 1943 (NA film T81, roll 672, 0773ff).
49 Unpubl. diary, May 1, 14, 16, 27, 1943.
50 Ibid., May 22, 1943.
51 Dr Immanuel Schäffer, interrogation, PWB report SAIC.16, Jun 6, 1945 (NA file RG.332,
entry ETO, Mis-Y, Sect., box 116).—See too the FCC Foreign Broadcast Intelligence special
report No.84, Jun 26, 1943: ‘Nazi Predictions and the Present Propaganda Crisis’ (NA
file RG.226, entry 16, box 384, OSS file 37319).—The SD also reported on May 28, 1943
that the public were baffled by the war and growing apathetic (NA film T175, roll 265,
0543ff.)
52 Diary, May 7, 1943.
53 Unpubl. diary, Apr 9, 11, 14, 19, 1943; diary, May 8, 1943.
54 Unpubl. diary, May 10 (NA film T84, roll 264); Hans Junge diary, May 9, 1943.
55 ‘That’s not going to be easy.’ Unpubl. diary, May 9, 10, 11 (NA film T84, roll 264);
Rommel diary, May 10 (author’s film DI–160), and letter to his wife, May 10, 1943 (NA
film T84, roll R274, 1099).
56 Unpubl. diary, May 25, 1943. On the ‘corpse’ see naval staff archives, PG.33216, and
NA film T78, roll 343.
57 Martin, 142ff; diary, Apr 9, 1943.
58 Unpubl. diary, Apr 11, 16, 1943.—The naval staff war diary shows that the Abwehr had
got every prediction about ‘Torch’ wrong. As for the Soviet armour, see Colonel Lahousen’s
note of Jul 20, 1941 (IWM file, AL.1933).
59 Diary, May 14, 22, 1943.
60 JG, ‘Mit souveräner Ruhe,’ in Das Reich, May 23, 1943.
61 Diary, May 16, 17, 1945.
62 See the final report of the SS Führungshauptamt, Jun 10 (NA film T611, roll 16); naval
staff war diary, May 20, 22; report by deputy gauleiter Albert Hoffmann, BA file Kl.Erw.
854; Speer chronicle, May 17; Hitler’s war conference, May 22 (Heiber, 238ff); and reports
of the operations of the NSV on reel 6 of the microfilm files of the NSDAP archives.
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 779
63 Diary, May 19, 20, 1943 (NA film T84, roll 265). There is no truth in the claim: the
reference was perhaps to Churchill’s advisor Professor Friedrich Lindemann (Lord Cherwell),
but he was not Jewish.
64 JG, ‘Vom Wesen der Krise,’ in Das Reich, May 30; diary, May 17, 1943.
65 JG’s speech draft for Jun 5 with Hitler’s handwritten amendments is in BA file NS.6/
129. Hitler also deleted three whole pages referring to North Africa. See the analysis of the
speech by the British air ministry Director of Intelligence (Ops), Jun 6, 1943 in NA file
RG.226, entry 16, box 417, file 3610.
66 For the public’s reaction to this speech, see SD report of Jun 10 (NA film T175, roll 265,
9632ff); to Allied air raids, Jun 28 (pp.9758ff); to rumours of new weapons, Jul 1, 1943
(pp.9750ff.)
67 Unpubl. diary, May 21, 22; Sep 10, 1943.
68 Morell/Weber correspondence, Jun, Jul 1943 (Morell papers on NA film T253, roll
R34, 3552ff); Naumann note, and Weber to JG, Sep 22, 1943 (ZStA Potsdam, Rep 90, Go 1,
vol.3)
69 Unpubl. diary, Jul 25–28, 1943 (NA film T84, roll 265).
70 Oven, 32ff. On Jul 8, 1943 the SD report mentioned that the public was beginning to
bandy around spiteful jokes about Hitler and other bigwigs (NA film T175, roll 265, 9821ff.)
71 Semler, ‘Jun 14, 15, 1943.’
72 Oven, 43, ‘Jun 27, 1943’ Gutterer independently recalled the taunt, in interviews of
Sep 1992 and Jun 30, 1993.
73 Martin, 42f.
74 JG circular to gauleiters, Jun 14, 1943 (NA film T81, roll 322, 1076ff).
75 Index of these circulars on NA film T81, roll 322, 1070ff.
76 Berndt, circular to gauletiers, Jun 19, 1943 (NA film T81, roll 322, 1083ff)
77 JG’s speech in Wuppertal, ‘In vorderster Reihe,’ text in Der steile Aufstieg (Munich, 1944),
323ff.—On Jul 1 the SD reported rumours about the new ‘revenge’ weapons (NA film
T175, roll 265, 9758ff); on Jul 2 Tiessler circularised gau propaganda officials on this point,
and reminded them that in the Sports Palace (on Jun 5, 1943) JG had referred to it as a
‘scientific race,’ i.e. a question of time (NA film T58, roll 16; BA file NS.26/291).
78 Oven, ‘Jun 23, 1943.’
79 Unpubl. diary, Jun 25, 1943 (author’s film DI–52; IfZ); on Mar 14, 1944 JG noted the
same arguments from Hitler. On Apr 27, 1944 however JG noted that the Führer was ‘suffering
enormously under the heavy losses being inflicted, particularly on our population and
on our cultural artefacts.’
80 Unpubl. diary, Jun 25, 1943 (author’s film DI–52; IfZ).
780 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
Goebbels
50: The First Battle of Berlin
THE truth,’ defined Joseph Goebbels that summer, ‘is whatever helps bring
victory.’1 German propaganda could no longer afford the luxuries of 1940.
They would have to lie and deceive to survive. The moral high ground was no longer
refuge enough, when the very skies rained phosphorus and death.2
If July 1942 had brought victories on every front, July 1943 brought only adversity
—in Italy, in Russia, and in the air. Historic air and tank battles raged as Hitler’s
field marshals staged Citadel, their classic pincer attack on Kursk. A week later Stalin
launched his counter-offensive at Orel, and Hitler called off the attack.
More than half the letters adressed to Goebbels’ special Berlin post-box now were
anonymous, a bad sign. Many asked why Hitler and Göring did not speak or visit the
bombing disaster zones—Goebbels had banned the use of ‘air war zones’ as British
propaganda was using the phrase to legalize their raids.3 Goebbels had no inhibitions
about appearing. In Cologne his fellow-Rhinelanders greeted him with warmth and
he responded in their native dialect. Seeing Cologne’s historic High Street in ruins,
he remembered Hitler’s words; what mayor would have dared to demolish this historic
boulevard—now a few British blockbusters had done the job for them.4 Speaking
at Heidelberg university he adopted more intellectual arguments to win over his
listeners.5
The night train back to Berlin stopped at Erfurt station, scene of many a tryst with
Anka Stalherm. Here he received news that the Allies had landed in Sicily. He mut-
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 781
tered unpleasant remarks about ‘macaroni eaters.’6 He did not expect the Italians to
hold out for long.
His agents had told him that the German people no longer believed in victory.7 He
half shared that view. Visiting Rechlin, the Luftwaffe’s experimental research station,
he displayed an uncharacteristic pessimism to the airforce colonels and engineers
who met him after dinner. ‘The situation does look very fraught,’ he admitted, ‘and
one doesn’t really know which way things are going to go.’8
The time was ripe, he decided, to embark on the biggest movie epic the Reich
would ever make, ‘Kolberg’, the inspiring story of Gneisenau’s historic defence of
the city under Napole
onic siege from 1806 to 1807. ‘The film will fit well into the
political and military landscape which we shall probably be facing when it appears,’
he observed.9 He wrote to Veit Harlan conferring on him as director sweeping powers
to show that a nation united could vanquish any enemy.10 The film cost 8·5 million
marks to mark, eight times the average. Shooting began late in October 1943
and continued throughout 1944; eventually 187,000 soldiers were conscripted as
extras, with six thousand horses in some scenes. The city of ancient Kolberg, rebuilt
on a film set outside Berlin, burned for the cameras as satisfyingly as had ‘Atlanta’ in
‘Gone with the Wind.’
During these weeks it seemed that his oratory was all that held Germany together.
In mid July General Schmundt, Hitler’s chief adjutant, brought 150 staff officers to
hear him. He spoke in melodious tones for two hours and without notes. ‘You could
have heard a pin drop,’ recalled one major. ‘I’ve seldom seem anyone so polite and
charming.’ The minister was dressed, he recalled, in grey trousers that were perhaps
a shade too light, a double-breasted jacket that was a shade too blue, and a black and
white tie that was a little too large. ‘He had a dreadful limp too. But one completely
overlooked all those faults, and he held ones undivided attention.’11
‘There is no going back,’ Goebbels told these officers. ‘We’ve burned our bridges.’
Developing a new theme he said that they had won their victories in ‘the first half’
too easily. Switching to another line he talked of how convalescents needed spiritual
succour. ‘Sometimes a patient owes his life to a nurse who exhorts him at the hour of
782 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
crisis, “Don’t lose courage. You’re going to pull through. You’re going to be all right.
You’re just feverish, it’ll pass by. A good night’s sleep and tomorrow it’s all over.”
Obviously,’ continued Goebbels, ‘it would be stupid for the doctor to tell the patient
how sick he really is.’ Perhaps that was a tactless argument, in the circumstances.
‘The Soviet Union has also survived exceptional crises,’ he added wistfully. ‘ But at
the head of the Soviet Union there is a little clique of very energetic, even brutal
leaders with the determination to bring their people through.’ Before he ended he
warned these officers, ‘This passage of arms is decisive. Let nobody think that if we
get it wrong this time we can have another shot at it in twenty years’ time. It’s now or
never.’12
The passage which his audience most vividly recalled was his analogy between
their current strategic position and the moment in the 1936 Olympics when the
Japanese marathon winner collapsed after the breasting the tape. ‘Nobody who saw
it,’ he said, ‘will ever forget that. Why? Because here was an individual making a
superhuman effort… Over the last five kilometers he perhaps told himself, I don’t
care if I pass out or have a heart attack—I’m going to hit that tape first!’ If, he
concluded, like the traitors of November 1918 a nation did not intend to stay the
course then it would do better not to begin.
‘I think that did the trick,’ he said to Lieutenant Oven afterwards. ‘You’ve got to
use a lot of analogies with these people.’ He threw back his head and guffawed.
The crisis in public morale could not be so easily laughed off. The British fire raids
were sometimes killing thousands every night. Somebody suggested requiring everybody
to wear fireproof dogtags to facilitate the identification of corpses. Shades of
the Yellow Star! Goebbels shuddered and discarded the idea.13
‘I am afraid,’ he dictated, ‘that the British are about to reopen the air war with a
massive assault on one German city at their next opportunity.’14
THAT was the uneasy mood in Berlin on July 24, 1943—a broiling hot Saturday. Odd
news reports were trickling in from Rome. The Fascist Grand Council there had
gone into a huddle. Desperate for a break, Goebbels took his train down to Dresden.
GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 783
Perhaps Magda had divined that he was bringing her white roses, because she was
waiting with Naumann on the platform in a dazzling white summer dress. Lieutenant
Oven watched with voyeurish curiosity as his minister planted a kiss on her lips.
The following morning’s news was bad. Using new electronic counter-measures
to blind the radar defences, the British had wrecked Hamburg. Hitler had withdrawn
the city’s heavy flak to Italy only two days before. Two hundred thousand people had
lost their homes. The city was still burning. At nine P.M. Goebbels returned to Berlin.
Gutterer told him he had ordered fire brigades into Hamburg from all over northern
Germany. But there was worse to come. At No.20 Hermann-Göring Strasse they
found the switchboard ablaze with blinking lamps. Benito Mussolini had been forced
out of office and arrested; Marshal Pietro Badoglio, no friend of Germany, had replaced
him. It was stunning news. Goebbels gaped at Gutterer: he ordered Naumann
back from Dresden: he sank into a chair in the breakfast niche, and broke the silence
finally with an expletive, ‘Dreckhammel!’—though whether the Duce, Badoglio, the
monarchy, or all Italians were the animal so specified remained unclear. ‘Finis Italiæ!’
he exclaimed after another silence.
The phone rang, Hitler ordering him to catch the five-thirty flight over to HQ the
next morning. That was something. Goebbels brightened. Sitting at Oven’s desk, he
mimicked in a faint piping voice the Italian crowds he had seen on the newsreels:
‘Duce… Duce… Duce…!’ Then he exclaimed, ‘So now we’re on our own.’15
Fascism in Italy had disappeared. Mussolini had been toppled—in fact by just such
a senate as Goebbels had been urging upon Hitler since 1933. The Wolf’s Lair hosted
the next morning a meeting which was the closest to an emergency Cabinet since
1939. From all over occupied Europe the planes flew into Rastenburg, disgorging
Himmler, Guderian, Göring, Speer, an ailing Ribbentrop, and Admiral Dönitz onto
the runway. Rumours swept Germany. Some said that Göring had fled or been shot.
Unfortunately this was not true. General Guderian confided to Goebbels his own
misgivings about the war. Goebbels listened attentively (but assured his diary that
the general was an ‘ardent and unconditional’ supporter of their Führer.) Both men
felt it was time to start talking with the enemy.16
784 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH
Hitler’s eyes however glinted with a sudden determination. He talked about dropping
a paratroop division onto Rome to arrest the king and Badoglio. Ribbentrop,
shocked at the repercussions, and even Goebbels whose awe of the Catholic church
had never really left him, talked Hitler out of a plan to smoke out the Vatican as well.
Rommel, flown in from Greece, urged that any military operation be carefully
thought out. Goebbels sided with Hitler, feeling that they would achieve more with
Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death Page 128
