Hitler

by Volker Ullrich

  261 Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 84, pp. 247–9 (quotations on pp. 248, 249).

  262 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 75 (entry for 6 Dec. 1932).

  263 Quoted in Udo Kissenkoetter, Gregor Strasser und die NSDAP, Stuttgart, 1978, p. 203. The original resignation letter has not been preserved, only a handwritten draft, which is part of the estate of Strasser’s deputy, Paul Schulz. Ibid., p. 172. For more on the Strasser crisis see Peter Stachura, Gregor Strasser and the Rise of Nazism, London, 1983, pp. 103ff.

  264 Hinrich Lohse, “Der Fall Strasser,” undated memorandum (c.1952); IfZ München, ZS 265.

  265 Ibid.; see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 77 (entry for 9 Dec. 1932): “Inspectors visiting Hitler. All very downcast but none with Strasser.” Otto Wagener recalled Hitler preparing himself by reading Marc Antony’s speech from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Note by Martin Broszat on a meeting with Otto Wagener, 5 Feb. 1960; IfZ München, ZS 1732.

  266 Ibid., p. 78 (entry for 9 Dec. 1932). See also Leni Riefenstahl’s account, for once credible, who visited Hitler in the Hotel Kaiserhof on 8 Dec. 1932; Leni Riefenstahl, Memoiren, Munich, 1987, p. 186. On the article in the Täglichen Rundschau see Kissenkoetter, Gregor Strasser und die NSDAP, p. 73.

  267 Hitler’s order from 9 Dec. 1932; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 86, p. 251.

  268 See Kissenkoetter, Gregor Strasser und die NSDAP, p. 177.

  269 See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 78 (entry for 10 Dec. 1932): “Feder has tripped himself up. Asks for a sabbatical in a letter that goes to the press before it goes to Hitler. That can’t be topped. Everyone outraged.” In early January 1933, Otto Engelbrecht, the NSDAP district and regional director in Murnau, reported back to the party leadership about a conversation with Feder on 30 Dec. 1932. He quoted Feder as saying that he, “like Strasser, had long realised that the movement had passed its zenith. For that reason, it had been unwise to refuse to join the government.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 51/222.

  270 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 79 (entry for 10 Dec. 1932).

  271 Ibid., p. 81 (entry for 13 Dec. 1932).

  272 Ibid., p. 80 (entry for 11 Dec. 1932).

  273 Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 89, pp. 253–8 (quotation on p. 256).

  274 Ibid., doc. 92, pp. 259–61 (quotation on p. 260).

  275 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 79 (entry for 11 Dec. 1932), p. 85 (entry for 17 Dec. 1932), p. 87 (entry for 22 Dec. 1932).

  276 Ibid., p. 89 (entry for 24 Dec. 1932). See ibid., p. 90 (entry for 25 Dec. 1932): “The main thing is that the movement sticks together. It is our ultimate source of consolation.”

  277 Akten der Reichskanzlei: Weimarer Republik. Das Kabinett von Schleicher 3. Dezember 1932 bis 20. Januar 1933, ed. Anton Golecki, Boppard am Rhein, 1986, no. 16, p. 57. At a meeting of the steering committee of the Pan-Germanic League on 10–11 Dec. 1932 in Berlin, Heinrich Class opined that “the role of the NSDAP has basically been played out even if it continues to have millions of supporters in the years to come.” Rainer Hering, Konstruierte Nation: Der Alldeutsche Verband 1890–1939, Hamburg, 2003, pp. 484f.; see Johannes Leicht, Heinrich Class 1968–1953: Die politische Biographie eines Alldeutschen, Paderborn, 2012, p. 387.

  278 Quoted in Kolb, Umbrüche deutscher Geschichte, p. 369.

  279 Quoted in Reuth, Hitler, p. 285.

  280 Quoted in Kolb, Umbrüche deutscher Geschichte, p. 368.

  281 Thomas Mann, Briefe III: 1924–1932, selected and ed. Thomas Sprecher, Hans R. Vaget and Cornelia Bernini, Frankfurt am Main, 2011, p. 673 (dated 22 Dec. 1932). Thomas Mann’s son, Golo Mann, felt similar; see Tilmann Lahme, Golo Mann: Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, 2009, p. 87.

  282 Memorandum by Malcolm Christie dated 19 Dec. 1932; Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany, p. 246.

  283 Quoted in Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 495. In a confidential note on 12 Jan. 1933, an advisor to the Italian consulate in Berlin, Vincenzo Cionnardi, offered a different view: “It is true that there’s lots of talk about the collapse of the party and the end, sooner or later, of the movement. But this has less to do with reality than with the hopes and expectations of the other parties and various segments of society that fear Hitler might come to power.” Frank Bajohr and Christoph Strupp (eds), Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich”: Berichte ausländischer Diplomaten über Herrschaft und Gesellschaft in Deutschland 1933–1945, Göttingen, 2011, p. 352.

  284 Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, pp. 419f.

  285 Heuss, Bürger der Weimarer Republik, p. 536 (dated 29 Dec. 1932). On Bosch’s position at the end of 1932 see Joachim Scholtyseck, Robert Bosch und der liberale Widerstand gegen Hitler 1933 bis 1945, Munich, 1999, p. 113.

  286 Carl von Ossietzky, “Wintermärchen,” Die Weltbühne, 3 Jan. 1933; in idem, Sämtliche Schriften. Vol. 6: 1931–1933, eds Gerhard Kraiker, Günther Nickel, Renke Siems and Elke Suhr, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1994, pp. 437–43 (quotations on pp. 437, 440).

  287 Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augen​zeuge​nberi​chten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, p. 411.

  288 Quoted in Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 29.

  12 Month of Destiny: January 1933

  1 Heinrich Brüning, Memoiren 1918–1934, Stuttgart, 1970, p. 648. Albert Speer also said that in the winter of 1933–34 Hitler repeatedly talked of having been faced with “very difficult situations, which he had always escaped due to a favourable turn of events.” Albert Speer, Erinnerungen: Mit einem Essay von Jochen Thies, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, 1993, p. 54.

  2 Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, pp. 229f.

  3 See Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923–1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 2/3, p. 93 (entry for 30 Dec. 1932).

  4 Ibid., p. 94 (entry for 31 Dec. 1932).

  5 Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 5: Von der Reichspräsidentenwahl bis zur Machtergreifung April 1932–Januar 1933. Part 2: Oktober 1932–Januar 1933, eds Klaus A. Lankheit and Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1998, doc. 107, pp. 297–311 (quotations on pp. 298, 299, 310f.).

  6 Leopold Schwarzschild, Chronik eines Untergangs: Deutschland 1924–1939, ed. Andreas P. Wesemann, Vienna, 2005, p. 243. See Schwerin von Krosigk to Holm Eggers, 21 Aug. 1974, who wrote that “the influence Papen had exercised over the old gentleman” had been decisive: “In a sense, he guaranteed that the matter would turn out well.” BA Koblenz, N 1276/42.

  7 Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Veran​twort​ungsl​osigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, p. 315.

  8 See Wolfram Pyta, Hindenburg: Herrschaft zwischen Hohenzollern und Hitler, Munich, 2007, p. 791. For an example of the earlier depiction of Hindenburg see Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 502; in Fest’s view, Hindenburg was “exhausted, confused and not always capable of maintaining an overview.”

  9 Karl-Dietrich Bracher, Die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik: Eine Studie zum Problem des Machtverfalls in der Demokratie, Villingen, 1955, p. 691.

  10 Keppler to Schröder, 19 Dec. 1932; Eberhard Czichon, Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht? Zum Anteil der deutschen Industrie an der Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik, Cologne, 1967, pp. 74–6 (quotation on p. 75). On the circumstances surrounding the meeting see also the transcript of Kurt von Schröder’s questioning on 18 June 1947; IfZ München, ZS 557.

  11 Heinrich Muth, “Das ‘Kölner Gespräch’ am 4. Januar 1933,” in Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, 37 (1986), pp. 463–80, 529–41 (quotation on p. 531).

  12 Keppler to Schröder, 26 Dec. 1932; Czichon, Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht? pp. 76f. See also Franz von Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, Munich, 1952, p. 254.

  13 On Hitler’s and Papen’s motives, see Henry A. Tur
ner, Thirty Days to Power: January 1933, London, 1996, pp. 42f.

  14 On the conspiratorial circumstances surrounding the meeting see Otto Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht: Persönliche Erlebnisse mit meinem Führer, 2nd edition, Munich, 1934, pp. 169f.; Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 38.

  15 On the course and content of the conversation see the affidavit by Kurt von Schröder dated 21 July 1947; Czichon, Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht?, pp. 77–9 (quotation on p. 78); Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 255f.; Turner, Thirty Days to Power, pp. 44f.; Joachim Petzold, Franz von Papen: Ein deutsches Verhängnis, Munich and Berlin, 1995, pp. 138–40. For a critical perspective on the sources see Muth, “Das ‘Kölner Gespräch,’ ” pp. 533–6.

  16 Keppler to Schröder, 6 Jan. 1933; Schacht to Schröder, 6 Jan. 1933; Czichon, Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht?, pp. 79f.

  17 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 103 (entry for 10 Jan. 1933).

  18 See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 47; see also Papen’s letter to Ferdinand von Bredow dated 31 Oct. 1933; Irene Strenge, Ferdinand von Bredow: Notizen vom 20. 2. 1933 bis 31. 12. 1933. Tägliche Aufzeichnungen vom 1. 1. 1934 bis 28. 6. 1934, Berlin, 2009, p. 175n1 (entry for 23 Oct. 1933).

  19 Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 116, p. 332n1. Further press commentary in n2.

  20 Ibid., doc. 116, p. 332.

  21 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 100 (entry for 7 Jan. 1933). See also ibid., p. 101 (entry for 8 Jan. 1933): “The press is still buzzing with [the news of] the Hitler–Papen meeting.” For the reporting of the Tägliche Rundschau, see Petzold, Franz von Papen, pp. 140–2.

  22 Quoted in Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 50.

  23 See ibid., p. 71; Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 255, 260f. During a conversation with BVP Chairman Schäffer on 10 Jan. 1933, Schleicher was “quite dismayed” at the meeting between Papen and Hitler, who was “obviously trying to get access to the old man, even though the latter can’t stand him.” Schäffer’s diary dated 10 Jan. 1933; quoted in Astrid Pufendorf, Die Plancks: Eine Familie zwischen Patriotimus und Widerstand, Berlin, 2006, p. 305.

  24 Otto Meissner, Staatssekretär unter Ebert, Hindenburg, Hitler, Hamburg, 1950, p. 261.

  25 See Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 780.

  26 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 103 (entry for 10 Jan. 1933).

  27 Akten der Reichskanzlei: Weimarer Republik. Das Kabinett von Schleicher 3. Dezember 1932 bis 20. Januar 1933, ed. Anton Golecki, Boppard am Rhein, 1986, no. 25, pp. 101–17 (quotations on pp. 109, 106). See Henry A. Turner, Die Grossunternehmer und der Aufstieg Hitlers, Berlin, 1986 pp. 370f.; Heinrich August Winkler, Weimar 1918–1933: Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie, Munich, 1993, pp. 562f. On 21 Dec. 1932, Hugenberg informed Schleicher about “the concerns…we have in relation to the great economic challenges of the moment and the danger of slipping back into parliamentary procedure.” BA Koblenz, N 1231/38.

  28 See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 83; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 558f.

  29 See Meissner, Staatssekretär, pp. 251f.; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 569f. In a cabinet meeting on 16 Jan. 1933 Schleicher expressed his doubts as to whether Strasser “would bring many followers with him.” Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 56, p. 233.

  30 Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 50, pp. 206–8; no. 51, pp. 208–14. See Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, p. 261 (dated 12 Jan. 1933): “As we’re hearing, the presentations of the National Board of the Reich Landowners’ Association, when they were received by Hindenburg yesterday, made a deep impression upon him.”

  31 Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 51, p. 214n16. See Bernd Hoppe, “Von Schleicher zu Hitler: Dokumente zum Konflikt zwischen dem Reichslandbund und der Regierung Schleicher in den letzten Wochen der Weimarer Republik,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 45 (1997), pp. 629–57; Stephanie Merkenich, Grüne Front gegen Weimar: Reichsland-Bund und agrarischer Lobbyismus 1918–1933, Düsseldorf, 1998, pp. 316f.

  32 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 106 (entry for 15 Jan. 1933); idem, Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei, Munich, 1934, p. 241.

  33 See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, pp. 112f; Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 770.

  34 Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 56, p. 234n15; ibid., no. 25, p. 103.

  35 Statement from the DNVP Reichstag faction dated 21 Jan. 1933 (with Hugenberg’s handwritten draft) in BA Koblenz, N 1231/38. In mid-December 1932, the conservative nationalist politician and agricultural estate owner Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin called for a war against the government, proclaiming “Schleicher must go in favour of an authoritarian state leadership.” The cabinet was only presidential in name, Kleist-Schmenzin sneered, since “in reality Schleicher was dependent on parties and groups and changed his policies if he met any opposition from them.” BA Koblenz, N 1231/37.

  36 See Wolfgang Michalka, “Joachim von Ribbentrop: Vom Spirituosenhändler zum Aussenminister,” in Ronald Smelser and Rainer Zitelmann (eds), Die Braune Elite: 22 biographische Skizzen, Darmstadt, 1989, pp. 201–11. On the meeting of 10/11 Jan. 1933, see Joachim von Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau: Erinnerungen und letzte Aufzeichnungen, ed. Annelies von Ribbentrop, Leoni am Starnberger See, 1961, pp. 36–8. On Hitler’s visit to the opera, see Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 126, p. 346. See also Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 103 (entry for 11 Jan. 1933): “Hitler intends to talk to Papen late this evening. On tenterhooks.” When interrogated on 11 Sept. 1946, Ribbentrop testified that Wilhelm Keppler had asked him to make his house in the Berlin district of Dahlem available for Papen and Hitler’s talks; IfZ München, ZS 1357.

  37 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 105 (entry for 13 Jan. 1933); Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 38.

  38 Quoted in Jutta Ciolek-Kümper, Wahlkampf in Lippe: Die Wahlkampfpropaganda der NSDAP zur Landtagswahl am 15. Januar 1933, Munich, 1976, p. 153. See also Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 325 (dated 21 May 1942): “He campaigned in the Lippe election with particular energy and using every ounce of his personality.”

  39 Ciolek-Kümper, Wahlkampf in Lippe, p. 147.

  40 See ibid., pp. 164f.

  41 Quotations in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 114, p. 328 (dated 4 Jan. 1933, Bösingfeld), doc. 125, p. 344 (dated 9 Jan. 1933, Lage), doc. 127, p. 350 (dated 11 Jan. 1933, Lemgo), doc. 120, p. 377 (dated 6 Jan. 1933, Horn), doc. 117, p. 333 (dated 5 Jan. 1933, Leopoldshöhe).

  42 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 105 (entry for 13 Jan. 1933).

  43 Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht, p. 176. On the occasion of Grevenburg’s 400th anniversary during New Year 1937/38, Baron von Oeynhausen had a plaque mounted in the inner courtyard. As he wrote to Hitler, it was intended to recall that the Führer had “honoured” Grevenburg by residing there and “organising and leading the campaign that culminated with victory in Lippe on 15 Jan. and the historical turning point for Germany’s destiny on 30 Jan.” Baron von Oeynhausen to Hitler, 15 Dec. 1937. Wiedemann responded in Hitler’s name on 27 Dec. 1937; BA Koblenz, N 1720/8.

  44 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 105 (entry for 13 Jan. 1933). See ibid., p. 98 (entry for 4 Jan. 1933); p. 99 (entry for 5 Jan. 1933); pp. 105f. (entry for 14 Jan. 1933): “Speaking of Strasser. He’s about to betray us to Schleicher…A base plot”; p. 106 (entry for 15 Jan. 1933): “Strasser wants to join the cabinet as vice-chancellor! Traitor!”

  45 See Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augen​zeuge​nberi​chten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, p. 415.

  46 Quoted in Ciolek-Kümper, Wahlkampf in Lippe, p. 273.

  47 Quoted in Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 65.

  48 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 107 (entry for 16 Jan. 1933).

  49 Quoted in Ciolek-Kümper, Wahlkampf in Lippe, pp. 279f.

  50 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 108 (entry for 17 Jan. 1933). According to an account by ano
ther participant, Hitler declared that the change in power was just around the corner and no one could stop him taking “Bismarck’s seat.” Hinrich Lohse, “Der Fall Strasser,” undated memorandum (c.1952); IfZ München, ZS 265.

  51 See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 112 (entry for 22 Jan. 1933), p. 115 (entry for 25 Jan. 1933).

  52 Keppler to Schröder, 19 Jan. 1933; Muth, “Das ‘Kölner Gespräch,’ ” p. 538.

  53 Hugenberg to Hitler, 28 Dec. 1932; BA Koblenz, N 1231/37. See Larry Eugene Jones, “ ‘The Greatest Stupidity of My Life’: Alfred Hugenberg and the Formation of the Hitler Cabinet, January 1933,” in Journal of Contemporary History, 27 (1992), pp. 63–87 (at p. 70).

  54 Die Deutschnationalen und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik: Aus dem Tagebuch von Reinhold Quaatz 1928–1933, ed. Hermann Weiss and Paul Hoser, Munich, 1989, p. 223 (entry for 17 Jan. 1933). See also Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 109 (entry for 18 Jan. 1933): “Hitler was with Hugenberg. But without success.”

  55 Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 39 (dated 18 Jan. 1933).

  56 Papen to Springorum, 20 Jan. 1933; Muth “Das ‘Kölner Gespräch,’ ” p. 538. On 7 Jan. 1933 Papen met with Springorum, Krupp, Vögler and Reusch in Dortmund to exchange opinions. We do not know the details of their discussions. See Petzold, Franz von Papen, pp. 144–6. Apparently, Papen gave the others the impression that Hitler no longer wanted the chancellorship and would be satisfied with a junior position in a coalition. See Christian Marx, Paul Reusch und die Gutehoffnungshütte: Leitung eines deutschen Grossunternehmens, Göttingen, 2013, pp. 324f.

  57 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, pp. 109f. (entry for 19 Jan. 1933), p. 110 (entry for 20 Jan. 1933). See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 78. On the film The Rebel, see Siegfried Kracauer, Von Caligari zu Hitler: Eine Geschichte des deutschen Films, vol. 2, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main, 1979, pp. 275f.; 567–9.

  58 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 112 (entry for 22 Jan. 1933).