Hitler

by Volker Ullrich

  98 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 203 (entry for 21 July 1930), p. 285 (entry for 19 Nov. 1930), vol. 2/2, p. 225 (entry for 13 Feb. 1932), vol. 2/3, p. 221 (entry for 5 July 1933), vol. 3/2, p. 188 (entry for 20 June 1936), p. 318 (entry for 6 Jan. 1937): “Yesterday evening, the Führer spoke at length of the war. That’s his element.”

  99 Schlie, Albert Speer, p. 51; see Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 21 (entry for 11 Oct. 1946).

  100 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 272 (entry for 22 June 1929), vol. 2/1, p. 325 (entry for 15 Jan. 1931). See ibid., vol. 3/2, p. 151 (entry for 7 Aug. 1936): “When I speak to him alone, he talks to me like a father. That’s when I like him best.”

  101 Ibid., vol. 3/1, p. 181 (entry for 8 Feb. 1935), vol. 3/2, p. 219 (entry for 21 Oct. 1936).

  102 Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt, p. 304. See also ibid., p. 301: there was a “terrible alien air” around Hitler that “separated him from all others.” See also the testimony of his secretary Johanna Wolf on 1 July 1947: “I don’t know if he was friends with anyone. He was very reserved.” Robert M. W. Kempner, Das Dritte Reich im Kreuzverhör: Aus den unveröffentlichten Verne​hmung​sprot​okollen des Anklägers in den Nürnberger Prozessen, Munich, 2005, p. 54.

  103 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 114.

  104 Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, pp. 48, 45.

  105 According to Franz Xaver Schwarz, the NSDAP treasurer, Hitler was on informal terms with Streicher, Kriebel, Esser, Röhm and Christan Weber. He later withdrew the use of “du” with Esser. IfZ München, ZS 1452.

  106 O. Strasser, Hitler und ich, p. 93.

  107 See Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 55. On the reunion see also Thomas Weber, Hitler’s First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War, Oxford, 2010, pp. 260ff. Hitler seems not to have answered an invitation to all former members of the regiment to celebrate a joint Christmas party in 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 51/74. But he did make a generous donation so that 210 former “List men” could visit the graves of their fallen comrades in France and Belgium in July 1938. Hitler was presented with a photo album of that trip for his fiftieth birthday on 20 April 1939. BA Koblenz, N 1720/7.

  108 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 371 (entry for 25 March 1931).

  109 See Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 57.

  110 Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 35, 135.

  111 Handwritten letter from Helene Bechstein to Hitler, 21 April 1933; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/123.

  112 She complained in a letter dated 21 April 1933 about the poor treatment of the leader of the National Socialist Women’s League, Elsbeth Zander, by Robert Ley; ibid. See also Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 92f. On Hitler’s birthday visit see Helene Bechstein to Rudolf Hess, 29 May 1936: “Wolf” had spoiled her, and “now that she was on her own, such attention being paid to her was twice as agreeable.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1993/300, Box 2.

  113 See the exuberant thank you letters from Hugo and Elsa Bruckmann dated 4 Oct. 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/123.

  114 Elsa Bruckmann to Georg Karo, 27 March 1934; BSB München, Bruckmanniana Suppl. Box 7; quoted in Käfer, Hitlers frühe Förderer, p. 70.

  115 Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 128. See Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Ein Mann gegen Europa, Zurich, 1937, pp. 207f., who writes of Hitler’s “fundamental lack of love and emotional connection”; Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, London, 1990, p. 380 (“a man who admitted no loyalties”); Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, pp. 714 (“lack of social connections”), 716 (“impoverishedness in human relationships”); Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945: Nemesis, London, 2000], p. 34 (“cut off from any meaningful personal relationship”).

  116 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 56. See Hoffmann’s manuscript for his court trial (January 1947), p. 12; IfZ München, MS 2049; transcript of an interview with Heinrich Hoffmann dated 5 Dec. 1953; IfZ München, ZS 71; Heike B. Görtemaker, Eva Braun: Leben mit Hitler, Munich, 2010, pp. 24f. See also Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 92 (entry for 12 Aug. 1934): “Spent the evening at the Hoffmanns. The Führer read aloud parodies in Munich dialect. Very droll”; p. 378 (entry for 1 Feb. 1936): “Had coffee with Hoffmann. The Führer very relaxed.”

  117 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 164. See Eva Rieger, Friedelind Wager: Die rebellische Enkelin Richard Wagners, Munich and Zurich, 2012, p. 53; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 25: “He felt at home at Winifred Wagner’s. He enjoyed his life as a private person. He didn’t feel that sort of friendship with any other family and addressed them familiarly, which was a rarity for Hitler.”

  118 Hamann, Winifred Wagner, pp. 143, 314. See ibid., pp. 146, 209; Rieger, Friedelind Wagner, p. 53.

  119 See Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 247; Peter Longerich, Joseph Goebbels: A Biography, London, 2015, pp. 252f., 361.

  120 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 106 (entry for 15 Sept. 1934), vol. 3/2, p. 356 (entry for 2 Feb. 1937). See ibid., p. 135 (entry for 20 July 1936): “He loves Helga as if she were his own child.”

  121 Ibid., p. 299 (entry for 20 Dec. 1936).

  122 On the Baarova affair see Longerich, Goebbels, pp. 391–6.

  123 See, for example, the postcards sent by Rudolf Hess to Ilse Pröhl from Hamburg (2 March 1926), Leipzig (4 March 1926), Essen (18 June 1926), Osnabrück (19 June 1926), Nuremberg (2 Aug. 1926), Detmold (25 Nov. 1926), Essen (26 and 27 April 1927), Hildesheim (30 April 1927), Leipzig (5 Sept. 1927). On most of these cards Hitler had added greetings with his own hand. BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 37, 39. On the wedding, see Hess, Briefe, pp. 389f. (dated 14 Jan. 1928); Ilse Hess to the parents of Rudolf Hess, 15 Jan. 1928; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 41. A printed wedding card in BA Koblenz, N 1122/15.

  124 Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 165.

  125 See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 83f.

  126 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 136. See also Franz Pfeffer von Salomon’s statement dated 20 Feb. 1953: Hitler preferred to appoint people “who had something to hide or a weak point which he could use to apply the emergency brakes if he felt it necessary.” IfZ München, ZS 177.

  127 See Hanskarl Hasselbach’s memorandum “Hitler’s knowledge of human nature”; BA Koblenz, N 1128/33; Wilhelm Brückner’s memorandum of August 1945; IfZ München, ED 100/43.

  128 Richard Walter Darré, Notes 1945–1948, p. 181; IfZ München, ED 110, vol. 1.

  129 Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Veran​twort​ungsl​osigkeit, p. 210. See Hanskarl Hasselbach’s memorandum “Hitler’s knowledge of human nature,” which quoted the dictator as saying that he only needed a brief moment “to say what sort of a person a given individual was and how he could best use that person.” BA Koblenz, N 1128/33.

  130 Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 278 (entry for 14 March 1952); see Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 34.

  131 Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, p. 127; see Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 170; Schwerin von Krosigk, essay on Hitler’s personality; IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5.

  132 See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 63, 68.

  133 Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, pp. 75, 252.

  134 Speer, corrected manuscript of Erinnerungen (second version), chapter 1; BA Koblenz, N 1340/384.

  135 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 208 (entry for 20 March 1929).

  136 Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 75. See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 134: “Wild horses could not get it out of Hitler if he did not want to say something.”

  137 Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 168.

  138 Ibid., p. 82.

  139 Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, p. 135. See Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 111: “In general, self-control was one of Hitler’s most notable qualities.”

  140 Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 49.

  141 Schwerin von Krosigk to Fred L. Casmir, 11 Aug. 1960; BA Koblenz, N 1276/40. See also Hes
s, Briefe, p. 396 (dated 18 Dec. 1928) who writes of “this hot head who could also be so cool, sober and calculating.”

  142 Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 133 (entry for 20 Dec. 1947).

  143 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 114. On Hitler’s “threatening stare” see also Koch-Hillebrecht, Homo Hitler, pp. 324f.

  144 Schwerin von Krosigk, essay on Hitler’s personality; IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5. On Hitler’s suggestive effect on Blomberg see Schäfer, Werner von Blomberg, pp. 115f.

  145 Speer, corrected manuscript of Erinnerungen (second version), chapter 1; BA Koblenz, N 1340/384.

  146 Hess, Briefe, p. 425 (dated 31 Jan. 1933).

  147 Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 102, 223. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 181: “Hitler never overcame his coffeehouse habits or his congenital inability to keep to an orderly daily working rhythm…He showed up announced or unannounced and kept others waiting for hours.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

  148 Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, pp. 53f.; see Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, pp. 93f., on Hitler’s inability to work systematically; interview with Hermann Esser dated 13 March 1964, vol. 2: “Hitler never really sat down at his desk in either the Brown House in Munich or the Reich Chancellory.” BayHStA München, Nl Esser.

  149 Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 266. See Hanfstaengl’s note about the “ink-shy Hitler”: “If he wrote down anything, it was noted on long loose sheets of paper—in pencil and in the form of bullet points.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25.

  150 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 247 (entry for 23 March 1932). See also ibid., p. 245 (entry for 19 March 1932): “Hitler constantly has new ideas. But it’s impossible to work with him and be scrupulous about details.”

  151 Wiedemann’s memorandum “Preparation for speeches”; BA Koblenz, N 1720/4.

  152 Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 78–81. See Johanna Wolf’s statement dated 1 July 1947; Kempner, Das Dritte Reich im Kreuzverhör, p. 55; Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener, pp. 42f.; Linge, Bis zum Untergang, pp. 111f.

  153 See Wiedemann, shorthand notes, 25 Feb. 1939; BA Koblenz, N 1720; Friedrich Hossbach (Zwischen Wehrmacht und Hitler 1934–1938, 2nd revised edition, Göttingen, 1965, p. 20) described Hitler’s life as vacillating “between a maximum need for activity and capability and an idleness that verged on apathy.”

  154 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 186 (entry for 29 June 1930). See also ibid., vol. 2/2, p. 224 (entry for 22 Feb. 1932).

  155 See Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 354 (entry for 8 Dec. 1953); Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 235.

  156 Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 28.

  157 Schlie, Albert Speer, p. 40. See Speer, corrected manuscript of Erinnerungen (second version), chapter 1: “Those around him spoke reverently of an antenna that allowed him to sense particular conditions and relationships.” BA Koblenz, N 1340/384.

  158 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 210 (entry for 3 Feb. 1932). See ibid., vol. 2/3, p. 160 (entry for 1 April 1933): “Hitler has the finest instincts I’ve ever experienced.”

  159 Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 251.

  160 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 76 (entry for 7 Dec. 1932). See ibid., vol. 3/2, p. 257 (entry for 19 Nov. 1936): “He has a soft spot for artists because he’s an artist himself.”

  161 Schlie, Albert Speer, p. 55. See Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 46.

  162 Hess, Briefe, p. 327 (dated 18 May 1924). In June 1924 Hitler asked his landlady Frau Reichert in a handwritten note, which Hess included with the letter he sent to his fiancée, to hand over to “Fräulein Pröhl” his “history of architecture in four volumes,” recognisable by its blue boards. BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33

  163 Ibid., pp. 395f. (dated 18 Dec. 1928). See also ibid., p. 369 (dated 7 Feb. 1925).

  164 Schlie, Albert Speer, p. 166. See also below, pp. 597ff.

  165 Hitler to Countess de Castellance, Ségur, 19 April 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/123.

  166 See transcript of an interview with Anni Winter (undated); IfZ München, ZS 194.

  167 See the receipts in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557; NS 10/120. See Wiedemann’s memorandum “Architektur,” in which he said that Hitler got “the greatest pleasure” from visitors bringing him books about the architectural works of the world’s great cities. BA Koblenz, N 1720/4.

  168 Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 146 (dated 27 March 1942). See also Gerhard Engel, Heeresadjutant bei Hitler 1938–1943, ed. and annotated Hildegard von Kotze, Stuttgart, 1974, pp. 34 (dated 20 Aug. 1938), 48 (dated 8 April 1939).

  169 Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941–1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 400 (dated 13 June 1943); see Schlie, Speer, p. 57.

  170 See Birgit Schwarz, Geniewahn: Hitler und die Kunst, Vienna, Cologne and Weimar, 2009, pp. 103–5.

  171 See ibid., pp. 105ff.

  172 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 233 (entry for 19 May 1935); see Engel, Heeresadjutant bei Hitler, p. 33 (dated 28 Aug. 1938).

  173 Goebbels, Tagebücher, vol. 4, p. 235 (entry for 27 July 1937). Albert Speer confirmed that Hitler considered Wagner “the greatest artist Germany ever produced.” A. Speer to Joachim Fest, 13 Sept. 1969; BA Koblenz, N 1340/17.

  174 Hans Severus Ziegler, Adolf Hitler aus dem Erleben dargestellt, Göttingen, 1964, p. 171. See Hamann, Winifred Wagner, pp. 231ff.; Bernd Buchner, Wagners Welttheater: Die Geschichte der Bayreuther Festspiele zwischen Kunst und Politik, Darmstadt, 2013.

  175 See Rieger, Friedelind Wagner, p. 89.

  176 See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, pp. 357 (entry for 1 Jan. 1936), 386 (entry for 27 Feb. 1936); vol. 5, p. 96 (entry for 14 Jan. 1938). See also Wiedemann’s memorandum “Musik”; BA Koblenz, N 1720/4; Speer, Erinnerungen, pp. 144f.

  177 Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 103f.; see Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 79: “What a classic example of discipline it is when a father is prepared to condemn his son to death. Great deeds demand hard measures.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47. On the film Fridericus Rex see Siegfried Kracauer, Von Caligari zu Hitler: Eine Geschichte des deutschen Films, vol. 2, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main, 1979, pp. 124–6.

  178 Hess, Briefe, p. 371 (dated 24 Oct. 1926).

  179 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 210 (entry for 3 Feb. 1932). On Girls in Uniform see Kracauer, Von Caligari bis Hitler, pp. 237–40.

  180 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 211 (entry for 4 Feb. 1932).

  181 See above p. 359.

  182 Hitler, Monologe, p. 192 (dated 9/10 Jan. 1942). See also Werner Koeppen’s reports, p. 51 (dated 3 Oct. 1941): “The Führer regards the automobile as the most wonderful of humanity’s inventions as long as it’s truly used for fun.” Hitler was a member of the General German Automobile Club. See the membership cards for 1926/27 to 1930/31 in BayHStA München, Nl Adolf Hitler. Receipts for garages, petrol, car accessories and other things for 1931/32 in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557.

  183 Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 61; see Olaf Rose (ed.), Julius Schaub: In Hitlers Schatten, Stegen, 2005, p. 69.

  184 Hess, Briefe, p. 339 (dated 16 June 1924). On Hitler’s admiration for the production capacity of the American automobile industry see Rainer Zitelmann, Hitler: Selbstverständnis eines Revolutionärs, 2nd revised and expanded edition, Stuttgart, 1989, pp. 352f., 356f.

  185 See Eberhard Reuss, Hitlers Rennschlachten: Die Silberpfeile unterm Hakenkreuz, Berlin, 2006, pp. 45f.

  186 See the facsimile of Hitler’s letter to director Wilhelm Kissel dated 13 May 1932; Rose, Julius Schaub, pp. 70–2.

  187 Quoted in Reuss, Hitlers Rennschlachten, p. 51.

  188 Daimler-Benz AG to the Reich chancellor’s office, 14 June 1933; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/119. Se
e the Daimler-Benz book, Ein Rüstungskonzern im “Tausendjährigen Reich,” ed. Hamburger Stiftung für Sozialgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts, Nördlingen, 1987, pp. 123ff.

  189 See Julius Schreck, “Mit dem Führer auf Reisen”: Beitrag für das Reemtsma-Album “Adolf Hitler” (1936); BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/121; Rose, Julius Schaub, p. 69.

  190 Rudolf Hess to his parents, 7 July 1925; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 35. Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 190. See Rudolf Hess to his parents, 21 Sept. 1935: before 1933, Hitler could not bear it “if there was another car in front of him for a considerable amount of time or if he was overtaken by another car.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 55.

  191 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 175 (entry for 28 Jan. 1929).

  192 Ibid., vol. 2/3, p. 236 (entry for 28 July 1933). See Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, pp. 161, 208.

  193 Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 80; see Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 60; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

  194 Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 100.

  195 Meissner, Staatssekretär, p. 616. See Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 158 (entry for 5 May 1948): “Right up until the end there was something ascetic in Hitler’s private life”; Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, p. 95: “Wherever he went, he lived as simply as imaginable…His asceticism was genuine and not put on.”

  196 Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 140 (entry for 15 Feb. 1947).

  197 Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 128.

  198 Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 123.

  199 See the receipts for 1933/34 in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/115 und NS 10/119.

  200 See Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener, p. 24.

  201 See Hitler, Monologe, p. 99 (entry for 21/22 Oct. 1941); Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 134; Linge, Bis zum Untergang, p. 108.