Hitler

by Volker Ullrich

252 See Frei, Der Führerstaat, pp. 25–7; Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, p. 212; Thamer, Verführung und Gewalt, p. 326.

  253 See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 51 (entry for 21 April 1934): “Papen would like to assume Hindenburg’s position when the old man dies. Out of the question.” On Hindenburg’s illness and withdrawal to Neudeck, see Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 836. In Neurath’s papers is a handwritten note by Hindenburg dated 12 May 1934: “Please have Herr von Neurath come between 5 and 5:30 p.m. or tomorrow between 12 and 12:30 a.m.” Neurath noted: “The last time I was summoned to listen to Hindenburg.” BA Koblenz, N 1310/96. As late as 12 March 1934 Rudolf Hess had reported on a great feast at Hindenburg’s residence: “The old man is still surprisingly hale and hearty; he played the host until it was almost midnight.” Rudolf Hess to Fritz Hess, 12 March 1934; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 53.

  254 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 62 (entry for 16 June 1934). See ibid., p. 60 (entry for 9 June 1934) “A republican office for complaints in its purest form.”

  255 Petzold, Franz von Papen, pp. 211–17 (quotations on p. 215f.). The text of the Marburg speech is also in Edmund Forsbach, Edgar Jung: Ein konservativer Revolutionär, Pfullingen, 1984, pp. 154–74.

  256 The original telegram in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, R 43 II/971; with a handwritten addendum from the Reich Chancellery switchboard: “Opened and read on 20 May on behalf of Martin Bormann.”

  257 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 65 (entry for 18 June 1934).

  258 See Frei, Der Führerstaat, pp. 28f. On 17 June 1934 Herbert von Bose sent three copies of the speech to the Ministry for Propaganda with the request to transmit it to the press; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/50.

  259 Heuss, In der Defensive, pp. 236f. (dated 20 June 1934).

  260 François-Poncet, Als Botschafter in Berlin, p. 187. See Strenge, Ferdinand von Bredow, p. 235 (dated 24 June 1934): “Everyone asked himself: what does Papen want? Who does he have behind him? What’s Hitler stance toward him?…There’s something undetermined and indeterminable in the air.” On the mood in June 1934 see also Klemperer, Tagebücher 1933–1941, p. 116 (entry for 13 June 1934): “Everywhere there is uncertainty, things bubbling under the surface, secrets. Day in, day out, we wait.” See also Martha Dodd, Nice to meet you, Mr. Hitler! Meine Jahre in Deutschland 1933 bis 1937, Frankfurt am Main, 2005 p. 153, who writes of an “electrically charged” atmosphere ahead of 30 June: “Everyone could sense something in the air but no one knew what.”

  261 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 65 (entry for 18 June 1934).

  262 Papen to Hitler, 27 June 1934; BA Lichterfelde, NS 10/50. See Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 349f.

  263 Hans-Günther Seraphim (ed.), Das politische Tagebuch Alfred Rosenbergs aus den Jahren 1934/35 und 1939/40, Göttingen, 1956, p. 31. See Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 845.

  264 See Höhne, Mordsache Röhm, p. 238.

  265 See ibid., pp. 239–43. On 29 June, while visiting Ribbentrop’s home, Himmler declared that Röhm was a “dead man.” Joachim von Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau: Erinnerungen und letzte Aufzeichnungen, ed. Annelies von Ribbentrop, Leoni am Starnberger See, 1961, p. 52.

  266 Quoted in Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, p. 212.

  267 Ebermayer, Denn heute gehört uns Deutschland, p. 326 (dated 27 June 1934).

  268 Frei, Der Führerstaat, p. 30; on the military’s preparation for the action against the SA see Fallois, Kalkül und Illusion, pp. 134–9.

  269 Quoted in Höhne, Mordsache Röhm, p. 256.

  270 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 71 (entry for 29 June 1934).

  271 Ibid., p. 72 (entry for 1 July 1934). On the sombre mood at the dinner table in Hotel Dreesen see Hans Baur, Ich flog Mächtige der Erde, Kempten in Allgäu, 1956, p. 119.

  272 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 72 (entry for 1 July 1934).

  273 Baur, Ich flog Mächtige der Erde, p. 119. According to Wilhelm Brückner, Reichswehr officers told Hitler that “armed Munich SA men had turned out for roll call” at the airport. The situation was described as “very threatening.” Memorandum by Wilhelm Brückner dated 28 May 1949; IfZ München, ED 100/43.

  274 Höhne, Mordsache Röhm, p. 267.

  275 Report from Hitler’s chauffeur Erich Kempka; quoted in Evans, The Third Reich in Power, pp. 32.; see also the transcript of an interview with Erich Kempka dated 25 March 1952; IfZ München, ZS 253.

  276 See Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, p. 217; Frei, Der Führerstaat, p. 32. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 72 (entry for 1 July 1934): “Heines is pathetic. [Caught] with a boy of pleasure.”

  277 See Höhne, Mordsache Röhm, p. 269.

  278 See ibid., pp. 271–4. Facsimile of the list in Otto Gritschneder, ‘Der Führer hat Sie zum Tode verurteilt…”: Hitlers “Röhm-Putsch’-Morde vor Gericht, Munich, 1993, p. 28. See Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, pp. 148–51. Frank claimed that it was thanks to his own intervention that not more people were executed in Stadelheim.

  279 See the list of the murdered in Gritschneder, “Der Führer,” pp. 60–2. On Fritz Gerlich see Rudolf Morsey (ed.), Fritz Gerlich—ein Publizist gegen Hitler: Briefe und Akten 1930–1934, Paderborn, 2010, pp. 36–9. On Ballerstedt see his sister-in law’s memorandum (undated) in BayHStA München, Nl Ballerstedt. On Bredow see Strenge, Ferdinand von Bredow, p. 238.

  280 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 72 (entry for 1 July 1934).

  281 Hans Bernd Gisevius, Adolf Hitler: Versuch einer Deutung, Munich, 1963, p. 291.

  282 Christa Schroeder, Er war mein Chef: Aus dem Nachlass der Sekretärin von Adolf Hitler, ed. Anton Joachimsthaler, 3rd edition, Munich and Vienna, 1985, p. 51.

  283 See Gritschneder, “Der Führer,” pp. 32–6.

  284 Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, p. 149.

  285 Quoted in Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis, pp. 244f. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 73 (entry for 4 July 1934).

  286 Cabinet meeting on 3 July 1934; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 2, no. 375, pp. 1354–8.

  287 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 74 (entry for 4 July 1934).

  288 Papen to Hitler, 10 July, 12 July 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/50. See also Petzold, Franz von Papen, pp. 226–9, who has consulted further documents held in the special archives in Moscow, Papen papers.

  289 Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 1, p. 405; Kahr, memoirs, pp. 1091ff. (on Hindenburg’s visit to Kahr’s house at the end of August/beginning of September 1920); BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51; Hindenburg’s telegram to Kahr, 23 Oct. 1933; ibid., Nl Kahr 16.

  290 According to Hitler’s communication to the mayor of Hamburg, Krogmann, 18 Aug. 1934; Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 849. According to Wilhelm Brückner, Hindenburg had told Hitler: “If you want to create history, you also have to take measures that will make bloodshed unavoidable.” Memorandum by Wilhelm Brückner dated 28 May 1949; IfZ München, ED 10/43. See also chauffeur Erich Kempka’s questioning on 26 Sept. 1945; IfZ München, ZS 253; Hossbach, Zwischen Wehrmacht und Hitler, p. 50.

  291 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 76 (entry for 6 July 1934).

  292 Ibid., p. 73 (entry for 4 July 1934).

  293 Quoted in Kershaw, The Hitler Myth, p. 88. Further examples on pp. 110–13. See also Deutschland-Berichte der Sopade, 1 (1934), pp. 197–200. Foreign diplomats reached a similar verdict. See U.S. Consul Ralph C. Busser’s report from Leipzig dated 19 July 1934, and Charles M. Hathaway’s from Munich dated 20 July 1934; Bajohr and Strupp (eds), Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich,” pp. 412f., 414f.

  294 Luise Solmitz’s diary, 30 June 1934; quoted in Evans, The Third Reich in Power, p. 39.

  295 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 76 (entry for 7 July 1934).

  296 See ibid., pp. 77f. (entry for 11 July 1934).

  297 François-Poncet, Als Botschafter in Berlin, p. 190.

  298 Papen to Hitler, 13 July 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/50. After
the speech, Papen wrote to Hitler that he felt the “urge, as in January 1933, to shake your hand and thank you for everything you have given anew to the German people by crushing the insipient second revolution and proclaiming immutable principles of statesmanship.” Papen to Hitler, 14 July 1934; ibid.

  299 Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1 part 1, pp. 410–24 (quotations on pp. 415, 421, 424).

  300 Quoted in Reinhard Mehring, Carl Schmitt: Aufstieg und Fall. Eine Biographie, Munich, 2009, p. 352.

  301 Kershaw, The Hitler Myth, p. 89; see Deutschland-Berichte der Sopade, 1 (1934), pp. 201f.

  302 Kalshoven, Ich denk so viel an Euch, p. 236 (entry for 14 July 1934).

  303 Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah: Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotographen, Munich and Berlin, 1974, p. 72. See Olaf Rose (ed.), Julius Schaub: In Hitlers Schatten, Stegen, 2005, p. 140; Wilhelm Brückner told criminal investigators in Traunstein on 25 June 1952 that in his presence Hitler “had never talked to anyone ever again about this action”; IfZ München, ED 100/43.

  304 Klemperer, Tagebücher 1933–1941, p. 122 (entry for 14 July 1934).

  305 Mann, Tagebücher 1933–1945, pp. 458 (entry for 4 July 1934), 462 (entry for 7 July 1934), 463 (entry for 8 July 1934). See Thea Sternheim, Tagebücher. Vol. 2: 1925–1936, ed. and selected Thomas Ehrsam and Regula Wyss, Göttingen, 2002, p. 589 (entry for 5 July 1934): “Germany is being systematically destroyed by the bloodhound and petty bourgeois Adolf Hitler. The German as the world’s nightmare and scum.”

  306 Quoted in Astrid Pufendorf, Die Plancks: Eine Familie zwischen Patriotimus und Widerstand, Berlin, 2006, p. 373.

  307 Liebmann’s notes, 5 July 1934; Frei, Der Führerstaat, p. 39. See Blomberg’s edict to the military, 1 July 1934; Müller, Armee und Drittes Reich, pp. 206f. See also Schäfer, Werner von Blomberg, p. 141; Fallois, Kalkül und Illusion, pp. 150–4.

  308 See Longerich, Heinrich Himmler, p. 184; Frei, Der Führerstaat, p. 40.

  309 See Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, pp. 220–4.

  310 Goebbels, Tagebücher, vol. 3/1, p. 87 (entry for 2 Aug. 1934).

  311 Cabinet meeting on 1 Aug. 1934 (9:30 p.m.); Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 2, no. 382, pp. 1384f.

  312 Quoted in Fallois, Kalkül und Illusion, p. 162. See Schäfer, Werner von Blomberg, pp. 151–5.

  313 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 88 (entry for 4 Aug. 1933). Schwerin von Krosigk (essay on Hitler’s personality, c. 1945) wrote that at the subsequent cabinet meeting it was apparent that the death of the “old man” hit Hitler “very hard.” Hitler, Krosigk recalled, had been “visibly moved” as he told of his final visit to Neudeck; IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5. Oskar von Hindenburg thanked Hitler in a telegram on 2 Aug. 1934 for the “warm words” about the death of his father; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde NS 10/123.

  314 Cabinet meeting on 2 Aug. 1934; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 2, no. 383, pp. 1386–8.

  315 Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 1, p. 438. See Hoegen, Der Held von Tannenberg, pp. 411–14.

  316 See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 90 (entry for 8 Aug. 1934): “High alert on account of an alleged political testament made by the old man, perhaps written by Papen?…Decision: political testament will be treated as of concern only to the Führer and the government.”

  317 Reprinted in Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, pp. 380–3 (quotations on pp. 382f.) On the story of Hindenburg’s testament see Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 864–7.

  318 Hoegen, Der Held von Tannenberg, p. 420.

  319 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 95 (entry for 20 Aug. 1934).

  320 Quoted in Kershaw, The Hitler Myth, p. 68. On coercion of voters and voting fraud in connection with the election of 19 Aug. 1934, see Deutschland-Berichte der Sopade, 1 (1934), pp. 282–7, 347–9.

  321 Mann, Tagebücher 1933–1934, p. 510 (entry for 20 Aug. 1934).

  322 Klemperer, Tagebücher 1933–1941, pp. 137f. (entry for 21 Aug. 1934).

  323 Danish ambassador Herluf Zahle, 4 Aug. 1934; Bajohr and Strupp (eds), Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich, p. 417.

  15 Eviscerating Versailles

  1 Max Domarus, Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen 1932–1945. Vol. 2: Untergang. Part 2: 1941–1945, Munich, 1965, p. 1659.

  2 Akten der Reichskanzlei: Die Regierung Hitler. Part 1: 1933/34. Vol. 1: 30 Januar bis 31 April 1933, ed. Karl-Heinz Minuth, Boppard am Rhein, 1983, no. 19, pp. 62f.

  3 Goebbels’s confidential speech of 5 April 1940 to members of the German press, quoted in Rainer F. Schmidt, Die Aussenpolitik des Dritten Reiches 1933–1939, Stuttgart, 2002, p. 11.

  4 Wilhelm Treue, “Rede Hitlers vor der deutschen Presse (10 November 1938),” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 6 (1958), p. 182. See Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 2, p. 974.

  5 Eric Phipps’s report of 21 Nov. 1933; Documents of British Foreign Policy 1919–1939 (DBFP), London, 1947–1984, 2nd series 1929–1938, vol. 6, no. 60, pp. 90f., quoted in Detlev Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany: Wahrnehmungen und Deutungen des Nationalsozialismus in Grossbritannien 1920 bis 1939, Göttingen and Zurich, 1996, p. 350. In an article in the Daily Mail on 2 Nov. 1933, editor Ward Price answered the question “Can We Trust Hitler?” in the affirmative, calling Hitler an honest man who wanted to redirect the energy and enthusiasm of Germany’s youth toward domestic goals. Wolff’s Telegraphisches Büro no. 2765, dated 2 Nov. 1933; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, R 43 II/959.

  6 George S. Messersmith’s report of 9 May 1933; 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. 372.

  7 On the continuity of personnel in the German Foreign Ministry see Eckart Conze, Norbert Frei, Peter Hayes and Moshe Zimmermann, Das Amt und die Vergangenheit: Deutsche Diplomaten im Dritten Reich und in der Bundesrepublik, Munich, 2010, pp. 31–41.

  8 Akten der deutschen Auswärtigen Politik 1918–1945 (ADAP). Series C: 1933–1937, Göttingen, 1971–1981, vol. 1, part 1, no. 10, pp. 20f. See Klaus Hildebrand, Das vergangene Reich: Deutsche Aussenpolitik von Bismarck zu Hitler 1871–1945, Stuttgart, 1995, pp. 578, 580f.

  9 Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923–1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 2/3, p. 386 (entry for 16 March 1934).

  10 See Hildebrand, Das vergangene Reich, pp. 550–2, 556; see also Schmidt, Die Aussenpolitik des Dritten Reiches, p. 31; Hans-Ulrich Thamer, Verführung und Gewalt: Deutschland 1933–1945, Berlin, 1986, pp. 312, 314.

  11 For a summary see Heinrich August Winkler, Geschichte des Westens. Vol. 2: Die Zeit der Weltkriege 1914–1945, Munich, 2011, pp. 577–602.

  12 See Schmidt, Die Aussenpolitik des Dritten Reiches, pp. 40–2; Bernd-Jürgen Wendt, Grossdeutschland: Aussenpolitik und Kriegsvorbereitung des Hitler-Regimes, Munich, 1987, p. 84.

  13 See the excellent account in Winkler, Geschichte des Westens, vol. 2, pp. 332–404.

  14 Bülow’s memorandum of 13 March 1933 is reprinted and annotated in Günter Wollstein, “Eine Denkschrift des Staatssekretärs Bernhard von Bülow vom März 1933: Wilhelminische Konzeption der Aussenpolitik zu Beginn der natio​nalso​ziali​stischen Herrschaft,” in Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen, 1 (1973), pp. 77–94. Extensive detail on its contents in Wendt, Grossdeutschland, pp. 72–9. Neurath’s presentation in Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 93, pp. 313–18.

  15 Max Domarus, Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen 1932–1945. Vol. 1: Triumph. Part 1: 1932–1934, Munich, 1965, pp. 270–9 (quotations on p. 273).

  16 Wilhelm Hoegner, Flucht vor Hitler: Erinnerungen an die Kapitulation der ersten deutschen Republik 1933, Frankfurt am Main, 1982, p. 203. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 188 (entry for 18 May 1933): “The declaration of confidence from the entire house, including the SPD, accepted. Afterwards I was with the Führer. Everyone is happy.”

  17 Hedda Kalshoven, Ich denk so viel an Euch: Ein deutsch-holländischer Briefwechsel 19
20–1949, Munich, 1995, pp. 201f.

  18 Quoted in Josef and Ruth Becker (eds), Hitlers Machtergreifung: Dokumente vom Machtantritt Hitlers. 30. Januar 1933 bis zur Besiegelung des Einparteienstaats 14. Juli 1933, Munich, 1983, p. 309. The Danish ambassador in Berlin reported that the chancellor’s statements had “undeniably been characterised by heartfelt moderation.” Bajohr and Strupp (eds), Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich,” p. 376.

  19 Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 9: 1926–1937, ed. Sabine Gruber and Ulrich Ott with Christoph Hilse and Nadin Weiss, Stuttgart, 2010, pp. 596f. (entry for 17 May 1933). See ibid., p. 571 (entry for 20 May 1933): “You can sense how uncomfortable the French are with Hitler’s speech. Their entire diplomatic position is under threat.”

  20 Thomas Mann, Tagebücher 1933–1934, ed. Peter de Mendelssohn, Frankfurt am Main, 1977, p. 88 (entry for 18 May 1933).

  21 Goebbels, Tagebücher part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 276 (entry for 25 Sept. 1933).

  22 On the Geneva disarmament negotiations see Hans-Adolf Jacobsen, Natio​nalso​ziali​stische Aussenpolitik 1933–1939, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, 1968, pp. 396–9; Schmidt, Die Aussenpolitik des Dritten Reiches, pp. 142–52; Wendt, Grossdeutschland, pp. 91–3.

  23 Cabinet meeting on 13 Oct. 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 2, no. 230, pp. 903–6 (quotation on pp. 904, 905).

  24 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 290 (entry for 12 Oct. 1933). See ibid., p. 288: “The boss is struggling with the most difficult decisions.” See also Rudolf Hess to his aunt Emma Rothacker in Zurich, 30 Oct. 1933: “The last big foreign policy decision was of course very difficult for the Führer. He arrived at it after many sleepless nights, as he saw no other way for us.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1993/300, Box 4.

  25 Erich Ebermayer, Denn heute gehört uns Deutschland…Persönliches und politisches Tagebuch, Hamburg and Vienna, 1959, p. 184 (entry for 15 Oct. 1933).

  26 Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 608 (entry for 14 Oct. 1933).

  27 Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 1, pp. 308–14 (quotations on pp. 309, 312).

  28 Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 292 (entry for 16 Oct. 1933).