25. See Manfred Funke, ‘7. März 1936. Fallstudie zum außenpolitischen Führungsstil Hitlers’, in Wolfgang Michalka (ed.), Nationalsozialistische Außenpolitik (Darmstadt, 1978), esp. 301ff.
26. Robertson, ‘Wiederbesetzung’, Docs. 3f. and 8.
27. Ibid., Doc. 8.
28. Goebbels TB, 21 February 1936.
29. Robertson, ‘Wiederbesetzung’, Doc. 5. On this development see Petersen, Hitler, 471ff.
30. Goebbels TB, 29 February, about 27 February 1936.
31. The parliament in Paris had already approved the treaty on 27 February. See Goebbels TB, 29 February 1936.
32. Ibid., 29 February 1936.
33. Robertson, ‘Wiederbesetzung’, Doc. 4.
34. Goebbels TB, 29 February and 2 March 1936.
35. Ibid., 4 March 1936.
36. Regierung Hitler, 3, No. 39.
37. Domarus, 1, 583ff., quote p. 593; Helmut-Dieter Giro, Frankreich und die Remilitarisierung des Rheinlandes. Hitlers Weg in den Krieg? (Essen, 2006), 69ff.
38. See below p. 472.
39. Domarus, 1, 597.
40. On election propaganda see Goebbels TB, 10–31 March 1936; PA 1936, 253f.
41. Sopade 1936, 300, according to which, far from producing great enthusiasm, the entry of the troops provoked ‘above all fear of war and concern about counter-measures by the western powers’. See also ibid., 314ff. and 460ff., for comments that Hitler’s successes had caused ‘serious depression among the opposition’. It is inexplicable how Kershaw (Hitler-Mythos, 101) can conclude that the election result represented ‘overwhelming support for Hitler and his foreign policy’. See also Kershaw, Hitler 1, 742.
42. Domarus, 1, 603ff.
43. PA 1936, 331ff., documents the careful preparation of this high point in the election campaign.
44. VB (B), 28 March 1936, ‘Kommando an die Nation: Hißt Flagge!’ (headline). See also 27 March 1936, ‘Der Führer spricht zu den Arbeitern und Soldaten des neuen Reiches’ (headline).
45. Ibid., 28 March 1935, ‘Das ganze deutsche Volk hörte seinen Führer!’, as well as further reports of various events.
46. Domarus, 1, 616.
47. VB (B), 28 March 1936: ‘Letzter Appell des Führers am freien Rhein’ (headline); see also ibid., 27 March 1936.
48. Ibid., 29 March 1936.
49. Sopade 1936, 407ff., quote p. 407.
50. Ibid., 407; VB (B), 31 March 1936, with the provisional election results. See Goebbels TB, 31 March 1936.
51. Friedrich Berber (ed.), Locarno. Eine Dokumentensammlung (Berlin, 1936), No. 62; Giro, Frankreich, 248ff.
52. Berber ed., Locarno, Nos 63, 68, and 74.
53. ADAP C 5, No. 174; Petersen, Hitler, 477f.
54. ADAP C 5, No. 242.
55. Ibid., No. 313.
56. Ibid., No. 326; see also Josef Henke, England in Hitlers politischem Kalkül 1935–1939 (Boppard am Rhein, 1973), 52f., on Hitler’s response.
57. Weinberg, Foreign Policy, 202ff.; Giro, Frankreich, 249ff.
58. See below p. 467.
‘Ready for War in Four Years’ Time’
1. See above p. 439.
2. Dietmar Petzina, Autarkiepolitik, 34.
3. Sopade 1936, 671 (summing up), 689ff. (problems with the food supply), 1055ff. (continuing supply problems from autumn 1935), 1111f. and 1405ff. (food shortages).
4. BAF, RW 19/862, Re: Foreign exchange requirements 3 February 1936; on the raw material bottlenecks; see, in particular, Tooze, Ökonomie 250f.
5. Petzina, Autarkiepolitik, 39; Kube, Pour le mérite, 140ff.; Tooze, Ökonomie, 251; Regierung Hitler, 3, No. 64.
6. IMT 27, 1301-PS, 135ff. Schacht also opposed the exploitation of domestic raw materials no matter what the cost at the meeting of the ministerial council on 27 May 1936. See ibid., 144ff. Göring had announced the creation of the ministerial council at the top level meeting in the Prussian State Ministry on 4 May 1936 through a decree for implementing the Four-Year Plan, but only formally implemented it on 23 October. See Regierung Hitler, 3, No. 83. See ibid., note 1 to Doc. 89. These were not, therefore, as is sometimes stated in the literature, sessions of the Prussian government. For the minutes of the Ministerial Council of 12, 15, and 27 May 1936 see also Regierung Hitler, 3, Nos 89f. and 93.
7. Goebbels TB, 31 May 1936; see also 3 May 1936. On Schacht’s move see also Carl Vincent Krogmann, Es ging um Deutschlands Zukunft 1932–1939. Erlebtes diktiert von dem früheren Regierenden Bürgermeister von Hamburg (Leoni am Starnberger See, 1976), 272.
8. Kube, Pour le mérite, 147f.
9. Petzina, Autarkiepolitik, 44f., emphasizes the concentration on the exploitation of resources, whereas Kube in Pour le mérite, 151 and 161f. stresses that the securing of domestic raw materials and the encouragement of exports should be seen as an overall strategy.
10. Petzina, Autarkiepolitik, 45ff.
11. For details see IMT 36, 493-EC and 497-EC, 557f.; see also Petzina, Autarkiepolitik, 46f.; Tooze, Ökonomie, 255f.; Banken, ‘Devisenrecht’, 279ff.
12. By a decree of 16 July 1936. See Bundesarchiv Berlin (BAB), R 58/23a; Longerich, Politik, 124; on this activity in detail see Banken, ‘Devisenrecht’, 188ff.
13. Domarus, 1, 369ff., quote 370.
14. Hans Mommsen and Manfred Grieger, Das Volkswagenwerk und seine Arbeiter im Dritten Reich (Düsseldorf, 1996), 60ff. Porsche had already produced a memorandum on 17 January 1934 taking a similar line and sent it to Hitler. See Herbert A. Quint, Porsche. Der Weg eines Zeitalters (Stuttgart, 1951), 183ff.
15. On the meetings with Porsche in 1933/34 see Mommsen and Grieger, Volkswagenwerk, 78f.
16. Domarus, 1, 481 and 576ff., quote 577.
17. Mommsen and Grieger, Volkswagenwerk, 104ff.; Heidrun Edelmann, Vom Luxusgut zum Gebrauchsgegenstand. Die Geschichte der Verbreitung von Personenkraftwagen in Deutschland (Frankfurt a. M., 1989), 205.
18. Mommsen and Grieger, Volkswagenwerk, 107ff.
19. VB (M), 22 February 1937, ‘Vierjahrsplan sichert Motorisierung’ on the 20 February speech. During a train journey on 15 January Hitler had promised Porsche that he would pursue the project ‘unwaveringly’. See Mommsen and Grieger, Volkswagenwerk, 117.
20. Ibid., 117ff., dates Ley’s official appointment to the 1937 International Automobile Exhibition, in other words the end of February/beginning of March, whereas the Goebbels diary entry of 15 January already contains a reference to Ley’s participation in the project.
21. At the latest in September 1937. See Mommsen and Grieger, Volkswagenwerk, 156.
22. Mommsen and Grieger, Volkswagenwerk, 182ff.; Domarus, 1, 867f.
23. Mommsen and Grieger, Volkswagenwerk, 79 and, on the start of production, 383ff.
24. In particular in his speeches opening the International Automobile Exhibitions on 20 February 1937 and 18 February 1938. See Domarus, 1, 680f. and 791f.
25. Erhard Schütz and Eckhard Gruber, Mythos Reichsautobahn. Bau und Inszenierung der ‘Straßen des Führers’ 1933–1941 (Berlin, 1996), 12.
26. See below, pp. 467ff.
27. Wolfgang König, Volkswagen, Volksempfänger, Volksgemeinschaft. ‘Volksprodukte’ im Dritten Reich. Vom Scheitern einer nationalsozialistischen Konsumgesellschaft (Paderborn, 2004). Between 1933 and 1941 ownership of a people’s radio increased from 25.4 to 65.1 per 100 households, although a considerable number were owned by official bodies and businesses and the coverage of rural areas was significantly worse. See ibid., 204; Florian Cebulla, Rundfunk und ländliche Gesellschaft 1924–1941 (Göttingen, 2004).
28. Edict concerning the Appointment of a Chief of the German Police in the Reich Ministry of the Interior. See RGBl. 1936 I, 487f.
29. BAB, R 43 II/391, Himmler directive, 26 June 1936.
30. Longerich, Himmler, 207ff. The delay in the appointment was the result of lengthy negotiations with Interior Minister, Frick.
31. Ibid., 211ff.; Patrick Wagner, Volksgemeinschaft ohne Verbrecher. Konzeptionen und Praxis der Kriminalpolizei in der
Zeit der Weimarer Republik und des Nationalsozialismus (Hamburg, 1996), 191ff.; Ulrich Herbert, Werner Best. Biographische Studien über Radikalismus, Weltanschauung und Vernunft 1903–1989 (Bonn, 1996), 163ff.
32. Karin Orth, Das System der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager. Eine politische Organisationsgeschichte (Hamburg, 1999), 35ff.; Johannes Tuchel, Konzentrationslager, 326ff.
33. IMT 29, 1992 (A)-PS, 206ff., quote 222.
34. Orth, System, 38.
35. BAB, NS 19/1269, two letters from Himmler to the Justice Minister, 6 November 1935; see also Longerich, Himmler, 209.
36. Goebbels TB, 11 May. Similarly, on 15 May 1936.
37. Ibid., 29 May 1936.
38. Petersen, Hitler, 481f.
39. ADAP C 5, 706f., Note. On the background to the agreement see Gabriele Volsansky, Pakt auf Zeit. Das Deutsch–Österreichische Juli-Abkommen 1936 (Vienna, Cologne, and Weimar, 2001). Bruce F. Pauley, Der Weg in den Nationalsozialismus. Ursprünge und Entwicklung in Österreich (Vienna, 1988), 161ff.; Schausberger, Griff, 349ff.; Petersen, Hitler, 483.
40. ADAP C 5, 703ff., note; Petersen, Hitler, 483.
41. Schausberger, Griff, 358f.
42. Goebbels TB, 7 May 1936.
43. ADAP C 4, 929f., Editor’s comment. No further details are known.
44. Bernd Martin, ‘Die deutsch–japanischen Beziehungen während des Dritten Reiches’, in Manfred Funke (ed.), Hitler und die Mächte. Materialien zur Außenpolitik des Dritten Reiches (Düsseldorf, 1976), 460ff., who bases himself on the papers of the German armaments dealer, Friedrich Wilhelm Hack. For a time, at the suggestion of the Chinese prime minister, the inclusion of China in the planned agreement was contemplated and supported in principle by Hitler. See ADAP C 4, No. 416.
45. Wolfram Pyta, ‘Weltanschauliche und strategische Schicksalsgemeinschaft. Die Bedeutung Japans für das weltpolitische Kalkül Hitlers’, in Martin Cüppers, Jürgen Mathäus, and Andrei Angrick (eds), Naziverbrechen. Täter, Taten, Bewältigungsversuche (Darmstadt, 2013), esp. 24f.
46. Goebbels TB, 9 June 1936.
47. ADAP C 5, No. 362. For the negotiations see Theo Sommer, Deutschland und Japan zwischen den Mächten 1935–1940. Vom Antikominternpakt zum Dreimächtepakt. Eine Studie zur diplomatischen Vorgeschichte des Zweiten Weltkrieges (Tübingen, 1962), 23ff.
48. Herbert von Dirksen, Moskau, Tokio, London. Erinnerungen und Betrachtungen zu 20 Jahren deutscher Außenpolitik 1919–1939 (Stuttgart, 1949), 186.
49. Sommer, Deutschland, 34f., based on a manuscript by Hermann von Raumer, Ribbentrop’s deputy in his foreign policy bureau.
50. ADAP D 5, No. 509.
51. On the stay in Bayreuth see Goebbels TB, 20–28 July 1936.
52. On Germany’s intervention in Spain see Hans-Henning Abendroth, Hitler in der spanischen Arena. Die deutsch–spanischen Beziehungen im Spannungsfeld der europäischen Interessenpolitik vom Ausbruch des Bürgerkrieges bis zum Ausbruch des Weltkrieges 1919–1939 (Paderborn, 1973); Manfred Merkes, Die deutsche Politik im spanischen Bürgerkrieg 1936–1939 (Bonn, 1969); Christian Leitz, Economic Relations between Nazi Germany and Franco’s Spain, 1936–1945 (Oxford, 1996), esp. 8ff.; Wolfgang Schieder, ‘Spanischer Bürgerkrieg und Vierjahresplan. Zur Struktur nationalsozialistischer Außenpolitik’, in Wolfgang Michalka (ed.), Nationalsozialistische Außenpolitik (Darmstadt, 1978).
53. Goebbels TB, 20–26 July 1936.
54. Abendroth, Hitler, 29ff.
55. Hans-Erich Volkmann, ‘NS-Wirtschaft’, 375ff.
56. This caution is documented in Goebbels TB, 12 August 1936.
57. Abendroth, Hitler, 40ff. and 95ff.
58. On the Olympic Games see Arnd Krüger, Die Olympischen Spiele 1936 und die Weltmeinung. Ihre außenpolitische Bedeutung unter besonderer Berücksichtigung der USA (Berlin and Munich, 1972); David Clay Large, Nazi Games. The Olympics of 1936 (London and New York, 2007); Richard Mandell, Hitlers Olympiade. Berlin 1936 (Munich, 1980); Reinhard Rürup (ed.), 1936. Die Olympischen Spiele und der Nationalsozialismus. Eine Dokumentation (Berlin, 1996); Karin Stöckel, Berlin im olympischen Rausch. Die Organisation der Olympischen Spiele 1936 (Hamburg, 2009); Christopher Hilton, Hitler’s Olympics. The 1936 Berlin Olympic Games (Stroud, 2006); Arnd Krüger (ed.), The Nazi Olympics: Sport, Politics, and Appeasement in the 1930s (Urbana, IL and Chicago, IL, 2003); Armin Fuhrer, Hitlers Spiele. Olympia 1936 in Berlin (Berlin, 2011).
59. Arnd Krüger, Theodor Lewald. Sportführer ins Dritte Reich (Berlin, Munich, and Frankfurt a. M., 1975).
60. Mandell, Olympiade, 72ff.; Krüger, Spiele, 109ff. (USA) and 151ff. (the other foreign countries); Large, Games, 69f.
61. PA 1936, 777 and 927. On the temporary restrictions on Jewish persecution see Longerich, ‘Davon’, 101.
62. Ute Brucker-Boroujerdi and Wolfgang Wippermann, ‘Das “Zigeunerlager” Marzahn’, in Wolfgang Ribbe (ed.), Berlin Forschungen II (Berlin, 1987).
63. Volker Boch, Die Olympischen Spiele unter Berücksichtigung des jüdischen Sports (Konstanz, 2002), 72ff.
64. Walter Radetz, Der Stärkere. Ein Buch über Werner Seelenbinder (Berlin, 1982).
65. VB (N), 2 August 1936, ‘Adolf Hitler eröffnet die Spiele von Berlin’. On the opening ceremony see Mandell, Olympiade, 139ff.; Krüger, Spiele, 195f.; Large, Games, 191ff.
66. Goebbels TB, 1–17 August 1936; Domarus, 1, 632ff., with evidence of Hitler’s public appearances during the Games; VB (N), 3–16 August on Hitler’s appearances at the various sports venues and on his receptions.
67. On the various events surrounding the Games see Rürup (ed.), 1936, 120ff.; Stöckel, Berlin, 180ff. See also Der Angriff, 17 August 1936, ‘Märchen auf der Pfaueninsel’; VB (N), 15 August 1936, ‘Gartenfest bei Generaloberst Göring’.
68. The press was repeatedly admonished to play down the ‘racial aspect’ when reporting the sporting successes and to restrain its enthusiasm about German victories. See PA 1936, 831f., 841, 881f., and 895.
69. Franz Becker, ‘Schneller, lauter, schöner? Die Olympischen Spiele von 1936 in Berlin als Medienspektakel’, in Friedrich Lenger and Ansgar Nünning (eds), Medienereignisse der Moderne (Darmstadt, 2008).
70. Stöckel, Berlin, 164f.
71. On the Olympia film and Hitler’s support for Riefenstahl see Lutz Kinkel, Die Scheinwerferin (Hamburg, 2002), 107ff.; Jürgen Trimborn, Riefenstahl. Eine deutsche Karriere. Biographie (Berlin, 2002), 238ff.; Rainer Rother, Leni Riefenstahl. Die Verführung des Talents (Berlin, 2000), 87ff.; Steven Bach, Leni. The Life and Work of Leni Riefenstahl (New York, 2007), 141ff.; Cooper C. Graham, Leni. Riefenstahl and Olympia (Metuchen, NJ, 1986); Hilmar Hoffmann, Mythos Olympia – Autonomie und Unterwerfung von Sport und Kultur. Hitlers Olympiade, olympische Kultur und Riefenstahls Olympia-Film (Berlin, 1993).
72. On the international press response see Krüger, Spiele, 206ff.; for a comprehensive and relatively sober assessment of the foreign press see a report by the Foreign Ministry published and commented on in Jürgen Bellers (ed.), Die Olympiade Berlin 1936 im Spiegel der ausländischen Presse (Münster, 1986), and the postscript on the systematic drilling of the Berlin population. See Ralf Beduhn, ‘Berlin 1936: Olympia im Potemkinschen Dorf’, in Bellers (ed.), Olympiade, 198. Ewald Grothe, ‘Die Olympischen Spiele von 1936. Höhepunkt der NS-Propaganda?’, in Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht 59 (2008), 291–307, sums up the impact of the Games abroad as ambivalent. These conclusions contradict the picture sketched in Ian Kershaw, Hitler, 2 (Stuttgart, 2000), 39, of an impressive propaganda success abroad.
73. Goebbels TB, 16 August 1936.
74. Ulrich Chaussy, Nachbar Hitler. Führerkult und Heimatzerstörung am Obersalzberg (Berlin, 1995).
75. Institut für Zeitgeschichte (If Z), 3890-PS, Minute of a meeting with Göring on 30 July 1936; see also Kube, Pour le mérite, 152.
76. BAF, RW 19/991, Result of the meeting between Schacht and the Reich governors, 20 August 1936.
77. Goebbels TB, 1 September 1936.
78. Hitler had already decided
to appoint Ribbentrop on 21 July in Bayreuth. See Goebbels TB, 22 July 1936. For his mission see the unpublished manuscript by Hermann von Raumer, quoted in Wolfgang Michalka, Ribbentrop und die deutsche Weltpolitik 1933–1940. Außenpolitische Konzeptionen und Entscheidungsprozesse im Dritten Reich (Munich, 1980), 155. On 2 January 1938 Ribbentrop himself commented in retrospect that he had been sceptical about the enterprise at the time. See ADAP D 1, No. 93. On the appointment on 26 July 1941 see Hans-Adolf Jacobsen, Nationalsozialistische Außenpolitik, 1933–1938 (Frankfurt a. M. and Berlin, 1968), 302f.
79. Quoted from Wilhelm Treue, ‘Hitlers Denkschrift zum Vierjahresplan’, in VfZ 3 (1955), 184–210. See also Kube, Pour le mérite, 153ff.; Petzina, Autarkiepolitik, 48ff.; Kershaw, Hitler, 1, 53ff.; Tooze, Ökonomie, 261ff.
80. Law concerning the Exploitation of Mineral Resources of 1 December 1936 in RGBl. 1936 I, 999f., authorizing mining authorities to compel those with mining rights to exploit them. Decree concerning the Use of Rye and Wheat for the Production of Brandy of 27 November 1936 in ibid., 954f.
81. Tooze, Ökonomie, 252.
82. Deist, ‘Aufrüstung’, 517ff.; Müller, Heer, No. 140.
83. Deist, ‘Aufrüstung’, 523.
84. Ibid., 525.
85. Ibid., 527.
86. Führer Edict concerning the Length of Conscription in the Wehrmacht in RGBl. 1936 I, 706; see also Deist, ‘Aufrüstung’, 525f.
87. Reden des Führers auf dem Parteitag der Ehre 1936 (Munich, 1936), 11ff. and 19ff.
88. Statistisches Jahrbuch 1938, 255. The increase in imports of wheat and maize was excessive. Hitler asserted that he had just issued the instructions for the implementation of this gigantic German economic plan (Reden Parteitag 1936, 22), which was not actually the case. He only signed the Decree for the Implementation of the Four-Year Plan and formally assigned Göring the task on 18 October 1936. See RGBl. 1936 I, 887.
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