3 From Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 148.
4 The catalogue of demands are detailed in Röhr, ‘Freikorps’, p 39; cf Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 261; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 148.
5 Röhr, ‘Freikorps’, p 38; Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 261.
6 Röhr, ‘Freikorps’, p 38.
7 See Crowe, David M, Oskar Schindler, Frankfurt am Main 2005, who describes the activities of German intelligence in Czechoslovakia, with special attention to Oskar Schindler, an Abwehr agent during the Sudeten crisis and who, until the invasion of Poland, played an important role. See Mader, Hitlers Spionagegenerale, p 15off, who deals extensively with the recruitment of Henlein’s deputy Frank by the Abwehr (probably in 1937). Höhne, Canaris, p 278f.
8 Crowe, Schindler, p 129.
9 Mader, Hitlers Spionagegenerale, p 150.
10 Ibid, p 151; Höhne, Canaris, p 279.
11 From Crowe, Schindler, p 32.
12 Ibid.
13 Memorandum, Beck: ‘Betrachtungen zur Militärpolitischen Lage im Mai 1938 vom 05.05. 1938’, printed in Müller, Beck, Document 44, p 5 m and 512.
14 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 149.
15 Hill, Leonidas E (ed), Die Weizsäcker-Papiere 1933–1950, Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, 1974, p 127f.
16 Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 83; Höhne, Canaris, p 281; Brandes, Detlev, ‘Die Politik des Dritten Reiches gegenTher der Tschechoslowakei, in Funke, Manfred (ed), Hitler, Deutschland und die Mächte, Düsseldorf 1978, p 516; Smelser, Sudetenproblem, p 201.
17 Canaris, undated telex (probably 21/22 May), IMG, vol XXV, document 388-PS, p 432.
18 Jodl diaries, account with clear date; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 152.
19 Changed instruction for ‘Aufmarsch Grün’, 30 May 1938, IMG, vol XXV, document 388-PS, p 434f.
20 Draft for the new instruction ‘Grün, 20 May 1938, IMG, vol XXV, document 388-PS, pp 422–7.
21 ‘Denkschrift an den Oberbefehlshaber des Heeres über die Militärische Aussichtslosigkeit eines Krieges gegen die Tschechoslowakei vom 15. 07. 1938’, printed in Müller, Beck, document 48, p 538.
22 ‘Vortragsnotiz Becks über mögliche innen-und außenpolitischeEntwicklungen, insbesondere über das Verhalten der obersten Militärischen Führung angesichts der Gefahr eines Krieges mit der Tschechoslowakei vom 16. 07. 1938’, printed in Müller, Beck, document 50, p 552. See Heinemann, Winfried, ‘Der Militärische Widerstand und der Krieg’, in DRZW, Vol 9.1, Die deutsche Kriegsgesellschaft 1939– 1943. Politisierung Vernichtung, Uberleben, Stuttgart, 2004, p 756.
23 Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 326f; Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 89f.
24 ‘Vortragsnotiz des Chefs des Generalstabs des Heeres vom 18. Juli 1938 mit ergänzenden Vorschlägen zur Vortragsnotiz vom 16. Juli 1938’, reprinted in Müller, Beck, document 51, pp 554–6; cf also Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 327f; Reynolds, Nicholas, Beck-. Gehorsam und Widerstand, Wiesbaden and Munich, 1977, p ì45⅞ Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 90.
25 According to Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 329.
26 According to Reynolds, Beck, p 146.
27 Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 90; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–194$, p 157.
28 ‘Vortragsnotiz Becks über innen-und außenpolitische Informationen von Hauptmann a.D. Wiedemann und eigene Vorschlage zu innenpolitischen Maßnahmen der Generalitat vom 29. 07. 1938’, reprinted in Müller, Beck, document 52, p 558.
29 For the timing of Beck’s decision see Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 333.
30 Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 9ì.
31 Memorandum, Legationrat von der Heyden-Rynsch (Pol. Abt.), 6 August 1938, ADAP, series D, vol II, no 337, p 429.
32 Goebbels’s Diaries, vol 3, entry 10 August 1938, p 1250.
33 Goebbels’s Diaries, vol 3, entry 13 August 1938, p 1251.
34 Quoted from Höhne, Canaris, p 286.
35 Groscurth diaries, p 102, entry 15 August 1938 (private diary).
36 ‘Bericht des Generalmajor Lahousen. Geheimorganisation Canaris’, Part I, BA-MA, MSg 1/2812, p 1.
37 Groscurth diaries, pp 111 and 113, entries 2 and 4 September 1938 (private diary).
38 Scheurig, Bodo, Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin. Ein Konservativer gegen Hitler, Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, 1994, pp 150 and 153ff. Scheurig points out that most documents used by Colvin for his sources are not valid in every case and that he personally only uses information confirmed by the principal witness, von Schlabrendorff, p 222, n 9; see also Klemperer, Klemens von, Die verlassenen Verschwörer. Der deutsche Widerstand auf der Suche nach Verbundeten 1938–1943, Berlin, 1994, p 95ff; Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 93f.
39 From Scheurig, Kleist-Schmenzin, p 153; similarly Thun-Hohenstein, Verschwörer, p 93; Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 83.
40 Scheurig, Kleist-Schmenzin, p 154.
41 Groscurth diaries, p 102f, entry 20 August 1938, n 20 and 23 (private diary); for State visit see Weizsäcker, Ernst von, Erinnerungen, Munich, 1950, p 168f; Hill, Weizsäcker-Papiere 1933–1930, pp 137–9; for Canaris’s Hungarian contacts also Abshagen, Canaris, pp 187–90.
42 Hill, Weizsäcker-Papiere 1933–1930, p 139.
43 Groscurth diaries, p 103, entry 23 August 1938 (private diary).
44 Ibid, n 24.
45 Ibid, p 104, entry 27 August 1938 (private diary).
46 Ibid.
47 Documents on British Foreign Policy, 3rdSeries, volII, 1938, London, 1949, p 688, here quoted from Scheurig, Kleist-Schmenzin, p 158.
48 Ibid; Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 86.
49 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 162.
50 Groscurth diaries, p 107, entry 29 August 1938 (private diary).
51 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 163.
52 Groscurth diaries, p 113, entry 4 September 1938 (private diary).
53 Ibid, n 68.
54 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 163.
55 Groscurth diaries, p 114, entry 8 September 1938 (private diary).
56 Ibid, p 115, n 78; cf also Smelser, Sudetenproblem, p 210.
57 Groscurth diaries, p 113, entry 8 September 1938.
58 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 164.
59 Groscurth diaries, p 118, entry 13 September 1938 (private diary).
60 Jodl diaries, entry 13 September 1938, p 378.
61 Röhr, ‘Freikorps’, p 40f.
62 Ibid, p 41.
63 Ibid, p 45.
64 IMG, vol XXV, document PS-388, p 445, Telegram Schmundt to OKH, quoted in Röhr, ‘Freikorps’, p 48. Groscurth diaries, entry 17 September 1938, p 120 with n 104.
65 Röhr, ‘Freikorps’, p 51.
66 Groscurth diaries, p 121f., entry 19 September 1938, with n 107 (private diary).
67 Ibid, p 122, entry 20 September 1938 (private diary).
68 Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 348.
69 Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, p 281.
70 Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 86.
71 Ibid; Klemperer, Verschwörer, p 98.
72 Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 87.
73 Halder’s communication to Krausnick, 14 July 1955, in Krausnick, Vorgeschichte, p 341 n 399.
74 Weizsäcker, Erinnerungen, p 175.
75 Ibid, p 176.
76 Burckhardt, Carl J, MeineDanzigerMission 1935–1939, Munich, 1980, p 181f.
77 Cf additionally Thielenhaus, Marion, Zwischen Anpassung und Widerstand.. Deutsche Diplomaten 1938–1941, Paderborn, 1985, p 71ff.
78 Quoted from ibid.
79 Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, p 281.
80 Quoted from Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 92.
81 Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 357.
82 Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, p 282. Presumably this originated from Heinz, who meant the current plans of the inner circle of conspirators to kill Hitler. See Heinz, ‘Canaris’, p 96ff.
83 Scheurig, Bodo, Henning von Tresckow, Oldenburg and Hamburg, 1973, p 1gff.
84 Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, p 283.
85 Smid, Dohnanyi -Bonhoeffer, p 194; Bethge, Eberhard, Dietrich Bonh
oeffer -Eine Biographie, Munich, 1967, p 71of; Chowaniec, Elisabeth, Der ‘FallDohnanyi’ 1443–1945. Widerstand, Militärjustiz, Willkdr, Schriftenreihe der Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 62, Munich, 1991, p 14f.
86 This profile originated with Heinz’s biographer, Susanne Meinl, who has assembled the most detailed research to date into the various Nationalist opposition groups to Hitler. Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, pp 284–8.
87 Heinz spoke of two assault squads each of about fifty men, but without going into details of their composition; Heinz, ‘Canaris’, p 96b Buchheit, after speaking to Heinz, wrote of an assault squad of thirty men; Buchheit, Geheimdienst, p 148.
88 Gehre’s participation was confirmed by Josef Müller, who learned of this from Gehre at Flossenbürg shortly before Gehre’s execution there in 1945. IfZ, ZS 659, vol IV.
89 Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, p 285b For Herzner see the next Part.
90 Heinz, ‘Canaris’, p ioo; see also Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, pp 288–90; Hoffmann, Widerstand, pp 117 and 122ff; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 362ff.
91 Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 125.
92 Krausnick, Deutsch and Kotze, Einführung, p 35. If Reinhard Groscurth was correct in saying that it waSmid-September and not the end of the month, then it must have been the evening of the 14th. His brother’s observation that ‘something had happened in between’ presumably meant Chamberlain’s first visit to Hitler. After the Munich Conference the carpet had been pulled out from under the coup d’etat preparations. That would also contradict Bassett’s assertion (Hitler’s Spy Chief, p 160) that Canaris, Groscurth, Lahousen and Piekenbrock were dining together when news was received of Chamberlain’s visit. Fest, Staatsstreich, p 98, with n 33, is of the opinion that it was more probably on the evening of 27 September, since the coup preparations were not complete by mid-September. Erich Kordt reported, however, that Oster had told him on 13 September that the coup would be carried out, the decision coming within forty-eight hours. Then came Chamberlain’s suggestion to meet Hitler. Kordt, Nicht aus den Akten, p 258. Höhne, Canaris, p 294, dates Groscurth’s assertion in Krausnick, Deutsch and Kotze likewise at 14 September. From the foregoing it would seem that the conspirators were ready to act in mid-September, after which Heinz and Oster’s decision to kill Hitler changed. See also Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, p 295; Smid, Dohnanyi -Bonhoeffer, p 194, and above all the discussion in Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 697Ç n 293, who quotes Kordt amongst others (but not Groscurth) and is therefore of the opinion that Kordt’s dates are incorrect. The possibility that there were two dates for the coup, both frustrated by Chamberlain’s activities, can probably no longer be ascertained.
93 Kershaw, Hitler 1/436–1/443, p 164.
94 From Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 277.
95 Schmidt, Paul, Statist auf diplomatischer Bühne1423–1443, Bonn, 1949, pp 396–8; interpreter Paul Schmidt was the only other person present at this conversation; see Schmidt, Außenpolitik, pp 278–80; Kershaw, Hitler 1436–1443, pp 165–6.
96 Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 281; Kershaw, Hitler 1436–1443, p 167.
97 Schmidt, Statist, pp 400–2; cf Schmidt, Außenpolitik, pp 281–3; Kershaw, Hitler 1436–1443, p 169.
98 Schmidt, Statist, pp 403–6; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 170f.
99 Groscurth diaries, p 122, entry 21 September 1938 (private diary).
100 Ibid, n 114.
101 Affidavit, Gottlob Berger, IMG, vol IV, p 177f (quoted extract from document US 3036-PS, US-102).
102 Groscurth diaries, p 122f, entry, 21 September 1938, with n π¾ (private diary).
103 Herbert, Best, p 235.
104 Jodl diaries, entry 27 September 1938, p 387.
105 Herbert, Best, p 236.
106 Groscurth diaries, p 126, entry 28 September 1938 (private diary).
107 All quotations from Herbert, Best, p 235.
108 Groscurth diaries, p 127, entry 28 Septmeber 1938 (private diary).
109 Heinz, Canaris, p 96.
110 Ibid, p 98.
111 Kordt, Nicht aus den Akten, p 262.
112 Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, p 295.
113 Kordt, Nicht aus den Akten, p 270; Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, p 296b
114 Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 181; also for previous, ibid, pp 176–8o.
115 Heinemann, ‘Der Militärische Widerstand und der Krieg’, p 756; Hoffmann, Widerstand, pp 125f and 132; Fest, Staatsstreich, p iii.
116 Quoted from Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 129.
117 Meinl, Nationalsozialisten, p 298.
118 Groscurth,‘PersönlicherReisebericht über die Reise in die befreiten sudetendeutschen Gebiete vom i.-7. Oktober 1938’ dated io October 1938, reproduced in Groscurth diaries, pp 129–36.
119 Ibid, p 136.
PART IV: FINIS GERMANIAE
17 The Will for War
1 Below, Nicolaus von, Als Hitlers Adjutant 1939–45, Mainz, 198o, p 18o.
2 Note, General a.D. Liepmann, in Baumgart, Winfried, ‘Zur Ansprache Hitlers vor den Führern der Wehrmacht vom 22. August 1939. Eine quellenkritische Untersuchung’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 16, 1968, pp 120–49. For participants, content and course of conference in detail, see Boehm, Hermann and Baumgart, Winfried, ‘Miszelle: “Zur Ansprache Hitlers vor den Führern der Wehrmacht am 22. August 1939”’, Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte 19, 1971, pp 294–304.
3 Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprache’, p 144, n 97.
4 Ibid, p 145.
5 Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol 2, p 114. Cf also Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprache’, p 120, n 2.
6 For the various versions of the speech, particularly for discussions on the quality and authorship of the notes, including those by Canaris, see Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprache’, and Boehm and Baumgart, ‘Miszelle’. The two undated and unsigned jottings found later in OKW files were used as central documents by the prosecution at Nuremberg: IMG, vol XXVI, pp 338–46, document 798-PS (ADAP, series D, vol 7, pp 167–70, no 192) and IMG, vol XXVI, pp 523–4, document 1014-PS (ADAP, series D, vol 7, pp 171–2, no 193). For content and significance of the speech see also Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 409 ff and primarily Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, pp 292–6.
7 Below, Adjutant, p 181.
8 ADAP, series D, vol 7, pp 167–70.
9 Ibid, p 169.
10 Ibid, p 170.
11 IMG, vol 9, p 547, statement by Goering.
12 Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 135f and 149, and Below, Adjutant, p 181.
13 ADAP, series D, vol 7, no 193, p 171f.
14 Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 133f, n 57. Cf also Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 295. The Nuremberg prosecutors attached great weight to this sentence in document 1014-PS.
15 Ibid, p 172.
16 For the later reactions see Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 141, n 84 and p 146f, n 101; Kershaw, Hitler 1936–1945, p 296f.
17 Quoted from Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 41i.
18 Below, Adjutant, p 182.
19 Copy, Abwehr II service diary, BA-MA, RW 5/497–499, photocopy at IfZ, F 23/i, hereafter ‘Lahousen diaries’, p 4, entry 23 August 1939, folio 7. British secret service expert and author Anthony Cave Brown, Bodyguard of Lies. The Extraordinary True Story behind D-Day, London, 1975, reprinted Guildford, 2002, p 176, originated the version whereby at Munich that evening the notes passed from Canaris to Oster, who gave them in his sleeping car to Berlin to his confidant, the deputy Dutch military attache, Gijsbertus Jacobus Sas. From Sas they passed to the resident SIS agent in Berlin, Major Francis Foley, from whom they went immediately to Paris and London. This variation does not occur elsewhere in the literature and I would like to thank Heinz Höhne for pointing it out.
20 Gisevius, Bis zum betteren Ende, vol 2, p 119f.
21 Cf Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, pp 127 and 137, who indicates that Gisevius’s recollections are to be ‘treated with caution’, but argues convincingly that this was the document that caused Louis P Lochner to make a stronger case to the British ambassadorial advi
ser. This item (Nuremberg document L003, ADAP, series D, vol 7, p 170f) was not admitted in evidence at Nuremberg.
22 Groscurth diaries, p 179, entry 24 August 1939.
23 Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 121f; Müller: Heer und Hitler, p 412f.
24 Hoffmann, Widerstand, p 143; cf also p 702, n 55 and communication from Krausnick to Baumgart in Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 121, n 11.
25 Baumgart, ‘Zur Ansprach’, p 121f; Müller, Heer und Hitler, p 412f.
26 All quotations from Nuremberg document L003, ADAP, series D, vol 7, p 171f.
27 Ibid, p 172.
28 Halder, war diary, vol I, p 30.
29 Cf also for detail ‘Die Errichtung der Hegemonie auf dem Europäischen Kontinent’, DRZW, vol 2, pp 92–104.
30 DRZW, vol 2, pp 104–10.
31 Schindler, Herbert, Mosty und Dirschau 1939. Zwei Handstreiche der Wehrmacht vor Beginn des Polenfeldzuges, Einzelschriften zur militärischen Geschichte des Zweiten Weltkrieges 7, Freiburg, 1979. Also see Höhne, Canaris, p 321f.
32 Schindler, Mosty und Dirschau, p 1o8ff.
33 Ibid, p 111.
34 Leverkuehn, DergeheimeNachrichtendienst, p 23; Buchheit, Geheimdienst, p 308.
35 Ibid, pp 308–9.
36 Schindler, Mosty und Dirschau, p 21.
37 Ibid, p 19.
38 Buchheit, Geheimdienst, p 309.
39 Abshagen, Canaris, p 198.
40 See Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 33of and Rauscher, Walter, Hitler und Mussolini. Macht, Krieg und Terror, Graz, Vienna and Cologne, 2001, p 316f.
41 For the background of Italian policy, of the initial determination for war – not only at this point in time – and its influence on Hitler’s policies cf also ‘Der Mittelmeerraum und Südosteuropa. Of Italy’s “non belligeranza” until the entry of the United States into the war’, DRZW, vol 3, Stuttgart, 1984, pp 5–8.
42 Moseley, Ray, Zwischen Hitler und Mussolini – Das Doppelleben des Grafen Ciano, Berlin, 1998, p m3; Rauscher, Hitler und Mussolini, p 330.
43 Schmidt, Statist, p 439.
44 Schmidt, Außenpolitik, p 333; Rauscher, Hitler und Mussolini, p 330f.
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