Goebbels: A Biography

by Peter Longerich

  75. TB, 6 December 1929.

  76. TB, 13 January 1930; see also 17 January 1930.

  77. TB, 24 and 25 January 1930.

  78. TB, 29 and 30 January 1930.

  79. TB, 31 January 1930.

  80. TB, 5 and 6 February 1930; VB, 5 February 1930, Hitler’s announcement of a Berlin edition of the VB.

  81. TB, 15 February 1930, also 8 February.

  82. TB, 16 February 1930.

  83. VB, 16/17 February 1930. Hitler was emphasizing here the preeminence of the Party’s central publishing house “in contrast to private publishers who publish Nazi newspapers or literature”; TB, 18 February 1930.

  84. TB, 20 February 1930.

  85. TB, 22 February 1930.

  86. TB, 2 March 1930.

  87. On Göring’s and Lippert’s negotiations in Munich, see TB, 5 March 1930. See also 8 March 1930.

  88. TB, 16 March 1930; on his disappointment, see also 20 and 28 March 1930 (quotation).

  89. TB, 5 March 1930.

  90. TB, 23 March 1930.

  91. TB, 1, 4, 5, and 14 April 1930.

  92. TB, 25 April 1930.

  93. Winkler, Weimar, 359ff.

  94. TB, 1 April 1930.

  95. TB, 4 April 1930.

  96. Der Angriff, 6 April 1930, “Hugenberg” (editorial).

  97. Winkler, Weimar, 378.

  98. TB, 13 April 1930.

  99. TB, 28 April 1930. On Hitler’s speech, see RSA III/3, doc. 38.

  100. TB, 2, 12, and 24 May 1930.

  101. TB, 2 and 24 May 1930: “Himmler is still too preoccupied with detail. He has no wider vision.”

  102. TB, 27 May 1930.

  103. TB, 24 May 1930; Paul, Aufstand, 70. This refers to Fritz Reinhardt, who had opened a speakers’ school for the NSDAP in 1928.

  104. TB, 2 and 3 May 1930; BAB, NS 26/133, NS-Führerbriefe July 1930, Hans-Severus Ziegler, Ein Besuch beim Berliner Gau; Reuth, Goebbels, p 163.

  105. TB, 3 and 4 May 1930. On the Strasser crisis, see also Kershaw, Hitler. 1889–1936, 412ff.; Reuth, Goebbels, 163ff.

  106. TB, 20, 22, and 24 May 1930.

  107. TB, 22 May 1930: “Yesterday and today he had long talks with Dr. Strasser. The latter gives the impression of being completely rootless and inorganic, an intellectual white Jew, totally incapable of organization, a Marxist of the first order”; Strasser, Ministersessel oder Revolution; Tyrell, Führer, 314.

  108. TB, 29 May 1930.

  109. TB, 12, 14, and 23 June 1930.

  110. Der Angriff, 3 July 1930, printed Hitler’s letter to Goebbels of 30 June 1930, in which the Party leader authorized him to carry out a “ruthless purge” of the Berlin Party organization.

  111. TB, 26 June 1930; on the exclusions, see 27 and 28 June 1930.

  112. TB, 26 June 1930.

  113. TB, 1 July 1930; Kissenkoetter, Gregor Straßer und die NSDAP, 44f.

  114. TB, 1 and 3 July 1930; Der Angriff, 3 July 1930.

  115. TB, 3 July 1930.

  116. TB, 6 July 1930; on the crisis, see also 5 July 1930; Der Angriff, 6 July 1930, with a statement by Hitler of 4 July, according to which the newspapers of the Kampf-verlag should be regarded as “opposition newspapers”; Wörtz, Programmatik, 34ff.

  7. “DARE TO LIVE DANGEROUSLY!”

  1. TB, 18 July 1930.

  2. TB, 18 and 20 July 1930. On the dissolution of the Reichstag and its background, see Winkler, Weimar, 378ff.

  3. TB, 20 July 1930.

  4. TB, 23 July 1930.

  5. TB, 28 and 29 July 1930. See also Goebbels’s report on the meeting in Der Angriff of 2 August 1930: “Es kann losgehen.” On the dissolution of parliament and the election campaign, see also Reuth, Goebbels, 168f.; Paul, Aufstand der Bilder, 73.

  6. TB, 29 July, 2 August 1930.

  7. This is revealed by the replies to a questionnaire that Goebbels sent to the Gaus in May 1930; NS 18/5010; see Mühlenfeld, “Zur Bedeutung der NS-Propaganda,” 98. Goebbels undertook serious attempts to reorganize the propaganda machine only at the beginning of 1931; see 158f.

  8. On the election campaign, see Lau, Wahlkämpfe der Weimarer Republik, 420ff.; Hacket, The Nazi Party in the Reichstag Election of 1930; Paul, Aufstand, 90f., which also includes reproductions of the posters, nos. 51 and 48; Goebbels’s circular of 23 July 1930 (long quotations in Paul, Aufstand, 90f., former NL Streicher in the BAK); circular of 15 August 1930 in BHStA Varia, 1425.

  9. TB, 13 August 1930; Der Angriff, 14 August 1930, “Dr. Goebbels freigesprochen” (headline); BAK, NL 1548/2, Lebenserinnerungen des Rechtsanwalts Rüdiger Graf v. d. Goltz, vol. 2, 171ff.

  10. TB, 1 August 1930; the speech of 20 June 1927 is commented on in a report of the Reich Commissioner for the Supervision of Public Order of autumn 1927 published in Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, 286ff.; BAB, NS 26/2512, correspondence of the Reich Court with Munich police headquarters; Thacker, Goebbels, 111f., gives further details.

  11. TB, 5 and 6 July 1930; BAK, NL 1548/2, 168ff.

  12. TB, 17 July 1930.

  13. TB, 9 August 1930.

  14. VZ, 15 August 1930, “Goebbels freigesprochen.” See also Reuth, Goebbels, 170.

  15. TB, 15 July 1930.

  16. TB, 17 August 1930; Der Angriff, 29 December 1930, Politisches Tagebuch; LA Berlin, A Rep 358-01/25, indictment of 16 May 1930, verdict of 16 August 1930. On the reporting of the trial, see Der Angriff, 17 August 1930.

  17. TB, 8 August 1930.

  18. TB, 12 August 1930.

  19. TB, 17 August 1930.

  20. TB, 30 August 1930. On the Stennes rebellion of summer 1930, see Reuth, Goebbels, 171ff.

  21. Der Angriff, 31 August 1930, “Der Sieg wird unser sein!” (headline).

  22. LA Berlin, A Rep. 358-01/47, verdict of the Magistrate’s court of 1 September 1930.

  23. RSA III/3, doc. 99, telegram to von Pfeffer, 1 September 1930 and docs. 101 and 102, instructions of 2 September 1930.

  24. RSA III/3, doc. 100.

  25. TB, 8 September 1930 on the previous day. See also Engelbrechten, Armee, 139, and Der Angriff, 11 September 1930, “Riesenpropaganda der ‘meuternden’ S.A.” The article reported that the SA had been driven through Berlin on 26 trucks, of which 24 had trailers.

  26. TB, 11 September 1930; VB (B), 12 September 1930, “Adolf Hitler im Sportpalast,” Reuth, Goebbels, 173f.

  27. TB, 11 September 1930.

  28. TB, 12 September 1930.

  29. TB, 14 September 1930: “I’m expecting a big victory.”

  30. Statistisches Jahrbuch der Stadt Berlin 7 (1931), 339ff.

  31. TB, 15 September 1930.

  32. Der Angriff, 18 September 1930, “Unser der Sieg”; on the election victory, see also Reuth, Goebbels, 174.

  33. TB, 18 September 1930.

  34. TB, 21 Sepember 1930.

  35. TB, 2 October 1930; see also 9 October 1930 about a Gauleiter meeting at which there was a very “hostile mood” toward the SA leadership.

  36. TB, 26 September 1930; Bucher, Der Reichswehrprozeß.

  37. TB, 23 September 1930.

  38. On the meeting, see Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, 64f.; Brüning, Memoiren 1918–1934, 200ff.; Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, 140f., on the background to the meeting. See also Reuth, Goebbels, 177.

  39. TB, 6 October 1930. On 5 October in Der Angriff Goebbels had demanded the NSDAP’s participation in the Prussian government as a precondition for the NSDAP taking part in government.

  40. TB, 12 October 1930.

  41. TB, 11 October 1930; VZ, 14 October 1930.

  42. Der Angriff, 16 October 1930, “Wie Goebbels in den Reichstag kam.”

  43. TB, 14 October 1930.

  44. TB, 23 September 1930, also 21 September 1930.

  45. TB, 27 September 1930; see also 28 September 1930. On the reorganization of Der Angriff as a daily, see Reuth, Goebbels, 181.

  46. TB, 9 October 1930.

  47. Der Angriff, 1 November 1930; TB, 2 Nove
mber 1930.

  48. TB, 12 November 1930.

  49. TB, 27 November 1930.

  50. Longerich, Geschichte der SA, 45ff.

  51. Longerich, Geschichte der SA, 108; TB, 28 November, 2 December 1931 (on the appointment).

  52. TB, 6 December 1930; VZ, 7 December 1930, “Stinkbomben gegen den Remarque-Film” (a review of the film had appeared the day before). On the campaign, see Engelbrechten, Armee, 145; Reuth, Goebbels, 182f.; Dörp, “Goebbels’ Kampf gegen Remarque.” Goebbels had read the book the previous year and had loathed it; see TB, 21 and 23 July 1929.

  53. Der Angriff, 8 December 1930, “Heraus zum Protest!”

  54. TB, 9 December 1930; VZ, 9 December 1930, “Die Krawalle beim Remarque-Film”; see also the report in the Berliner Lokalanzeiger, 9 December 1930.

  55. TB, 10 December 1930; VZ, 10 December 1930, “Herrschaft der Straße.”

  56. VZ, 12 December 1930, “Remarque-Film verboten”; TB, 12 December 1930.

  57. TB, 14 December 1930, also 13 December.

  58. TB, 18 January 1931. On the increased activism at the beginning of 1931, see Reuth, Goebbels, 187.

  59. TB, 23 January 1931; Engelbrechten, Armee, 148; Reschke, Der Kampf der Nationalsozialisten, 92ff.

  60. VZ, 24 January 1931.

  61. Der Angriff, 23, 24 (quotation), 26, 27 (quotation), 31 January, 2 February 1931.

  62. VZ, 3 February 1931, “Die Waffen nieder! Blutiges Wochenende.”

  63. TB, 11 January 1931. See also Reuth, Goebbels, 188.

  64. TB, 20 January 1931.

  65. TB, 11, 20, and 23 January 1931.

  66. TB, 23 February 1931.

  67. The TB entries in 1930 often include invitations to the Görings or visits together to the theater and the like, e.g., 8, 20, and 30 January, 8 and 12 February, 2, 13, 19, and 21 March, 1 and 7 April, 3 and 26 May, 1, 15–17, and 25 June, 2 and 16 July, 18 and 24 August, 11, 15, 22, 23, 29, and 30 September, 1 and 30 October, 17 and 19 November, 4 and 25 December.

  68. TB, 18–24 April 1930.

  69. TB, 4 January 1931; on the dispute with Göring, see also 3 January 1931.

  70. TB, 20 February 1931.

  71. TB, 18 January 1931.

  72. TB, 12 and 28 January, 21 (conversation with Kaufmann) and 23 February, 1 March 1931.

  73. TB, 13 and 22 January, 20 February 1931.

  74. TB, 21 February 1931.

  75. TB, 16 March 1931

  76. TB, 26 February 1931.

  77. TB, 15 January 1931.

  78. TB, 27 February 1931.

  79. TB, 4 March 1931.

  80. TB, 6 March 1931.

  81. TB, 6 March 1931.

  82. TB, 25 March 1931. See also 26 February 1931. “Poor old Hitler! He must escape from the Munich Milieu.”

  83. “Wirtschaftsprogramm,” Der Angriff, 12 October 1930, also already in “Weiter arbeiten!,” 28 September 1930.

  84. TB, 17 December 1930.

  85. TB, 13 and 16 March 1931; Höver, Goebbels, 335ff.; the paper is published in Barkai, “Wirtschaftliche Grundanschauungen und Ziele der N.S.D.A.P.,” 373ff.

  86. TB, 17 March 1931; Reupke, Der Nationalsozialismus und die Wirtschaft; against Reupke, also TB, 23 and 28 March 1931.

  87. TB, 25 March 1931.

  88. TB, 14 March 1931.

  89. Der Angriff, 14 March 1931, “Attentat auf Dr. Goebbels.”

  90. LA Berlin, A Rep 358-01/509, police interviews with former Party workers Weiss and Francke, 8 and 12 May 1931; Abteilung IA, report of 27 March 1931: “Thus all in all there is the suspicion that the attack on Dr. Goebbels was carried out by the NSDAP as a propaganda exercise”; VZ, 5 May 1931, “Die Bombe für Goebbels. Ein plumper Reklametrick. Wie ‘Attentate’ gemacht werden”; Reuth, Goebbels, 189f. and 195.

  91. TB, 19 and 21 March 1931; Der Angriff, 20 March: “Dr. Goebbels darf sprechen—aber nur vor fünf Männern” (headline), here too an editorial by Goebbels: “Wie sollen wir’s machen?”; 21 March 1931, “Gummiknüppel auf Dr. Goebbels—Unerhörte Vorgänge in Königsberg” (headline); see also Goebbels’s editorial “Die Freiheit des Wortes”; 24 March 1931, “Allgemeines Redeverbot für Dr. Goebbels”; 25 March 1931, “Die Versammlungswelle steigt: Polizei besteht auf rechtswidrigem Redeverbot” (headline).

  92. RGBl. 1931 I, 79ff., Reich Presidential Decree Against Political Disorder; Der Angriff, 31 March 1931, editorial in which Goebbels writes of a “Brüning dictatorship”; see also Reuth, Goebbels, 191.

  93. TB, 28 March 1931, and 29 March 1931.

  94. TB, 29 March 1931.

  95. TB, 31 March 1931.

  96. Der Angriff, 1 April 1931, “Hauptmann Stennes nicht abgesetzt! Eine Erklärung an die Presse” (headline); VZ, 2 April 1931, “Führerkrise im Hitler-Lager” (headline).

  97. TB, 2 April 1931. On the conflict, see also Reuth, Goebbels, 192ff.

  98. Der Angriff, 2 April 1931, “Kampf um den Nationalsozialismus” (headline). The full wording of this assignment of authority was published in the VB (Bavaria), in the form of a letter from Hitler to Goebbels, 3 April 1931.

  99. TB, 4 April 1931. On the course of the coup, see also the detailed reports of the VZ during these days. The VB began its reporting of these events on 3 April and was already announcing that the coup had collapsed on 5 April (Bavarian edition).

  100. This behavior prompted the VZ to publish an ironic article on 11 April, (“Goebbels meldet sich”).

  101. TB, 4, 6, 9, 10, 11, and 12 April 1931.

  102. VZ, 8 April 1931, “Goebbels läßt Stennes pfänden.”

  103. Der Angriff, 7 April 1931, “Alles steht fest hinter dem Führer Adolf Hitler” (headline), see also “Der S.A. Konflikt” editorial.

  104. TB, 16 also 15 April 1931.

  105. TB, 17 April 1931; Der Angriff, 20 April 1931, “Die S.A. marschiert im Sportpalast.”

  106. LA Berlin, A Rep. 358-01/2, Minister of Justice to the General Prosecutor at the Supreme Court, 23 February 1931.

  107. Reuth, Goebbels, 198ff.; TB, 10 February 1930.

  108. A Rep 358-01/2, verdict of the Berlin-Mitte Magistrates’ Court of 14 April 1931 and A Rep 358-01/2517, verdict of the Berlin-Mitte Magistrates’ Court of 14 April 1931; Der Angriff, 15 April 1931; TB, 15 April 1931.

  109. TB, 18 April 1931.

  110. A Rep 358-01/23, vol. 2, verdict of the Berlin Provincial Court, 17 April 1931.

  111. TB, 28 April 1931; A Rep 358-01/3, Prosecutor at the LG III, 27 April 1931 to the Police President Abt IA; report of the Berlin detective of 12 May 1931.

  112. LA Berlin, A Rep 358-01/39, vol. 4, verdict of 29 April, after the proceedings of 27, 28, and 29 and A Rep 358-01/39, vol. 12, verdict of 27 April 1931. TB, 30 April 1931: Departing from the sentences imposed, Goebbels mentions here a second fine of 1000 RM. See Reuth, Goebbels, 200ff. His appeal against the fine of 1,500 RM was rejected: TB, 3 June 1931; A Rep. 358-01/2 appeal proceedings on 2 June 1931.

  113. TB, 2 May 1931.

  114. Der Angriff, 20 April 1931, “Prozesse” editorial.

  115. Paul, Aufstand, 69ff.; TB, 12 November 1930.

  116. BAB, NS 18/882, 15 January 1931; see Paul, Aufstand, 78.

  117. TB, 28 April 1931.

  118. Unser Wille und Weg, 2, May 1931, “Organisatorisches, Richtlinien der Reichspropagandaleitung,” 43–63.

  119. TB, 28 April 1931.

  120. A few days before his trip to Munich he had contemplated resignation as Gauleiter; he wasn’t the Party’s “drain cleaner”: TB, 22 and 25 April 1931.

  121. TB, 10 and 20 May 1931.

  122. TB, 9 May 1931.

  123. Joseph Goebbels, “Der Nazi-Sozi,” 18f.

  124. VZ, 9 May 1931, “Adolf Legalité. Hitlers Bekenntnis.”

  125. TB, 9 May 1931. Joseph Goebbels, “Der Nazi-Sozi” second edition (Munich 1931).

  126. TB, 20 June 1931, on the conversation with Karin Göring, 18 June 1931.

  127. TB, 27 June 1931, also 28 June 1931.

  128. Der Angriff, 30 June 193
1; TB, 30 June 1931.

  129. TB, 30 June 1931.

  130. TB, 3 July 1931, see also 4 July 1931, where he expressed his determination to kill off the “agency.”

  131. See also TB, 19 February 1931 concerning a further visit from Magda. On Magda’s previous life, see Jungbluth, Die Quandts, 196ff. On Magda Quandt/Goebbels, see also Klabunde, Magda Goebbels; Meissner, Magda Goebbels.

  132. Jungbluth, Die Quandts, 46ff.

  133. On the marriage, see Jungbluth, Die Quandts, 67ff.

  134. On the divorce, see Jungbluth, Die Quandts, 90ff.

  135. TB, 23 February 1931.

  136. TB, 26 and 27 February 1931.

  137. TB, various entries in March 1931, especially 10, 15, and 22.

  138. TB, 26 March 1931.

  139. TB, 17 June 1931.

  140. TB, 12 March, 4 and 9 April 1931.

  141. TB, 12 April 1931.

  142. TB, 13 and 14 April 1931.

  143. TB, 17 April 1931.

  144. TB, 18–22, 25, and 30 April, 8, 10, 11, and 15 May 1931.

  145. TB, 22–31 May 1931.

  146. TB, 31 May 1931.

  147. TB, 11 June 1931.

  8. “NOW WE MUST GAIN POWER…ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!”

  1. TB, 6 July–5 August 1931. The diaries from 20 August 1931 to 21 May 1932 have been accessible only from 2004 and have already been used in Thacker, Goebbels, 121ff.

  2. TB, 12 July 1931.

  3. TB, 26 July 1931.

  4. TB, 26 July 1931.

  5. TB, 13, 24, and 31 July 1931.

  6. TB, 17 July 1931.

  7. TB, 27 July 1931.

  8. TB, 5 and 7 July 1931.

  9. Berghahn, Stahlhelm, 169, 172f.; Schulz, Von Brüning zu Hitler, 433ff.

  10. TB, 10 August 1931.

  11. Der Angriff, 15 August 1931, “Lachen links.”

  12. TB, 19 and 21 August 1931.

  13. TB, 24 August 1931.

  14. Schulz, Brüning, 554.

  15. TB, 12, 16, and 22 August 1931.

  16. TB, 24 August 1931.

  17. TB, 25 August 1931.

  18. TB, 26 August 1931.

  19. TB, 27 August 1931.

  20. TB, 4 September 1931.

  21. TB, 4 September 1931.

  22. TB, 14 September 1931.

  23. TB, 16 September 1931.

  24. Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, 375f.

  25. Ibid., 392ff.