Goebbels: A Biography

by Peter Longerich

  57. TB, 25 March 1933; Gesetz zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich, 24 March 1933, RGBl. 1933 I, 141. On the speeches, see Verhandlungen Reichstag, 8. Legislaturperiode, vol. 457, 23ff.

  58. TB, 27 March 1933.

  59. VB (B), 26/27 March 1933 “Minister Goebbels über das Ziel des deutschen Rundfunks. Das vornehmste Instrument in der Hand der Regierung.” The speech is also printed in Heiber (ed.), Goebbels Reden, no. 13, quotations 87, 89, 78.

  60. A shorter version in Der Angriff, 30 March 1933, complete in Albrecht, Nationalsozialistische Filmpolitik, 439ff., which also contains commentary (13ff.). See also Moeller, Filmminister, 152.

  61. TB, 29 March 1933.

  62. TB, 4 April 1933.

  63. Lang himself reported that during this conversation Goebbels had offered him a leading position in the German film industry, whereupon he had decided to leave Germany immediately. However, in fact there is evidence that Lang was still in Germany during June and July. Moeller, Filmminister, 161. See also McGilligan, Fritz Lang, 173ff. Goebbels did not refer to the meeting with Lang in the Kaiserhof version, with the result that Lang’s account was considered dubious. On “The Testament of Dr. Mabuse,” see TB, 30 October 1933 (“Very exciting”).

  64. Published in Wulf, Presse und Funk im Dritten Reich, 64f. (excerpt); TB, 30 March 1933.

  65. VB (B), 7 April 1933, “Adolf Hitler vor der auswärtigen Presse” (headline), and “Unsere Revolution macht nirgends halt! Minister Goebbels über das kommende neue Pressegesetz,” published in Goebbels, Signale der neuen Zeit, 127–35. FZ, 7 April 1933 (2nd M), “Der Reichskanzler vor der Auswärtigen Presse”; FZ, 8 April (2nd M), “Kommentar ‘Pressefreiheit,’ ” which criticized the speeches; VZ, 7 April 1933 (M), “Der Kanzler an die Presse” (headline), including “Dr. Goebbels über Pressefreiheit.”

  66. TB, 27 March 1933.

  67. TB, 28 March 1933; according to this, on 27 March Goebbels was engaged in preparing the announcement, which he then sent to Munich on the same day by telex for Hitler’s authorization, which it received. (TB, 29 March 1933).

  68. Statement by Hitler in the cabinet meeting of 29 March, Regierung Hitler, vol. 1, no. 78.

  69. TB, 1 April 1933; FZ, 1 April 1933.

  70. VB (B), 4 April 1933. See also the cabinet meeting on 31 March 1933, at which economic and foreign policy concerns were expressed and Hitler explained the “pause.” Regierung Hitler, vol. 1, no. 80. On the whole issue, see Longerich, Politik der Vernichtung 34ff. On the anti-Jewish “action” see also VB (B), e.g. 25, 28 (headline), 29 (headline), 30 (headline), and 31 March and 1 (headline) and 2 April 1933 (headline).

  71. On the Jewish boycott of March 1933, see Adam, Judenpolitik im Dritten Reich, 46ff.; Barkai, Vom Boykott zur “Entjudung,” 23ff.; Friedländer, Nazi Germany and the Jews, 19ff.; Longerich, Holocaust, 35ff.

  72. TB, 2 April 1933.

  73. VB (B), 2/3 April 1933, “Riesenkundgebung der N.S.D.A.P.”

  74. TB, 11 April 1933; see also 2, 6, and 10 April 1933. Publication of the correspondence in e.g. the Vossische Zeitung of 11 April, republished in Wulf, Musik im Dritten Reich, 86ff.; see also Prieberg, Kraftprobe, 78ff.

  75. TB, 14 April 1933.

  76. TB, 17 April 1933.

  77. TB, 18 April 1933.

  78. See VB (B), 19–21 April; Kershaw, Hitler Myth, 57ff.

  79. VB (B), 19–21 April 1933.

  80. TB, 19 and 20 April 1933.

  81. TB, 26 and 27 April; reports in the Rheydter Zeitung: 6, 13, and 21 April and the headlines of 22, 24, and 25 April; the award of honorary citizenship of the city of Rheydt: StA MG, NL Goebbels/143. On the cancellation of the municipal incorporation, see Waldecker, “Rheydt,” 304f.; on this visit, see also Reuth, Goebbels, 282f.

  82. TB, 25 June 1933.

  83. TB, 25 March 1933.

  84. Regierung Hitler, vol. 1, no. 93, Ministerbesprechung vom 7. April 1933; Gesetz über die Einführung eines Feiertags der nationalen Arbeit, 10. April 1933, RGBl. 1933 I, 191.

  85. On the preparations, see TB, 18 April–1 May 1933.

  86. TB, 2 May 1933; Der Angriff, 1 May 1933, “Ehret die Arbeit und achtet den Arbeiter! Der Aufruf des Ministers für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda”; 2 May 1933, “Der 1. Mai: Deutschlands gewaltigster Bekenntnistag” (headline).

  87. TB, 18 April 1933.

  88. Erlaß über die Errichtung des Ministeriums für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda, 13 March 1933, RGBl. 1933 I, 104. The decree suspended the regulations in the standing orders of the Reich government of 3 May 1924, according to which the Reich chancellor could transfer responsibilities only provided this did not “fundamentally” affect the competencies of the ministries. Published in Akten der Reichskanzlei. Die Kabinette Marx I und II, Abramowski (ed.), no. 192.

  89. TB, 16, 21, and 23 March 1933.

  90. TB, 25 March 1933.

  91. Rischbieter, “NS-Theaterpolitik,” 11ff.

  92. TB, 8 and 20 April 1933.

  93. TB, 28 April 1933, and 29 April 1933.

  94. TB, 29 April, 5, 10, 11, 14, and 24 May, 8 June 1933. BAB, R 55/414, Protokoll vom Promi und AA über die Ressortbesprechung vom 12. Mai 1933. Regierung Hitler, vol. 1, no. 138, Chefbesprechung vom 24. Mai 1933. The press department of the Foreign Ministry was to restrict itself to the collection of information from abroad and basic information policy.

  95. TB, 9 May 1933. Speech on “Die Aufgaben des deutschen Theaters im Hotel Kaiserhof zu Berlin” on 8 May 1933, in: Der Angriff, 9 May 1933, and in Goebbels, Revolution der Deutschen, 175–201. See also FZ, 10 May 1933 (M), “Die Aufgaben des deutschen Theaters. Eine Rede des Ministers Dr. Goebbels.”

  96. On the burning of the books, see Reuth, Goebbels, 285; “Das war ein Vorspiel nur.” Bücherverbrennung Deutschland 1933: Voraussetzungen und Folgen. Ausstellung der Akademie der Künste vom 8. Mai bis 3. Juli 1983, Berlin/Vienna 1983, in particular: “Die Hochschulen und der ‘undeutsche Geist.’ Die Bücherverbrennungen am 10. Mai 1933 und ihre Vorgeschichte,” 31–50. According to this the initiative definitely came from the Deutsche Studentenschaft.

  97. Heiber (ed.), Goebbels Reden, no. 14, quotations 108, 110; TB, 11 May 1933.

  98. Jäger, Es begann am 30. Januar, 47f. (based on the radio reports of the time).

  99. TB, 19 May 1933. The speech is published in Albrecht, Filmpolitik, 442ff., comments 15ff. See also the report in Der Angriff of 19 May 1933. A few days earlier the Propaganda Ministry had issued an official statement with the aim of allaying fears that the new government was intending to restrict film. A law for the “Corporate Construction of the Film Industry” was announced (the later Reich Chamber of Film): Der Kinematograph, 9 May 1933; see the long quotation in Albrecht, Filmpolitik, 16.

  100. TB, 7, 14, 21, and 27 May, 8 June 1933. Albrecht, Filmpolitik, 18f.; Behn, “Gleichschritt in die ‘neue Zeit.’ ”

  101. Gesetz über die Errichtung einer vorläufigen Reichsfilmkammer of 14 July 1933, RGBl. 1933 I, 483; Verordnung über die Errichtung einer vorläufigen Reichsfilmkammer of 22 July 1933, RGBl. 1933 I, 531; Official justification of the law in the Reichsanzeiger, 18 July 1933; Albrecht, Filmpolitik, 19ff.

  102. TB, 14 and 15 June 1933.

  103. TB, 6, 7, and 20 September 1933.

  104. TB, in particular 7, 8, and 10 October; Loiperdinger (ed.), Märtyrerlegenden im NS Film, in particular the contributions of Loiperdinger on “Hans Westmar” and Schröter on “Hitlerjunge Quex.”

  105. TB, 2 April 1933, on another film tea on 9 May 1933.

  106. TB, 20 May 1933, on an earlier meeting 9 April 1933.

  107. TB, 10 April, 26 April, 21 May, 11 June 1933.

  108. TB, 27 April 1933, 29 March 1933.

  109. TB, 17 and 26 May 1933.

  110. TB, 12, 14, 16, and 20 June. On these contacts, see Moeller, Filmminister, 160f.; Kinkel, Scheinwerferin, 47; Bach, Leni, 110ff. The account of her relations with Hitler and Goebbels during these months in Riefenstahl’s Memoiren (194ff.) is clearly misleading; she cla
ims that she was forced into doing the project against her will by Hitler and Goebbels (who in addition had also tried to seduce her) and under pressure had agreed to do it only three days before the start of the Party rally. For criticism of this version that does not bear close examination, see also Trimborn, Riefenstahl, 168ff.; Rother, Leni Riefenstahl, 53ff.

  111. Verordnung über die Aufgaben des Reichsministeriums für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda, 30 June 1933, RGBl. 1933 I, 446. According to this, apart from the responsibilities of the Foreign Ministry (AA) already referred to, the new ministry acquired the responsibility for: commercial advertising etc. from the Reich Economics Ministry, communications and transport advertising from the Reich Postal Ministry and the Reich Transport Ministry, and all technical radio matters from the Reich Postal Ministry insofar as they did “not affect the technical administration within the Reich Radio Association and the Radio Associations.” The following responsibilities were transferred from the Reich Interior Ministry to the Propaganda Ministry:

  – General domestic political enlightenment

  – Hochschule für Politik

  – National celebrations and state celebrations

  – Press

  – Radio

  – The National anthem

  – Deutsche Bücherei Leipzig

  – Art

  – Music

  – Theater

  – Cinema

  – Combating pornography

  112. TB, 17 June 1933; see also 12 May, 20 June, 24 June, 1, 7, and 9 July 1933. On the background, see Diller, Rundfunkpolitik, 84ff.; Reuth, Goebbels, 289.

  113. Regierung Hitler, vol. 1, no. 196, letter from Hitler to the Reichsstatthalters of 15 July 1933 after the meeting with the Reichsstatthalters on 6 July, at which he defined the central role of the Goebbels ministry vis-à-vis the federal states in the fields of propaganda and culture. See also TB, 19 July 1933, in which Goebbels expressed great relief about the letter.

  114. Diller, Rundfunkpolitik, 93ff.

  115. Diller, Rundfunkpolitik, 108ff.

  116. Diller, Rundfunkpolitik, 128.

  117. TB, 9 August 1933.

  118. Diller, Rundfunkpolitik, 130ff.

  119. Haegert had replaced Franke in December 1932 (14 December 1932).

  120. Gutterer’s career data in his personal file of March 1938; BAB, R 43 II/1150c. Gutterer was originally envisaged as Franke’s successor (TB, 28 November 1932).

  121. Entry in Keiper and Kröger (eds.), Biographisches Handbuch des deutschen Auswärtigen Dienstes, 1871–1945.

  122. Moeller, Filmminister, 118.

  123. TB, 22 November 1934.

  124. Boelcke (ed.), Kriegspropaganda 1939–1941 (henceforth BK), 80f.

  125. BK, 60.

  126. TB, 9 April 1933.

  127. The report on the whole Italian trip is in TB, 4 June 1933. There were frequent and extensive reports on the trip in the German press. See, for example, Der Angriff, 29 May–2 June. On the trip, see Michels, Ideologie und Propaganda, 144. PAA Bts Rom no. 692a, vol. 11: Embassy correspondence on the preparations for the trip, detailed program of visits: press statement by Goebbels about his impressions during the visit; report by ambassador von Hassell of 13 June 1933 about the visit, which makes clear in a thinly disguised way the minimal political importance of the visit.

  128. TB, 7–9 June 1933. On the Four-Power Pact, see Petersen, Hitler-Mussolini, 137ff.

  129. TB, 15 June 1933. He had already advocated a “purging of the Party” to Hitler on 17 May 1933, and had been promised one (TB, 18 May 1933).

  130. Der Angriff, 22 May 1933, “Aufmarsch der 150,000 im Grunewald-Stadion”; brief mention in TB, 22 May 1933. On these speeches, see Der Angriff, 15 May, “Kundgebung in Leipzig am 14. Mai”; see also TB, 15 May 1933; on the speech in the Oberpräsidium, see Der Angriff, 13 June 1933, “Pg. Dr. Goebbels in Ostpreußen”; on Röhm, see Longerich, Geschichte der SA, 179ff.

  131. TB, 15 June 1933; Der Angriff, 16 May 1933, “Der zweite Tag der Führertagung der NSDAP. Die Partei als Rückgrat des Staates.”

  132. TB, 15 June 1933.

  133. Der Angriff, 15 June 1933, “Reichsführertagung der NSDAP.” TB, 15 June 1933: “Discussion with the Propaganda Department. Discussed big aid program for the winter”; TB, 4 July 1933, “Big plan: ‘War against hunger and cold.’ ”

  134. TB, 28 June 1933; Regierung Hitler, vol. 1, no. 170, Ministerbesprechung vom 27 June 1933.

  135. TB, 29 June 1933.

  136. TB, 1, 3, and 4 July 1933. Albert Speer carried out the alterations. Speer, Inside the Third Reich, 21ff.

  137. TB, 16 July 1933.

  138. TB, 4 July 1933: “Hitler with the SA leaders in Reichenhall. Gave a good speech. Against the ‘second revolution.’ ” See also VB (B), 4 July 1933: “Begeisterter Empfang des Führers im Chiemgau.” According to that report Hitler called the SA leaders’ meeting there a “landmark” on the way “to the completion of the German revolution.” This rejection of a continuation of the revolution is confirmed by VB (B), 8 July 1933, official statement about a declaration by Hitler to the Reichsstatthalters on 6 July 1933: “The revolution is not a permanent condition. It must not develop into a permanent condition.”

  139. TB, 11 July 1933. Der Angriff, 11 July 1933, “Unsere nächsten Aufgaben”: “Of the many hundreds of thousands who have joined us since the take-over of power the usable ones will gradually be merged into the Party; the others, insofar as they are useless, will be excluded from it.”

  140. PA 1933, p. 69 (11 July): “The article must be written early tomorrow morning”; VZ, 12 July 1933 (M); DAZ, 12 July 1933 (M); TB, 12 July 1933: “My big article is appearing in all the German newspapers.”

  141. TB, 18 and 19 July 1933. PA 1933, 73f. (17 July); FZ, 18 July 1933 (2nd M), DAZ, 18 July 1933 (M).

  11. “ONLY THOSE WHO DESERVE VICTORY WILL KEEP IT!”

  1. TB, 6 July 1933.

  2. TB, 11 June–1 July 1933.

  3. TB, 18 June 1933.

  4. TB, 19 July 1933; see Reuth, Goebbels, 291f.

  5. TB, 21 July 1933.

  6. TB, 2–17 August; Riefenstahl and Krauss: 14–17 August; on Riefenstahl, see also 4, 9, 14, 18, and 19 July 1933. Goebbels had also met Leni Riefenstahl on 13 August during a brief visit she made to Berlin. (TB, 14 August 1933), then he saw her again on 26 August 1933 at Hitler’s regular lunch (TB, 27 August 1933).

  7. Statement by the Reich Press Office of the NSDAP, published in the VB (B), 7 August 1933.

  8. TB, 20 and 23 August 1933.

  9. TB, 25 August 1933.

  10. Also in a previous conversation with Hitler from which Goebbels retained the quotations “The federal states must disappear” and “In three years nothing more will be left of them,” TB, 28 July 1933.

  11. TB, 27 March 1933.

  12. TB, 25 August 1932. Goebbels had already discussed this solution with Lammers in July, TB, 19 July 1933.

  13. TB, 25 August 1933.

  14. TB, 1 September 1933.

  15. TB, 2 September 1933. VB (B), “Die Proklamation des Führers: Die Eckpfeiler des Reiches: Das deutsche Volk—die N.S.D.A.P.” (headline).

  16. TB, 4 September 1933 (for a description of the whole of the Party rally); Der Angriff, 4 September 1933.

  17. TB, 4, 6, and 8 July 1933.

  18. TB, 14 September 1933; Der Angriff, 13 September 1933, “Sozialismus der Tat. Dr. Goebbels verkündet Aufbau und Durchführung des großen Winter-Hilfswerks” (headline). On the winter aid program, see Vorländer, Die NSV, esp. 44ff.

  19. See his speech of 12 September (Der Angriff).

  20. See, for example, the Sports Palace rally on 13 September: Der Angriff, 14 September 1933, “Neuer Propagandafeldzug der Partei”; also TB, 14 September 1933.

  21. Der Angriff, 14 September 1933.

  22. TB, 2 October 1933; Bernhard Gelderblom, “Die Reichserntedankfeste auf dem Bückeberg 1933–1937.”

  23. TB, 16 October 1933; Der Angriff, 16 October 1933, on
the laying of the foundation stone.

  24. TB, 16 October 1933; Der Angriff, 16 October 1933. The monument was never finished.

  25. See Helmut Heiber’s introduction to his Goebbels Reden.

  26. BAB, R 43 II/1244, 13 July 1933. On the establishment of the Reich Chamber of Culture, see Faustmann, Die Reichskulturkammer, 34ff.; Dahm, “Anfänge und Ideologie der Reichskulturkammer.”

  27. Grundgedanken für die Errichtung einer Reichskulturkammer, R 43 II/1241.

  28. BAB, R 43 II/1244, Goebbels’s letter to Ley, 28 July 1933. He also complained in a letter to Lammers of 12 August 1933 about continuing attempts by the DAF to undermine his organizations: ibid.

  29. Regierung Hitler, vol. 1, no. 196, Hitler’s letter to the Reichsstatthalters, 15 July 1933, announced the plan to establish the Reich Chamber of Culture.

  30. BAB, R 2/4870, submission of the draft and justification to the Reich Chancellery on 18 August 1933; Minute of 2 September of the inter-ministerial meeting in the Propaganda Ministry, in which various objections were made by other ministries. R 43 II/1241, renewed submission of the draft on 15 September 1933. Regierung Hitler, vol. 1, no. 215, Kabinettssitzung of 22 September 1933. See also TB, 14 August 1933, on the preparation of the law; 25 August 1933, approval by Hitler; 20 September 1933, reference to the Cabinet meeting; 23 September 1933, approval by the Cabinet.

  31. Kulturkammergesetz of 21 September 1933, RGBl. 1933 I, 661f. The legal regulations following from it are in: Das Recht der Reichskulturkammer, Schrieber, Metten, and Collatz (eds.).

  32. Dahm, “Anfänge,” 73.

  33. TB, 23 September 1933.

  34. PA 1933, p. 32f. Pressekonferenz: Hagemann, Die Presselenkung im Dritten Reich, 32ff.; Abel, Presselenkung im NS-Staat, 37ff.

  35. TB, 5 and 8 August, 22 and 23 September 1933. A draft Editors’ Law had in fact been produced by 20 September (R 43 II/1241). TB, 5 October: “Cabinet: Press law approved after a tough struggle.” See Regierung Hitler, vol. 1, no. 224, Kabinettssitzung vom 4 October 1933.