Goebbels: A Biography

by Peter Longerich

  140. At the beginning of August the so-called Glatz incident received widespread coverage in all the papers: DAZ, 3 August (E), 4 August (M and E), 5 August (M and E) 1938; VB (B), 4 and 5 August 1938. Further examples of aggressive reporting: DAZ, 9 August (M), “Sudetendeutscher von Tschechen ermordet” (headline); 9 August (E), “Der Mörder vom Glaserwald verhaftet” (headline); VB (B), 9 August, “Wieder ein Todesopfer tschechischer Mordhetze” (headline); also similar articles on the front pages of 11, 12, 13, 16, 18, and 19 August. On this campaign, see the following instructions to the press: PA 1939, nos. 2112 and 2114 (3 August), nos. 2118 and 2121 (4 August), nos 2125, 2138, and 2141 (5 August), nos. 2144 and 2150 (6 August), nos. 176 (9 August) and 2240, (16 August); Schwarzenbeck, Pressepolitik, 334f.; TB, 5 and 6, 10 August 1938.

  141. TB, 23–27 August 1938.

  142. Schwarzenbeck, Pressepolitik, 340ff. PA 1938, no. 2353 (27 August), no. 2372 (29 August), no. 2382 (31 August). See also VB (B), 26–30 August; MNN, 29 and 30 August, DAZ, 26–30 August.

  143. On 27 August 1938 the Abwehr officer, Helmuth Groscurth, noted concerning a visit from Karl Hermann Frank, who informed him about his conversation with Hitler on 26 August: “Orders the creation of incidents in Czechoslovakia!” Groscurth, Tagebücher eines Abwehroffiziers 1938–1940, 104.

  144. TB, 9 September 1938.

  145. PA 1938, nos. 2455, 2458, 2459 (7 September), no. 2460 (8 September); TB, 8 and 9 September; VB (B), 8 September 1938, “Prager Regierung nicht mehr Herr ihrer Polizei” (SZ); “Prags verbrecherisches Spiel mit dem Feuer” (domestic); 9 September, “Prag spielt mit dem Feuer”; see also Smelser, Sudetenproblem, 210f., Schwarzenbeck, Pressepolitik, 350, Rönnefarth, Sudetenkise, 478ff.

  146. Domarus I, 897ff., quotation 904; TB, 13 September 1938; Schwarzenbeck, Pressepolitik, 354ff.; Rönnefarth, Sudetenkrise, 497ff.

  147. TB, 14 September 1938.

  148. Rönnefarth, Sudetenkrise, 493f.

  149. PA 1938, nos. 2524 and 2533, 14 September; VB (B), 14 September, “Feuerüberfälle, Morde, Standrecht” (headline); 15 September 1938, “30 neue Opfer tschechischer Mordschützen.”

  150. VB (B), 14 September, “Wie lange noch?” See TB, 15 September 1938: “My article in the VB makes a very aggressive impression. That was my intention.”

  151. Smelser, Sudetenproblem, 212f.; TB, 15 September 1938.

  152. TB, 15 September 1939.

  153. PA 1939, nos. 2533, 2549–2553 (15 September), nos. 2558–2562, 2569, 2570f. (16 September), nos. 2572, 2574, 2575, 2580–2582 (17 September), no. 2583f. (18 September). According to the TB of 17 September, these attacks were intended to go on until the start of the Bad Godesberg meeting. 18 September 1938: “We make a big thing of[…] Czech terror. The atmosphere must be built up to boiling point.” See also Schwarzenbeck, Pressepolitik, 359f.

  154. VB (B), 16 September 1938, “Die Besprechungen zwischen dem Führer und dem britischen Premierminister”; ADAP D II, Nr. 487, Aufzeichnung über Unterredung Hitler-Chamberlain, 15 September 1938; Rönnefarth, Sudetenkrise, 523ff.

  155. “He wants to have me near him during these days,” TB, 18 September 1938.

  156. TB, 18 September 1938.

  157. TB, 19 September 1938.

  158. TB, 20 September 1938; Rönnefarth, Sudetenkrise, 540ff.; ADAP D II, no. 523, Text of the joint message of the British and French governments to Beneš on the basis of the conversations of 18 September.

  159. TB, 20 September 1938; see also 21 September 1938.

  160. PA 1938, nos. 2613, 2614, 2615, 2623, 2627, 2628, and 2632 (21 September).

  161. TB, 21 September 1938; see also PA 1938, no. 2596 (19 September), nos. 2606, 2607, 2608 (20 September); VB (B), 20 September, “Tschechenstaat kracht in allen Fugen” (headline); 21 September, “Offene tschechische Angriffe auf das Reich” (headline); 22 September, “Fort mit dem Benesch-Staat” (headline).

  162. Kershaw, Der Hitler-Mythos, 155ff.

  163. He had discussed it with Goebbels and Ribbentrop the night before: TB, 22 and 23 September 1938; ADAP D II, no. 562, Aufzeichnung Schmidt über Unterredung Chamberlain-Hitler, 22 September 1938; Rönnefarth, Sudetenkrise, 581ff.; Kershaw, Hitler. 1936–1945, 169ff.; Schmidt, Statist, 407ff.

  164. ADAP D II, nos. 572–74 (23 September 1938) and no. 583 (23 September Evening); TB, 24 September 1938; Rönnefarth, Sudetenkrise, 585ff.

  165. TB, 25 September 1938.

  166. PA 1938, no. 2633 (21 September), nos. 2636–2640, 2646f. (22 September), nos. 2648–2650, 2657, 2660f. (23 September), no. 2665 (24 September): “Die deutsche Presse muss die Ruhe und Sicherheit der Staatsmänner in Godesberg den Panikmachern in Prag gegenüberstellen und den schreienden Gegensatz zwischen dem Verhalten der Prager Regierung und den Bemühungen Chamberlains und des Führers um den Frieden deutlich machen.” Also nos. 2663f., 2666f. (24 September). VB (B), 23 September, “Heute Fortsetzung der Besprechungen in Godesberg—Rote Militärdiktatur in Prag beginnt mit blutigen Verbrechen” (headline); 24 September, “Abschluß in Godesberg—Tschechische Armee besetzt die Grenzen” (headline).

  167. TB, 26 September 1938.

  168. Rönnefarth, Sudetenkrise, 615; TB, 27 September 1938.

  169. TB, 26 September 1938.

  170. VB (B), 26 September 1938.

  171. Domarus I, 923ff., quotation 927.

  172. TB, 28 September 1938. PA 1938, no. 2683f. (26 September) and nos. 2686f. (27 September); DAZ, 27 September 1938 (E), Kommentar: “Der Spieler”; VB (B), 27 September 1938, “Wir sind entschlossen. Herr Benesch mag jetzt wählen!” (headline); Schwarzenbeck, Pressepolitik, 380f.

  173. TB, 28 September 1938; Kershaw, Hitler. 1936–1945, 174; Rönnefarth, Sudetenkrise, 618f.

  174. 1780-PS, IMT XXVII, 345ff., Jodl, Official Diary, entry for 27 September 1938, 20:30 (p. 388).

  175. Andreas-Friedrich, Schauplatz Berlin, 5f.; Schmidt, Statist, 417; Shirer, The Journal of a Foreign Correspondent 1934–1941, 114f.: “It has been the most striking demonstration against war I’ve ever seen”; on the lack of enthusiasm for war, see also SOPADE 1938, 913ff. (September 1938).

  176. Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, 127.

  177. Hill, Weizsäcker Papers, 145, 171.

  178. TB, 29 September 1938.

  179. Kershaw, Hitler. 1936–1945, 175.

  180. TB, 29 September: Goebbels, who was in the Reich Chancellery that morning, attributed the initiative for the conference to Hitler. “Then he suddenly thought of the idea of a four-power conference with Mussolini, Chamberlain and Daladier. In Munich. Within the hour Mussolini had agreed to it. On the Munich conference and its immediate background,” see Rönnefarth, Sudetenkrise, 623ff.; Faber, Munich, 391ff.

  181. TB, 29 September 1938; PA 1938, no. 2704 (28 September): “The huge demonstrations throughout Germany in support of the rights of the Sudeten Germans must be put on the front page with very big headlines and comment.” Similarly no. 2706 (28 September). VB (B), 28 September, “Massenkundgebung der NSDAP im Lustgarten” (announcement); 29 September 1938, “Millionen-Kundgebungen im ganzen Reich. Die Nation will Freiheit der Sudetendeutschen”; FZ (M), 29 September 1938, “Das Treuebekenntnis zum Führer.”

  182. TB, 1 October 1938.

  183. VB (B), 1 October 1938, “Berlin empfängt den Führer” (headline). The edition contains an appeal from Goebbels to the population, a further appeal from the deputy Gauleiter, Görlitzer, to companies to give their employees the day off, and an order from City President, Lippert, who not only granted schoolchildren a day off school but ordered that they should be brought by their teachers en bloc to the streets through which Hitler would be passing.

  184. TB, 2 October 1938; VB (B), 2 October, “Erhebende Kundgebungen grüßten den Führer bei seiner Ankunft in der Reichshauptstadt” (page 1).

  185. TB, 3 October 1938; see also 10 October. In fact shortly afterward Hitler signed a fundamental directive to the Wehrmacht in which, among other things, he declared the “elimination” of the “remainder of Czechoslovakia” as a mi
litary-political goal for the foreseeable future. ADAP D IV, no. 81, Weisung vom 21. October.

  18. “MATURITY IS ONLY ACHIEVED THROUGH SUFFERING!”

  1. TB, 3 and 4 August 1938; 5 August 1938: “At home Magda and I had an important conversation. It’s very important for me. I’m glad that we’ve reached this stage.” 6 August: “Not everything’s been sorted out yet, but much is clear. I hope that we’ll soon be able to turn over a new leaf. I need to. The last few months have been very wearing for me.” 10 August 1938: “We’re now seeing eye to eye. Let’s hope it’s for the long term.”

  2. Baarová, Bitterkeit, 134ff. The weekend referred to was 13 and 14 August (TB, 14 August 1938: “A large group of people arrives for lunch”). According to Baarová’s report they viewed her most recent film, Der Spieler, which is confirmed by Goebbels’s diaries. He had already seen the film twice (TB, 16 and 28 July 1938).

  3. TB, 16 August 1938, and 17 August 1938: “Seeing the Führer. I have another long discussion with him. I’m very moved. I can no longer really see my way out of this.” Baarová, Bitterkeit, 137ff., writes that Goebbels was sending out contradictory messages at this time. To begin with he told her they would have to part, but then later reassured her that he would find a means by which they could continue their relationship.

  4. TB, 18 and 20 August 1938. Further conversations with Magda: 21 and 31 August, 2 September 1938.

  5. TB, 19 and 20 August 1938.

  6. TB, 21 August 1938.

  7. TB, 25, 26, and 27 August 1938.

  8. TB, 9 October, and 4 October 1938.

  9. TB, 10 and 11 October 1938.

  10. TB, 13 October, and 12 October 1938.

  11. TB, 14 October 1938.

  12. TB, 3 (quotation), 4 and 11 February, 14 March, 1 April 1937.

  13. TB, 15 October 1938.

  14. TB, 18 October 1938.

  15. TB, 20 October 1938.

  16. TB, 21 October 1938.

  17. TB, 22 October 1938.

  18. TB, 22 October 1938.

  19. See TB, 23 July 1939; Speer, Erinnerungen, 161ff.

  20. TB, 22 October 1938.

  21. TB, 24 October 1938.

  22. TB, 24 October 1938.

  23. VB (B), 25 October 1938, “Adolf Hitler wieder auf dem Obersalzberg. Der Führer bei einem Besuch auf dem Kehlstein am Sonntag, 23. Oktober, mit seinen Gästen, Reichsminister Dr. Goebbels und Frau und ihren Kindern Hega, Hilde und Helmut.”

  24. Baarová, Bitterkeit, 142ff.

  25. TB, 25 October 1938; Baarová, Bitterkeit, 145: Goebbels rang her from Göring’s house.

  26. TB, 26 October 1938.

  27. TB, 26 October 1938.

  28. TB, 27, 29, 30, and 31 October, 4, 5, and 7 November 1938.

  29. TB, 29 October 1938.

  30. TB, 30 October 1938.

  31. TB, 27 and 29 October 1938.

  32. On the November 1938 pogrom, see Obst, “Reichskristallnacht”; Döscher, “Reichskristallnacht”; for more detail, see Longerich, Politik der Vernichtung, 190ff.

  33. On the events in Kurhessen, see Obst, “Reichskristallnacht,” 67ff.; Kropat, Kristallnacht in Hessen, 21ff. On Goebbels’s role during the pogrom, see Reuth, Goebbels, 394ff.; Thacker, Goebbels, 206ff.

  34. TB, 9 November 1938.

  35. TB, 10 November 1938.

  36. Der Angriff, 10 November 1938, “Razzia auf Judenwaffen. Aktion der Berliner Polizei.”

  37. Report of the Party’s supreme court: 3063-PS, IMT 32, 21ff. Hitler’s clear responsibility for launching the pogrom, which is incontrovertibly shown by the diaries, has long been emphasized in the historical literature. Longerich, Politik der Vernichtung, 198f.; Kershaw, Hitler. 1936–1945, 195f.; Friedländer, Das Dritte Reich, vol. 1, 293f.

  38. TB, 10 November 1938.

  39. 3063-PS, p. 29.

  40. On the participation of the SS in the destruction, see Hermann, “Hitler und sein Stoßtrupp in der ‘Reichskristallnacht.’ ”

  41. TB, 11 November 1938.

  42. VB (N), 11 November 1938.

  43. Der Angriff, 12 November 1938, “Empfang im Führerbau”; TB, 11 November 1938.

  44. Domarus I, 973ff., 974.

  45. TB, 11 November 1938.

  46. TB, 12 November 1938.

  47. VB (N), 12 November 1938, “Der Fall Grünspan.”

  48. 1816-PS, IMT 28, 499ff.

  49. Ibid., p. 518.

  50. Ibid., p. 508f.; Walk (ed.), Das Sonderrecht für die Juden im NS-Staat, Part III 12, directive of 12 November 1938.

  51. 1816 PS-PS, 508–11.

  52. VB (N), 14 November 1938, “Alle jüdischen Geschäfte in kürzester Frist deutsch! Dr. Goebbels über die endgültige Lösung der Judenfrage” (headline); TB, 14 November 1938.

  53. VB (N), 16 November 1938, “Reinliche Scheidung zwischen Deutschen und Juden. Unterredung des Reichsministers Dr. Goebbels mit dem Sonderkorrespondenten des Reuterbüros”; TB, 13 and 15 November 1938.

  54. TB, 17–25 November 1938. PA 1938, no. 3275 (Kommentierung vom 15. November). VB (N), 24 November 1938, “Keine Kompromisse in der Judenfrage! Reichsminister Dr. Goebbels über den Abwehrkampf gegen die internationale Judenhetze.”

  55. TB, 26 November 1938.

  56. Details in Longerich, Davon, 136ff.; Herbert Obenaus, “The Germans: ‘An Antisemitic People.’ The Press Campaign after 9 November 1938,” in David Bankier (ed.), Probing the Depths of German Antisemitism, 147–80. See also PA 1938, no. 3287 (17 November).

  57. PA 1938, no. 3310 (19 November). Goebbels made it clear at the press conference of 22 November that he was by no means “content,” the press should kindly put more effort in (PA 1938, no. 3336). See also PA 1938, no. 3378 (24 November), no. 3418 (28 November), nos. 3334 and 3337 (22 November), no 3388, (25 November), no. 3398 (26 November), nos. 3450 and 3455 (30 November), no. 3483 (2 December), no. 3612 (14 December); PA 1939, no. 68 (7 January). Sänger, Politik der Täuschungen, 64.

  58. Nur für Redner. Sonderlieferung 3/1938 des Aufklärungs- und Redner-Informationsmaterials der Reichspropagandaleitung der NSDAP und des Reichspropagandaamtes der DAF, o.D., quoted in Barth, Goebbels und die Juden, 267.

  59. Speech of 30 January, published in Domarus II, 1047ff., the relevant passage 1055–58; on the propaganda preparations for the speech, see Longerich, Davon, 142.

  60. TB, 27 October 1938, theater visit; Magda accompanied him at the end of October on a trip to Erfurt, where he spoke to “producers of literature” (30 October 1938); see also 6 November 1938 on their visit to the theater together.

  61. TB, 17 November 1938.

  62. TB, 13–30 November (numerous entries) as well as 7, 12, and 30 December 1938.

  63. TB, 17 January 1939.

  64. TB, 6 and 8 February 1939.

  65. On the preparation and carrying out of the election campaign, see TB, 6 and 8 October 1938, 5, 9, 12, 19, and 24 November 1938. On the election in detail, see Ralf Gebel, “Heim ins Reich!” 136ff.

  66. TB, 20 November 1938 and 2 December 1938 on the two previous days.

  67. TB, 5 and 6 December 1938.

  68. TB, 8 and 9 December 1938.

  69. TB, 10 December 1938.

  70. TB, 13 and 16 December 1938.

  71. TB, 30 December 1938. Between 18 and 29 December 1938 he had to interrupt the entries in his diary, one of the few substantial gaps in his diaries.

  72. TB, 1 January 1939.

  73. TB, 30 December 1938.

  74. TB, 1 January 1939.

  75. TB, 3 January 1939.

  76. TB, 4 January 1939 and 30 December 1938.

  77. TB, 4 January 1939.

  78. TB, 8–18 January 1939.

  79. TB, 8 January 1939.

  80. TB, 15 and 17 January 1939.

  81. TB, 17 and 20 January 1939.

  82. TB, 18 January 1939.

  83. TB, 18 January 1939.

  84. TB, 19 and 20 January 1939.

  85. The agreement and Hitler’s letter have not survived; TB, 20–25 January 1939;
Reuth, Goebbels, 404.

  86. TB, 29 January, 27 February 1939.

  87. TB, 17 February 1939: “A long chat with Magda. She tells me about her balls, social events and goodness knows what. But I’m not interested.”

  88. See p. 358.

  89. On the building works, see BAB, R 55/421, and TB, 12 October, 17 and 18 November 1938 as well as 3, 4, and 10 February, 16 March, 25 April, 2 May, 2 June 1939.

  90. TB, 12 January, 20 (apartment ready), 22 March, 15, 20, 21, and 28 April 1938 (moved in).

  91. BAB, R 55/421, description of the new building, 26 August 1939.

  92. R 55/421, Notiz betr. Neubau Dienstwohngebäude für den Reichsminister, 28 February 1939.

  93. BAB, R 55/423, Aufstellung der von Herrn Brandl in Paris gekauften und von dem Propagandaministerium übernommenen Gegenstände.

  94. R 55/421, Vorlage Ott für Goebbels, 2 March 1939.

  95. TB, 29 July, 16–19 August 1939.

  96. TB, 10 February 1939.

  97. TB, 22, 24, and 29 January 1939; see also Berkholz, Waldhof, 28ff.

  98. Entries 4, 7 (sanctuary quotation), and 12 February; also 2 and 18 March (quotation), 28 April 1939. On the progress of construction, see TB, 2, 5, and 7 May 1939.

  99. BAB, R 55/422, Stellungnahme des Regierungspräsidenten Potsdam, 21 April 1939; Staatssekretär im Reichsforstamt to Staatssekretär Hanke, 31 May 1939.

  100. TB, 13 and 26 November 1939.

  101. BAB, R 55/422, Kostenaufstellung durch den Architekten Bartels, 1 November 1940. Berkholz, Waldhof, 29, 43.

  102. BAK, ZSg 158/40, Erich Bandekow, “Über steuerliche Korruptionsfälle von Reichsministern, Reichsleitern usw.,” 1948, p. 5.

  103. Berkholz, Waldhof, 32ff.; TB, 17 January 1940, “Area somewhat reduced in size.” LA Berlin A Rep 057, no. 2181, agreement according to which the city of Berlin would transfer to Goebbels for life a plot of 210 hectares on the Bogensee with grounds, a log cabin, a house for guests, 2 garages, a house for a caretaker, a shooting range, and a boathouse with equipment, 1 April 1940.

  104. TB, 19 and 20 August, 7 November 1939.

  105. BAB, R 55/759, Vermerk Promi, 30 March 1943; TB, 3 and 5 November, 5 December 1940.