Goebbels: A Biography

by Peter Longerich

  106. BAB, R 55/675, Niederschrift über Besprechung vom 17. März 1943 mit Direktor von Manteuffel, Bürgermeister Winkler sowie Vertretern des RFM, des Propagandaministeriums und der Ufa; Berkholz, Waldhof, 44ff.

  107. BAB, R 55/430, Aktenvermerk über Besprechung mit Leiter H., 1. Juli 1943 betr. den Diener Ludwig.

  108. TB, 9, 22, 29, and 30 March 1938. Reif, Schumacher, and Uebel, Schwanenwerder, 116ff., 209ff.; Curth, “Insel Schwanenwerder,” 420ff.

  109. TB, 25 April, 14 and 17 June 1939; on the renting of the second house, see 24 and 30 March 1941; on the official house, see 7 June 1941; F Rep. 270 A, no. 9860, plan to fix the lines of escape for the island road on Schwanenwerder, 26 June 1937; Reif, Schumacher, and Uebel, Schwanenwerder, 209f. In addition there was an official house that the Propaganda Ministry had bought.

  110. TB, 26 February, 26 April, 4 May 1939, 19 December 1940.

  111. TB, 2, 4, 7, 8, 9, and 17 December 1937. Goebbels also refused the request by the Bavarian comic, Weiss Ferdl, to give him an exemption from “the ban on political jokes” as he made clear in a private conversation: TB, 9 and 11 January 1938; 24 February 1939.

  112. He had already issued a warning not to make political jokes in April 1937: TB, 13, 16, and 20 April 1937. Critical comment on the theater also on 10 March 1938.

  113. TB, 30 January 1939.

  114. VB (B), 4 February 1939; 1 and 3 February. Willi Schaeffers, the director of the cabaret, wrote about the conversation, which took place on 2 February in his memoirs. See Tingel Tangel, 186f.; Finck, Alter Narr, 112ff.

  115. BT, 25 December 1938. Among other things Finck had used the play on words “whether we also have humor above us.”

  116. See TB, 5 February 1939.

  117. “Kabarett der Komiker,” article in Budzinski and Hippen, Metzler Kabarett Lexikon.

  118. TB, 19 March 1939.

  119. TB, 23 January 1939.

  120. VB (B), 11 February 1939; PA 1939, no. 440 (10 February), he allowed the newspapers to reprint the article; also TB, 10 February 1939; on the preparation of the article, see 24 January 1939.

  121. VB (B), 19 February 1939; once again the press conference was alerted to this article: PA 1939, no. 507 (17 February).

  122. TB, 5 February 1939 on the article, which initially remained unpublished for a few days because of a veto by Funk on the grounds of “commercial policy.” The article was recommended to the whole press (PA 1939, no. 742).

  123. Wiechert came to terms with his experience of being under arrest in the text, written in 1939, Der Totenwald, quotation 327. TB, 30 August 1938, where, too, the word “vorführen” appears (“bring before me”). See 4 August 1938.

  124. TB, 19 November 1939.

  125. TB, 20 February 1940.

  126. TB, 1 February 1939; on Hitler’s intensive engagement on foreign problems, see also 3 February.

  127. TB, 26 February 1939; see also 21 and 22 February 1939. The article was recommended to the rest of the press by the Propaganda Ministry (PA 1939, no. 597, 24 February).

  128. Das Reich, 20 September 1942, “Der steile Aufstieg,” and 5 September 1943, “Das große Drama.”

  129. VB, 11 March 1939, “Kaffeetanten,” and 13 May 1939, “Bajonette als Wegweiser”; Das Reich, 12 December 1943, “Seifenblase.”

  130. TB, 10 March 1939. The gap in the diary went from 7 to 9 March.

  131. TB, 10 March 1939.

  132. Kershaw, Hitler. 1936–1945, 230ff.; Hoensch, Die Slowakei und Hitlers Ostpolitik, 210ff.

  133. TB, 11 March 1939.

  134. The press was instructed on 10 March to report on the conflict: PA 1939, no. 737 and 757 (10 March). On the 11th the press was instructed openly to support the Tiso government: PA 1939, no. 762 (11 March).

  135. TB, 11 March 1939.

  136. TB, 12 and 13 March 1939.

  137. PA 1939, no. 770 (12 March), no. 772, special press conference and no. 776 (13 March.): “The front page must be entirely devoted to the Czech issue.” Also no. 787 and no. 788 (14 March).

  138. TB, 14 March 1939.

  139. TB, 14 March 1939.

  140. ADAP D IV, no. 202, Aufzeichnung Hewel über Gespräch Hitler-Tiso, 13. März 1939; no. 209, draft of a telegram from Tiso to Hitler, in which he requests aid from the Germans, n.d. See also Hoensch, Slowakei, 290ff.

  141. TB, 15 March 1939.

  142. TB, 17 March 1939; ADAP D VI, no. 40.

  143. TB, 16 March 1939; ADAP D IV, no. 228, Besprechung zwischen Hitler und Ribbentrop sowie Hacha und Chvalkovsky am 15. März 1939. Protokoll Hewel 15. März 1939; no. 229, Erklärung der Deutschen und der Tschechoslowakischen Regierung, 15. März 1939.

  144. TB, 15 March 1939.

  145. RGBl. 1939 I, 485ff., Erlaß des Führers und Reichskanzlers über das Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren vom 16. März 1939.

  146. PA 1939, no. 856 (18 March): “Im ganzen Reich wird es morgen spontane Kundgebungen geben. Keine Vorankündigungen, wohl aber gute Berichte über die Kundgebungen selbst.”

  147. TB, 20 March 1939; VB (B), 20 March 1939, “Der triumphale Empfang Adolf Hitlers in Berlin—eine stolze Dankes-Kundgebung des ganzen deutschen Volkes.”

  148. TB, 20 March 1939.

  149. TB, 19 March 1939.

  150. Kershaw, Hitler. 1936–1945, 238ff.; directive of 21 October 1938: ADAP D IV, no. 81.

  151. TB, 21 and 23 March 1939. ADAP D V, no. 399, Aufzeichnung über die Unterredung zwischen dem Reichsminister des Auswärtigen und dem litauischen Außenminister Urbsys am 20. März 1939.

  152. TB, 23 March 1939.

  153. ADAP D VI, no. 61, Aufzeichnung Ribbentrop, 21 March 1939; no. 101, Gespräch zwischen Lipski und Ribbentrop, 26 March; no. 101, Aufzeichnung Ribbentrop, 26 March 1939; Anlage: Note der polnischen Regierung; no. 118, Bericht Botschafter Warschau, 29 March 1939 über das Gespräch Becks mit dem Botschafter vom Vortag; Kershaw, Hitler. 1936–1945, 240ff.

  154. TB, 20 and 23 March 1939. Advance announceent in PA 1939, no. 870 (20 March). On the anti-British VB articles, see Michels, Ideologie, 395ff.

  155. PA 1939, no. 885 (21 March). On the articles by Fritzsche covering this prescribed topic, see among others FZ, 22 March 1939, “Englands Hand in Indien,” and Der Angriff, which began the series “Todeskampf der Buren” on 23 March.

  156. VB (B), 25 March 1939, “Moral der Reichen”; see also PA 1939, no. 924 (24 March): Reference to the article for the whole of the press. TB, 24 March 1939.

  157. TB, 26 March 1939; corresponding directive in PA 1939, no. 967 (29 March).

  158. Details in Longerich, Propagandisten, 128ff.

  159. TB, 24 February, 1 and 2 March 1939.

  160. TB, 16 June 1939.

  161. TB, 16 and 18 May, and 1 May, 12 June, 20 and 21 June 1939.

  162. Uziel, Propaganda Warriors, 69ff.

  163. TB, 10 January, 2, 8 March, 31 May, 27 September, 3 and 17 October 1935; on the drafting of the mobilization plan, see in particular 12 June 1936; on the preparations for war, see 15 April, 28 May, 6 October, 25 November 1936.

  164. Buchbender, Das tönende Erz, 16; Uziel, Propaganda Warriors, 73ff.; Wedel, Die Propagandatruppen, 18f.

  165. TB, 16 Sepember 1937; Uziel, Propaganda Warriors, 79ff.; see also Buchbender, Erz, 16, which refers to initial differences of opinion about the command structure; Wedel, Propagandatruppen, 19f.; TB, 1 September 1937.

  166. TB, 22 September 1937, and 23, 24 September 1937.

  167. TB, 3 November 1937; see also 7 October, 6 November 1937.

  168. TB, 4 December 1937.

  169. An agreement had already been reached in July: TB, 30 July 1938, entry concerning the conversation with Wentscher, the new head of the Reich defense desk in the Propaganda Ministry; Uziel, Propaganda Warriors, 84ff.; Buchbender, Erz, 17f.; Wedel, Propagandatruppen, 28ff.; Moll, “Die Abteilung Wehrmachtspropaganda im Oberkommando der Wehrmacht,” 115f.

  170. TB, 13 and 21 August 1939. Buchbender, Erz, 19; Uziel, Propaganda Warriors, 92ff.; Wedel, Propagandatruppen, 20
ff. Five propaganda companies were already deployed during the occupation of the Sudetenland.

  171. Buchbender, Erz, 22; Uziel, Propaganda Warriors, 97ff.

  172. TB, 21 June 1939, also 21 February 1939.

  173. He had already been planning an Egypt trip at the end of 1937 (26 November, 2, 16, 21, 22, 23, 24, 27, 28, and 29 December 1938), but had then given up the idea mainly because of concerns about his personal security.

  174. TB, 26–28 March 1939. He had had the trip approved by Hitler in principle; 23 March 1939.

  175. TB, 28 March 1939. On the preparations for the trip, see correspondence in PAA, Ref. Partei 44/2, R 99006.

  176. TB, 29 and 30 March 1939.

  177. TB, 1 April 1939.

  178. TB, 31 March, 1 April 1939.

  179. TB, 2 April 1939. On the stay in Rhodes, see 3–7, 9–12 April 1939.

  180. TB, 3 April 1939.

  181. Hubatsch (ed.), Hitlers Weisungen für die Kriegsführung 1939–1945, 19ff.

  182. TB, 7 April 1939.

  183. TB, 7 April 1939.

  184. TB, 10 April 1939.

  185. TB, 15 and 19 April 1939.

  186. TB, 20 April 1939.

  187. On the festivities, see TB, 20 and 21 April 1939; Bucher, “Hitlers 50. Geburtstag”; Pätzold, “Hitlers fünfzigster Geburtstag am 20. April 1939”; Kershaw, Hitler. 1936–1945, 247ff.; BAB, NS 10/127; Arbeitsplan zur Durchführung der Veranstaltung zum 50. Geburtstag des Führers, 12 April 1939, and detailed program for the event, 16 April 1939; VB (B), special edition for 20 April (with a contribution from Goebbels: “Die neue Zeit”) and edition of 21 April 1939.

  188. VB (B), 19 April 1939.

  189. Gesetz über einmalige Sonderfeiertage vom 17. April 1939, RGBl. 1939 I, 763; Verordnung zum Gesetz über einmalige Sonderfeiertage (ibid., p. 764).

  190. TB, 24 April 1939.

  191. VB (B), 22 April 1939, “Lord Halifax macht Witze” (editorial), and 27 April, “Ein paar Worte über politischen Takt (editorial); see also instruction for the press in PA 1939, no. 1234 (26 April). The article is a reply to the attacks of the British press on Ribbentrop’s failure to receive the British ambassador. See also Henderson, Fehlschlag einer Mission, 255.

  192. TB, 29 April 1939; Domarus, 1148ff. On the speech, see also Kershaw, Hitler. 1936–1945, 254f. On the abrogation of the pacts with Poland and Britain, see ADAP D VI, no. 276 and 277, Noten der Deutschen Regierung vom 27. April 1939. Goebbels had ensured that the 12 Uhr Blatt published a “tough article against Roosevelt”: TB, 18 April 1939; 12 Uhr Blatt, 17 April 1939, “Was sagen Sie nun, Herr Roosevelt?”

  193. PA 1939, no. 1338, (5 May), Sonderpressekonferenz, no. 1343 (6 May); TB, 7 May 1939: “The German press is taking the lead. A bit too much for my feeling. I tell them to put the brakes on a bit for the time being.” No. 1363 (8 May 1939): “For tactical reasons the German press is to exercise some restraint with regard to the many news items from Poland, as the big Polish campaign has not been given the go-ahead yet.”

  194. ADAP D V, no. 334, note of 5 May 1939; see also TB, 6 May 1939.

  195. VB (B), 5 May 1939, “Quo Vadis, Polonia?” and 13 May 1939, “Bajonette als Wegweiser”; TB, 5, 6, 11, and 12 May 1939; PA 1939, no. 1458 (12 May).

  196. PA 1939, no. 1343 (6 May), no. 1363 (8 May), no. 1819 (13 June), no. 1951 (21 June), no. 1960 (21 June), no. 1993 (23 June), and no. 2015 (24 June).

  197. VB (B), “Militärbündnis Deutschland-Italien” (headline); TB, 9 May 1939, and 10 May 1939. ADAP D V, no. 426 (22 May 1939): Freundschafts- und Bündnispakt zwischen Deuschland und Italien.

  198. VB (B), 22 May 1939, “Berlin begrüßt Graf Ciano mit stürmischem Beifall” (headline); VB (B), 23 May 1939, “Bund Berlin-Rom besiegelt” (headline); TB, 22, 23, 24 May 1939.

  199. TB, 24 April 1939.

  200. ADAP D VI, report of the ambassador in Rome to AA, 13 May 1939, with the text of an intercepted instruction from the British Foreign Office to the embassy in Rome, 11 May 1939; no. 377 Aufzeichnung Staatssekretär über Gespräch mit britischem Botschafter, no. 385, 15 May 1939.

  201. TB, 5 July 1939.

  202. VB (B), 20 May 1939, “Die Einkreiser”; TB, 18 May 1939.

  203. VB (B), 27 May 1939, “Nochmals: Die Einkreiser”; VB (B), 3 June 1939, “Klassenkampf der Völker?” and VB (B), 30 June 1939, “Das schreckliche Wort von der Einkreisung.”

  204. VB (B), 19 June 1939, “Erkläre mir, Graf Oerindur…”

  205. Speech at the Essen Gau Day on 25 June 1939; see the report in Der Angriff of 26 June 1939.

  206. PA 1939, no. 1890 (16 June); VB (B), 19 June 1939, “Danzig—Pflegestätte unserer Kultur. Große Kundgebung mit Reichsminister Dr. Goebbels im Danziger Staatstheater.” See also TB, 19 June 1939.

  207. TB, 21 June 1939. And even if it came to war, Hitler believed that within a fortnight it would be over.

  208. VB (B), 22 June 1939, “Die Sonnwendfeier des Gaues Berlin” (SZ); TB, 23 June 1939 on the propaganda treatment. On the following day he took the same line in a speech to fifteen thousand Berlin streetcar workers; VB (B), 24 June 1939, “Dr. Goebbels sprach vor Berliner Arbeitern”; TB, 24 June 1939.

  209. VB (B), 24 June 1939, “Die abgehackten Kinderhände.” In his article Goebbels compared the British propaganda in the First World War with the current “swindle of the British propaganda campaign against Germany”; see also TB, 22 June 1939.

  210. VB (B), 14 July 1939, “So sieht Englands Propaganda aus”; TB, 5, 8, 9, and 12 July; PA 1939, no. 2237 (8 July 1939), no. 2296 (13 July 1939), no. 2310 (14 July 1939). See. VB (B), 19 July 1939, “Neue Enthüllungen über King-Hall. Schon 1938 forderte er ein Kriegskabinett mit Churchill und Eden” (headline).

  211. TB, 24 July 1938.

  212. TB, 29 June 1939, on Magda’s departure.

  213. TB, 23 July 1939. This was not the only meeting during her spa stay. He had already visited the family there in the middle of July, from 9 to 12 July 1939. On 17 July he met Magda in Munich; see 18 July 1939. Speer wrote in his memoirs that Magda told him that Goebbels had turned up unexpectedly in Gastein and put her under pressure because of her affair with Hanke. Speer, Erinnerungen, 165.

  214. TB, 26 and 27 July 1939.

  215. TB, 27 July 1939.

  216. TB, 28 July 1939. According to Speer, Hitler had sent the Goebbelses back to Berlin. Speer, Erinnerungen, 165.

  217. TB, 1 August 1939.

  218. TB, 4 August 1939.

  219. TB, 2–8 August 1939.

  220. TB, 9–14 August 1939. The press carried daily reports of the visit. See, for example, the VB during these days.

  221. TB, 16 August 1939, also 12 August 1939.

  222. PA 1939, no. 2836 (special press conference, 20 August): “The newspapers must continue to focus on Poland; no. 2843, (21 August), “The press must go on focusing on Polish terror.” See, for example, the reporting of the VB and the DAZ during these days, which from 16 August onward was dominated by anti-Polish propaganda.

  223. TB, 20 August 1939. On the propaganda campaign, see also 22 August 1939.

  224. TB, 17 August 1939.

  225. TB, 22 August 1939. The only reference to a possible rapprochement with Moscow is in the TB for 9 July. During a visit to Obersalzberg Hitler had informed him that he “no longer [believed] that London and Moscow will come to an agreement. Then the way will be clear for us.” Now, after the conclusion of the negotiations he judged that the agreement “had taken long enough to sort out.” The fact that he was not actually informed about the negotiations is clear not only from the complete lack of references to them in the diaries but also from his total surprise at the diplomatic coup which Hitler was to tell him about on 23 August (TB, 24 August 1939).

  226. TB, 23 August 1939.

  227. TB, 24 August 1939, ADAP D VII, no. 200, note of 24 August 1939 concerning the conversation between Hitler and Henderson; ADAP D VII, no. 201, Hitler’s reply, 23 August 1939.

  228. TB, 24 August 1939.

  229.
ADAP D VII, no. 228, non-aggression pact 23 August 1939; no. 229 Secret Supplementary Protocol from the same day.

  230. TB, 25 August 1939.

  231. TB, 26 August 1939.

  232. ADAP D VII, no. 265, Erklärung Hitler an Henderson, 25 August 1939 (quotation); Henderson, Fehlschlag, 298ff.

  233. ADAP D VII, p. 237, editors’ note about the conversation of 25 August, of which there is no German record. But see Robert Coulondre, Von Moskau nach Berlin, 422f.

  234. ADAP D VII, no. 271, 25 August 1939, Mussolini to Hitler; Schmidt, Statist, 461f.; Halder, Kriegstagebuch, 25 August 1939; Hofer, Die Entfesselung des Zweiten Weltkrieges.

  235. TB, 26 August 1939.

  236. ADAP D VII, no. 324, 26 August 1939.

  237. TB, 27 August 1939, also 28 August 1939 concerning the letter.

  238. TB, 29 August 1939; ADAP D VII, no. 324, 26 August 1939, on this note p. 277 concerning confidentiality; no. 354, Hitler’s reply, 27 August 1939.

  239. British reply of 28 August, ADAP D VII, no. 384, Schmidt note of 29 August concerning the conversation between Hitler and Henderson at 22:30; the note is in the appendix; Henderson, Fehlschlag, 302f.

  240. TB, 29 August 1939; on Dahlerus’s attempt to mediate, see Kershaw, Hitler. 1936–1945, 304f.; Dahlerus, Der letzte Versuch, 75ff.

  241. ADAP D VII, no. 421, note of 29 August 1939. TB, 29 August 1939.

  242. TB, 30 August 1939.

  243. PA 1939, no. 2986 (28 August), no. 3006 (29 August), no. 3019 (29 August), no. 3047 (30 August).

  244. ADAP D VII, no. 461, Schmidt note of 31 August about the conversation between Ribbentrop and Henderson on 30 August at midnight.

  245. ADAP D VII, no. 476, note of 1 September 1939 concerning the conversation between Lipski and Ribbentrop on 31 August 1939; ibid., no. 482, 31 August 1939, Weizsäcker note with appendix; TB, 1 September 1939.

  246. TB, 1 September 1939; ADAP D VII, p. 390 (note on the radio).

  247. ADAP D VII, no. 493, 31 August, Hitler’s war directive, start of the offensive 1 September, 4:45.

  19. “WAR IS THE FATHER OF ALL THINGS”

  1. TB, 1 September 1939.

  2. Domarus II, 1312ff., 1315.

  3. TB, 2 September 1939.