78. TB, 17 January 1943. On the deterioration in morale, see 20 and 24 January 1943.
79. TB, 24 January, also 25 and 31 January 1943.
80. TB, 23 January 1943.
81. BAK, ZSg 109/40, VI, 23 January 1943.
82. TB, 24 January 1943.
83. TB, 26 January 1943.
84. TB, 2 and 5 February 1943.
85. TB, 27 January 1943.
86. RGBl. 1943 I, 67f.
87. TB, 29 January 1943. At this meeting the final version of the Decree to Release Labor for Deployment in Work Important for the War Effort (RGBl. 1943 I, 75f.) was implemented by three edicts of 30 January (R 43 II/662). The final report of the Committee of Three of summer 1944 estimated that 150,000 workers had been released by the closure program (R 3II/664a); Herbst, Der totale Krieg, 212ff.
88. TB, 28 January 1943.
89. 7 February 1943, also published in Aufstieg, 159–66. Similar views are expressed in the article “Der Blick nach vorne,” which was published on 31 January (also published in Aufstieg, 151–58).
90. TB, 19, 21, and 23 January 1943.
91. TB, 30 January 1943 on its drafting.
92. VB (N), 31 January, “Die Proklamation des Führers am 30. Januar 1943: Deutschlands Antwort: Kampf und Sieg!” (headline). The text of the Goebbels speech was published on the following day: “Reichsminister Dr. Goebbels im Berliner Sportpalast: ‘Wilde Entschlossenheit erhebt unsere Herzen.’ ”
93. TB, 31 January 1943.
94. TB, 4 February 1943, and 5 February.
95. TB, 5 February 1943. The assessment of the impact of the speech in the Meldungen aus dem Reich of 1 Februay 1943, 4732f., is by contrast much less euphoric.
96. VB (N), 23–29 January 1943; TB, 25 January 1943: “The situation in Stalingrad is developing more and more into a major national tragedy.” See also 26 and 27 January 1943.
97. TB, 31 January/1 February 1943.
98. TB, 3 February 1943.
99. TB, 3 February 1943.
100. TB, 4 February 1943; BAK, ZSg 109, 4 Februar 1943, TP 1. This is confirmed by the Meldungen aus dem Reich of 4 February, 4750ff.
101. Das Reich, 14 February 1943, “Unser Wille und Weg”; TB, 4 February 1943.
102. TB, 6 February 1943, and 7 February 1943.
103. 1739-PS, published in IMT 27, 584ff.
104. TB, 8 February 1943.
105. TB, 13 February 1943.
106. BAB, R 43 II/655, Vermerke Lammers, 6 March, 10 May 1943.
107. TB, 12 February 1943. The Meldungen aus dem Reich do not, in any case, confirm this impression. The report of 11 February 1943 shows that the demand for an increase in the war effort was certainly combined with criticism of the regime’s policies (4783); see also the reports of 15 February 1943, 4799ff., and 18 February 1943, 4821ff., which give no indication of vigorous calls for “total war.”
108. TB, 15 February 1943.
109. TB, 18 February 1943. Meldungen aus dem Reich, 11 February 1943, 4783, 15 February 1943, 4799ff., 18 February 1943, 4821ff.
110. TB, 15 February 1943, also 16 and 18 February 1943. On the rally in the Sportpalast, see Fetscher, Joseph Goebbels im Berliner Sportpalast 1943; Kegel, “Wollt Ihr den totalen Krieg”; Bohse, Inszenierte Kriegsbegeisterung und ohnmächtiger Friedenswille; Boelcke, “Goebbels und die Kundgebung im Berliner Sportpalast vom 18. Februar 1943”; Moltmann, “Goebbels’ Rede zum totalen Krieg am 18. Februar 1943.”
111. BAK, ZSg 109/41, VI vom 18. Februar 1943, II. Erläuterungen zur TP.
112. BAK, ZSg 102/42, 18 Februar (M), 10. On the day before the speech he wrote an editorial for Das Reich, in which, under the title “Die Krise Europas,” he referred to the “danger from Bolshevism” in an equally drastic fashion and attacked “international Jewry” as the “spiritus rector for the whole of the spiritual and intellectual confusion, the ferment of decomposition affecting states and nations”: 28 February 1943, in Aufstieg, 205–12; TB, 18 February 1943.
113. Text of the speech in VB (N), 20 February 1943, also published in Heiber (ed.), Goebbels Reden, no. 17.
114. This is noted in particular by Bohse, Kriegsbegeisterung, 130ff.
115. In the months before he had still been emphasizing in his editorials that this war was not about “thrones and altars” and that the era of religious wars had finally been left behind. Das Reich, 26 August 1942, “Vom Sinn des Krieges,” and 18 October 1942, “Der Segen der Erde.” See Hockerts, “Kreuzzugsrhetorik,” 234ff.
116. TB, 19 February 1943.
117. TB, 14 February, 23 February to 21 March 1943.
118. TB, 20 February 1943, on the reaction at home and abroad.
119. TB, 21 February 1943.
120. TB, 24 February 1943. See also 9 March 1943, according to which Hitler had described the speech as “a psychological and propagandistic masterpiece.”
121. TB, 21 February 1943. The Meldungen aus dem Reich of 18 February do not, however, comment on his speech, which Goebbels himself noted on the following day (TB, 22 February 1943).
122. TB, 12 December 1942: “Moreover, I have the impression that there is rather too much criticism in the SD reports. Recently my opinion of the SD reporting has not been so positive as hitherto. I shall urge the gentlemen responsible to report in a more objective and factual manner.”
123. TB, 22 February 1943.
124. TB, 25 February, also 26 and 27 February.
125. Meldungen aus dem Reich, 22 February 1943, 4831.
126. BAB, R 55/603, 27 February 1943, already quoted in Steinert, Hitlers Krieg und die Deutschen, 43.
127. TB, 23 February 1943.
128. VB (B), 25 February 1943, “Unser Glaube und Fanatismus stärker denn je! Proklamation des Führers zur Gründungsfeier der Partei in München” (headline).
129. TB, 27 February 1943.
130. TB, 11 and 28 February, 17 March 1943; BAB, R 43 II/654a, minutes of the meeting of 10 February 1943 and 16 March 1943. On the discussions of the committee, see Rebentisch, Führerstaat, 481ff.
131. BAB, R 43 II/654a, minutes of the meeting of 16 March; TB, 17 March 1943. The decree met with general skepticism from the ministries and in the end was not issued (correspondence on this in R 43II/658).
132. TB, 17 March 1943; BAB, R 43 II/654a, minutes of the meeting of 17 March 1943; Kriegsmaßnahmenverordnung of 12 May 1943, RGBl. 1943 I, 290f.
133. See TB, 17 March 1943, compared with the minutes of the meeting of 16 March 1943.
134. TB, 5, 9, 22 March (quotation); BAB, R 43 II/658a Führervorlage Goebbels A II 218 of 18 February 1943; here too the note by Lammers on Hitler’s decision of 4 March and a letter from Lammers to the responsible Reich ministers re: horseracing of 24 March; see Rebentisch, Führerstaat, 490ff.; R 43II/654a, minutes of the meeting of 17 March, where a proposal by Goebbels concerned with this issue was agreed.
135. TB, 11 February 1943.
136. TB, 27 February 1943.
137. TB, 27 February, 1 and 2 March 1943.
138. TB, 9 March 1943.
139. TB, 19 March 1943. On 12 March Goebbels informed Speer, Funk, and Ley about his conversation with Göring (TB, 13 March 1943).
140. TB, 17 March, also 12, 13, 20, 21, and 27 March 1943.
141. TB, 6 March 1943.
142. Das Reich, 28 March 1943, “Vom Unrecht im Kriege,” also in Aufstieg, 228–36.
143. Das Reich, 4 April 1943, “Ein offenes Wort zum totalen Krieg,” also in Aufstieg, 237–42; TB, 23 March, also in 6 March 1943.
144. TB, 18 February 1943.
145. TB, 11 March 1943.
146. This follows the convincing arguments in Gruner, Widerstand in der Rosenstraße, 85ff.
147. TB, 9 March 1943.
148. TB, 21 March 1943.
149. TB, 18 April 1943.
150. Minutes of the ministerial briefing, BAK, NL 1118/138, 1 April 1943. However, he was not prepared to accept the suggestion that propaganda should refer publicly to the number of apartments.
152. TB, 7 January 1943; Blank, “Kriegsalltag und Luftkrieg an der ‘Heimatfront,’ ” 391.
153. TB, 16 January 1943; Tagesberichte, 16 January 1943.
154. TB, 18 January 1943, and 19 January 1943.
155. Gröhler, Bombenkrieg, 121; Tagesberichte, 1 March 1943.
156. TB, 3 March 1943; on the removal of the consequences, see 4, 5, 6, and 7 March 1943.
157. TB, 7 March 1944, and 10 March 1944.
158. VB (B), 7 March 1943, “Die Haltung der Berliner über jedes Lob erhaben.”
159. TB, 22 March 1943.
160. According to the records seen by Goebbels two months later, between 22 June and the end of April 1942 the armed forces had suffered a total of 459,750 fatalities (TB, 14 May 1942).
161. TB, 26 March 1943; see also 27 March 1943.
162. TB, 28 March 1943, also 29 March 1943; Gröhler, Bombenkrieg, 121; Tagesberichte, 27 March 1943.
163. TB, 30 March 1943; Tagesberichte, 29 March 1943.
164. Gröhler, Bombenkrieg, 103.
165. TB, 13 March 1943. See also TB, 7, 14, 18, and 20 March, 4, 5, 6, and 7 April 1943.
166. Minutes in BAK, NL 1118/138, 10 April 1943.
167. BAK, ZSg 102/43, 11 April 1943 TP 1; TB, 11 April 1943.
168. TB, 3 June 1943: “The costs of film have been reduced from 1½ million to just over a million. It’s clear, therefore, that the goal set by me for film in wartime can definitely be achieved if people have the will and are prepared to put in the necessary resources to do so.”
169. Moeller, Filmminister, 280.
170. TB, 26 February 1943.
171. TB, 24 December 1943 (“Musik in Salzburg”), also 19 May 1944 (“Heimliche Bräute”).
172. TB, 18 November (“Regimentsmusik”), 22 November, 10 December (“Am Abend nach der Oper”) 1944.
173. TB, 1 December 1944; see also Moeller, Filmminister, 280f.
174. TB, 9 February 1943.
175. TB, 10 January, 27 December 1943 (quotation).
176. TB, 29 March 1943; Moeller, Filmminister, 283.
177. Moeller, Filmminister, 281ff.
178. TB, 5 March 1944, Moeller, Filmminister, 288.
179. TB, 9 May 1944.
180. TB, 10 June 1944; Moeller, Filmminister, 290.
181. TB, 25 May 1943, and 7 May 1943 (first entry on the Kolberg project); Moeller, Filmminister, 298ff., 309ff.
182. TB, 6 February, 21 April, 6, 12, 14 June, 14 and 15 July 1944.
183. TB, 1, 3, and 12 December 1944.
184. TB, 23 December 1944.
185. TB, 12 February 1944.
186. TB, 19 March 1945.
187. TB, 12 May, 1 June 1942.
188. On his taking on the appointment and his plans, see TB, 4 and 17 April, 6 and 17 May 1943; his further assessment of Liebeneiner’s work fluctuated: 28 January 1944, 1 and 3 February, 10, 15, and 16 April, 23 December 1944; Moeller, Filmminister, 145ff.
189. TB, 3 August, 15 September 1942 also 27 and 28 February, 4 and 17 April, 12 and 23 May 2, 12, and 24 June 1943; criticism in retrospect also in 24 December 1943; Moeller, Filmminister, 127ff.
190. TB, 23 July 1943; also 29 July, 25 August 1943 (address to the heads of production of the film companies).
191. TB, 6 April 1944.
192. TB, 17 March, 18 April 1944; criticism: 16 June, 31 August 1944.
193. Moeller, Filmminister, 130ff.; TB, 27 September 1944.
194. TB, 22 May 1943. On light music on the radio during the second half of the war, see Koch, Das Wunschkonzert im NS-Rundfunk, 129ff.
195. Bonacker, Goebbels’ Mann beim Radio, 198f.
196. TB, 5 April 1944.
197. Bonacker, Goebbels’ Mann beim Radio, 197.
198. BAB, R 55/556, minutes of 30 August. The minutes document further interventions by Goebbels in the music programming, e.g. on 13 September, 11 October 1944.
199. R 55/556, Protokoll vom 24. Oktober 1944; as well as minutes of 31 January 1945.
26. “THE MASSES HAVE BECOME SOMEWHAT SKEPTICAL OR…ARE IN THE GRIP OF A SENSE OF HOPELESSNESS”
1. After 22 February 1943 the improvement in the military situation was reflected in the TB.
2. This was the general trend in TB, 7, 13, 16, 20, 23, 26, and 30 March; 3, 9, 18, and 23 April, 1 May 1943.
3. Das Reich, 11 April 1943, “Stimmung und Haltung.”
4. TB, 2, 4, and 11 April 1943. The remark in the Meldungen aus dem Reich of 1 April 1943, according to which many citizens received information via “rumors, slogans, stories told by soldiers on leave, letters from the front and such like” rather than from official channels of information,” must have particularly annoyed Goebbels.
5. TB, 17 April 1943.
6. Boberach, introduction to the edition of Meldungen aus dem Reich, 36. TB, 12 May 1943: “Himmler is intending to have the SD prepare a special report for me personally, which will basically contain what was hitherto provided for a larger group of recipients.”
7. TB, 20 July 1943.
8. TB, 2, 3, 6, and 29 April 1943.
9. Gruchmann, “Korruption im Dritten Reich. Zur Lebensmittelversorgung der NS-Führerschaft.”
10. BAB, R 22/5005, Helldorf report of 15 March 1943.
11. TB, 22 March 1943; and 17 March 1943.
12. TB, 23 March 1943.
13. TB, 7 May 1943.
14. TB, 19 May 1943.
15. TB, 23 July 1943.
16. BAB, NS 6/344, Anordnung des Führers über die vorbildliche Haltung der Angehörigen an hervorragender Stelle stehender Persönlichkeiten of 28 May 1943; TB, 21 May 1943.
17. TB, 1, 2, 3, and 8 April 1943.
18. TB, 13 April 1943, on the continuing complaints, see also 14–19 April 1943.
19. TB, 13 April 1943, Funk report, 20 April 1943, Ley report.
20. TB, 6 and 7 May (quotation) 1943.
21. TB, 7 May 1943 on the basis of a meeting on the previous day.
22. TB, 6 May 1943, also 24 April 1943.
23. TB, 10 May 1943. See also 22 March 1943: “The Führer also thinks that, for example, we shouldn’t ban women from dying their hair.”
24. TB, 20 May 1943, and 11 May 1943.
25. TB, 12 May 1943.
26. TB, 27 and 31 March, also 3 April 1943; see also BAK, ZSg 109/42, TP of 1 and 2 April 1943.
27. On the Katyn massacre, see Kaiser, Katyn.
28. On the finding of the bodies, see also TB, 9 April 1943.
29. TB, 25 April 1943. On the fighting, see also 2 May 1943. Hermann Fegelein, commander of a Waffen-SS division, who visited him at the beginning of May, confirmed him in his radical views: “Fegelein reckons that he has solved the Jewish question in Warsaw in a very simple and rigorous way” (TB, 2 May 1943).
30. TB, 15, 16, 25, and 29 April 1943.
31. TB, 18 April 1943; on the alleged increase in anti-Semitism in Great Britain, see also 11, 19, and 22 April 1943.
32. The minutes of the ministerial briefings for April (BAK NL 1118/138) contain various warnings from Goebbels not to allow the issue of Katyn to fade away: 17–28 April 1943.
33. Details in Longerich, Davon, 268ff.
34. TB, 27, 28, and 29 April 1943.
35. BAB, NS 18/225, Vorlage Tießler, 30 April 1943.
36. BAK, ZSg 109/42, 30 April 1943. See also ibid., 28 April 1943, and 29 April 1943.
37. TB, 8 May 1943.
38. TB, 25 April, 4, 7, 10, and 22 May 1943.
39. Schreiber, “Das Ende des nordafrikanischen Feldzugs und der Krieg in Italien,” 1108.
40. VB (N), 10 May 1942; Der Angriff, 13 May 1942.
41. TB, 9 May 1943.
42. Das Reich, “Mit souveräner Ruhe,” 23 May 1943. For the official line on the defeat in Africa, see BAK, ZSg 109/42, 13 May 1943, II. Erläuterungen zur TP.
43. TB, 14 May 1943.
44. DAZ, 12 May 1943 (M), VB (N), 13 May 1943; see also TB, 7 and 10 May 1943.
46. TB, 10 May 1943.
47. TB, 18 May 1943; on the press reporting, see BAK, ZSg 109/42, 10 May 1943, TP 2; VB (B), 11 May 1943, changes in the food rations; DAZ, 11 May 1943 (M), adjustment in the food rations.
48. TB, 28 May 1943, and 29 May 1941. Meldungen aus dem Reich, 24 May 1943, 5277ff., and 30 May, 5285ff., with a detailed criticism of the press propaganda.
49. TB, 6 June 1943.
50. TB, 25 May 1943.
51. TB, 22 May 1943. Also 30 May 1943: “It’s a real catastrophe with Göring. He is staying in his father’s castle and simply letting things go whichever way they want.”
52. Das Reich, 30 May 1943, “Vom Wesen der Krise,” and in Aufstieg, 279–86; see also TB, 18 May 1943.
53. TB, 14 May 1943.
54. TB, 15 May 1943.
55. TB, 29 May 1943. “Jaques” in the original.
56. See BAK, ZSg 102/42.
57. Details in Longerich, Davon, 277ff.
58. TB, 26 May 1943, also: 24, 25, and 26 May 1943. See also his article “Die motorischen Kräfte” in Das Reich of 6 June 1943, also published in Aufstieg, 307–14; according to it the dissolution of the Comintern was a “Bolshevist-Jewish deception.”
59. On the alleged growth of anti-Semitism in Great Britain, see TB, 20 and 22 May, and 6 July 1943, and in the United States, see 4 June 1944.
60. TB, 20 May 1943.
61. The press reported on 18 and 19 May 1943 that the bombing of the dams was the result of a proposal by a Jewish scholar (see, for example, DAZ and VB). On the bombing, see Gröhler, Bombenkrieg, 151ff.; TB, 18–20 May 1943; on the alleged Jewish initiative for it, see 19 May 1943.
62. VB (B), 13 May 1943, “Judas Lieblingsplan: Die Hungerpeitsche für Europa” (comment).
63. Details on these issues in Longerich, Davon, 277.
64. See Meldungen aus dem Reich of 19 April, 5144ff., 30 May 1943, 5290f., as well as numerous other reports on morale, which are discussed in Longerich, Davon, 281ff.
65. TB, 19 May 1943; on the visit, see also Hansen, Knut Hamsun, 99ff.
66. TB, 23 June 1943. The original of the letter was discovered in Hamsun’s papers. Hansen, Knut Hamsun, 104.
67. TB, 27 June 1943, also 28 June, 4 July 1943. On the visit, see Hansen, Knut Hamsun, 110ff. (on the basis of a note by Hitler’s interpreter).
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