B006OAL1QM EBOK (26 page)

On his marriage to Magda he found himself very much in love with his beautiful wife. They were the kind of newly-wedded people who enjoyed exchanging little endearments in public to impress those who were watching. All they caused was amusement. Magda was not strait-laced. She had been brought up in the same period of easy morals as her new husband and had herself taken some advantage of this. Magda was used to luxury, and what for a year or two she lost in money (when her former husband's generous allowance ceased) she gained by making her flat the social centre of the Nazi hierarchy and basking in the sunshine of the Leader's friendship. There is no doubt that Hitler held her in high regard and paid her a great deal of attention socially, while she worshipped him in return.

Goebbels, however, insisted that his wife, like a good Nazi, should be fruitful and multiply. He treated his stepson Harald with affection, but both his male pride and his patriotic duty demanded the almost annual production of children of his own. On 1st September 1932 came his daughter Helga; then on 13th April 1934 Hilde; on 21st October 1935 Helmuth; on 9th February 1937 Holde; on 5th May 1938 Hedda; and in October 1940 Heide. The alliteration in the names was the result of some whim of Goebbels and his wife. There are many witnesses to the correctness of Goebbels' behaviour to his children. He gave them due measure of his time, playing with them and being a good father, proud of his increasing flock.

Magda's constant pregnancies, and her tendency to ill health, to some extent released Goebbels' energies at a time when his increasing contacts with the pretty women of the theatre and the film studios excited his susceptible passions. Magda was apparently prepared for him to have occasional affaires with actresses and society women. At Schwanenwerder, in any case, he had the advantage of guest-houses and pavilions set out in the grounds where he could arrange to meet whomever he liked and remain with her undisturbed. Young actresses, young secretaries, girls prepared to offer themselves to him in a daze of admiration, seemed to be his favourites.

It was in 1936 that Goebbels met for the first time the young Czech actress Lida Baarova, who was working at the time in Germany. Although she was barely twenty years old, she had already begun to make successful appearances in German films. In private life her name was closely linked with that of the famous star Gustav Fröhlich, with whom she was living at his luxurious residence on the island of Schwanenwerder, near Goebbels' own estate. Goebbels had, of course, seen her frequently at the innumerable film parties and receptions which he attended as Minister, but like everyone else he regarded her as in love with Fröhlich and likely any time to become his wife. They met also at Schwanenwerder, and it was Magda who had first invited Baarova to come to her house and have tea. The invitation was accepted; and as these private social occasions grew in number she began to sense the Herr Minister's personal interest in her. She was barely half his age, but she was already tiring of her relationship with Fröhlich. The mature charm of Goebbels increasingly impressed her. She was falling in love with him.

This was the position in 1936 when, with many other stage and film personalities, she attended the Nuremberg Congress; there she met Hitler in the presence of Goebbels. Hitler began by apologising that an error had been made in not sending her flowers. “But why, my Fuhrer?” she asked. “Because you have got married,” said Hitler. “No, my Fuhrer,” she replied. “To Herr Fröhlich,” persisted Hitler. “No, my Fuhrer,” she answered. “What, not married?” growled Hitler. “No, my Fuhrer.” Then it was Goebbels' turn to make her confirm that she was still free. He asked her, too, in a softer voice whether she and Fröhlich were indeed not married or about to marry. “No, Herr Reichsminister,” she said yet again.

Baarova's next encounter with Goebbels was at a reception a day or so later. There were large numbers of people present, but she found herself sitting next to the Minister. She was well aware of the touch of intimacy he was seeking to establish with her in the dense crowd. The orchestra near-by was playing the lilting music of the song ‘Eleanor’, and a singer was returning every so often to the insistent, recurrent refrain:
“Ich liebe dich; Ich liebe dich.”
With the throng pressing all round them, Goebbels leaned towards her and whispered with a smile:
“Ich dich auch
; I too.” This was his first declaration of love to her.

Later in the Congress she attended another reception where Goebbels singled her out about half an hour before he was due to address his vast audience. He invited her to leave the reception-room and go with him to another room where, he said, they could speak in private about her career. She was surprised, and could not help expressing her astonishment at the time he had chosen to take her aside. “But, Herr Reichsminister, your speech … ?” “That doesn't matter,” replied Goebbels. “I'm used to that sort of thing. What matters now is that I must have a few words with you in private.” still most surprised, Baarova withdrew to another room with him. The moment they were in private, Goebbels once more declared his love for her.

Baarova did not know what it was right for her to say. She could only feel anxiety that within a few minutes this man beside her would be on the rostrum in front of the microphones and she would be just one of the audience filling the massive auditorium. She was about to protest when he kissed her on the mouth. She felt her lipstick print itself on him, and she was quite desperate what to do next. But all she saw then was Goebbels grinning at her and wiping his face with a handkerchief. “Listen,” he said. “I must go now. But don't forget; I shall speak for you only.” Trembling she left him and took her place in the audience. Goebbels knew where she was sitting. At one moment when he paused in his speech, he looked directly towards her, smiled, and drawing his handkerchief from his pocket, wiped his mouth where her lipstick had been. They shared this secret moment while ten thousand people watched knowing nothing.

Goebbels had an exquisite sense of occasion with women. He knew how to establish the charms of intimacy. He knew that what a woman really enjoys is not watching the man she loves expending his talent in public or in the skilful conduct of his business affairs; what she values is his ability to show even on public occasions that he can turn aside from his business and devote the whole of his attention to her and her alone. Goebbels' reputation as a man who worked day and night stood him in good stead where women were concerned, because he knew how to pay them the supreme compliment of a busy man and give them his time without once seeming to care that he might be needed elsewhere. “But, Herr Reichsminister,” they would say before they really knew him, “what about your conference, your broadcast, your speech … ?” “These things can wait,” Goebbels would say. “After all, I am with you.”

With the pressure of Goebbels' kiss in her memory, Baarova waited anxiously for her next private meeting with him. During the following two years, Goebbels gave what seemed unlimited time to her. They met at all hours of the day and night. He loved talking to her about herself; he helped her with her problems, however small or great they might be. She lived now in a small apartment in Berlin, but mostly they spent their interludes of love in Goebbels' private pavilions at either Lanke or Schwanenwerder. Although Baarova's success as a film-star meant that she was comparatively well off, she insisted on using a diminutive Czech car which puttered along noisily and even drew the attention of Hitler to its absence of star quality. “Why can't Baarova afford to get a proper car?” grumbled Hitler. Goebbels forthwith offered to give her one, but she refused. She preferred her old Czech vehicle. Normally Goebbels did not attempt to give her expensive presents, only well-chosen gifts which she knew he had taken great care to select because he knew that they would please her.

It became evident to more people than themselves that they were deeply in love. Baarova's high cheek-bones, characteristic of Slav beauty, fascinated him; so did her accent, with its slow Czech enunciation in her rich, sensual voice. She was no taller than Goebbels, and they looked well together. Her distinctive femininity, her strong passions, her sweetness which was the sweetness now of a growing maturity and not of youthful innocence, made him happier and easier in love than he had ever been before. Never once in the whole two years they were together did they find occasion to quarrel. There was no need now for the posturing and the play-acting which had characterised Goebbels' youthful attitude to love. They were happy together without strain or tension. They did not care that the gossip of Berlin was beginning to centre round them. They did not care, but Magda did.

She asked Baarova to tea. This seemed to the young girl a formidable invitation to receive. Magda was, after all, one of the leading society women in Germany. She was almost twenty years older than Baarova. She had powerful friends, not least, of course, Hitler himself. And she was the wife of the man Baarova loved. Goebbels' mistress became very nervous, but she felt she must accept the invitation and find out what was behind it.

The meeting was very different from what she had expected. Magda embarrassed her by becoming highly emotional. She began by saying that she knew all about Joseph's love for her, and that if he needed Baarova's love then the situation must be accepted. Then she poured out her heart to the girl. Because of this they must be like sisters to each other, she said. They must call each other by the intimate term of
‘du’
. They must kiss. Baarova was both frightened and revolted by the self-abasement of this woman who could have been her mother. All she could say was:
“Ich kann nicht.”
Magda continued to press her, but added very seriously when they parted: “However much you love Joseph, you must never, never bear him a child.” This, at any rate, Baarova was readily able to agree, and so she tore herself away. Magda, she realised, had to be the official wife and child-bearer. Baarova must remain the mistress like the rest of Goebbels' women.

But in spite of this assurance, Magda remained unsatisfied. Whether she was heart-broken or not—and both Naumann and von Wedel deny the many stories that she was not herself entirely faithful to her husband—she knew that pride alone demanded some action from her to put a stop to a love affair which was increasingly becoming a public scandal. Goebbels took no notice of her protests, and eventually she set about preparing for divorce. To help in the collection of evidence, she employed Goebbels' Under-Secretaries at the Ministry, Karl Hanke, who was devoted to her and ready to take the risk of spying on the Minister. Between them they set about gathering the evidence necessary for divorce proceedings. Meanwhile, Magda refused to let her husband enter the house at Schwanenwerder, and once more new fuel was added to the fire of Berlin gossip. Hanke documented Goebbels' liaisons with the assiduity of a private detective.

When Hitler heard that the separation of Magda and her husband was leading to a divorce, he was horrified. He decided that he must deal with the matter himself. Magda had told Göring of her intentions, and Göring had told Hitler. The Fuhrer summoned her to Berchtes-gaden, only to learn from her own lips that she refused now to have anything more to do with her husband. Hitler prepared next to see Goebbels. He returned to Berlin and sent for him. Goebbels then told him the solemn truth about himself and Baarova, and he is alleged to have declared he was ready to resign at once from his Ministry and be posted abroad in the foreign service rather than give up the woman he loved. Hitler is said to have become very angry and made it abundantly dear to Goebbels that he was in no position to indulge in a private scandal. He was a prominent and indispensable servant of state. He ordered him not to see Baarova again. This, he said, was a
Führer-befehl,
a command that could not be disobeyed.

There seems no doubt at all that Goebbels was completely sincere in his love for Baarova and in his readiness to sacrifice his position as Minister if this might enable him to maintain his association with her and perhaps eventually, when he was free to do so, to make her his wife. Baarova herself claims that she never wanted him to take the ultimate step of resigning his Ministry. They had certainly talked together of marriage once Magda's intentions were known to them; Goebbels had even discussed persuading the Fuhrer to send him abroad where he might take her with him. But Goebbels was not in the habit of discussing political affairs with her, and when Hitler finally took matters into his own hands and ordered Goebbels to sever the relationship forthwith, the news came as a cruel and wholly unexpected blow. She was abruptly summoned to Count Helldorf's office and told of the Fuhrer's command.

Helldorf was chosen by Hitler to deal with the matter because he was at this time Chief of Police. Baarova, sensing there was to be trouble, took with her to the interview an intimate friend, Hilde Körber. Helldorf began by telling her that it was Hitler's orders that she and Goebbels must not see each other again for at least six months. If by then their love was still uncured, the matter of the divorce might be reconsidered. As he spoke, Baarova fainted. Hilde Körber, who was herself by now approaching hysterics at this dire news and its effect upon her friend, sprang to her help and cried out for eau-de-Cologne. Helldorf, alarmed at the violence of the reaction he had caused in the two women, hurried to the wash-room adjoining his office and snatched at the nearest bottle. By a macabre touch of comedy, he grasped in his agitation a bottle of hair tonic in mistake for eau-de-Cologne. The error was not discovered until Baarova's face was already bathed in the liquid. Perhaps the fact that the moment she recovered she had some difficulty in cleaning her face was of greater help to her than the eau-de-Cologne would have been. With Hilde trembling beside her, they tried to put her face to rights. Helldorf dropped his official manner and spoke to Baarova earnestly as a friend. He told her as gently as he could that if her love affair were not terminated once and for all, it would not be a matter of preserving her career, but of preserving her life. She must leave Germany as soon as possible. On hearing this, Baarova collapsed into hysterics. She threatened immediate suicide unless she could talk to Goebbels within the hour. Life had no more meaning for her. She screamed and raved until eventually Helldorf undertook to telephone Hitler straight away in order to see what might be done. Twice he retired to another room and spoke to the Fuhrer. At length he obtained the necessary permission. Then Hilde took the sobbing woman back to her apartment. There Baarova waited for the sound of Goebbels' voice.