Goebbels: A Biography (130 page)

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.

151.
TB, 18 July, 9 October 1943, 16 March 1944.

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.

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.

45.
TB, 21 February, 9 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).

68.
Kershaw,
Hitler. 1936–1945
, 738.

69.
TB, 28 May 1943, and 30 May 1943.

70.
TB, 4 June 1943. Since the previous autumn Goebbels had made several attempts to get German propaganda to offer the prospect of a “European” future. In October and November 1942 he had published two articles for
Das Reich
on the topic of a “New Europe,” which, however, basically concentrated on emphasizing Germany’s claim as the victorious power to absolute domination (“Das neue Europa,” 4 October 1942, “Die Vision eines neuen Europa,” 11 November 1942). On 22 January Goebbels had raised this issue with Hitler, who assigned him the task of producing a draft paper (TB, 23 January 1943). In March Hitler permitted Goebbels “to touch on and sketch out the matter” during his next speech in the Sports Palace. TB, 9 March 1943.

71.
“Überwundene Winterkrise,” published in
Aufstieg
, 287–306;
VB
(B), 7 June 1943, “Bezwingender Eindruck der Kundgebung im Sportpalast—In unerschütterlicher Zuversicht.”

72.
TB, 6 June 1943.

73.
TB, 7 June 1943; also 8, 10, 11, and 12 June 1943.

74.
TB, 7 June 1943, and 8 June 1943.

75.
SD-Berichte zu Inlandsfragen, 10 June 1943.
Meldungen
, p. 5345.

76.
TB, 11 and 18 June 1943.

77.
BAB, NS 18/225. The draft of the circular that Tiessler, Goebbels’s liaison with Bormann, had composed still stated: “On the Führer’s instructions I have launched a propaganda campaign against Jewry, which will continue for months.” Significantly, however, in the circular that was finally issued Goebbels no longer referred to Hitler (ibid., Vorlage Tießler an Goebbels, 19 May 1943).

78.
BAB, NS 6/344, R 33/43g of 11 July 1943.

79.
Tagesberichte
, 29 May 1943; Gröhler,
Bombenkrieg
, 121; TB, 2 June 1943; and 4, 6, 7 June 1943.

80.
Gröhler,
Bombenkrieg
, 121; TB, 14 June 1943 (Bochum).

81.
TB, 12, 14, and 15 June 1943.

82.
TB, 22 June 1943; a few days earlier he had already indicated that he was convinced that they would “not be able to avoid some kind of compulsory evacuation from particular cities” (TB, 20 June 1942).

83.
TB, 2 July 1943, and 8 August 1943.

84.
TB, 10 and 11 July 1943.

85.
TB, 3 July 1943.

86.
Das Reich
, “Das Denkmal der nationalen Solidarität,” 4 July 1943; see also TB, 23 June 1943.

87.
TB, 9 July 1943.
Der Angriff
, 10 July 1943, “Dr. Goebbels in Köln.”

88.
TB, 29 June 1943. The letter survey carried out by his office was equally positive: TB, 10 July 1943.

89.
TB, 25 June 1944; BAB, R 43 II/654a, committee meeting of 24 June 1943.

90.
TB, 23 January, 10 May 1943.

91.
TB, 12 May 1943.

92.
See extensive correspondence in BAB, R 55/799 and 1435.

93.
He had already promised to do this on 9 May (TB, 10 May 1943). In mid-June Bormann had indicated that Hitler supported Goebbels in this dispute: BAB, R 55/1435, telephone note of 15 June 1943.

94.
TB, 1 July 1943; BAB, R55/1435, Lammers to Goebbels on the fact that a rapprochement with Rosenberg had not occurred in the conversation of 28 June, 29 June 1942. On the whole issue, see Reuth,
Goebbels
, 535ff., and Piper,
Alfred Rosenberg
, 604ff.

95.
TB, 19 March 1943.

96.
TB, 18 March 1943, and 11 June 1943. Schirach,
Ich glaubte an Hitler
, 288 (incorrectly dates the closure to January).

97.
TB, 21 and 22 March, 24 April 1943.

98.
TB, 9 May 1943.

99.
Baldur von Schirach,
Hitler
, 292ff. By contrast Henriette von Schirach’s claim that the argument was caused by the critical comments about Jewish persecution that she had made in front of Hitler appears much less plausible (particularly in view of the fact that in September 1942 her husband, Baldur von Schirach, had boasted in the manuscript of a speech that he had “evacuated tens of thousands of Jews from Vienna to the eastern ghettos” (TB, 15 September 1942). Schirach,
Der Preis der Herrlichkeit
, 215ff.; both date the incident to April 1943.

100.
TB, 10, 21, and 27 August, also 23 September 1943. Negative comments about Schirach among others in entires for 13 January, 18 April 1944.

101.
TB, 21 June 1944.

102.
TB, 22 June 1944.

103.
TB, 26 June 1943.

104.
TB, 6–10 July 1943; Frieser, “Die Schlacht am Kursker Bogen.”

105.
On the stay in Heidelberg, see TB, 10 July 1943.

106.
A similar line is taken in October 1942 in his speech at the gathering of poets in Weimar (TB, 12 October 1942). On 13 June 1943 he had published an editorial in
Das Reich
in which under the heading “Von der Freiheit des Geistes” (On Intellectual Freedom) he emphasized the difference between the valuable work of “intellectual workers” and the subversive activities of “intellectuals,” once again strongly attacking the latter. Also in
Aufstieg
, 315–22; TB, 1 June 1943.

107.
Published in Heiber (ed.),
Goebbels Reden
, no. 20.

108.
Schröder,
Italiens Kriegsaustritt 1943
, 158ff.; see also TB, 12–15 July 1943.

109.
Pessimistic also in TB, 16 and 17 July 1943.

110.
Frieser, “Schlacht,” 174ff.

111.
Frieser, “Schlacht,” 139ff.

112.
TB, 19 July 1943.

113.
TB, 21 and 22 July 1943.

114.
TB, 18 July 1943; BAK, ZSg 109/43, 17 July 1943, TP 2: “In considering the situation in Sicily, particular attention should be paid to emphasizing the determination of the German troops deployed there to fight and defend their positions.”

115.
TB, 19 July 1943.

116.
TB, 20 and 21 July 1943;
ADAP
E VI, no. 159, Aufzeichnung Schmidt, 20 July 1943; on the meeting, see Kershaw,
Hitler. 1936–1945
, 771.

117.
TB, 21 July 1943.

118.
TB, 25 July 1943. The information presumably came from the ambassador, Mackensen, who had a conversation with Farinacci on 22 July (
ADAP
E VI, no. 166, report of 22 July 1943).

119.
On the meeting of the Grand Council, see Woller,
Die Abrechnung mit dem Faschismus in Italien 1943 bis 1948
, 9ff.; Bosworth,
Mussolini
, 400f.

120.
TB, 30 November 1942: “It has come to our ears—so far in any case unconfirmed—that there are circles in Italy who intend to make contact with the enemy or have already done so. These circles are supposed to include Graziani and Badoglio, and above all Volpi. I can entirely believe that of Badoglio and Volpi, particularly the latter.”