In the Garden of Beasts (52 page)

7
“their funny stiff dancing”: Ibid., 24.

8
“weren’t thieves”: Ibid., 25.

9
the
Berliner Schnauze:
Jelavich, 31.

10
“I’m not Jewish”: Grunberger, 371; de Jonge, 161; for more on Finck, see Jelavich, 236–41, 248.

11
“The sun shines”: Isherwood,
Berlin Stories
, 207.
   It cannot be said enough that Germany’s seeming normalcy in this period was deeply seductive to outsiders. Angela Schwarz, in her article “British Visitors to National Socialist Germany,” writes that “a considerable number of British travellers concluded after a tour through the Third Reich, perhaps even one organized by the authorities, that in Germany everything was as quiet and peaceful as could be.” Schwarz, 497.

12
Gleichschaltung
—meaning “coordination”: Orlow, 29; Bullock, 149; Kershaw,
Hubris
, 479; Hughes and Mann, 81; Gill, 238.
   Engelmann, 36, offers a slightly different translation: “bringing into line.” Orlow, in his
History of the Nazi Party
, notes that the literal translation is “to switch equal,” a physics term that “originally denoted the coordination of different types of electrical current.” Orlow, 29.

13
“self-coordination”: Kershaw,
Hubris
, 481; Gisevius, 96; Gellately,
Gestapo
, 11, 137.

14
Gerda Laufer: Gellately,
Gestapo
, 97.

15
coined by a post office clerk: Crankshaw, 15.

16
One study of Nazi records: Cited in Gellately,
Gestapo
, 146.

17
In October 1933: Gellately,
Gestapo
, 137–38.

18
“we are living at present”: Ibid., 139.
   There was nothing funny about the Gestapo, but this did not stop Berliners from quietly—very quietly—coining and trading jokes about the agency. Here’s one of them: “At the Belgian border crossing, huge numbers of rabbits appear one day and declare that they are political refugees. ‘The Gestapo wants to arrest all giraffes as enemies of the state.’—‘But you’re not giraffes!’—‘We know that, but try explaining that to the Gestapo!’ ” Evans,
Power
, 106.

19
only about 1 percent: Dippel, xviii; Gill, 238.
   Kershaw, in his
Popular Opinion and Political Dissent
, presents statistics that show that 70.9 percent of Germany’s Jews lived in cities having more than 100,000 inhabitants. In Bavaria, the percentage was 49.5. “One implication of this is obvious,” he writes: “the population of large tracts of Bavaria had no, or at best minimal, contact with Jews. For very many, therefore, the Jewish Question could be of no more than abstract significance.” Kershaw,
Popular Opinion
, 226–27.

20
some ten thousand émigrés: Dippel, 114.

21
“Hardly anyone thought”: Zuckmayer, 320.

22
“It was easy to be reassured”: Dippel, 153.

23
The salute, he wrote: Messersmith to Hull, Aug. 8, 1933, Messersmith Papers.

24
“I felt really quite fortunate”: Ibid., 4.

25
Dodd threw him a mock salute: Martha to Thornton Wilder, Sept. 25, 1933, Wilder Papers.

26
“You remember our bicycle ride”: George Bassett Roberts to Martha, Oct. 22, 1971, Box 8, Martha Dodd Papers.

27
“You had had it”: Ibid.

28
“To my charming and lovely ex-wife”: George Bassett Roberts to Martha, n.d., Box 8, Martha Dodd Papers.

29
“I’m not at all sure”: George Bassett Roberts to Martha, Oct. 22, 1971, Box 8, Martha Dodd Papers.

30
A Harvard graduate: Conradi, 22.

Chapter 7: Hidden Conflict

1
“the most beautiful park”: Dodd to R. Walton Moore, March 22, 1936, 124.621/338, State/Decimal.

2
“A photograph of you”: Phillips to Dodd, July 31, 1933, Box 42, W. E. Dodd Papers.

3
“rolled in the gutter”: Martha to Thornton Wilder, Sept. 25, 1933, Wilder Papers.

4
“Gordon is an industrious career man”: Dodd,
Diary
, 16.

5
“come to Germany to rectify the wrongs”: Ibid., 13.

6
On his first full day in Berlin: Friedlander, 496.

7
He also learned that staff: Dodd to Hull, July 17, 1933, 124.626/95, State/Decimal.

8
The consul general now dispatched: For example, Messersmith to Hull, July 15, 1933, 125.1956/221, State/Decimal.

9
In notes for a personnel report: Dodd, Memorandum, 1933, Box 40 (1933-C), W. E. Dodd Papers.

10
“Evangelical Christian”:
New York Times
, July 1, 1933.

11
He also recognized: For a summary of the conflict between Hitler and Röhm, see Evans,
Power
, 20–26; Kershaw,
Hubris
, 505–7; and Wheeler-Bennett,
Nemesis
, 307–11.

12
admittedly homosexual: Röhm was outed when his letters to a medical researcher were made public. In one letter he wrote, “I make no secret of my inclinations,” and acknowledged that the Nazi Party had needed “to get used to this criminal peculiarity of mine.” He also wrote, “Today all women are an abomination to me, particularly those who pursue me with their love.”
   Hancock, 625–29.

13
“adolescents in the great game”: Dodd to Newton Baker, Aug. 12, 1933, Box 40, W. E. Dodd Papers.

14
“These men wish to stop all Jewish persecution”: Ibid.

15
“his face,” she wrote: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 247.

16
“he was trying to train the Nazis”: Heineman, 66.

17
“He always believed”: Ibid., 82.

18
“most agreeable”: Dodd,
Diary
, 13.

19
“Hitler will fall into line”: Dodd to Newton Baker, Aug. 12, 1933, Box 40, W. E. Dodd Papers.

20
“It is not unlikely that [Zuckerman]”: Messersmith to Hull, Aug. 9, 1933, Messersmith Papers.

21
Messersmith added, “It is interesting to note”: Ibid., 4.

22
“It has been a favorite pastime of the SA men”: Messersmith to Hull, July 26, 1933, Messersmith Papers.

23
“inaccurate and overdrawn”: Messersmith, “Attack on Kaltenborn,” unpublished memoir, 2, Messersmith Papers.

24
“was a German by origin”: Ibid.

25
“to influence Americans coming to Germany”: Messersmith to Hull, Sept. 26, 1933, p. 1, Messersmith Papers.

26
He saw evidence of this: Ibid., 3.

27
“that if Americans in Germany”: Ibid., 3.

28
“The fact that Jews are permitted”: Ibid., 7–8.

29
“The Americans coming to Germany”: Ibid., 15.

Chapter 8: Meeting Putzi

1
She also became a regular: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 100.

2
“Everybody else in the restaurant”: Isherwood,
Berlin Stories
, 204.

3
“pretty, vivacious”: Shirer,
Berlin Diary
, 34.

4
In this new world: I was struck during my research by the extent to which my key protagonists saved the calling cards they received during their days in Berlin. Martha’s cards—scores of them—can be found in Box 1, file 2, of her papers at the Library of Congress. Armand Berard, her much-abused future lover, jotted on one of his cards, “Rang you up in vain / and came in vain.” A good friend of Martha’s, Elmina Rangabe, wrote, cryptically, “ ‘Be still, my soul, be still; the arms you bear are brittle,’ ” from A. E. Housman’s
A Shropshire Lad
. She crossed out Rangabe to indicate intimacy.

5
“If you have nothing more important to do”: Ibid.

6
“a lavish and fairly drunken affair”: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 25.

7
“in a sensational manner”: Ibid., 25.

8
“supremely awkward-looking”: Dalley, 156.

9
“an instinctive dislike”: Messersmith, “Dr. Hanfstaengl,” unpublished memoir, 1, Messersmith Papers.

10
“He is totally insincere”: Messersmith to Jay Pierrepont Moffat, June 13, 1934, Messersmith Papers.

11
“went out of his way to be cordial”: Reynolds, 107.

12
“You had to know Putzi”: Ibid., 207.

13
At Harvard: Hanfstaengl, 27, 32; Conradi, 20.

14
One story held that Hanfstaengl: Conradi, 21.

15
“Uncle Dolf”: Ibid., 46.
   Egon Hanfstaengl told the
Sunday Telegraph
of London (Feb. 27, 2005) that Hitler made an excellent playmate. “I loved him. He was the most imaginative playmate a child could wish for. My favourite game with him was trains. He would go on his hands and knees, and pretend to be a tunnel or a viaduct. I was the steam engine going on the track underneath him. He would then do all the noises of the steam train.”

16
“so blatantly proclaiming his charm”: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 26.

17
“of almost frightening dimensions”: Fromm, 90.

18
“He had a soft, ingratiating manner”: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 25–26.

19
“He could exhaust anyone”: Ibid., 26

20
“He was a modest little southern history professor”: Hanfstaengl, 214.

21
“Papa” Dodd: Conradi, 121.

22
“The best thing about Dodd”: Hanfstaengl, 214.

Chapter 9: Death Is Death

1
One of his foremost sources: Mowrer,
Triumph
, 218.

2
Putzi Hanfstaengl tried to undermine: Ibid., 219.

3
“I was inclined to think him Jewish”: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 39.

4
“To no purpose”: Mowrer,
Triumph
, 224.

5
“almost as vehement”: Dodd,
Diary
, 24.

6
Gestapo chief Rudolf Diels felt compelled: Messersmith, “Some observations on my relations with the press,” unpublished memoir, 20, Messersmith Papers.

7
“people’s righteous indignation”: Mowrer,
Triumph
, 225–26.

8
“one of the most difficult conversations”: Messersmith, “Some observations on my relations with the press,” unpublished memoir, 21, Messersmith Papers.

9
“If you were not being moved”: Mowrer,
Journalist’s Wife
, 308.

10
“never quite forgave my father”: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 39.

11
“perhaps the foremost chemist”: Dodd,
Diary
, 17.

12
C × t = k: See “Fritz Haber,” JewishVirtualLibrary.org.

13
On a personal level: Stern, 121. Also see “Fritz Haber,” NobelPrize.org.

14
“In this profound dejection”: Ibid., 53.