In the Garden of Beasts (55 page)

Chapter 22: The Witness Wore Jackboots

1
“I walked in, my heart in my throat”: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 59–60.

2
“a yawning abyss of boredom”: Tobias, 211.
   Hans Gisevius, page 29, comments on the slow pace as well: “Slowly, like a heavy, viscous liquid, the stream of witnesses and experts flowed by.… The trial proved unexpectedly boring.…”

3
“looked wiry, tough, indifferent”: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 58.

4
“the hind end of an elephant”: Bullitt, 233.

5
“Everyone jumped up as if electrified”: Tobias, 223.

6
“With one hand he gestured wildly”: Gisevius, 32.

7
“especially anxious to have me present”: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 62.

8
“A botch,” Göring had acknowledged: Holborn, 143.

9
“thus preventing the apprehension”: Tobias, 226.

10
“a brilliant, attractive, dark man”: Dodd,
Embassy Eyes
, 60.

11
“For the world had been told”: Tobias, 228.

Chapter 23: Boris Dies Again

1
“Boris, stop it”: Martha Dodd, “Bright Journey into Darkness,” Box 14, Martha Dodd Papers. Martha tells the story of Boris and the roadside shrine in pages 15–16.

Chapter 24: Getting Out the Vote

1
“On an eleventh of November”: Shirer,
Rise
, 211.

2
“Show tomorrow your firm national unity”: Ibid., 211–12.

3
Every German could find a reason: Messersmith to Hull, “Some Observations on the election of Nov. 12, 1933,” p. 3, enclosed in Messersmith to Dodd, Nov. 18, 1933, Box 42, W. E. Dodd Papers.
   Ian Kershaw, in
Hubris
, quotes a portion of the ballot: “Do you, German man, and you, German woman, approve this policy of your Reich government, and are you ready to declare it to be the expression of your own view and your own will, and solemnly to give it your allegiance?” Kershaw,
Hubris
, 495.

4
One report held that patients: Messersmith to Hull, “Some Observations on the election of Nov. 12, 1933,” p. 5, enclosed in Messersmith to Dodd, Nov. 18, 1933, Box 42, W. E. Dodd Papers.

5
“extravagant propaganda”: Klemperer,
Witness
, 41.

6
“In order to bring about clarity”: Messersmith to Hull, “Some Observations on the election of Nov. 12, 1933,” p. 7, enclosed in Messersmith to Dodd, Nov. 18, 1933, Box 42, W. E. Dodd Papers.

7
Some 45.1 million Germans: Messersmith to Hull, “Some Observations on the election of Nov. 12, 1933,” p. 2, enclosed in Messersmith to Dodd, Nov. 18, 1933, Box 42, W. E. Dodd Papers.

8
“historically unique acknowledgment”: Ibid., 2.

9
“The election here is a farce”: Dodd to Roosevelt, Oct. 28, 1933, Box 42, W. E. Dodd Papers.

10
Nothing indicated this more clearly: Shirer,
Rise
, 212.

11
“I am glad you have been frank”: Roosevelt to Dodd, Nov. 13, 1933, Box 42, W. E. Dodd Papers.

12
“that certain reactionary papers”: Dodd,
Diary
, 58.

Chapter 25: The Secret Boris

1
“I wanted to love him only lightly”: Martha Dodd, “Bright Journey into Darkness,” 23, Box 14, Martha Dodd Papers.

2
“You always see the bad things”: Ibid., 29.

3
“I love you.”: Ibid., 29.

4
“I could not bear to think of the future”: Ibid., 21.

5
“Martha!” he wrote: Boris to Martha, Spring 1934, Box 10, Martha Dodd Papers.

6
A bleak day: Details of this encounter between Martha and Boris come from her unpublished memoir, “Bright Journey into Darkness,” 21–26, Box 14, Martha Dodd Papers.

Chapter 26: The Little Press Ball

1
“It is always easier to pump a man”: Schultz, “Winter of 1933–1934,” 4, Personal Writings, Box 29, Schultz Papers.

2
“painfully crowded”: Schultz, “1934,” 2, Personal Writings, Box 34, Schultz Papers.

3
“without any display of orders”: Fromm, 137.

4
“Gravedigger of the Weimar Republic”: Ibid., 321.

5
“I have Hindenburg’s confidence”: Gellately,
Gestapo
, 1.

6
“Not until they had riveted”: Wheeler-Bennett,
Nemesis
, 293.

7
“When he arrived he was as suave”: Schultz, “1934,” 3, Personal Writings, Box 34, Schultz Papers.
   At diplomatic functions, Papen would often sidle up to George Messersmith’s wife and try to pry from her bits and pieces of intelligence about political matters, such as American attitudes toward Germany. She learned to parry these probes by talking about her pastime of collecting porcelain. Papen “never made any progress,” Messersmith wrote, “because she always returned to porcelain.” Messersmith, “Conversations with Von Papen in Vienna,” unpublished memoir, 7, Messersmith Papers.

8
“The louder the motor”: Fromm, 136.

9
“Why should
you
worry?”: Ibid., 136–37.

10
Göring had claimed: Messersmith, “When I arrived in Berlin…,” unpublished memoir, 7, Messersmith Papers.

11
“sit and calmly tell you”: Messersmith to William Phillips, Sept. 29, 1933, (p. 6; see also, pp. 4–5), Messersmith Papers.

12
“I can tell you that”: Schultz, “Winter of 1933–1934,” 7, Personal Writings, Box 29, Schultz Papers; Schultz, “1934,” 4, Personal Writings, Box 34, Schultz Papers.

13
“brutal and ruthless”: Fromm, 137, 304.

14
Rumors of suicides were common: Goeschel, 100.

15
“I can’t live any more”: Fromm, 138.

16
“We all had a really good time”: Louis Lochner to Betty Lochner, Dec. 26, 1933, Round Robin Letters, Box 6, Lochner Papers.

17
“The dinner was a bore”: Dodd,
Diary
, 59.

18
“From that day on”: Schultz, “Winter of 1933–1934,” 7, Personal Writings, Box 29, Schultz Papers.

19
“Bellachen, we are all so shocked”: Fromm, 138–39.

Chapter 27: O Tannenbaum

1
“Berlin is a skeleton”: Isherwood,
Berlin Stories
, 186.

2
The SA monopolized the sale of Christmas trees: Gilbert L. MacMaster to Clarence E. Pickett, Feb. 12, 1934, vol. 2, p. 49,
Archives of the Holocaust
.

3
“persons who had a grudge against him”: Details on the Wollstein incident can be found in Raymond H. Geist to Hull, Dec. 15, 1933, GRC 362.1121 Wollstein, Erwin/1, State/Decimal.

4
Martha assigned herself the task: Martha describes this tree-trimming episode in her unpublished memoir, “Bright Journey into Darkness,” 14–17, Box 14, Martha Dodd Papers.

5
“Have you lost even your literary interest”: Martha to Thornton Wilder, Dec. 14, 1933, Wilder Papers.

6
“On one occasion the hilarity was so great”: Wilbur Carr took careful notes on his conversation with Raymond Geist, and reported them in a “Strictly Confidential” memorandum dated June 5, 1935, Box 12, Carr Papers.

7
“There appears to be a spare typewriter”: John Campbell White to Jay Pierrepont Moffat, Nov. 17, 1933, White Papers.

8
“a curious individual”: Jay Pierrepont Moffat to John Campbell White, March 31, 1934, White Papers.

9
“Permanent retirement from the post”: Dodd to William Phillips, Dec. 4, 1933, Box 42, W. E. Dodd Papers.

10
“I cannot imagine who gave the
Tribune”:
William Phillips to Dodd, Dec. 22, 1933, Box 42, W. E. Dodd Papers.

11
“an inside glimpse of conditions”: Phillips, Diary, Dec. 20, 1933.

12
“We went over it from all angles”: Moffat, Diary, Dec. 14, 1933.

13
“much concerned at letters”: Moffat, Diary, Feb. 13, 1934.

14
“Our mutual friend G.S.M.”: George Gordon to Dodd, Jan. 22, 1934, Box 44, W. E. Dodd Papers.

15
Lochner told Dodd: Details of Lochner’s plot to save Dimitrov come from Metcalfe, 232–34; Dodd,
Diary
, 65–66; Conradi, 136–38.

16
“high treason, insurrectionary arson”: Tobias, 268.

17
“We were sitting together drinking our coffee”: Lochner, Dec. 26, 1933, Round Robin Letters, Box 6, Lochner Papers.

18
Diels’s precise motives cannot be known: Wheaton, 430. Though he found the camps repellent, Diels was not being entirely altruistic. He recognized that an amnesty would have great political value, burnishing Hitler’s image both inside and outside Germany. But clearly he also knew that an amnesty would be an affront to Himmler, whose SS ran the camps, and that on that score alone the idea would appeal to Göring. Hitler and Göring approved the idea, but insisted that Dachau be exempted, and limited the number of prisoners to be included. They gave Diels authority to decide who would be freed. Göring announced the decree, and said that a total of five thousand prisoners would be released. In fact, the amnesty was not so wide-ranging as Göring’s announcement suggested. A number of camps outside Prussia also were exempted, and the overall total of prisoners released was lower than what Göring had promised. Moreover, plans existed to expand the capacity of the camps in Prussia alone by as many as eight thousand additional prisoners. Crankshaw, 45–47; Wheaton, 429–30.

19
“The Secret Police Chief did”: Dodd,
Diary
, 67.

20
“One might think,” he wrote: Ibid., 66.

PART V: DISQUIET

Chapter 28: January 1934

1
“Thank you for telling me”: Tobias, 284.

2
“Herr Hitler seemed to feel a genuine sympathy”: Phipps, 40.

3
“Hitler is improving definitely”: Martha to Thornton Wilder, Dec. 14, 1933, Wilder Papers.

4
The official tally of unemployed workers: Fritzsche, 57; Miller, 66–67, 136.

5
Within the Reich Ministry of the Interior: Krausnick et al., 419.
   One more sign of normalcy was the way the government dealt with an attack against an American that occurred on Jan. 15, 1934. On that cold, rain-soaked Monday a U.S. citizen named Max Schussler, working in Berlin as a landlord, stumbled into the consulate on Bellevuestrasse “bleeding profusely,” according to an account by Raymond Geist, who was serving as acting consul general while Messersmith was in America. Schussler was Jewish. The next morning, after consultation with Dodd, Geist went to Gestapo headquarters and lodged a protest directly with Rudolf Diels. Within forty-eight hours the assailant was arrested, convicted, and sentenced to seven months in prison. What’s more, news of the arrest and punishment received broad play over radio and in newspapers. Geist reported to Washington, “It is very gratifying to see how promptly the German authorities acted.… I believe that these attacks will now definitely cease.” He was wrong, as time would show, but for the moment at least there seemed to be a new effort by the government to win America’s goodwill.
   There was an unwholesome element to Geist’s final conversation with Diels. The Gestapo chief complained that Schussler and certain other abused Americans were “not altogether a desirable lot,” as Geist recalled Diels’s remarks. The innuendo was clear, and Geist’s temper spiked. “I told him,” he wrote, “that we would never consider any other fact than that a man was an American citizen, and that the question of race or origin was entirely beside the point, and that any American citizen was entitled to the full protection of the American Government.” Geist to Hull, Jan. 16, 1934, FP 362.1113 Schussler, Max/1, State/Decimal; Geist to Hull, Jan. 18, 1934, 362.1113 Schussler, Max/8 GC, State/Decimal.