B006OAL1QM EBOK (36 page)

However that may be, throughout 1943 Goebbels had been pressing Hitler to consider what advantages there might be in negotiating a peace settlement with either Britain or Russia, preferably with Britain.

The morale of the German people, he felt, was sinking, and the strain was telling even on himself.

Much criticism now appears in the letters reaching us. Morale among the masses is so low as to be rather serious. Even people of good will are now worried about the future. The man in the street no longer sees any way out of the military dilemma. As a result there is criticism of the leaders, in some cases even of the Führer himself.
²⁶

The whole day brought nothing but work and worry. Alarming news kept piling in. One must certainly keep one's mental balance and hold one's nerves in check so as not to become jittery under the impact. But there can be no question about this in my case. I know that war is a tough business; I also know that one must see it through; I realise clearly that it involves an exceptionally severe strain; but when one tackles the job courageously and survives the crisis, victory beckons in the end.
²⁷

With the Germans finally defeated in North Africa, however, he wrote: “I sometimes feel that we lack the necessary initiative for fighting the war.”
²⁸
In conference with Hitler the following September he raised, not for the first time, the vexed question of a peace settlement.

I asked the Führer whether he would be ready to negotiate with Churchill or whether he declined this on principle. The Führer replied that in politics principles simply do not exist when it comes to questions of personalities. He does not believe that negotiations with Churchill would lead to any result as he is too deeply wedded to his hostile views and, besides, is guided by hatred and not by reason. The Führer would prefer negotiations with Stalin, but he does not believe they would be successful, since Stalin cannot cede what Hitler demands in the East….

It is doubtful, really, whether we are in a position to choose between Russia and England. If we actually had a choice it would naturally be much more agreeable to start talks with London than with Moscow. One can always make a better deal with a democratic State, and once peace has been concluded, such a State will not take up the sword for at least twenty years to come. Psychologically the English would not be in a position to make war; besides the English people are too tired of it and possibly too exhausted also. It is different with the Bolsheviks. Because of their close-knit system they are naturally in a position to embark upon war at any time.
²⁹

Goebbels' attitude to Britain seemed to have undergone some change. Whilst advocating an implacable, irrevocable hatred in his propaganda, he records such thoughts as these in his official diary:

We Germans are not very well fitted for administering occupied territory, as we lack experience. The English, who have done nothing else in all their history, are superior to us in this respect.
³⁰

Anglo-Saxon physical science has completely eclipsed us, especially in research. As a result, the Anglo-Saxon powers are very superior to us in the practical application to warfare of the results of research in physics. That is noticeable both in aerial and submarine warfare.
³¹

Goebbels' bitterness as he watched the home front deteriorate extended to everyone who hindered the war effort, especially the generals of the High Command. Two passages in particular that occur in the diary reflect the strength of this hatred:

The Führer's judgment of the moral qualities of the generals—and that applies to all arms of the service—is devastating. He doesn't believe any general
a priori
. They all cheat him, fawn upon him, furnish him with statistics which any child can contradict, and thereby insult the Führer's intelligence.
³²

The total lack of confidence between Hitler and his General Staff was an important factor in losing Germany the war, and it came to a head in the most formidable of the plots to assassinate Hitler, that organised by the Generals in 1944.

The fall of Mussolini and the subsequent capitulation of Italy was a further blow to German propaganda. When the news of Mussolini's dismissal came through, Goebbels was in Dresden visiting his wife, who was receiving treatment in a sanatorium. This political disaster was coupled with terrible reports from Hamburg of the destruction brought about by a mass air-raid. It was von Oven's duty to tell the Minister both these things.
³³
It was Goebbels' habit when he received bad news to say nothing for a minute or so but sit staring at the bringer of tidings with his mouth open and the incredulous expression of a child on his face. But now he just sat shaking his head. Eventually he spoke.
“Dreckhammel!”
was all he said. Subsequently, when he had had discussions with Hitler he was to become rather more cheerful; after all, he had never thought much of Mussolini. He sat back in his favourite position, and crouching in his swivel-chair with his knee propped up against the edge of the desk he suddenly burst out in mockery: “Duce, Duce, Duce,” like the Italian crowds greeting their Leader.

Although the liberation of Mussolini gave Goebbels the propaganda story he needed, it came only after several weeks' delay, and he was disgusted by Mussolini when eventually he saw the condition the Duce was in—"in the last analysis he is nothing but an Italian and can't get away from that heritage”.

The last entry of Goebbels' diary at present available to us is that for 9th December 1943. Contact with his personal opinions and behaviour is then maintained by the records of those who worked for him—in particular the published diaries written by his aide, Rudolf Semmler, and his press secretary, Wilfred von Oven. Semmler's last entry is dated 17th April 1945, only two weeks before Goebbels' suicide. For the preceding two and a half years, 1943-45, we have the advantage of his observant accounts of what Goebbels said and did during the most critical period of his life. For an almost identical period von Oven supplements Semmler's notes with detailed descriptions of Goebbels' personal habits and methods of work.

Von Oven was much impressed by Goebbels' manner at the conferences where he presided in the Ministry.
³⁴
A great Gobelin tapestry hung behind the Minister's tall leather-upholstered chair; strangely enough, it showed a faun as a piper playing the tune to which other fauns and nymphs danced. Goebbels' audiences, representing senior professional people in broadcasting, the press or films, waited for him, and when he arrived the echo of their voices was hushed. Goebbels would sit down with his knee, as usual, pushed up against the edge of the table in front of him, and leaf through a mass of papers. He was in the habit of taking off his wrist-watch before beginning to talk. He would start speaking in a low, slow voice in order to make his audience lean forward and strain their ears to catch what he was saying. He issued his instructions in this style, quickly and to the point before dismissing his audience back to their work. As against this easy, professional manner of holding a conference, von Oven was shocked at the flippancy displayed behind the scenes at the more senior, restricted meetings, where the latest anti-Hitler jokes were re-told with hilarity.

Von Oven was charmed by Magda Goebbels, to whom Naumann introduced him at one of the lakeside estates. But he suffered like the rest from the frugality of Goebbels' meals. He describes in detail the Minister's study in the official residence in Berlin—at one end a large fireplace, at the other a desk covered with red leather. The curtains and the carpet were alike red. Behind the desk with its swivel-chair was a larger than life-size portrait of Hitler covering the greater part of the wall; to the left of the desk was a picture of Frederick the Great, one of six different pictures or portrait busts of the King to be found in the town-house alone. There were others at the Ministry and out in the country.

A normal working day for Goebbels in the middle of 1943 was recorded by von Oven in some detail. His valet Emil entered the dressing-room adjoining Goebbels' bedroom exactly at 7.30 in the morning, pushing before him a trolley on which there was a cup of coffee, a saucer with three different vitamin tablets, two thin slices of wholemeal bread cut into quarters and a large brief-case of red leather labelled “Telegrams for the Herr Minister”. The valet then knocked on the bedroom door until he got some sort of response from his master. Goebbels had never been at his best in the early morning.
³⁵

It was von Oven's responsibility to receive at 6 a.m. the messages that had to be sorted and selected before being put into the Minister's brief-case. They were labelled Confidential, Secret or Top Secret; and they were coloured differently according to the level of their eventual release to the press, to the Gauleiters or to other officials. Von Oven was responsible for bringing the more significant of these releases to Goebbels' attention, and also for preparing the daily papers for the Minister. One of the papers Goebbels never omitted to read was the local journal from Rheydt.

Goebbels took exactly forty-five minutes to prepare himself for the day. He shaved and dressed meticulously. Once a week his hair was dressed while a manicurist attended to his hands. Goebbels favoured neat clothes, cream silk shirts and eau-de-Cologne. Even in uniform he usually managed to look civilian, frequently wearing evening trousers decorated with silk braid and patent-leather shoes beneath the brown coat of the uniform. Rumour had it that Goebbels possessed enough suits never to wear the same twice throughout the year. Even after several weeks on duty von Oven marvelled that he had never seen the Minister in the same suit twice. All his clothes were beautifully cut, elegant and inconspicuous in both colour and pattern. However hot the day, Goebbels always took an overcoat, hat and gloves to the office. When he did not wear the overcoat it was usually taken to the car for him neatly folded over and carried like a tray.
³⁶

At 8.15 each morning von Oven and Goebbels' aide would be given a cup of coffee and thin slices of dry bread for their breakfast while they waited for the Minister in the reception hall. It was also their responsibility to telephone the Ministry for any special news or points connected with the day's schedule which Goebbels expected to be told while they were driven to work in the bullet-proof Mercedes. Then Goebbels appeared, followed by Emil with two brief-cases—the red official case and the case containing his personal papers. These brief-cases had to be placed on his office desk at an exact distance from the edge, just as his secretaries had to lay out his carefully sharpened pencils in a neat parade, ready for work.

Rach, Goebbels' driver, always gave the Hitler salute as he held open the doors of the car, which had to be handled carefully owing to their enormous weight. Goebbels preferred to sit in front beside him; von Oven and the aide on duty sat in the back. Goebbels listened carefully to his assistant's briefly worded account of what he had heard from the Ministry. Within a couple of minutes the great car covered its three-hundred-yard journey and drew up at the Ministry, and the servants sprang to their duty of saluting the Minister.
³⁷
Goebbels' batman Ochs stepped forward to take his master's hat, coat and gloves, and the little retinue carrying Goebbels' outer clothes and the brief-cases marched silently over the thick red carpets to the suite of offices on the first floor. The great double doors were silently shut behind him, and he walked over to the massive desk which was the symbol of his power. In an ante-room two secretaries were at work; they were members of a team who worked in shifts day and night. As for Goebbels, he at once applied himself to the sets of papers prepared for his attention.

At ten o'clock Werner Naumann, Goebbels' Under-Secretary of State, who had his offices situated next to the Minister's own suite, would be announced for the regular morning conference. At eleven o'clock the conference of heads of departments and other officials was held. After this came private interviews of various kinds until lunch-time.

Von Oven describes how he and the aide would sit waiting with rumbling stomachs because Goebbels always preferred to talk rather than to eat. Eventually the message came that the Minister was ready, and the routine of the return journey home to the frugal meal was rapidly put into action. The main course might be a rissole the size of a duck's egg, or three or four potatoes and spinach—Goebbels' favourite vegetable. After lunch the Minister might talk over a cigarette before retiring to sleep in an arm-chair. For this he used the same posture as Frederick the Great is said to have done, his head back, a blanket placed over his knees. The nap lasted half an hour. Von Oven was then required to attend the Minister with his note-book ready while Goebbels took his coffee, his wafers of bread and his three pills.

Von Oven was often made responsible for the research work needed for Goebbels' special contributions to
Das Reich
. These cost Goebbels much time and thought, but he had arranged to be paid the handsome sum of four thousand marks for each of them. He wrote the first draft in long-hand. He then dictated the article for typing and lastly set to work revising it. Petty details of fact were constantly needed, and von Oven had to hasten to verify such points for the Minister. Goebbels fussed over the proofs and listened with great critical attention, which often became irritable, to the regular broadcast of his articles each week.

The early evening period was an unpleasant one for von Oven because anything might be asked of him. He might be required in the shortest possible time to find out the date Hannibal crossed the Alps, or any other odd fact needed for the
Das Reich
article. Or he might be sent on some small matter of liaison or petty service the Minister required. He was sustained during this time by more black coffee and more thin slices of bread. Sometimes he was given a dab of marmalade. The china, however, was excellent Dresden. All he could do was look forward to dinner at eight, and watch for the sign that the Minister was in a good mood. This would be revealed by his talkativeness and a habit of snapping his fingers. When he was ready, Goebbels would give him the red brief-case for preparation early the following morning.