Burning the Reichstag (68 page)

23
. BGH Beschluss, April 25, 1974, Strafkammer LG Berlin December 15, 1980, Beschluss KG Berlin April 21, 1981, JA.

24
. Rudolf Augstein, “Lieber Spiegel-Leser,”
Der Spiegel
, October 21, 1959.

25
. Tobias to Augstein, March 14, 1956, Hans-Dieter Jaene to Tobias, November 6, 1957, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 8 “Zacharias”; Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 20, 2008.

26
. Tobias deposition, July 6, 1961, ETH NL Gisevius 16.19; Tobias, “Kurzer Rückblick”;
Der Spiegel
to Tobias, February 25, 1958, Tobias to Becker, February 26, 1958, Becker to Tobias, February 28, 1958, SpA, Augstein NL, Bd. 38, 1958 Allgemeine M-Z; Tobias to Dobbert, date unclear, June 1958, Tobias to Dobbert, November 29, 1957, JA.

27
. Tobias to Augstein, November 4, 1958, Augstein to Tobias, November 27, 1958, Becker to Tobias, February 28, 1958, SpA, Augstein NL, Bd. 38, 1958 Allgemeine M-Z.

28
. Christian Plöger,
Von Ribbentrop zu Springer: Zu Leben und Wirken von Paul Karl Schmidt alias Paul Carell
(Marburg: Tectum Verlag, 2009), 15; Bahar and Kugel,
Reichstagsbrand
, 765; Christina von Hodenberg, “Die Journalisten und der Aufbruch zur kritischen Öffentlichkeit,” in Ulrich Herbert, ed.,
Wandlungsprozesse in Westdeutschland: Belastung, Integration, Liberalisierung 1945–1980
(Göttingen: Wallstein Verlag, 2002), 289. “Under-cover Nazi” was an American assessment of the paper
Christ und Welt
, which employed several of Schmidt's former colleagues, including Winfried Martini, a friend of both Diels and Tobias.

29
. Tobias Deposition, July 6, 1961, ETH NL Gisevius 16.19.

30
. Tobias to Jürgen Warner, April 24, 1958, “Auszug aus einer Aktennotiz vom 6. März 1958 von J.F. Warner an Dr. Heine,” SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 9, “Schmidt-Carell”; Tobias to Schmidt, March 29, 1958, SpA, Tobias Papers, Band 8 “Zacharias”; SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 9, “Schmidt-Carell.”

31
. Tobias to Jürgen Warner, April 24, 1958, Tobias to Willi Peters, March 14, 1958, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 9, “Schmidt-Carell”; Tobias,
Reichstagsbrand
, 516; Tobias to Augstein, November 12, 1969, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 20 “Augstein.”

32
. Annette Weinke,
Eine Gesellschaft ermittelt gegen sich selbst: Die Geschichte der Zentralstelle Ludwigsburg 1958–2008
(Darmstadt: WBG, 2008), 16–17; Mallmann,
Gestapo nach 1945
, 23–24.

33
. Constantin Goschler, “Disputed Victims: The West German Discourse on Restitution for the Victims of Nazism,” in Manfred Berg and Bernd Schaefer, eds.,
Historical Justice in International Perspective: How Societies Are Trying to Right the Wrongs of the Past
(New York: GHI and Cambridge University Press, 2009); Zentralstelle, Informationsblatt, Gen IV–215, Stand Dezember 2010, 9; Conze,
Suche
, 263–65.

34
. See the essays in Mallmann and Angrick,
Die Gestapo nach 1945
; Undated memo, probably summer 1960, NARA RG 263 CIA Name Files Second Release, Box 24, Dickopf, Paul, Vol 1 folder 1 of 2; Wildt,
Generation der Unbedingten
, 770.

35
. Braschwitz Statement, BStU MfS HA-IX/11 FV 6170 Bd. 1 Teil 2 von 2, Bl. 328–30.

36
. “Überprüfung des ehemaligen Reg. und Kriminalrats Rudolf Braschwitz auf Grund der Vorwürfe der ÖTV Düsseldorf,” January 25, 1957, LNRW-W, Personalakten (neue Verzeichnung) Nr. 2688
Rudolf Braschwitz
, Bd. 1; Schlussbericht, October 5, 1959, ibid., Bl. 65, 69; Braschwitz to NRW Interior Minister, February 14, 1957, ibid.

37
. Belz to Staatsanwaltschaft Dortmund, January 2, 1959, BA-L B 162/2973, Bl. 5a; Belz Statement, January 21, 1959, ibid., Bl. 7–10; Schüle to Landeskriminalamt Hessen, ibid., Bl. 2; Oberstaatsanwalt Dortmund to Polizeipräsidenten Dortmund, October 30, 1959, LNRW-W Personalakten (neue Verzeichnung) Nr. 2688
Rudolf Braschwitz
, Bd. 1., Bl. 93. That the case against Braschwitz for beating the young Communist was stayed is another sign of how hard it was for victims of the Nazis to get justice in postwar Germany. As early as November 1934 Ernst Fraenkel had written, on the basis of his experience acting as lawyer in political cases, that it was an “undeniable fact” that the Gestapo's prisoners were beaten “before, during and after” their interrogations, even if the interrogating officer strategically left the room to allow the beatings to occur. Fraenkel, “In der Maschine der politischen Strafjustiz des III. Reiches,”
Sozialistische Warte
, November 1934, 172–73.

38
. Siegfried Koehrer Statement, November 25, 1959, Vorläufiger Abschlussbericht, April 5, 1960, BA-L B 162/5302, Bl. 12–14, Bl. 40–43; Schüle, Aktenvermerk April 9, 1959, BA-L B 162/2973, Bl. 22a, Vfg Sachstandsvermerk, April 13, 1963 BA-L B 162/5303, Bl. 489, 542; Adrian Weale,
Army of Evil: A History of the SS
(New York: NAL, 2012), 323–24.

39
. OSTA to Polizeipräs. Dortmund, July 26, 1961, OSTA to Polizeipräs. Dortmund, March 30, 1962, LNRW-W Personalakten (neue Verzeichnung) Nr. 2688, Bd. 1., Bl. 108, 112; Braschwitz to NRW MdI, February 14, 1957, ibid.

40
. Gisevius to Holste, undated, ETH NL Gisevius 16.2 Gewehr gegen Gisevius; Schulze-Wilde, draft of evidence, undated, ETH Nachlass Gisevius, 10 Correspondence: Schulze-Wilde, Harry.

41
. Patrick Wagner, “Die Resozialisierung der NS-Kriminalisten,” in Herbert, ed.,
Wandlungsprozesse
, 197; “Die Angeglichenen,”
Der Spiegel
, October 28, 1959; Tobias to Zacharias, January 5, 1959 [date must be incorrect, probably 1960 or 1961], SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 8 “Zacharias.”

42
. Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover, Vermerk, March 18, 1961, BA-L B 162/21252.

43
. Zirpins, “Litzmannstadt,” Bd. 15 Heft 10, October 1941: 109; Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover, Vermerk, March 18, 1961, BA-L B 162/21252.

44
. “Anmerkungen zum Hefter 11,” Tobias to Schmidt, November 11, 1958, Tobias to Schmidt, August 28, 1958, SpA, Tobias Papers, Binder 8 “Zacharias”; Zirpins Testimony, July 6, 1961, LNRW-D Rep. 372/992, Bl. 34, 37.

45
. Tobias to Augstein, November 4, 1958, SpA, 1958 Allgemeine M-Z.

46
. “Stehen Sie auf, van der Lubbe!”
Der Spiegel
, October 21, 1959; Tobias,
Reichstagsbrand
, 90; Heisig to Diels, October 12, 1948, TA; VT 2, 55.

47
. “Stehen Sie auf, van der Lubbe!”
Der Spiegel
, November 4, 1959, November 18, 1959.

48
. “Stehen Sie auf, van der Lubbe!”
Der Spiegel
, October 28, 1959; “Stehen Sie auf, van der Lubbe!”
Der Spiegel
, November 25, 1959.

49
. 6 VT 62; Tobias,
Reichstagsbrand
, 77.

50
. Flöter to IfZ, March 21, 1956, IfZ ZS A7/01.

51
. Tobias,
Reichstagsbrand
, 12, 15, 565–66.

52
. Thaler Statement, February 28, 1933, BA-BL R. 3003/1, Bl. 17; Statement, March 22, 1933, BA-BL R. 3003/2, Bl. 176–79; Buwert Statement, March 16, 1933 BA-BL R. 3003/2, Bl. 51–52.

53
. Tobias,
Reichstagsbrand
, 15; 14 VT 93–94; Tobias, “Der angebliche ‘positive Beweis' für die NS-Brandstifterschaft durch die ‘wissenschaftliche Dokumentation,' Bd. 2,” in Backes,
Reichstagsbrand
, 140–41.

54
. Fritz Tobias,
The Reichstag Fire
(New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1964); Tobias,
Reichstagsbrand
, 76–77, 530–50; see the above section on Gisevius.

55
. Tobias,
Reichstagsbrand
, 592–93; Judt,
Reappraisals
, 189.

56
. Fritz Tobias, “Anmerkungen zum Hefter 11”; Tobias to Schmidt, November 11, 1958; Tobias to Schmidt, August 28, 1958, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 8 “Zacharias.”

57
. Tobias to Puhle, November 11, 1957, Puhle to Tobias November 29, 1957, Tobias to Puhle, December 9, 1957, Puhle to Tobias, December 21, 1957, IfZ ZS/A 7 Bd. 7; Polchow Statement, March 3, 1933, BA-BL R. 3003/53, Bl. 15–16.

58
. Tobias to Zirpins, November 14, 1957, Tobias to Zirpins, January 16, 1960, Zirpins to Tobias, February 9, 1960, Tobias to Zirpins, February 13, 1960, IfZ ZS/A 7 Bd. 7.

59
. Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 20, 2008. It is apparent from a letter from Harry Schulze-Wilde to Gisevius dated April 27, 1962, that they had just learned of this aspect of Zirpins's career from recent magazine accounts. Schulze-Wilde to Gisevius, April 27, 1962, ETH NL Gisevius, IV.16.25.

60
. See, e.g., Tobias,
Reichstagsbrand
, 76–77; Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 4, 2009.

61
. Vermerk, February 27, 1952, NHH Nds. 132 Hannover Acc. 80/86, Nr. 9/4, Bl. 98; Heinrich L. Bode to Gisevius, December 1, 1960, ETH NL Gisevius, III.10.

62
. Fritz Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 20, 2008; Diels to Zirpins, October/November 1957, NHH VVP 46 NL Diels, Bd. 19; Reg. Dir. Dr. Zorn, “Veröffentlichung,” October 22, 1958, BA-K B 141/17511, Bl. 43–44.

63
. Bahar and Kugel,
Reichstagsbrand
, 780–81; Fritz Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 20, 2008; Bahar and Kugel,
Reichstagsbrand: Provocation
, 301; Friedrich Winterhager, email to the Author, May 10, 2013.

64
. Fritz Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 4, 2009; Augstein to Curt Riess, April 25, 1962, BA-K N 1385 NL Riess, Bd. 74; Fritz Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 20, 2008.

65
. Fritz Tobias, “Auch Fälschungen haben lange Beine,” in Reinhard UhleWettler, ed.,
Wagnis Wahrheit: Historiker in Handschellen?
(Kiel: Arndt Verlag, 1998);
http://www.fpp.co.uk/docs/Irving/RadDi/2010/120610.html
, accessed May 17, 2011; Anton Maegerle, “Zweifelhafter Reichstagsbrandforscher Verstorben,”
Vorwärts
, January 11, 2011; for Grabert Verlag see
www.grabertverlag.de
.

66
. Fritz Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 4, 2009.

67
. Tobias to Braschwitz, December 11, 1968, LAB B Rep 058/10792, Bl. 128–29; Tobias to Krausnick, August 30, 1960, IfZ ID 103/79 Hausarchiv.

68
. Conze,
Suche
, 154.

69
. Westarp to Diels, July 18, 1952, NHH VVP 46 NL Diels, Bd. 13; NARA RG 263 (CIA) Personal Files, Second Release, Diels, Rudolf, RC Box No 25 Location RC 230/86/22/04; “Contacts with Rudolf Diels,” September 10, 1950, and Agent's Monthly Reports, September and October 1948, NARA Army/IRR Files D001018 Diels, Rudolf; Dorls to BIM Schroeder, July 26, 1954, BA-K B 362/4610, Bl. 402–4; Diels to John, January 15, 1953, IWM John Papers, Box 3.

70
. NARA RG 263 (CIA) Personal Files, Second Release, Diels, Rudolf, RC Box No 25 Location RC 230/86/22/04; Diels to John, January 15, 1953, IWM John Papers, Box 3.

71
. Schnitzler to Diels, March 20, 1948, NL Schnitzler II. The “legendary castle” probably refers to the
Jagdhaus
, a hunting lodge in the Taunus mountains, which in fact was one of the early bases of what became the Gehlen Organization. See James H. Critchfield,
Partners at the Creation: The Men Behind Postwar Germany's Defense and Intelligence Establishments
(Annapolis, Md. Naval Institute Press, 2003), 33.

72
. Thomas Polgar, e-mail to the Author, September 7, 2011; G.J. Mitchell to W.L. Burmester, “Subject: Diels, Rudolf (Former Gestapo Chief), December 22, 1949, NARA Army/IRR Files, Diels, Rudolf, XE523844; “Contacts with Rudolf Diels,” September 10, 1950, NARA Army/IRR Files, D001018 Diels, Rudolf; Headquarters European Command, Memo, April 20, 1950, ibid.

73
. G.J. Mitchell to W.L. Burmester, “Subject: Diels, Rudolf (Former Gestapo Chief), December 22, 1949, NARA Army/IRR Files, Diels, Rudolf, XE523844; Thomas Polgar, e-mail to the Author, September 7, 2011.

74
. Bernd Stöver, “Der Fall Otto John,”
VfZ
vol. 47 (1999): 103–36; Diels,
Fall John
, 19, 15.

75
. Memo, Headquarters Region IV, 66th CIC Group, November 3, 1954, NARA Army/IRR Files, D001018 Diels, Rudolf.

76
. Tobias Testimony, July 6, 1961, ETH NL Gisevius, IV.16.9. As an example of Tobias's use of his official position to get documents, he requested the prosecutor's file in the van der Lubbe case by letter written on the letterhead of the Lower Saxon Office for Constitutional Protection, September 23, 1959, without giving any reason. LAB B Rep 058/1293, Bl. 172.

77
. Director FBI to SAC Dallas, July 30, 1954, NARA RG 65 230/86/04/05 Box 16, Folder 62–85289 Sec. 1 2 of 2; Memo No. 19 Re: Dr. Hans Bernd Gisevius, May 21, 1953, ibid. The bureau got many things wrong, but this was right: Gisevius considered Niemöller one of his best friends, and he was an advocate of German neutrality. See typed notes dated March 12, 1946, in Mudd Manuscript Library Allen Dulles Papers, Box 29, Folder 2, “Gisevius”; “Propaganda: Der Abzug,”
Der Spiegel
, February 13, 1957. The Lower Saxon State Archives advised me by letter dated August 10, 2012, that “in den zur Verfügung stehenden Karteien der vom Niedersächsichen Landesamt für Verfassungsschutz abgegebenen Verschlußsachen keine Hinwiese auf [Gisevius] … zu ermitteln [ist].” See also Schwarz,
Adenauer
, vol. 1, 772.

78
. Tobias Testimony, July 6, 1961, ETH NL Gisevius, IV.16.9; Tobias to Krausnick, July 31, 1963, IfZ ID 103/108 Hausarchiv; “Gutachten,” May 3, 1962, ETH NL Gisevius, IV Prozesse, 15.15; Anne Nelson,
Red Orchestra: The Story of the Berlin Underground and the Circle of Friends Who Resisted Hitler
(New York: Random House, 2009), 275, 287, 294; Heinrich Grosse, “Ankläger von Widerstandskämpfern und Apologet des NS-Regimes nach 1945—Kriegsgerichtsrat Manfred Roeder,”
Kritische Justiz
2005 Heft 1: 36, 39–43, 47.