Burning the Reichstag (69 page)

79
. Tobias Testimony, July 6, 1961, ETH NL Gisevius, IV.16.9; Borowski to Hoffmann, July 25, 1954, BA-K VS B 362/10929, Bundesanwaltschaft, Bd. 1, Bl. 25; Reg. Dir. Dr. Zorn, “Veröffentlichung,” October 22, 1958, BA-K B 141/17511, Bl. 43–44.

80
. Peter-Ferdinand Koch, e-mail to the Author, September 17, 2011; Tobias to Augstein, February 26, 1958, SpA 1958 Allgemeine M-Z 038; Reg. Dir. Dr. Zorn, “Veröffentlichung,” October 22, 1958, BA-K B 141/17511, Bl. 44–46. The credibility of Herr Koch's information is enhanced by the fact that he and the publication for which he used to work are sympathetic to Tobias and to his position on the Reichstag fire.

81
. Weinke,
Ludwigsburg
, 17; “Mitschrift des Vortrages,” November 29, 1961, BA-K N 1415/1, NL Just-Dahlmann; Tobias to Augstein, November 4, 1958, in SpA, 1958 Allgemeine M-Z; Teresa Nentwig,
Hinrich Wilhelm Kopf (1893
–
1961): Ein konservativer Sozialdemokrat
(Hannover: Hansche Buchhandlung, 2013).

82
. “Der Spiegel berichtete,”
Der Spiegel
, November 25, 1959; Tobias, Vermerk, August 20, 1959, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 8, “Zacharias.”

83
. Fritz Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 20, 2008.

1
. Professor Hans Mommsen, interview with the Author, Feldafing, April 20, 2010.

2
. Professor Hans Mommsen, interview with the Author, Feldafing, April 20, 2010; Hermann Graml, “Die fünfziger Jahre,” in Horst Möller and Udo Wengst, eds.,
50 Jahre Institut für Zeitgeschichte: Eine Bilanz
(Munich: R. Oldenbourg Verlag, 1999), 79.

3
. Protokoll der konstituierenden Sitzung des “Deutschen Instituts für Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Zeit,” September 11, 1950, IfZ Archive IF 8/1 Wissenschaftlicher Beirat Protokolle 1949–1950; Krausnick to GSTA Landgericht Berlin, May 5, 1960, LAB B Rep 058/6401, Bl. 1–2; Ergebnisprotokoll, July 30, 1962, IfZ ID 8/14, Wissenschaftlicher Beirat Protokolle, 1962–1963.

4
. Tobias to Krausnick, August 22, 1957, Krausnick to Tobias, September 9, 1957, Tobias to Krausnick, October 24, 1957, Hoch to Tobias, November 8, 1957, Tobias to Hoch, November 9, 1957, IfZ ID 103/79.

5
. Tobias to Krausnick, March 26, 1960, Krausnick to Tobias, April 2, 1960, Tobias to Krausnick, April 20, 1960, IfZ ID 103/79.

6
. Krausnick to Tobias, September 2, 1963, IfZ ID 103/108.

7
. Tobias to Krausnick, July 27, 1963, Krausnick to Tobias, September 2, 1963, Tobias to Krausnick, October 6, 1963, IfZ ID 103/108.

8
. Tobias to Zacharias, May 27, 1962, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 8 “Zacharias”; Tobias to Robert Spiering, May 19 1962, Spiering to Tobias, May 23, 1962, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 49 B “Redaktion.”

9
. Tobias to Zacharias, July 29, 1962, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 8 “Zacharias.”

10
. Tobias to Zacharias, August 11, 1962, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 8, “Zacharias.”

11
. Tobias to Zacharias, August 25, 1962, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 8, “Zacharias”; Hoch to Gisevius, September 12, 1962, ETH NL Gisevius 10 Correspondence; Tobias to Krausnick, July 27, 1963, IfZ ID 103/108; Krausnick to Mommsen, August 19, 1963, September 30, 1963, IfZ ID 103/100; Tobias to Zacharias, October 14, 1962, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 8, “Zacharias.”

12
. Krausnick to Mommsen, September 30, 1963, in IfZ ID 103/100.

13
. Professor von Aretin to the Author, October 17, 2011.

14
. Ian Kershaw, “Beware the Moral High Ground,”
Times Literary Supplement
, October 10, 2003.

15
. Hans Schneider,
Neues vom Reichstagsbrand? Eine Dokumentation: Ein Versäumnis der deutschen Geschichtsschreibung
(Berlin: Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, 2004), 193.

16
. Krausnick to Schneider, February 27, 1960, IfZ ZS/A7 Bd. 3/I; Hans Mommsen, Aktennotiz, November, 1962 (no date), ibid.; Krausnick, Tätigkeitsbericht von April 1959–September 1960, IfZ ID 8/12.

17
. Krausnick, Tätigkeitsbericht von April 1959–September 1960, IfZ ID 8/12; Hoch, Aktennotiz, July 24, 1961, IfZ ZS/A7 Bd. 3/I.

18
. Jürgen Westerhoff (Paul Karl Schmidt), “Lügen haben lange Beinen: Eine Auseinandersetzung mit Bewältigern und Vergewältigern unserer Zeitgeschichte,”
Kristall
, 9/1962, 19–24.

19
. Krausnick to Rothfels, July 6, 1962, IfZ ID 90/73; Krausnick, Aktennotiz, November 9 and 10, 1962, IfZ ZS/A7 Bd. 3/II.

20
. Min. Dir. Keim to Krausnick, April 6, 1962, IfZ ID 6/1, 1962. This case involved a book by one Georg Franz on the early years of the Nazi Party, which itself put forward a number of more or less Nazi views.

21
. Hans Mommsen, Aktennotiz, November, 1962 (no date), IfZ ZS/A7 Bd. 3/I.

22
. Schneider to the
Monat
, February 10, 1963, quoted in Schneider,
Reichstagsbrand
, 39.

23
. Krausnick to Schneider, November 30, 1962, IfZ Reichstag ZS/A7 Bd. 3/II.

24
. Hersch Fischler, “Die verflixte Aktennotiz,”
Tageszeitung
, November 4, 2000.

25
. Hans Mommsen, “Nichts von Manipulation,”
Tageszeitung
, November 25, 2000.

26
. “Neues vom Reichstagsbrand: Ein Film von Gerhard Brack and Tina Mendelsohn,” YouTube, accessed October 13, 2010.

27
. “Zur Kontroverse über den Reichstagsbrand,”
VfZ
vol. 49 (2001), 553; “Neues vom Reichstagsbrand: Ein Film von Gerhard Brack and Tina Mendelsohn,” YouTube, visited October 13, 2010.

28
. Professor Hans Mommsen, interview with the Author, April 20, 2010, Feldafing. Unfortunately Professor Graml did not reply to my query about this event.

29
. Mommsen to Krausnick, August 12, 1963, Krausnick to Mommsen, April 7, 1964, Mommsen to Krausnick, April 11, 1964, Krausnick to Mommsen, May 13, 1964, IfZ ID 103/100.

30
. Wolfgang Benz, “Vorrede—zugleich ein Versuch über Helmut Krausnick,” in Wolfgang Benz, ed.,
Miscellanea: Festschrift für Helmut Krausnick
(Stuttgart: DVA, 1980); Ergebnisprotokoll, October 21,1960, IfZ ID 8/12.

31
. Ergebnisprotokoll, January 13, 1959, IfZ ID 8/11; Ergebnisprotokoll, October 21,1960, IfZ ID 8/12; Min. Dir. Hagelberg to Krausnick, August 12, 1963, IfZ ID 6/3.

32
. Jesse in
Recht und Politik
, 1986; Berg,
Holocaust
, 273, 309, 294.

33
. Krausnick to Mommsen, September 30, 1963, IfZ ID 100–103.

34
. Krausnick to Gisevius, October 20, 1963, ETH NL Gisevius Correspondence 10; Kurt Ziesel,
Der deutsche Selbstmord: Diktatur der Meinungsmacher
(Velbert: Blick + Bild Verlag für politische Bildung, 1963), 313, 314, 317–18.

35
. Erich Schmidt-Eenboom,
Undercover: Der BND und die deutschen Journalisten
(Cologne: Kiepenhauer & Witsch, 1998), 245–46.

36
. Deborah Lipstadt,
Denying the Holocaust: The Growing Assault on Truth and Memory
(New York: The Free Press, 1993), 73; Ziesel to Krausnick, September 18, 1963, ETH NL Gisevius Correspondence 10.

37
. Ergebnisprotokoll, August 2, 1963, IfZ ID 8/15; Tätigkeitsbericht, June 1964, IfZ ID 8/14.

38
. Professor Hans Mommsen, interview with the Author, April 20, 2010, Feldafing; Mommsen, “Reichstagsbrand,” 356.

39
. Professor Hans Mommsen, interview with the Author, April 20, 2010, Feldafing.

40
. Mommsen, “Reichstagsbrand,” 353 and 353 note 3, 365 and 365 note 48, 380; BA-BL R.3003/56, Bl. 17 ff; Mommsen, “Reichstagsbrand,” 385 and 385 note 143.

41
. Mommsen, “Reichstagsbrand,” 372–82, 407, 412.

42
. Mommsen, “Reichstagsbrand,” 352, 404–5.

43
. “Tätigkeitsbericht vom Dezember 1957–Dezember 1958,” IfZ Archive ID 8/11;
Gutachten des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte Bd. II
(Stuttgart: Deutsche VerlagsAnstalt, 1966), 9.

44
. Hans Bernd Gisevius, “Reichstagsbrand im Zerrspiegel,”
Die Zeit
, March 25, 1960.

45
. Krausnick to GSTA Landgericht Berlin, May 5, 1960, LAB B Rep 058/6401, Bl. 1–2; Gisevius, Bemerkungen, July 14, 1960, ETH NL Gisevius 16.27; Gisevius to Schneider, March 31, 1960, ETH NL Gisevius 10 Correspondence, Schneider, Hans.

46
. Gisevius to Oberloskamp, November 12, 1960, ETH NL Gisevius, 16.4; Schneider,
Reichstagsbrand
, 56; Schriftsatz from Oberloskamp, Brandt, Ortschig, August 28, 1961, in ETH NL Gisevius 16.21; Gisevius to Otto Grotewohl, March 28, 1960, in ETH NL Gisevius 10 Correspondence, Grotewohl, Otto.

47
. Roesen, Schriftsatz, December 3, 1960, ETH NL Gisevius 16.6.

48
. Harry Schulze-Wilde to Amtsgericht München, July 28 1961, TA.

49
. Einstellung, IfZ ZS/A 7 Bd. 6; Harry Schulze-Wilde to Amtsgericht München, July 28 1961, TA.

50
. Strindberg Statement, November 15, 1960, LNRW-D Rep. 372/990, Bl. 109–15; Strindberg, written statement, June 10, 1961, LNRW-D Rep. 372/992, Bl. 28.

51
. Tobias to Dobbert, November 18, 1957, JA; Peter Brandes (Curt Riess) “Feuer über Deutschland,”
Stern
, November 9, 1957, November 16, 1957, November 30, 1957.

52
. “Contacts with Rudolf Diels,” September 10, 1950, NARA Army/IRR Files D001018 Diels, Rudolf; Harry Wilde, “Rudolf Diels—Porträt eines verkannten
Mannes,”
Politische Studien
, Bd. 9 Heft 99, July 1958: 475–81; Vermerk, October 14, 1983, TA.

53
. Graml to Schneider, April 25, 1960, IfZ ZS/A7 Bd. 3/I; Justus Koch to Helmut Krausnick, May 6, 1960, IfZ ID 103/60; Krausnick to Gewehr, May 2, 1960, IfZ ID 103/60; Bahar and Kugel,
Reichstagsbrand
, 577.

54
. Krausnick to Mommsen, September 30, 1963, in IfZ ID 103/100.

55
. Tobias to Kraunsick, July 27, 1963, in IfZ ID 103/108.

56
. Einstellung, IfZ ZS/A 7 Bd. 6.

57
. Judgment, February 20, 1962, in ETH NL Gisevius 16.24, Gewehr gegen Gisevius. Weirdly enough, the copy of the judgment in Gisevius's papers obviously came from Tobias—the copy has Tobias's stamp on it with his address, “In den Sieben Stücken” Hannover. The judgment is marked by many red pencil underlinings that look like Tobias's; it is at any rate a document that came from Tobias, not a photocopy.

58
. Oberloskamp to Gisevius and Holste, March 19, 1962, ETH NL Gisevius 16.24 Gewehr gegen Gisevius; Gisevius to Sommer, February 24, 1962, ETH NL Gisevius 16.27, Gewehr gegen Gisevius; OLG Düsseldorf, Judgment, August 6, 1963, ETH NL Gisevius 17.14 Gewehr gegen Gisevius Berufung. Again, curiously, Gisevius's copy bears one of Tobias's stamps.

59
. OLG Düsseldorf, Judgment, August 6, 1963, in ETH NL Gisevius 17.14 Gewehr gegen Gisevius Berufung.

60
. Carl to Gisevius, Holste and Oberloskamp, August 26, 1963, ETH NL Gisevius 17.14; Mommsen, “Reichstagsbrand,” 358.

61
. NJW 1966, 647; Bahar and Kugel,
Reichstagsbrand
, 791–92.

1
. Karl-Heinz Janßen, “Calics Erzählungen,” in Backes,
Reichstagsbrand
, 216–37, 216;Judgment, November 27, 1982, LAB B Rep. 039 Nr. 128 Bd. 3, Bl. 100 ff, Bl. 10.

2
. Uwe Backes, “Das Internationale Kommitee zur wissenschaftlichen Erforschung der Ursachen und Folgen des Zweiten Weltkrieges,” in Backes,
Reichstagsbrand
, 92–93; Tobias to Roesen, August 23, 1961, TA. It should be noted that politically there is one important exception on each side: Walther Hofer was a conservative, Hans Mommsen is a Social Democrat.

3
. Schmidt Statement, December 19, 1968, Calic to Polizeipräs. Berlin, December 27, 1968. Tobias to GSTA, June 28, 1969, Tobias to Braschwitz, December 11, 1968, LAB B Rep 058/10792.

4
. Walther Hofer et al., eds.,
Der Reichstagsbrand: Eine wissenschaftliche Dokumentation
(Berlin: arani Verlag, 1972).

5
. Walther Hofer et al., eds.,
Der Reichstagsbrand: Eine wissenschaftliche Dokumentation
Bd. 2 (Berlin: arani Verlag, 1978); Köhler in Backes,
Reichstagsbrand
, 171, 187–92 and note 7, 283.

6
. Karl-Heinz Janßen, “Geschichte aus der Dunkelkammer,”
Die Zeit
, September 14, 1979; Tony Judt,
Postwar
(New York: Penguin, 2005), 472; Karl-Heinz Janßen, “Unter falscher Flagge,”
Die Zeit
, October 5, 1979. In the 1950s Janßen had been a graduate student under the dean of conservative German historians, Gerhard Ritter; this may help explain his outlook. Broszat and Friedländer: “A Controversy About the Historicization of National Socialism,”
New German Critique
44, Spring–Summer 1988, 90–91, 94–96; Moeller,
War Stories
, 61.

7
. Karl-Heinz Janßen, “Geschichte aus der Dunkelkammer,”
Die Zeit
, September 14, 1979.

8
. Judgment, November 27, 1982, LAB B Rep. 039/128 Bd. 3, Bl. 100ff, 126, 131, 133–35; Uwe Backes, “Das Internationale Komitee zur wissenschaftlichen Erforschung der Ursachen und Folgen des Zweiten Weltkrieges,” in Backes,
Reichstagsbrand
, 92.

9
. Marcus Giebeler,
Die Kontroverse um den Reichstagsbrand: Q uellenprobleme und historiographische Paradigmen
(Munich: Martin Meidenbauer Verlagsbuchhandlung, 2010), 89–91.

10
. Giebeler,
Kontroverse
, 91–94.

11
.
Die Zeit
, September 21, 1979; Hersch Fischler, “Reichstagsbrand, Osthilfeskandal und das Ende von Weimar: Plädoyer für ein Q uellenstudium jenseits verhärteter Polarisierungen,”
www.zlb.de/projekte/kulturbox-archiv/brand/
, accessed June 13, 2013; Bericht, April 18, 1971, BStU MfS Allg. P 6117/74, Bl. 14–16; Handwritten note, February 20, 1974, BStU HA XX AP Nr. 22.217/92, Bl. 1.