the capitulation, and told to come to FHQ that very night. Plans to fly were vitiated by dense mist — it had poured down that day — so by 9.20p.m. he had left on the night train to East Prussia {TBJG,/9, 449–50, 454 (10 September 1943), 455, 457 (10 September 1943)).
215. TBJG, II/9, 455–6 (10 September 1943).
216. TBJG, II/9, 458 (10 September 1943); Warlimont, 380; Irving, HW, 564.
217. TBJG, II/9, 460 (10 September 1943).
218. Warlimont, 381; Below, 346; Weinberg III, 599; Oxford Companion, 573, 588.
219. See TBJG, II/9, 456 (10 September 1943).
220. Irving, HW, 567–8.
221. Below, 347, who says Hitler ruled out entirely any accommodation with the western powers; TBJG, II/9, 464, where his preference for overtures to Britain is recorded, 466–7 (10 September 1943); see also 566 (23 September 1943). For the possible Soviet interest in a separate peace at this time, see Weinberg III, 609–11.
222. Domarus, 2034–9 (10 September 1943).
223. Goebbels was delighted at its impact (TBJG, II/9, 489–90, 493–4 (12 September 1943), 499 (13 September 1943)); for the SD’s monitoring, see Kershaw, ‘Hitler Myth’, 211.
224. TBJG, II/9, 468, 473, 475, 483–4, 485–7 (10 September 1943).
225. Warlimont, 385–6; TBJG, II/9, 460–61, 464–5 (10 September 1943).
226. TBJG, II/9, 500–501 (13 September 1943); Below, 346–7; Otto Skorzeny, Geheimkommando Skorzeny, Hamburg, 1950, 135–51.
227. TBJG, III/9, 567–8 (23 September 1943).
228. Below, 347.
229. Mack Smith, 350–58; Woller, 45ft
230. TBJG, II/9, 561, 563, 565–7 (23 September 1943).
231. Warlimont, 388; Weinberg III, 606; Irving, HW, 565–7; Glantz and House, 172–3. Manstein, 450–86, outlines the Soviet advance and German rearguard action from his own perspective.
232. Manstein, 486–7; and see Irving, HW, 578–9.
233. Weinberg III, 605–7 (for the above military developments).
234. IMG, xxxiiii.68–9, Doc. 4024-PS, Globocnik’s report to Himmler of 4 November 1943. See also Leon Poliakov and Josef Wulf, Das Dritte Reich und die Juden. Dokumente und Aufsatze, 2nd edn, Berlin, 1955,44–5; Hilberg, Vernichtung, iii.1299; Fleming, Hitler und die Endlosung, 71 n.132.
235. Leni Yahil, The Rescue of Danish Jewry. Test of a Democracy, Philadelphia, 1969, 285ff.; Herbert, Best, 363–4, 367; Ulrich Herbert, ‘Die deutsche Besatzungspolitik in Danemark im 2. Weltkrieg und die Rettung der danischen Juden’, Tel Aviver Jahrbuch fur deutsche Geschichte, 23 (1994), 93–114; Hilberg, Vernichtung, ii.586–96; Longerich, Politik, 555–60.
236. Michaelis, 360–70; Hilberg, Vernichtung, ii.714–15; John Cornwell, Hitler’s Pope. The Secret History of Pius XII, London, 1999, 298–318. Odilo Globocnik, who had organized ‘Action Rein-hardt’ in the General Government, had been appointed Higher SS and Police Leader in Istria at the end of August. Some of the key experts on gassing, formerly with the T4 ‘euthanasia action’, had gone with him. It looks, therefore, as if the intention was to set up an extermination unit for the Italian Jews (N($$)P, iii. 1168). For reflections on different Italian and German behaviour towards Jews, see Jonathan Steinberg, All or Nothing. The Axis and the Holocaust 1941–43, London/New York, 1991, 168–80, 220–41.
237. IMG, xxix.145–6, Doc.908; trans., slightly amended, N ($$) P, iii.1199–1200; partial extract, Michalka, Das Dritte Reich, ii.256–7.
238. Fleming, Hitler und die Endlosung, 73–4.
239. TBJG, II/10, 72 (7 October 1943).
240. Smith and Peterson, Himmler. Geheimreden, 169 (entire text of the speech, 162–83; typescript, BDC, 0.238 I — H. Himmler; handwritten notes, BDC, 0–238 III — H.Himmler); Fleming, Hitler und die Endlosung, 74–5.
241. Irving, HW, 575–6.
242. Domarus, 2045.
243. Domarus, 2050–59. The speech was recorded for radio transmission that evening. Hitler had a written text for the first part, but improvised much of the second. This necessitated Goebbels, with Hitler’s permission, cutting ‘a few somewhat awkward formulations’ from the broadcast version (TBJG, II/10, 262 (9 November 1943)).
244. Broszat/Frei, 278.
245. Kershaw, ‘Hitler Myth’, 211–13.
246. Domarus, 2054–5.
247. Weisungen, 270.
248. LB Darmstadt, 218–19 (20 December 1943).
CHAPTER 13: HOPING FOR MIRACLES
1. Domarus, 2073 (text of the Proclamation, 2071–4).
2. Domarus, 2075 (text of the Daily Command, 2074–6).
3. Domarus, 2076.
4. Speer referred, in a series of short reflections on Nazi leaders which he wrote in captivity directly after the end of the war, to Hitler’s increased emphasis on ‘Fate’, attributing it to his manic overwork and loss of ability to detach himself from events and think freely. (Speer Papers, AH/II, Bl.13. I am grateful to Gitta Sereny for giving me access to this material in her possession.)
5. TBJG, II/12, 421 (7 June 1944).
6. This was the opinion, immediately after the war, of Albert Speer, who wrote that Hitler remained inwardly ‘convinced of his mission (von seiner Mission… uberzeugt)’, and that the war could not be lost (Speer Papers, AH/II, Bl.14). Below, 361, however, wondered whether Hitler’s over-optimism represented his true feelings. That Hitler had since autumn 1942 harboured no illusions about the outcome of the war is strongly argued in a hitherto unpublished paper, which he kindly made available to me, by Bernd Wegner, ‘Hitler, der Zweite Weltkrieg und die Choreographic des Untergangs’.
7. Speer Papers, AH/II, Bl.I-II.
8. See, among numerous witnesses of this, TBJG, II/13, 142 (23 July 1944). Goebbels himself thought Hitler had become old and gave an impression of frailty.
9. KTB OKW, iv, ed. Percy Ernst Schramm, pt.2, 1701–2. Though Schramm’s description dates from several months later, he points out that the deterioration in Hitler’s appearance had been a steady progression. For a similar description, by Werner Best, referring to 30 December 1943, see Ernst Gunther Schenck, Patient Hitler. Eine medizinische Biographie, Dusseldorf, 1989, 390–91.
10. Schenck, 190–215; Irving, Doctor, 66ff., 259–70; Fritz Redlich, Hitler. Diagnosis of a Destructive Prophet, New York/Oxford , 1999, 237–54, 358– 62.
11. Redlich, 224–5.
12. Ellen Gibbels, ‘Hitlers Nervenkrankheit. Eine neurologisch-psychiatrische Studie’, VfZ, 42 (1994), 155–220; also Redlich, 232–3; Schenk, 426–38.
13. Redlich, 276.
