1 “our heads giddy”: Dodd,
2 “to his great sorrow”: Office of Der Stabschef der S.-A. to Dodd, June 29, 1934, Box 45, W. E. Dodd Papers.
3 “In view of the uncertainty of the situation”: Dodd,
4 A wooden leg: German Office of Foreign Affairs to Dodd, May 28, 1935, Box 47, W. E. Dodd Papers.
1 “unbearable tension”: Quoted in Gallo, 257.
2 “For weeks we have been watching”: Birchall, 205–7; Gallo, 257.
3 No one knew exactly how many people lost their lives: I constructed this paragraph and the one following from an array of sources: Hugh Corby Fox, Memorandum, July 2, 1934, Box 45, W. E. Dodd Papers; H. C. Flack, Confidential Memorandum, July 7, 1934, Box 45, W. E. Dodd Papers; Wheeler-Bennett,
4 One target, Gottfried Reinhold Treviranus: Gallo, 255; Martha offers a slightly different account in her memoir:
5 “To the king of Siam”: Adlon, 207–9.
6 poor Willi Schmid: Shirer,
7 Providently, he was in America: Casey, 340; Conradi, 143, 144, 148, 151, 157, 159, 163, 167–68;
8 “against the background of a blood-red sky”: Gisevius, 160.
9 In a radio address propaganda chief Goebbels: Birchall, 205.
1 “It was a strange day”: Dodd,
That Sunday, the Jewish newspaper
That Sunday afternoon, Hitler held a tea party at his chancellery for members of his cabinet, various ministers, and their families. Children were invited. Hitler at one point walked to a window overlooking the street. A crowd gathered below roared its approval.
The ever-present Hans Gisevius was there as well. Hitler spotted him and raised his hand in greeting. Gisevius wrote, “It occurred to me that if he could read my innermost thoughts, he would have me shot.” Dippel, 150; Gallo, 269; Kershaw,
2 They drove past the entrance very slowly: Dodd,
3 The story, pieced together later: Evans,
4 Accounts vary: Evans,
After Rohm’s murder, Hitler claimed that the SA chief’s homosexual practices had come as a complete surprise to him. A new joke promptly made the rounds in Berlin: “What will he do when he finally finds out about Goebbels’s club foot?”
Another joke began circulating at about the same time: “It is only now that we can realize the full significance of Rohm’s recent address to Nazi youth, ‘Out of every Hitler Youth, a Storm Trooper will Emerge.’ ” Grunberger, 332, 335.
5 As a reward: Wheaton, 452.
6 “The
7 “Lebst du noch?”: Dodd,
1 “The diplomats seemed jittery”: Fromm, 171–72. Fromm claimed that after the purge she briefly took to carrying a revolver, but then threw it into a canal. Dippel, 150.
2 Dodd and his wife stood at the entrance: Dodd,
3 “Der junge Herr von Papen”: Ibid., 158.
4 “a certain fine beauty”: Ibid., 157.
5 “The sight of these clothes”: Cerruti, 157.
6 “to bring her my heartiest greetings”: Wilhelm Regendanz to Mrs. Dodd, July 3, 1934, Box 45, W. E. Dodd Papers.
7 “When she spoke of her son”: Dodd,
8 “Arrived safe and sound”: Ibid., 165.
9 “We have replied to them”: Moffat, Diary, July 5, 1934.
10 “quite exciting”: Moffat, Diary, July 17, 1934.
11 “this would be extremely difficult”: Dodd to Hull, July 6, 1934, State/Foreign.
12 “By his own showing”: Moffat, Diary, July 7–8, 1934.
13 Hull angrily ordered Moffat: Ibid.
14 “with the utmost vigor”: Hull to Dodd, July 7, 1934, State/Foreign.
15 “It was a fairly stiff telegram”: Moffat, Diary, July 7–8, 1934.
16 “Ambassador Dud”: Moffat, Diary, July 5, 1934.
17 “The Secretary kept repeating”: Moffat, Diary, July 11, 1934.
18 “the entire State Department”: Ibid.
19 “Our people will have to lose their bonds”: Dodd to Hull, Aug. 2, 1934, vol. 37, Reel 11, Hull Papers.
20 “an interesting trip”: Dodd,
21 A photographer captured her looking jaunty: Ibid., opposite 198.
22 “I had had enough of blood and terror”: Ibid., 169.
23 “I could not have imagined the outbreak against the Jews”: Dodd to Daniel C. Roper, Aug. 14, 1934, Box 45, W. E. Dodd Papers.
24 “From the reports placed before me”: Wheeler-Bennett,
25 “energetic and successful proceeding”: Ibid., 326n1.
26 “it was a relief that he did not appear.”: Dodd,
27 “My task here is to work for peace”: Ibid., 123.
28 He vowed never to host: Ibid., 126.
1 “I shall not attend the address”: Dodd,
Sir Eric Phipps, in his own diary, wrote, “So long as the Reichstag merely serves as a convenient platform for the glorification of crime and for attacks on foreign heads of mission in Berlin, I propose to leave vacant the seat which in normal circumstances The King’s representative might be glad occasionally to occupy.” Phipps, 68.
