Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death

might contain a poem couched in plattdeutsch praising the new FourYear plan; or a letter beginning engagingly, ‘As a fanatical female Nazi I make so boldas to —’.26 His fortieth birthday would bring an avalanche of telegrams (‘Thosefrom the people,’ he confided to his diary, ‘are the most touching.’)27 The party’sillustrated newspaper featured ‘Our Doctor, as Berlin’s gauleiter is called by his Berliners’at home, with Helmut and his pony, and Helga with the toy sewing machinegiven her by Hitler.28 Goebbels released a short film to the cinemas, ‘Papi’s Birthday,’featuring himself arriving in yet another brand new car, a Maybach, at his countryestate, where feudal retainers bowed to him, and liveried grooms tended to theGOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 411childrens’ ponies. Some liked it: one cinemagoer penned these lines to Magda: ‘Howproudly in the cinema /I saw maternity thus blest. /I turned my mind toward thehome /where I have built my nest.’29 Berlin’s starving working class however hootedat the screen and Hitler ordered the film withdrawn immediately.30IGNORING Hitler’s call for peace on the church front, Dr Goebbels began a vitrioliccampaign against the two main churches that lasted from March until the end of1937. It began when the Pope issued a pastoral letter critical of Germany on March21. Goebbels at first persuaded Heydrich not to notify Hitler, arguing that they shouldmerely confiscate the church printing presses which had disseminated it.31 As a furtherresponse, on April 1—according to Goebbels—Hitler telephoned the authorisationto him to stage a series of show trials against the catholic clergy. The Naziprosecutors had a back-file of several hundred untried sex cases against catholic priests.The catholics, decided Goebbels, had not properly appreciated the Nazis’ patienceand moderation. ‘Now let them find out how merciless we can be.’32 He sent Berndtto cover a particularly sleazy case in Belgium, the sex murder of a youngster in amonastery, and persuaded the Reich justice ministry to open the first sex trials atKoblenz.33 He ordered sound recordings made, keeping Hitler closely informed ateach stage—or so his diary claimed.34Goebbels honed the stage-management of these political trials to a fine art. Thefirst, of Franciscan monks charged with sexual perversions, began in Koblenz late inApril.35 He followed the propaganda coverage closely. One priest implicated the Bishopof Trier himself. ‘That’s a real bombshell,’ chortled Goebbels, savouring his revenge.‘I’ve had it all recorded on discs, in case.’36 he furnished regular summaries of thesordid details to Hitler, who swore to ‘smoke out’ this ‘gang of pederasts.’37 Fromcatholic Austria, Ambassador von Papen pleaded with Goebbels to tone down thecampaign, fearing an outright ban on German newspapers there. At first the catholichierarchy maintained a dignified silence.38 Goebbels hatched further schemes to destroythem— the sequestration of the church’s assets, and laws to end priestly celi-412 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHbacy and to prevent anybody younger than twenty-four studying theology (‘Thuswe’ll deprive them of their finest raw material.’) Hitler however urged caution.39Just as the Nazi campaign was flagging, Cardinal George Mundelein, archbishop ofChicago, publicly denounced Hitler over the Koblenz trials. Goebbels, retaliating,began the first trials of protestant clergymen on homosexuality charges too. He inauguratedthis new campaign in his biggest speech that spring, from the newDeutschland Halle in Berlin on May 28, 1937.40 The state, he declared, was responsiblefor providing the people with bread, raw materials, currency, cannon, andairplanes; the churches had merely to secure Eternal Happiness—surely, he asked toloud guffaws, that task was big enough for them? He argued that the Nazis had set anexample in June 1934: ‘over sixty people who tried to cultivate this vice [homosexuality]in the party were shot out of hand; on top of this, the party frankly reported tothe nation upon this episode.’ The bishops had however become accessories, by shieldingthose guilty of such practices.41Not hesitating to interfere with the judiciary, Goebbels dictated stage directions tothe public prosecutor at Koblenz, Paul Windhausen, who had the rank of Brigadeführerin the S.A.42 (To western eyes it seems offensive, but in Germany throughout thetwentieth century prosecutors and judges have always been the catspaws of the governmentin office.) Case files piled up on his desk as he compiled dossiers with all therevolting details.43 Up and down the country that summer the angry priests bravelystruck back from their pulpits. Police arrested two of Goebbels’ most prominentscourges, Pastor Martin Niemöller and Otto Dibelius.44 Dibelius was acquitted—Goebbels called it a slap in the face of the state and got straight on the phone toHitler. Hitler however ordered all such trials halted for the time being.45 Fearing thathis Führer was getting cold feet, Goebbels sent Hanke to the Berghof with the mostloathsome dossiers, but in vain.46 Several times he reverted to the matter, in December1937 and again in January. But on each occasion Hitler responded that he wantedpeace restored on the church front: it was not a battleground of his own choosing.47Without doubt this anti-church campaign damaged Goebbels’ reputation both athome and abroad. An open letter, four pages of articulate, closely-typed criticism,GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 413circulated in Bavaria. It expressed alarm that the propaganda minister was seeminglyable to dictate which cases to prosecute and when. Referring to Goebbels’ speech toa ‘well-briefed party mob’ at the Deutschland Halle, the pamphlet scoffed that farfrom acting swiftly to shoot its leaders for homosexuality, the Nazis had turned ablind eye on them until Röhm and his consorts got out of hand. The people were sickof the extravagances of the leaders of the so-called Workers’ Party, the letter continued,what with their country mansions, limousines, and yachts. All of this touchedvery raw nerves indeed. Goebbels had the authors, a church worker and a lawyer,arrested.48Corrupted by power he was becoming more autocratic, even dictatorial. He arbitrarilyforbade his adjutant to touch alcohol for six months. He punished radio stationdirectors for going on a binge. He ordered a careless bus driver arrested.49 Hetook a sterner line at home too—putting little Helga across his knee when she beganto fib; and when two-year-old Helmut answered him back, Goebbels paddled the ladtoo, though reluctantly. ‘He doesn’t give in,’ he noted indulgently. ‘Not a bad sign!’50HIS diary is