1937.83 Ibid., Mar 24, 1937.84 Ibid., Apr 13, 1937.85 Ilse Hess to Magda, Jan 21, 1938 (Rudolf Hess papers, Hindelang).86 Diary, Apr 1, 2, 13, 25, 1937.87 Ibid., May 15, 1937.88 Ibid., Apr 17–19, 25; Prof Paul Baumgarten took over the design work, but Hitler didnot at first like his model: Ibid., Aug 24, Oct 7, 17, 1937.GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 42589 Ibid., May 3, 26; Hitler had already spoken of this aim to JG (diary, Feb 23, 1937); herepeated it a year later (unpubl. diary, Sep 18, 1938).90 Speech reported by Phipps to FO, Feb 15 (pro file FO.371/20709); diary, Feb 14, 1937.91 Diary, May 29, 30; on Ribbentrop: Mar 3, 3; May 17, 22; Oct 27, Nov 16, 1937.92 Thus JG said in Reichenberg, ‘When one has the feeling that the time is ripe, the Goddessof History is descending on earth, and the hem of her mantle is touching mankind.’(British embassy to FO, Nov 25, 1938: PRO file FO.371/21665).93 Diary, Feb 5, 13, Mar 4, 12, Apr 22, 23, 30, May 8, 27, Jun 19, 30, 1937. Speaking atlunch on Jul 17, 1942, Hitler blamed JG for the failure to carry out his pre war instructionsto set up the cable radio (Picker, Table Talk, 455f).94 Diary, Feb 13, 1937; the Drahtfunk system, first devised in 1934, carried high-frequencyradio transmissions over telephone wires to existing radio sets. See OSS R&A ReportNo.2100, May 29, 1944. Ministerialrat Schroeder of the Post ministry reported to theDefence Council session of Apr 21, 1937 that cable radio would provide three programmes;it would take four or five more years to ring it to all radio subscribers. (NA film T77, roll131, 3465ff).95 Diary, Feb 18, 1937.96 Ibid., Oct 13, 1937.97 Ibid., Oct 15, 17, Dec 2, 16, 17, 22, 23, 24, 28, 29. Ogilvie Forbes to FO, Dec 30 (PROfile FO.371/20919); on Dec 7, 1937 the British ambassador in Egypt had expressed puzzlementas to why JG and Fritsch should be visiting Egypt at the same time as Himmler was inLibya (ibid.)98 Borresholm; diary, Jul 31, Aug 1, 1937; interviews of Col von Below, 1967.99 Diary, Aug 3, 1937.100 Ibid., Sep 14, 1937.101 FO minute on Kirkpatrick’s report, Sep 10 (PRO file FO.371/20749). That dayHenderson sat between Himmler and JG, the two men whom ‘he most distrusted’, at Hess’scastle for lunch. Henderson to FO, Sep 12, 1937 (ibid., /20722).102 Diary, Sep 3, 7, 8, 1937. BDIC/FIR/31 interrogation of Sauerbruch, Oct 10, 1945(NA file RG.332, ETO Mis-Y, Sect box 22).103 Minute by Ridsdale, FO, on conversation with Daily Mail Oct 2, 1937 (PRO file FO.371/21176).104 Diary, Nov 5, 1937; JG had spoken at Bad Segeburg on Oct 10, 1937 about Germany’sneed for colonies (Ogilvie Forbes to FO, Oct 11, 1937 (PRO file FO.371/20722).105 Diary, Oct 19, 20, 22, 27, Nov 3, 4, 1937.106 Ibid., Nov 6, 1937.107 This was the notorious ’Hossbach conference’ of Nov 5, 1937: a partial transcript, ND:386-PS. Cf Walter Bussmann, in VfZ, 1968, 373ff, and General Ludwig Beck’s commentary(BA file N.28/4).108 Diary, Nov 17, 1937.109 Ogilvie Forbes to FO, Oct 21, 1937 (PRO file FO.371/20736); on Jan 4, 1938 hedescribed JG as ‘small, dark and Jewish in appearance’ with one leg crippled (Ibid., /21671).110 Diary, Jan 7, 1938: Eden was a ‘danger to Britain’ as her foreign secretary.426 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH111 JG had demanded that Low’s cruel cartoons of Hitler be suppressed. See Rex Leeper’smemo of Dec 9, 1937 (PRO file FO.371/20737).112 Diary, Nov 22; Henderson, memo on JG’s talk with Halifax, Nov 21 (PRO file FO.371/20736); diary of Lord Halifax, Nov 21, 1937 (Ibid., and Borthwick Institute, York Univ.:Hickleton papers).GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 427
Goebbels28: Something about MarchONCE in 1937 Harald Quandt, now sixteen, tiptoes into his stepfather’s studyat Schwanenwerder and finds him writing in a diary. He sees three otherdiaries on the desk. Consumed by curiosity, in 1938 he picks the lock, rummagesaround, and finds one of the notebooks; to his disappointment the handwriting isillegible.1Joseph Goebbels has now filled sixteen such books, and he has begun a seventeenth,as usual with a motto: ‘Don’t look back, keep marching on!’ This 1938 volumewill cover 476 closely written pages.* Probably he himself no longer knowswhy he is writing a diary. Few diarists do. It would take a psychiatrist to explain thenarcissistic self-pity, the recurring proclamations of dire physical exhaustion, and thebroad hints at Magda’s infidelities (which were clearly not intended for publicationin this form.) The text is often stupefyingly banal, and he no longer reveals all to thediary that was once like Jiminy Cricket, his ‘dear therapeutic conscience’.2 Thus thenew 1938 volume will draw a veil across his politically subversive views, as well ashis own familial misdemeanours. The diary tells us of his profound misgivings about* Transcribed and annotated by the author on behalf of Arnoldo Mondadori Editore,Milan, this previously unknown Goebbels diary, February 11 to October 26, 1938, ispublished by Focal Point, London, 1994.428 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHHitler’s brinkmanship only after the Munich agreement has removed the threat ofwar; and we hear nothing of Lida Baarova at all.THE first weeks of 1938 had brought an important reorganisation of his ministry,originating in Hjalmar Schacht’s replacement as minister of economics by Goebbels’Staatssekretär Walter Funk, a move which Goebbels himself had suggested.3 Funkhad been the government’s press spokesman, and Hitler appointed the party’s presschief Otto Dietrich to the vacant position. ‘I’ve just promoted you to Staatssekretär,’Hitler called out to Dietrich as he walked past. ‘Minister Goebbels hasn’t signed ityet, but he will—you can bank on that.’4 Goebbels moved swiftly—his dislike forDietrich was by now notorious—and divided up Funk’s old functions, promotinghis trusted chief aide Karl Hanke to senior Staatssekretär as well as Dietrich.5 ToHanke’s old post as personal assistant Goebbels appointed at his recommendation onDecember 6, 1937 Dr Werner Naumann, the former chief of propaganda in Breslau.6At the time, Naumann was only twenty-eight. Tall, slim, and athletic, he was afanatical believer in National Socialism with the accent, where Goebbels too placedit, on the latter word. At seventeen he had
