Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death

of the hour—and Göring, who was also, asGoebbels put it, pleading for moderation.70A sweltering August heat baked the capital. There were fist-fights outside foodstores,as crowds began hoarding for the coming war; a run on the banks began. Lunchtimefound Hitler grim and rather worn down.71The postponement of hostilities had dislocated Goebbels’ timetable. With the warmachine crassly halted, there was nothing to report. He directed the press on August29 to step up the attack on Poland, although it was both difficult and unpopular.From the frontline areas like the Saar he had reports that the mood was anything butblind jingoism. Hitler suggested to Ambassador Henderson that there be a plebiscitein the Corridor. ‘He hopes to detach London from Warsaw after all,’ assessed Goebbels,‘and thus to find some pretext for attack.’Hitler agreed that Britain might invite a Polish negotiator to come to Berlin.His head throbbing with the round-the-clock load of ministerial duties, Goebbelsfeared that the arrival of a Polish diplomat might result in a ruinous wave of optimismin Germany.72 At the press conference on the thirtieth Goebbels again pleadedfor a stiff upper lip: editors were to reserve their vitriol for Poland and her ‘atrocities,’while still holding back the most glaring examples, and going easy on Englandfor a while as London seemed to be softening towards Hitler’s demands.73 But thisdirective was later overtaken by one announcing Polish mobilisation: ‘The news …is to be given top billing and editorial commentary.’74 (In a significant sentence, editorswere asked not to mention a ‘frontier incident at Hochlinde near Gleiwitz’: aphoney raid by S.S. men wearing Polish uniforms had gone off at half-cock.)75GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 557At midnight Hitler sent for him:He sets out the situation. The British are still hanging tough. Not a peep out ofPoland yet. The Führer thinks there will be war. Italy’s defection is not all that badfor us, as Italy is the most vulnerable to attack by the Entente powers. The Führerhas drafted a Memorandum: Danzig to be German, a plebiscite in the Corridor intwelve months’ time on the basis of 1918; fifty-one percent of the vote to bedecisive. Loser to get a one kilometer wide corridor across the Corridor. Minoritiesproblems to be examined by an international commission. When the time isripe the Führer will toss this document to the world community.76His head reeling from worry, late nights, and overwork, Goebbels found it hard towrite up his diary on September 1—even as Hitler’s war began. The situation changedhourly. He recalled having turned the press conference loose on Britain the day before.Karl Bömer had brought over the latest sheaf of embassy wiretaps from Göring’sForschungsamt: they made clear that alarm bells were ringing in Paris and London.The French and British ambassadors had been overheard agreeing to beg their Polishcolleague, Lipski, to go on his own initiative to Hitler.‘But he can’t be found,’ observed Goebbels, ‘for hours at a time. Poland is obviouslyplaying for time.’‘Göring is still sceptical,’ he recorded. ‘The Führer still does not believe Britainwill intervene. Nobody can say as yet. The S.S. is given special orders for the comingnight’—commando-style operations behind the Polish lines.77 In the evening the Polishambassador was heard asking for an audience. But Hitler had ordered an end to thetalking, and Lipski was not allowed to see Ribbentrop until too late. When he confessedthat Warsaw had given him no instructions, Ribbentrop brusquely ended themeeting.‘So that’s that,’ noted Goebbels. ‘The Führer is now incommunicado.’They all talked until midnight, watching the hours tick past. Göring saw a slimchance that London might not act. Goebbels was less sanguine. Hitler released the558 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHtext of his Memorandum, they all hung around a map for a while, then Goebbelsreturned home to Magda who was waiting for him.781 Leopold Gutterer had a working television set in his apartment throughout the comingwar (interview.)2 Unpubl. diary, Aug 4, 1939.3 Ibid., Jul 29, 1939.4 Ibid., Aug 1, 5, 1939.5 See the hectographed list of ‘what to wear to the party rally,’ attached to a letter of Aug8, 1939 (Hoover Libr., Goebbels papers, box 2).6 RPA Berlin, press circular, Jul 31, 1939.7 MinConf., Feb 2; diary, Feb 3, 1940.8 RPA Berlin, press circular, Jun 3, 9, 20, 23, 27, 28, 30, Jul 1, 8, 10, 12, 13, 17, 31, 1939.9 Ibid., Aug 2, 1939.10 Ibid., Aug 1, 2, 1939.11 Ibid., Aug 7, 1939.12 Ibid., Aug 5, 1939.13 At 265,000 marks per month. Brückner to Funk, Aug 18 (BA file NS.10/38); and unpubl.diary, Jun 2, 16, 17, Aug 19, 1939.14 RPA Berlin, press circular, Aug 10; VB, Aug 12, 1939.15 Freybe to Waldegg, Aug 10, 1939 (Hoover Libr.: Goebbels papers, box 2).16 Unpubl. diary, Aug 9, 10, 1939.17 Ibid., Aug 13; Frankfurter Zeitung and DAZ, Aug 9, 1939.18 Ibid., Aug 10, 1939.19 Ibid., Aug 11, 1939.20 RPA Frankfurt, confidential briefing, Aug 8, 1939.21 RPA Frankfurt, special briefing, Aug 10, 1939.22 Ibid., Aug 12, 1939.23 RPA Berlin, press circular, Aug 11, 1939.24 RPA Frankfurt, confidential briefing, Aug 14, 1939.25 RPA Berlin, press circular, Aug 16, 1939.26 Ibid., Aug 16, 1939.27 RPA Frankfurt, confidential briefing, Aug 17, 1939.28 For JG’s 1939 domestic staff see BA file R.55/945.29 Details, correspondence, estimates, and inventories in BA files R.55/421, /423, /1360.30 Unpubl. diary, Aug 17, 18; and see Jul 3, 1939. On No.20 Hermann-Göring Strasse seeBA files R.55/421, /423, /430, /1360.31 Ibid., Aug 19, 1939.32 Ibid., Aug 17, 19, 193933 RPA Frankfurt, confidential briefing, Aug 18, 1939. ‘In propaganda it has always provedvery effective to personalize a political issue.’GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 55934 Ibid., Aug 18, 1939.35 Unpubl. diary, Aug 19, 20, 1939.36 Ibid., Aug 20, 1939.37 Major Percy G Black, loc. cit.38 Unpubl. diary, Jul 9, 1939.39 RPA Frankfurt, special briefing, Jul 12, 1939.40 RPA Frankfurt, confidential briefing, Jul 27, 1939.41 Ibid., Aug 7, 1939.42 RPA Berlin, press circular, Aug 5, 1939.43 Unpubl. diary, Aug 21; RPA Frankfurt, special briefing, Aug 21, 1939.44 Unpubl. diary, Aug 22, 1939; the Forschungsamt ‘intercepts’ will be found in DavidIrving, Breach of Security (London, 1968), 92ff; and Das Reich hört mit, loc.cit.45 Unpubl.