Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death

ReichGOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 599on the day before Hitler died an army lieutenant-general in British captivity couldonly say, ‘They [the Nazis] must have something up their sleeves!’71While Hitler stayed brooding at the Berghof, his plans upset, Goebbels boostedBerlin’s uncertain morale by staging a homecoming parade for one of its infantrydivisions. He shrilled words of welcome through loudspeakers, contrasting this scenewith those of 1918: ‘You soldiers return to find your country just as you left it. Atyour head stands the same Führer, on your buildings flutters the same flag, yourpeople are still imbued with the same spirit and the same determination.’ ‘All weneed now,’ he triumphed in his diary afterwards, ‘is Britain’s capitulation, total victory,and a lasting peace… Who can still harbour any doubt as to the outcome of thisgigantic struggle?’72 The mere statement of the question suggests that, deep in hisown unfathomed depths, Goebbels was himself beginning to doubt.AS the infantry marched in, Gutterer remarked, the same hordes of Jews were to beseen loitering up and down Kurfürstendamm.73 Goebbels had to admit it was true.The Jewish problem still ran like a poisonous thread through all his deliberations. Hehad told Gutterer in February 1940 to organize raids on Berlin Jews suspected orhoarding foodstuffs.74 He detected their hand everywhere, particularly in the ‘Jewishpress’ of America.75 One American put a bounty of a million dollars on Hitler’s head;‘typical Jew,’ was Goebbels’ reponse.76 He had no qualms about the murderous treatmentthat the S.S. were meting out to the Jews, the clergy, and the intelligentsia inPoland.77 More than once over the next five years he reflected that for top Nazis likehimself there was now no going back: winning total victory had become literally amatter of life and death for them. In one cryptic diary entry in January 1940 hereminded himself, ‘If there were any going back, then one would too easily becomefaint-hearted … That goes for our policies in Poland too. We simply must not losethis war.’78Like other top Nazis, he was noticeable careful not to spell out what those policieswere. When a well-disposed Polish journalist sent him details of certain ‘episodes’ inPoland, he noted: ‘These could be pretty lethal for us at this moment,’ and he had the600 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHinformant taken into custody for a while.79 A few weeks later he learned that theRussians were disposing of the Jews in their half of Poland ‘in their own way.’ ‘Somuch the better for us,’ was his cryptic comment.80Stalin’s ideological radicalism impressed him as much as Churchill’s singlemindedness.Once, Goebbels decided, after discussing their ruthless Moscow allywith Hitler, ‘Every year, like a careful gardener, he prunes the more unruly sproutsin his hedge. And if Stalin does shoot his generals, then we won’t have to do it one dayourselves. I wonder,’ he mused, ‘whether Stalin is liquidating his Jews as well? Perhapshe just tells the world they were Trotskyites as a blind. Who can say?’81He had no misgivings about euthanasia either. After hearing Philipp Bouhler reportingto Hitler on the ongoing operation to liquidate their hospital population ofmental defectives, Goebbels agreed that this was ‘so necessary,’ but he made a notethat the whole thing was secret and running into difficulties.82 Over lunch a weeklater he heard Himmler tell Hitler that in some parts of occupied Poland the Jewshad set up their own administration and were imposing a cruel regime on their ownrace. ‘That’s how the Jews are,’ he commented, ‘and that’s how they’ll be for evermore.’83 Hitler reassured him in June that they would deal swiftly with the Jews afterthe war, and Goebbels repeated this to his secret eleven o’clock conference on theday Hitler returned to Berlin from the Berghof in mid-July.84 Commenting on theJews’ disrespectful behaviour during the infantry parade, Goebbels announced that,no doubt acting in his capacity as gauleiter, he had decided to pack all Berlin’s Jews—he put their number at 62,000—off to Poland within eight weeks of the cessation ofhostilities. ‘So long as the Jews are living in Berlin,’ he said, ‘they will always exert abad influence on public opinion.’ Hans Hinkel, his specialist on Jewish affairs, briefedGoebbels’ ministerial conference on the Berlin police plans already developed forclearing out the Jews.85 Later still, Hitler revealed to him that his own preferred finalsolution was to deport all of Europe’s Jews after the war to Madagascar, currently aFrench colony. ‘That will become a German protectorate under a German policegovernor.’86GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 601HITLER had now put the finishing touches to his Reichstag speech. He returned toBerlin on July 19, 1940 in high spirits, and outlined its salient points to his lunchguests including Goebbels. He would issue a short, terse peace offer to Britain withoutspelling out any precise terms but with the clear implication that this was his lastword, and it was now for London to decide.87 Goebbels hoped that Churchill mighteven resign. That evening, he told his staff, Britain’s fate would be in the balance.88He directed all his English-language radio stations to soften up British public opinion.89 He now had no fewer than five black radio stations, among them the ‘NewBritish Broadcasting Station,’ which beamed William Joyce’s messages to England viathree shortwave transmitters; an ‘amateur’ Radio Caledonia, pumping out Scottishnationalist propaganda; another transmitter aimed at Welsh nationalists; a mediumwavetransmitter beaming socialist slogans to the British working class; and ‘ConcordiaPlan P’, which had soothing words for British Christian pacifists and regularly broadcastprayer services for peace.90But all of these megawatts failed to deflect Britain from her purpose. A rude answerto Hitler’s peace offer was broadcast almost immediately over the B.B.C. bySefton Delmer (‘one of Putzi Hanfstaengl’s discoveries,’ as Goebbels labelled him).91To Hitler’s consternation the British bombing continued that night. ‘For the moment,’recorded Goebbels, seeing him the next day, ‘the Führer does not want toaccept that that is indeed Britain’s response. He is still minded to wait awhile. Afterall, he appealed to the British people and not to Churchill.’92 Agreeing that theycould afford to wait, Goebbels warned editors not to overstate Britain’s rebuff. ‘Giventheir totally different, insular mentality,’ he told his department heads,