Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death

1943 a local propaganda official reportedto Goebbels that the ‘resettlement’ operations in Lublin—Nazi officialese forsomething clearly far worse—had left non-Jewish Poles with the definite impression722 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHthat after the Jews their turn would come next. There were only two alternativesopen to the Germans, this brave if circumspect official informed Goebbels: either toassimilate or to liquidate (ausrotten) the Poles. ‘Even if for biological reasons theadoption of such radical steps as have for instance been necessary against the Jewscan be justified before the bar of history, such a solution still seems unworthy of thetradition of the German people, given that large parts of the population affected arestill resident within the Reich’s frontiers. The plan of that American Jew to sterilizethe male population of the German Reich,’ the official reminded Dr Goebbels, referringto Theodore Kaufman, ‘was rightly pilloried by the entire German press.’30In sum it appears that by 1943 members of Goebbels’ staff both in Berlin and in thefield appreciated that the likely fate of the deported Jews was one about which theyshould use only the skimpiest Nazi euphemisms.31 The camouflage was universal andperfect. Addressing allegations by Dr Stephen F. Wise, president of the AmericanJewish Congress, Himmler wrote to Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller that he was notsurprised at such rumours, given the high mortality rate in the camps; he ordered allthe cadavers ‘of these deceased Jews’ cremated or interred.32 In London the newspaperspublished during November and December more Jewish reports. Goebbels’own Transozean service secretly forwarded to Himmler a Reuter report of February14, 1943 alleging that six thousand Jews were being murdered in Poland ever day.33In mid December 1942 the B.B.C. concentrated for a whole week on these atrocities,announcing that Poland had become a charnel house, that over one-third ofPoland’s 3,531,000 Jews had been liquidated, and that the German public was turninga blind eye on the killings; and declaring that they and their children’s childrenwould be cast out of the community of nations for all time as punishment.34 Goebbelsnoted this with irritation in his diary: the Jews were exploiting every known propagandatechnique—pathos, impertinence, and solemnity—to rouse the world againstGermany; but she still had more than enough Jewish pawns in her hands. ‘The Britishare the Jews of the Aryan race,’ he dictated, weightier arguments evidently failinghim.35 On December 22 his monitors reported that the B.B.C. had announced thatHitler was planning to complete liquidating the Jews by December 30: ‘The Jews areGOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 723first robbed of their civil rights and their property, then given less to eat than therest, and finally thrown into concentration camps or deported to unknown destinations.’There were allegations about a camp in Danzig were Jews were executed byelectric chair or gas; other propaganda broadcasts spoke of gas chambers and cyanide.Goebbels delegated to the urbane Hans Fritzsche the task of rebutting thestories.36GIVEN what Goebbels knew, the rage in his diary entries rings hollow. Stockholm, hecommented, was expressing pious horror at the atrocities, and he added that hewished the Swedes had just a few thousand Jews like Germany’s; when however theSwedes agreed to accept Jewish refugees from Poland Goebbels remonstrated withthe foreign ministry over its lack of instinct: presumably because there were hardlyany Polish Jews left for such an operation.37 ‘In the long run,’ he wrote, ‘I fear weshall not be able to get away with this by hushing it up. We’re going to have to answersomething if we are not to get gradually pinned down.’ He privately believed that theAllies were actually glad that the Nazis were clearing out the ‘Jewish rabble.’ Adoptingstandard tactics, he ordered that no direct response be made to the allegations—they should remind the world about Britain’s role in India instead.38OF greater weight in everybody’s mind that winter was the unending battle forStalingrad. It provided fresh ammunition for Goebbels’ feud with Otto Dietrich,Hitler’s dapper, spineless press chief—two months Goebbels’ senior in age, but hisequal in Party rank.39 There was open war between them, waged with scarcely lessferocity than the Sixth Army’s battle at Stalingrad. While the Machiavellian Goebbelsbased in Berlin mapped out broad propaganda strategy, Dietrich, resident at Hitler’sHQ, issued directives (Parolen) to the Press which often had the opposite effect.Dietrich found it irksome to be excluded from Hitler’s formal conferences withGoebbels, and obnoxious that Goebbels regularly invited newspapermen to his morningconferences. The direct telephone lines from Goebbels’ desk to his departmentalchiefs including the ‘German press’ department in Room 24 were a thorn in Dietrich’s724 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHflesh. He posted Helmut Sündermann, an experienced journalist, permanently intoGoebbels’ ministry as his deputy; to Goebbels, this smelt of the creation of an independent‘Press ministry.’40 During the summer of 1942 Hitler banged their headstogether; he signed a decree ordering the two men to work in harmony; but he alsoinstructed Goebbels to channel all directives to editors through Dietrich in future.41This left the way open for another Dietrich blunder. On September 15 he announced,‘The struggle for Stalingrad is nearing its triumphant conclusion’—an announcement,he said, was imminent. Some newspapers printed special editions.Headlines announced that Stalingrad was in the bag. Goebbels, more cautiously,warned his staff to strict secrecy. Even he however began his remarks on the eighteenthwith the words, ‘Now that the capture of Stalingrad is a certainty…’42 Thencaution returned and he urged editors to find something other than Stalingrad fortheir headlines—a wise move, because soon the High Command was talking about‘exceptionally stubborn’ fighting for the city.43Goebbels was not encouraged to hear that the Daily Mail was calling Stalingrad thedecisive battle of the war.44 Blaming Goebbels for this new gaffe, London mockedthat he had been rather faster on the draw than the Wehrmacht.45 He cursed Dietrichout loud and announced that he would severely punish any editors who blindly issuedspecial editions in future. ‘I am, after all, the one with the name to lose,’ he said,‘and I have no desire to see this name, which has taken me twenty years to earn,tarnished by thoughtless stunts like this.’46Hitler, like Dietrich, was taken in by his own propaganda. He assured Goebbelsthat they would take Stalingrad shortly. He