pressed leaf that Erika has placedthere for him.43162 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHBack in Berlin, Xenia comes round for the evening; then it is on to Weimar for thegreat, week-long adventure with Anka. Georg Mumme carries their self-invited guest’sbaggage to the apartment just above their own in Johann-Albrecht Strasse. ‘I am tornmany ways,’ confesses Goebbels in his diary that night. Something—is it fear?—isclutching at his vitals. He thinks a lot about Erika Chulius, and suddenly misses Prerowafter all. But here he is, at last, only one floor above his dream woman. ‘Anka,’ hewrites, ‘is waiting downstairs for me.’44One day that week Georg goes off to Leipzig. Anka bustles happily around her oldfriend, cooking and looking after him, but nothing happens. Neither makes a move.The last day comes, July 25, 1929. Dr Mumme has again gone away, and Goebbelsand Anka spend a blissful afternoon out together. Even at two A.M. Georg is still notback. Cursing himself, Goebbels is upstairs, standing irresolutely in the middle of hisroom when he hears a soft tap at the door. He opens: it is Anka, trembling with so farunrequited passion.‘Georg just phoned,’ she announces. ‘He can’t get back tonight.’Seized by panic, Goebbels firmly closes the door on her. Perhaps he has smelt anambush; or just possibly he may have been motivated by those loftier emotions whichhe carefully sets down for posterity in his diary afterwards:No! I cannot abuse the hospitality and trust of Georg. Wretched though he is inmy esteem: and though mine be far the greater right to this beloved woman standingbefore me in all her wondrous loveliness: Anka must leave the room.I am trembling in every limb. I lie awake for a long, long time. But this morningI shall be able to look Georg squarely in the eye.45Their paths cross briefly at Weimar station—Goebbels and Mumme. ‘Fare theewell, the both of you,’ he writes. ‘I’ll have to leave you to your wretchedness andnothingness… Greater missions await.’46GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 1631 JG to Anka, Apr 9, 1929 (Irene Prange papers).2 Papers of the Albertus Magnus Society; and see diary, Mar 21, 1929: ‘In the morning aprocess server comes on an embarrassing business.’3 Lawyers Erwin Plätzer and Carl Bauer to the society, Apr 29, 1929.4 Diary, May 17, 1929.5 Ibid., Apr 15, 19296 Ibid., Apr 12, Jun 2, 1929.7 Ibid., Apr 7, 9, 1929.8 Ibid., Apr 1, 3, 19299 JG to Anka, Apr 9, 1929 (Irene Prange papers).10 Diary, Apr 18, 1929.11 Ibid., Apr 18, 1929.12 Ibid., Apr 19, 21, 25, 1929.13 Ibid., Apr 28, 30; May 5, 6, 13, 17, 20, 1929.14 JG to Anka, May 21, 1929 (Irene Prange papers).15 Diary, May 25, 26, 192916 Ibid., May 28, 1929.17 JG to Anka, May 28, 1929 (Irene Prange papers); diary, May 29.18 Ibid., May 29, 1929. In Dokumente der Zeitgeschichte (Eher Verlag, 1938), 271, it is wronglystated that JG was appointed Reichspropagandaleiter on Jan 2, 1928 with Himmler as deputy.This is not confirmed by JG’s diary.19 Diary, Jul 5, 1929.20 Ibid., May 29, 1929.21 Ibid., May 2, 1929; statement by Carl Severing to Reichstag, Jun 8, 1929, in Reichstag.80. Sitzung, 2218ff.22 Ibid. Grzesinski (MS) lived with a Mrs Daisy Torrens although not divorced until May12, 1930; he married her at the end of May.23 Cf. Diary, Jun 9, 1929.24 Reichstag. 95. Sitzung, 2918ff, Jun 25, 1929.25 Diary, Jun 26, 192926 Ibid., Nov 22, 1929.27 Ibid., May 3, 4, 1929.28 Ibid., May 14, Jun 27; and see Sep 2, Nov 8, Dec 21, 1929.29 Ibid., Feb 20, 1931.30 Ibid., Jun 29, 1929.31 Ibid., Nov 8, 1930.32 Julius Streicher’s diary, Nov 13, 1945 (courtesy of Karl Höffkes); Hitler had invited JGto the new Berghof in the autumn of 1929 (diary, Sep 22, 1929).33 Ibid., Oct 28, 1929.34 Oven, 241, ‘Apr 24, 1944.’35 Diary, Jun 1, 4, 1929.36 Ibid., Jun 2, 4, 9, 19, 23, 24, 1929.37 Ibid., Jun 16, 20, 24, 25, 1929.38 Ibid., Jun 30, 1929.164 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH39 JG to Anka, Jul 6 (Irene Prange papers); and diary, July 6, 1929.40 JG to Anka, Jul 8 (ibid.)41 Diary, Jul 6, 1929.42 Ibid., Jul 13, 1929.43 Ibid., Jul 15, 17, 20, 21, 1929.44 Ibid., Jul 23, 1929.45 Ibid., Jul 25, 1929.46 Ibid., Jul 26, 1929. In Irene Prange’s papers is the snapshot JG sent to Anka, ‘Withheartfelt greetings and with happy memories of a beautiful week in Weimar. Your ULEX, Jul30, 1929.’GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 165
Goebbels11: The NightmareJOSEPH Goebbels’ obsessive devotion to Hitler was illustrated in 1929. He wasabout to speak at Breslau when a telegram signed ‘Rosenberg’ arrived: ADOLFHITLER KILLED IN ACCIDENT. Goebbels swayed on his feet and nearly fainted. The telegram,a fake, left him a sobbing, nervous wreck. ‘Only now,’ he wrote afterwards,‘do I realize what Hitler means to me and to the movement: Everything! Everything!’1Hitler began to need Goebbels too. In July the two men quietly debated the bestform of future constitution for Germany. Rather remarkably for someone so contemptuousof the democracies, the model that Goebbels suggested was reminiscentof Westminster—an elected ‘political parliament’ and a senate with sixty or seventyrespected and highly paid appointees and elected senators.2The latter part of the year was dominated by the final illness of his father and hiscam-paign against the Young Plan.3 He embarked on the latter unwillingly, as it hadbeen initiated by their ‘reactionary’ rivals the Stahlhelm and the D.N.V.P. (GermanNational People’s Party), who were demanding a referendum (Volksbegehren); butHitler gave him no choice. Visiting Berlin on July 4 he told him he was meetingAlfred Hugenberg, chairman of the D.N.V.P., to discuss a joint campaign againstVersailles and the Young Plan. The prospect of Hitler amongst these moth-eaten reactionariesalarmed the radical Goebbels.4 In Nuremberg on the eve of the annualParty rally, however, Hitler invited him to dine in his suite with him and Geli—‘apretty child,’ noticed Goebbels again, and managed to get close to him in the group166 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHphotographs later. He addressed the rally on propaganda and politics.5 With theirgreat fireworks displays, concerts by the
