Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death

1, Bd.1); for the resultingcourt case see Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58, item 48.41 Diary, May 8, 26, 27, 1930.42 Ibid., Jan 1, 4, 24, 1930; and see Zezschwitz to (unknown), Apr 20, 1930 on the backgroundto the Hindenburg case (IfZ film MA.744).43 Diary, May 15, 16, 28, 1930.44 Angriff, Jun 5, 1930.45 NYT, Jun 1, 1930.46 Diary Jan 23, 30, Feb 2, 3, 1930.47 Ibid., Jan 6, 8; Mar 7, 1930.48 Ibid., Mar 13, 21, 1930.49 Ibid., Feb 19, Mar 6, 1930.50 Ibid., Apr 18, 20, 1930.51 Ibid., Apr 24, 1930.52 Ibid., Mar 16, 1930.53 Ibid., Mar 20, 1930.54 Ibid.Mar 22, 23, 1930.55 Ibid., Mar 28; on Mar 29, depressed, he noted, ‘No word from Munich.’ And the nextday, ‘All thanks to this stupid Munichery. We’re faced by the gravest decisions. And Munich’sfast asleep.’56 Ibid., Apr 1, 2, 5, 1930.57 Ibid., Apr 13, 1930.58 Reichspropagandaleiter. As late as 1930 the Nazi Jahrbuch which had gone to press in Sep1929 listed Hitler as chairman of the RPL with Himmler as deputy; the last RPL decreecountersigned by Himmler was published in VB on Apr 5, 1930; the first by JG (as ReichsleiterI ) on May 23, 1930.—Diary, Apr 28, 1930.59 Diary, Oct 13, 1929; Apr 9, 1930.—Re Muchow: Oct 2, 4, 1929; Jan 21, 1930; and seehis article, ‘Die Strassenzellen-Organisation des Gaues Berlin,’ in VB, Mar 11, 1930.60 Ibid.Aug 27, Oct 6, 1929; Apr 10, 30; May 2, 1930.61 Ibid., Apr 30, 1930.62 Ibid., Apr 16, 1930. Hans Johann Friedrich Goebbels, b.Jan 25, 1895, had joined theNSDAP on Nov 1, 1929 (party number 160,449). JG scraped together 100 marks a monthfor his mother (diary, May 14, 1930.) On Jun 10, 1946 the New York Times would report thatJG’s sister Maria had said, ‘We did not see Joseph often, although we lived in Berlin, and IGOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 191know he never gave mother any money or helped support her.’ This seems unjustified. Thediaries contain many other references to JG’s financial help for his mother, e.g. on Jul 13,1930.63 Diary, May 18, 1930. The killers of the communist Heimburger claimed self-defence,but there were many arrests.—Grzesinski MS.64 Ibid., May 4, 14, 1930.65 Ibid., May 3, 1930.66 Ibid., May 22, 1930. Much later Otto Strasser published in Hitler und ich (Konstanz,1948) his own fanciful record of his two talks with Hitler. Postwar American authoritiestermed him a wastrel, debt-incurrer, rabid anti-semite, and anarchist (NA: RG.319, IRR,file G8172121: about 3,000 pages of Otto Strasser papers, 1946–59.) This file also containsa 1948 description by Otto Strasser of his May 1930 clash with Hitler. On Otto Strasser seealso Donovan to FDR, Jan 20, 1942 (FDR Libr. PFS box 163)67 Diary, May 24, 1930.68 Ibid., Jun 11, 12, 15, 17, 1930.69 Ibid., Jun 12, 1930.70 Ibid., Jun 14, 17, 1930.71 Ibid., Jun 18, 21, 1930.72 Ibid., Jun 25, 1930.73 Ibid., Jun 29; and Strasser’s Der Nationale Sozialist, Jul 1, 1930.74 Diary, Jun 28–30, Jul 1, 2, 5; Angriff, Jul 3, 1930. After Der Nationale Sozialist reportedon Jul 3 that he was still its publisher and director, Gregor Strasser issued a statement throughthe Telegraphen Union agency sharply disowning the ‘circle around Kampf Verlag led by mybrother Dr Otto Strasser’ and announcing that he had severed ties with the publishing houseon Jun 30. ‘I still stand loyally behind Adolf Hitler and the NSDAP led by him.’—HinrichLohse MS, ‘The Strasser Case’ (IfZ: ZS-265, 8f); and see Günter Bartsch, Zwischen drei Stühlen.Otto Strasser, Eine Biographie (Koblenz, 1990). Otto Strasser later accused JG of ordering ‘SAStandarte 208’ to assassinate him; he was beaten up by several S.A. men in Aug 1930, andclaims to have shot two of them (NA file RG.319, IRR, G8172121).75 Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58, item 24, vol.iii, 4.76 Diary, Jun 15, Jul 3, 16, 1930; Moabit criminal court summons to JG, endorsed bypostman on Jul 24, 1930 (ZStA Potsdam, Rep.90, Go 1, Goebbels, Bd.1).77 Diary, Jan 10–13; JG’s visiting card is in Anka’s papers, endorsed in her hand on Jun 3,1930.78 Diary, Jun 9, 1930.79 Ibid., Jun 21, 25, Jul 6, 7, Aug 7, 17, 24. Interrogated on Feb 3, 1948 Lucie Kammernée Zimpel testified that her husband died in 1930; she had joined the NSDAP in 1927 (StANuremberg, Rep.502, K.19; NA: RG.260, OMGUS files, box 15).80 Diary, Jul 12–15, Aug 3, 7, 1930.192 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH13: His Week in CourtSO FAR Dr Goebbels had had to face no real challenge as gauleiter. But as the newReichstag election of September 14, 1930 approached the rift between his gau’sofficers and the impoverished and disgruntled fist-fighters of the Berlin S.A. came toa head. They saw no signs that Hitler intended to allow them any real reward fortheir bravery. The result would be the first full-scale S.A. mutiny during the heat ofthe summer in Berlin.Captain Walter Stennes, the ex-army officer who as supreme S.A. commander(Osaf) ‘Ost’ commanded twenty-five thousand of these disaffected men east of theriver Elbe, shared many of Dr Goebbels’ political views. He had dubbed the gauleiterthe Nazis’ Joseph Stalin, responsible for preserving the purity of the movement’sideals.1 Both deprecated Hitler’s legalistic approach to power. Though not as radicallyleftwing as the gauleiter, Stennes was like him an activist and revolutionary.Most of the S.A. men were unemployed. Recognizing this, Hitler had ordered thegauleiters to enforce a twenty-pfennig monthly levy on each Party member to supporttheir local S.A.; Goebbels had ordered an additional ten pfennig levy in Berlin—the ‘S.A. Groschen’ as it was known.2Battered and bruised, the S.A. watched bitterly as the Party squandered considerablesums on the Brown House, its national HQ.3 In short, the S.A. wanted to get atthe pork-barrel and they were not prepared to wait.Goebbels sympathised with them. ‘We shall reach our goals only on the basis of theS.A.,’ he asserted at one confidential meeting.4 He was torn between instinct andGOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 193logic. Captain Stennes and the S.A. represented manpower and muscle—but Hitlerand Munich held promise of power, office, and even bigger automobiles. Late in JulyHitler called a secret conference to decide the official list