Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death

properly prepared and used, could outwit thebrawniest physique.1 Soviet documents on the identification of the cadavers of Goebbels and his family werepublished by Lev Bezymenski in Der Tod von Adolf Hitler (Munich, Berlin, 1982), 48ff and97ff; Soviet surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel Grachow established the children’s cause of deathas ‘toxic carbohæmoglobin,’ and makes no mention of bullet wounds in Joseph or MagdaGoebbels; but for political reasons the KGB also suppressed references to the bullet entry inHitler’s head.2 Testimony of Paul Schmidt at Amtsgericht Berlin-Zehlendorf, Oct 21, 1955 (Institut fürZeitgeschichte, Munich [hereafter IfZ]: F82, Heiber papers); William Henning in HamburgerFreie Presse, Nov 5, 1947.3 Testimony of Fritzsche, Apr 30, 1947 (Hoover Libr.: K Frank Korf papers).4 On May 5 the British ambassador in Moscow was told that the bodies of Goebbels andfamily (but not of Hitler) had been found. ‘The cause of death was poison.’ (Tel. 1738 toForeign Office London [cit hereafter as FO], May 6. Public Record Office [PRO] file FO.371/46748); also Krasnaya Zvyezda, Moscow, and United Press despatch in New York Times [cit. asNYT ], May 18, 1945.5 Former Kommissar of Geheime Feldpolizei Wilhelm Eckold, quoted in ‘Zehn ehemaligeGenerale zurückgekehrt,’ in Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung [cited as FAZ], Jan 9, 1956; he wasGoebbels’ personal detective 1934-38, 1942-45.6 Today it is numbered 202 Odenkirchener Strasse.GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 217 Ralf Georg Reuth, Goebbels (Munich, 1990); a solid volume particularly well-researchedin Reuth’s native Berlin archives and the Goebbels papers held by François Genoud in Lausanne(cited hereafter as Reuth).8 Birth certificate issued by Rheydt-Mitte registrars’ office, No.1017/1897 (IfZ: F82, Heiberpapers); under Germany’s Data Protection Act such documents are no longer available tohistorians.—Copy of certificate in Landesarchiv Berlin, Rep.58, item 47, vol.vii. —JG’sbrother Hans listed their father’s occupation as Werkmeister (overseer) on his NSDAP (NaziParty) application form (in BDC files); in his handwritten early memoirs (Erinnerungsblätter,henceforth cited as EB) JG himself described his father as a Handlungsgehilfe (trade clerk).—The Erinnerungsblätter and some diaries (1924–41, incomplete) are transcribed expertly byDr Elke Fröhlich of the IfZ in Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Sämtliche Fragmente (4 vols.)(Munich, 1987); the original manuscript of EB is on microfiche in packet 26, box 2, of theGoebbels collection (‘Fond 1477’) recently located by Fröhlich in the former Soviet SpecialState Archives in Moscow, a collection of 1,600 glass plates (approximately 80,000 images)of his diaries and manuscripts, first researched and used by myself. On one microfiche is a‘Tagebuch 1897—Okt 1923’ but this diary is nearly empty.—On the family name, see PeterJansen’s article ‘Der Sippenname “Goebbels”’ by Peter Jansen (of Uebach) in WestdeutscherBeobachter, Nr.212, Apr 28, 1939; he found traces of GOBELIN (tapestry) and GODEBERAHT(God-famed) in the name. Also the article ‘Geilenkirchener Land. Stammland der SippeGoebbels,’ with photographs of the ancestral Goebbels homes in Uebach, Odenhofen etc.,ibid., Oct 26, 1938.9 In 1923 Goebbels mentioned a ‘Rechtsanwalt Joseph’ in EB. Dr Josef Joseph publishedan open letter to JG in Nov 1944 from his exile in the USA. Günter Erckens, Juden inMönchengladbach (Mönchengladbach, 1989), 189f.10 Conrad was a Hofverwalter (farm bailiff) from Gevelsdorf. He had married GertrudMargarete Rosskamp of Beckrath.11 I have adhered more closely to what Goebbels himself wrote in his Jul 1924Erinnerungsblätter [EB], ‘Von 1897 bis zu meinem ersten Semester 1917 in Bonn,’ than toHelmut Heiber or to other secondary sources.12 Wilfried von Oven, Mit Goebbels bis zum Ende, 241 (‘Apr 24, 1944’).13 Diary, Aug 8, 12, 13, 1924. The birth certificate identifies his job as Handlungsgehilfe(trade clerk).14 Against which, see New York Times [NYT], Jun 10, 1946: ‘Goebbels Never Helped AgedMother’ (an alleged interview of her and Goebbels’ sister Maria).15 Diary, Jul 20, 1924: ‘Dat kömp op Kreg ut’—That comes from the war. On the Dutchside of the border river Wurm the Dutch spoke Limburg platt, almost identical to the plattspoken on the German side.16 She was born at Uebach on Apr 18, 1869 and died Aug 8, 1953, aged 84. She stated onMar 25, 1948 that her mother Maria Katharina Odenhausen née Coervers was born in 1824at Uebach and died in Krefeld, Germany, in 1886; her father (Johann) Michael Odenhausenwas born at Uebach and died at Mönchen-Gladbach in 1880. All were Catholic (Korf papers).17 Born Aug 8, 1893; joined the NSDAP in Dec 1928, becoming a Kreisleiter; promoted toGau publishing chief in 1933, acting as business manager of the Völkischer Verlag in Düsseldorf.22 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHIn 1935 he became publisher of the Frankfurter Volksblatt then head of the Gau publishinghouse in Hessen-Nassau and manager of the Rhein-Mainische Zeitung. From 1932 to 1933 hewas in the SA reserve. Promoted to Reichsamtsleiter (a medium Party rank) in 1936.—Biographical file in the Berlin Document Center and in the National Archives, WashingtonDC [hereafter: NA]: Record Group [RG] 319, XE.246725, Werner Naumann.—And, FrankfurterNeue Presse, Aug 31, 1948.18 Hans Johann Friedrich Goebbels, born Jan 25, 1895, died Aug 13, 1947; joined NSDAPin 1929 (No.160,449) and the SA in 1931, rising to Oberführer on Nov 9, 1942. In 1931-32he was Propagandaleiter of an Ortsgruppe (Local), then of a Kreis (District) and chairmanof a Kreis party court (Uschla). From 1933 to 1945 he was general manager of the ProvincialFire and Life Insurance Co. of the Rhineland, and permanent deputy president of theprovincial Landesversicherungsanstalt Rheinprovinz from 1937. To the rage of his parents hemarried a protestant, Hertha Schell, by whom he had a son Lothar (1929) and daughterEleonore (1935).—Ibid.19 Konrad Goebbels, born Jun 6, 1910, died June 11, 1949 leaving one daughter. Maria’s(deceased) sisters were Maria (died in infancy) and Elisabeth (born 1901, died 1915): testimony,Mar 25, 1948 (Korf papers). There were also aunts and uncles: his mother’s sisterswere Anna Simons (1849-1939 or 1940), Christine Jansen (1856-1939) and Maria Jansen(1862-1916); her brothers were Joseph Odenhausen (died 1902), Peter Odenhausen (1860-1915) and Johann Odenhausen (1857-1916).20 In Genoud’s papers are Fritz Göbbels’s bank statements 1900-1920, and a blue accountbook in which he recorded every penny spent (Reuth, 14, 17).21 Writing to Anka Stalherm on Sep 17, 1918 he described poring with Willy Zilles overold school relics—‘a little picture of my First Communion, a school picture of the SecondForm, a dictation book