Doctor Goebbels: His Life & Death

Göring’sapartment on the tenth, the talk was again only of Strasser. Hindenburg’s office toldthe press that he was thinking of appointing ‘a National Socialist’ as vice-chancellor,and on the twelfth his state-secretary Otto Meissner revealed that Strasser had se-GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 287cretly met the president. The next day Göring told Goebbels that Strasser was aboutto do the dirty on them; the press too hinted that Strasser was to become vicechancellor.16The voting in Lippe on January 15, 1933 brought the personal triumph that Hitlertherefore badly needed. The party’s vote surged forward by twenty percent. Strasserwas done for. On the sixteenth Hitler addressed the gauleiters assembled at Weimarfor three hours. He said that nobody was going to come between him and the chancellor’sthrone where Bismarck had once sat. ‘Hitler’s victory,’ wrote Goebbels, ‘istotal. We have sweated out the Strasser affair.’17 Speaking four days later to partyofficials packed into the Sport Palace, Hitler threatened to break the neck of theparty’s defeatists. But even at this late date Goebbels found that Hitler had not entirelywritten Strasser off. There were rumours that Hitler was planning to see himagain in Munich. Goebbels’ paranoia about the man continued until the very lastmoment. ‘Strasser,’ he wrote just four days before the final seizure of power, ‘is intriguingagainst me. I sense it everywhere.’18THE REICHSTAG was due to meet again at the end of January 1933, but in effect theNazis were alread in control, as Goebbels proved, staging an outrageous provocationa few days before then: the memorial to Horst Wessel was to be dedicated on thetwenty-second. He arranged for twenty-thousand S.A. men to parade on BülowPlatz right outside the communist party’s national HQ. Schleicher pleaded with Hitlernot to risk attending. ‘He who dares,’ advised Goebbels, ‘wins!’19 The Berlin policehad to protect the parade with machine-guns, armoured cars, and sharpshooters.The Nazi pageantry was blemished only by Mrs Wessel; she repaid Hitler’s earlierindifference to her son’s death by arriving late and making him wait half an hour.Hindenburg’s slow-witted son Oskar and his secretary Otto Meissner encouragedHitler to fight on. All were agreed that Schleicher’s time was up. For two days rumoursflew as Göring and Frick negotiated with the other aspirants to power. OnJanuary the twenty-seventh Schleicher had been reconciled to resigning on Saturday,but he was still campaigning stubbornly against Hitler’s taking over.20 Hitler bar-288 GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICHgained with Hugenburg about a coalition that evening. But the D.N.V.P. stated unacceptabledemands. Schleicher resigned on Saturday the twenty-eighth. The Reichstagwas to resume on the following Tuesday. Goebbels sat at home, nervously playingwith the infant Helga, while Göring carried on the bargaining process. On SundayGoebbels drafted a belligerent leading article, then went over for coffee at theKaiserhof. As he was nervously chatting with Hitler, Göring burst in and roared: ‘It’sall fixed.’ Papen had agreed to recommend Hitler’s appointment as chancellor. Thosepresent solemnly rose and shook hands all round. Göring added that Frick was to beminister of the interior in the Reich, with Göring his counterpart in Prussia.21 Hitlerannounced that he would dissolve the Reichstag at once. To establish an absolutemajority he needed to fight one more election campaign— ‘the very last one,’ notedGoebbels cynically, ‘but we’ll pull it off.’There was one serious snag for Goebbels. Hitler’s canny opponents had not allowedhis Nazis even now more than three ministerial portfolios. Goebbels had takena propaganda ministry for granted. Hitler cleverly weaned him off his disappointment,arguing that a government minister of propaganda could hardly direct a necessarilypartisan election campaign. He promised Goebbels he would get his ministry—later; they would appoint a straw man to keep the seat warm meanwhile.At the eleventh hour, that Sunday January 29, 1933, Alvensleben, Schleicher’s man,brought rumours of an army putsch being planned by his general with General vonHammerstein, the army chief of staff. Not for the last time, however, the Germanarmy proved incapable of decisive political action.22AT eleven A.M.—it was now January 30, 1933—President Hindenburg sent for Hitlerand swore him in as chancellor. Goebbels waited at the Kaiserhof. ‘The Old Manwas quite emotional,’ Hitler told him afterwards. ‘He’s delighted that the nationalistrightwing has united at last.’ Goebbels phoned Magda with the news.23‘Herr Doktor,’ Ello Quandt admonished him afterwards, ‘now the going getstougher. You’ve got to show what you and your friends can do.’GOEBBELS. MASTERMIND OF THE THIRD REICH 289His joy evaporated. ‘Whatever!’, he snapped. ‘Now we’re in power. And nobody’sgoing to cheat us of that. We know all the dodges!’24 He ordered Berlin’s biggest-evertorchlight parade for that night, changed into uniform, and drove off to the Reichchancellery for the first time in his life.1 Lochner to daughter Betty, Dec 11, 1932 (State Historical Society of Wisconsin, LochnerPapers, box 47, copy in FDR Libr., Toland papers).2 Diary, Dec 11, 19323 Haegert and other propaganda ministry personnel are briefly characterized inCSDIC(UK) Paper 80, ‘Reich Ministry for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda,’ by DrRichard Arnhold, pers. Referent of Prof Bömer (PRO file WO.208/4174 and NA file RG.165,entry 79, box 766).4 Adolf Hitler, ‘Memorandum on the internal reasons for the directives on enhancing themovement’s striking power’ (NA file T120, roll 2621).5 Angriff, No.267, Dec 21, 1932; Dokumente, 418.6 Diary, Dec 23, 1932.7 Revue, No.23, Jun 7, 1952.8 Diary, Dec 24, 1932.9 Ibid., Dec 26, 1932; Behrend, No.19, May 10, 1952; JG to Hitler, Jul 18, 1944 (BA fileNL.118/107).10 Diary, Jan 2, 1933.11 The microfiches are in Fond 1477.12 Diary, Jan 13; Kaiserhof, Jan 12, 1933.—See ‘Stationen eines Arztes. Operieren beiSauerbruch, Kinderkriegen bei Stoeckel,’ in FAZ Magazin, May 8, 1987, 52ff.13 Kurt Baron von Schröder, born Nov 24, 1889; later SS Brigadeführer. See his personnelfile in BA, NS.48/73.—Diary, Jan 6–7, 1933.14 Diary, Jan 10, 1933.15 Lohse, MS.16 Diary, Jan 14, 1933: ‘That sounds like a traitor to me. I always saw it coming. Hitler isvery dismayed.’17 Ibid., Jan 17, 1933; Lohse MS.18 Diary, Jan 26, 1933.19 Ibid., Jan 22; Kaiserhof, Jan 22, 1933.20 Diary, Jan 23–27, 1933.21 In the diary, Jan 30, 1933 JG writes that Hugenburg was to be economics minister.Fröhlich has ‘Krisenminister’perhaps a misreading (see Author’s Acknowledgements).22 Diary, Jan 30, 1933.23 Ibid., Jan