Burning the Reichstag (67 page)

26
. LNRW-D 372/278; Entnaz. Hauptausschuss der Stadt Hannover, Entscheidung, March 31, 1952, Verfügung, April 3, 1952, in NHH NDS 171 Hannover Nr. 28640, Bl. 312, 317; Notes of a conversation with Diels, October 3, 1954, Schulz-Koffka to the court, February 4, 1954, Schulz-Koffka to the court, March 19, 1959, TA.

27
. Schnitzler, diary entry for May 22, 1945,
Prisoner of War Nr. 3404933
, NLSchnitzler I; Geissler Affidavit, January 7, 1948, LNRW-D NW 1023/1865.

28
. Schmidt to Verbandspräsident, January 1943, NL Schnitzler I; Fischer-Fürwentsches, Persil letter for Schnitzler, June 7, 1946, NL Schnitzler I (The writer was Schnitzler's brother in law, which of course affects the weight to be given to this).

29
. Anton Roesen Begründing, April 10, 1948, LNRW-D NW 1023/1865; Entscheidung, June 10, 1948, LNRW-D NW 1037/5655; Siemsen to Landgericht Düsseldorf, September 22, 1948, LNRW-D NW.Pe Nr. 118; Vermerk, June 7, 1949, in ibid.

30
.
Volksstimme
, November 7, 1946, NL Schnitzler I.

31
. Schnitzler, diary entry May 22, 1945,
Prisoner of War Nr. 3404933
, NL Schnitzler I; Schnitzler to “Herrn Ministerialrat,” May 10, 1948, NL Schnitzler I.

32
. Roesen to LG Düsseldorf, September 30, 1948, LNRW-D NW.Pe Nr. 118; Roesen Begründing, April 10, 1948, LNRW-D NW 1023/1865; Diels Statement, ibid; Schnitzler to Johannes Maassen, July 3, 1949, NL Schnitzler II.

33
. Diels to Schnitzler, February 18, 1947, NL Schnitzler II.

34
. Diels to Schnitzler, November 24, 1950, Diels to Schnitzler, November 20, 1946, NL Schnitzler I; Schnitzler to Maassen, July 3, 1949, NL Schnitzler II.

35
. Diels to Schnitzler, February 18, 1947, Schnitzler to Diels, June 17, 1948, Schnitzler to Diels, March 20, 1948, NL Schnitzler II; Schnitzler to
Neue Politik
, May 5, 1948, NL Schnitzler I.

36
. Schnitzler to “Willy,” March 19, 1948, Diels to Schnitzler, May 30, 1949, Unidentified writer to Schnitzler, December 18, 1947, NL Schnitzler I.

37
. Schnitzler to Diels, March 20, 1948, NL Schnitzler II; Sommerfeldt to Schnitzler, December 26, 1952, NL Schnitzler I; Schnitzler to Janich, March 3, 1948, NL Schnitzler II.

38
. Heisig to Schnitzler, August 31, 1948, NL Schnitzler I.

39
. Schnitzler to Haubach, September 19, 1948, NL Schnitzler I.

40
. Schnitzler to Diels, February 29, 1948, Schnitzler to Diels, March 20, 1948, NL Schnitzler II; Diels to Schnitzler, no date, NL Schnitzler I.

41
. Schnitzler to Kogon, November 24, 1947, Schnitzler to Anna Luise Heisig, February 15, 1956, NL Schnitzler I; Klaus-Michael Schnitzler, e-mail to the Author, October 16, 2012.

42
. Anonymous (Heinrich Schnitzler), “Der Reichstagsbrand in anderer Sicht,”
Neue Politik
, 2. Januar Heft ff 1949, in IfZ ZS/A-7 Bd. 8.

43
. Bahar and Kugel,
Reichstagsbrand
, 830 note 19; Diels to Gräfin Nina Faber-Castell, February 23, 1948, in NL Schnitzler II; Intelligence Section to Book Censorship Section, BAOR, January 13, 1949, BA-BL BDC RK Certificates, Film C 55, Gisevius.

44
. Schnitzler, “Der Reichstagsbrand in anderer Sicht.”

45
. Diels to Nina Faber-Castell, February 23, 1948; Schnitzler to Diels, February 29, 1948, NL Schnitzler II.

46
. Rudolf Diels, “Leitsätze,”
Der Spiegel
, May 12, 1949.

47
. Rudolf Diels, “Die Nacht der langen Messer,”
Der Spiegel
, May 19, 1949; Rudolf Diels, “Die Nacht der langen Messer,”
Der Spiegel
, June 2, 1949; Rudolf Diels, “Die Nacht der langen Messer,”
Der Spiegel
, June 9, 1949.

48
. Rudolf Diels, “Die Nacht der langen Messer,”
Der Spiegel
, June 9, 1949.

49
. Rudolf Diels, “Die Nacht der langen Messer,”
Der Spiegel
, May 19, 1949; Rudolf Diels, “Die Nacht der langen Messer,”
Der Spiegel
, June 9, 1949.

50
. Norbert Frei,
Adenauer's Germany and the Nazi Past: The Politics of Amnesty and Integration
(New York: Columbia University Press, 2002), 13.

51
. Elisabeth Noelle and Erich Peter Neumann,
Jahrbuch der öffentlichen Meinung 1947–1955
, 2nd Edition (Allensbach am Bodensee, Verlag für Demoskopie, 1956), 133–39; Riess to Augstein, May 7, 1965, BA-K N 1385, NL Riess Bd. 74.

52
. Conze,
Suche
, 110–20.

53
. Eugen Kogon, “Beinahe mit dem Rücken an der Wand,”
Frankfruter Hefte
, vol. 9 no. 9, September 1954: 641–45.

54
. Diels to Preusser, November 25, 1954, NHH VVP 46 NL Diels, Bd. 15; Schnitzler, diary entry for June 26, 1945,
Prisoner of War Nr. 3404933
, NL Schnitzler I; Conze,
Suche
, 16; Schmidt-Hannover,
Umdenken
, 9–10.

55
. Diels,
Fall John
, 15; on the now largely forgotten uncertainty of the early Federal Republic, see Conze,
Suche
, 10 ff., 109.

56
. Peter Fritzsche,
Life and Death in the Third Reich
(Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 2008), 291. Rüdiger Overmans has authoritatively estimated German military casualties in the Second World War at 5.3 million: Rüdiger Overmans,
Deutsche militärische Verlüste im zweiten Weltkrieg
(Munich: Oldenbourg Verlag, 1999). For myriad reasons civilian casualties are much harder to calculate, but most estimates range between 1 and 2 million.

57
. Conze,
Suche
, 181; Vollnhals,
Entnazifizierung
, 60; Eric A. Johnson,
Nazi Terror: The Gestapo, Jews, and Ordinary Germans
(New York: Basic Books, 2000), 463–87.

58
. Peter Merseburger,
Rudolf Augstein: Biographie
(Munich: Deutsche VerlagsAnstalt, 2007), 65–80.

59
. Merseburger,
Augstein
, 81, 154, 158.

60
. Lutz Hachmeister,
Der Gegnerforscher: Die Karriere des SS Führers Franz Alfred Six
(Munich: C.H. Beck, 1998); Lutz Hachmeister, “Mein Führer, es ist ein Wunder!”
Tageszeitung
December 27, 1996; Alexander Bahar and Wilfried Kugel, “Augstein und die Gestapo-Connection,”
Taz Magazin
, February 28, 1998; Merseburger,
Augstein
, 158.

61
. Augstein to Presseausschuss, June 22, 1949, SpA, Öffentliche Personen C-E; Merseburger,
Augstein
, 120–22; Wallbaum,
Diels
, 286.

62
. Diels to Augstein, October 17, 1950, SpA, VIPS A-F 010 1954; Diels,
Fall John
, 14; Merseburger,
Augstein
, 122; Wallbaum,
Diels
, 290.

63
. Augstein to Diels, June 15, 1955, SpA, VIPS A-F 010 1954; Rudolf to Josef Augstein, September 9, 1953, SpA, and information from Spiegel archivist Heinz Egleder, e-mails to the Author, February 18 and 21, 2011; SpA, Binder 1314, Öffentliche Personen M-L; Ploeger,
Schmidt
; Hachmeister,
Gegnerforscher
; FOB to Chief, EE, July 10, 1956, NARA RG 263 Box 83, Horst Mahnke; Augstein, Aktenotiz, December 27, 1996, SpA, Binder 1314, Öffentliche Personen M-L.

64
. Gisevius to Allen Dulles, March 16, 1946, ETH NL Gisevius, 10 Correspondence, Allen Dulles; Pechel quoted in Tobias,
Reichstagsbrand
, 531–32; Rudolf Augstein, “Lieber Spiegel-Leser,”
Der Spiegel
, April 27, 1960; “Propaganda: Der Abzug,”
Der Spiegel
, February 13, 1957.

65
. Diels to Daluege, May 23, 1933, BA-BL BDC DS08180 Ordnungspolizei Zirpins, Film Sig. B0017.

66
. Zirpins Testimony, July 6, 1961, LNRW-D Rep. 372/992, Bl. 35; Zirpins's Lebenslauf, NHH Nds. 132 Hannover Acc. 80/86, Nr. 9/4, Bl. 92.

67
. Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover, Vermerk, March 18, 1961, BA-L B 162/21252; Zirpins Statement, January 4, 1961, NHH Nds. 132 Hannover Acc. 80/86, Nr. 9/2, Bl. 4; Richard J. Evans, “How Willing Were They?”
New York Review of Books
, June 11, 2008.

68
. Walter Zirpins, “Das Getto in Litzmannstadt, kriminalpolizeilich gesehen,”
Kriminalistik: Monatshefte für die gesamte kriminalistische Wissenschaft u. Praxis
, Bd. 15 Heft 9, September 1941: 97–98.

69
. Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover, Vermerk, March 18, 1961, BA-Ludwigsburg B 162/21252; Lucjan Dobroszyckia, ed.,
Chronicle of the Lodz Ghetto 1941–1944
(New Haven and London: Yale University Press, 1984), xxxix; Walter Zirpins, “Das Getto in Litzmannstadt, kriminalpolizeilich gesehen,”
Kriminalistik: Monatshefte für die gesamte kriminalistische Wissenschaft u. Praxis
, Bd. 15 Heft 10, Oktober 1941: 111–12.

70
. Staatsanwaltschaft Hannover, Vermerk, March 18, 1961, BA-Ludwigsburg B 162/21252; Zirpins, “Litzmannstadt,” Kriminalistik, Bd. 15 Heft 9, September 1941: 98, Heft 10, October 1941: 112.

71
. Niedersachen MdI to Polizeidirektion Hannover, December 8, 1960, NHH Nds. 132 Hannover Acc. 80/86, Nr. 9/2, Bl. 1–2; Zirpins Statement, January 4, 1961, ibid., Bl. 8.

72
. Zirpins to NS MdI, September 3, 1951, NHH Nds. 132 Hannover Acc. 80/86, Nr. 9/4, Bl. 90; Zirpins, Lebenslauf, ibid., Bl. 93; Zirpins to Polizeirat Saupe, April 13, 1951, ibid, Bl. 84; “Bescheidigung” January 6, 1949, ibid., Bl. 103; LKA Niedersachsen to NS MdI January 26, 1951, ibid., Bl. 72.

73
. Patrick Wagner,
Hitlers Kriminalisten: Die deutsche Kriminalpolizei und die Nationalsozialismus
(Munich: C.H. Beck, 2002), 10; “Revolver Harry für Bonn,”
Der Spiegel
, March 14, 1951.

74
. Wagner,
Hitlers Kriminalisten
, 164; Dieter Schenk,
Auf dem rechten Auge blind: Die braunen Wurzeln des BKA
(Cologne: Verlag Kiepenhauer & Witsch, 2001), 18; Vermerk, October 27, 1951, Zirpins to NS MdI, September 3, 1951, NHH Nds. 132 Hannover Acc. 80/86, Nr. 9/4, Bl. 77, Bl. 90.

75
. NS MdI to Zirpins, January 8, 1952, ibid, Bl. 4; Walter Zirpins, “Wir fanden Halacz,”
Der Spiegel
, December 19, 1951.

76
. Wehner to Tobias, December 21, 1951, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 1, “Dr. Wehner.”

77
. Zirpins to Bayerischer Rundfunk, February 4, 1952, IfZ ZS/A 7 Bd. 7.

78
. Tobias to Zirpins, January 16, 1960, IfZ ZS/A 7 Bd. 7; Tobias to Zirpins, February 13, 1960, ibid.

79
. Zirpins to Wolff, July 28, 1955, IfZ ZS/A 7 Bd. 2.

80
. Diels to Zirpins, no date, late October or Early November 1957, Diels to Zirpins, November 8, 1957, Zirpins to Diels, November 11, 1957, NHH VVP 46, NL Diels, Bd. 19.

1
. Fritz Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 4, 2009.

2
. Fritz Tobias, “Kurzer Rückblick auf die ersten fünfzig Jahre meines Lebens,” July 1, 1962, TA.

3
. Ibid.; Tobias, interview with the Author, Hannover, July 4, 2009; Bahar and Kugel,
Reichstagsbrand
, 782.

4
. Wehner to Tobias, January 18, 1951, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 1, “Dr Wehner.”

5
. Wagner,
Hitlers Kriminalisten
, 170–71.

6
. Wehner to Tobias, July 21, 1951, Vermerk, undated, Wehner to Tobias, December 21, 1951, SpA, Tobias Papers, Bd. 1, “Dr Wehner”; Bernhard Wehner, “Das Spiel ist aus—Arthur Nebe,”
Der Spiegel
, March 23, 1950.

7
. Tobias to Wiltruf Wehner-Davin, April 13, 1996, Wehner, “Presserecherchen zu einem ursprünglichen geplanten Artikel über die Polizei Hannover,” January 14, 1951, Wehner to Tobias, December 21, 1951, SpA, Tobias papers, Bd. 1, “Dr. Wehner.”

8
. Tobias to Dobbert, December 30, 1957, JA; Arthur Brandt, interview with Südwest Rundfunk, November 4, 1979, JA.

9
. Arthur Brandt, interview with Südwest Rundfunk, November 4, 1979, JA; Andreas Pretzel, “Ansprüche auf strafrechtliche Rehabilitierung,” in Pretzel, ed.,
NS-Opfer unter Vorbehalt: Homosexuelle Männer in Berlin nach 1945
(Münster: Lit Verlag, 2002), 90.

10
. Brandt to LG Berlin Strafkammer, April 1, 1957, JA.

11
. Pretzel, “Ansprüche,” 91.

12
. Brandt to the LG Berlin Strafkammer, September 29, 1955, JA.

13
. Den Haag an Auswärtiges Amt Bonn, October 1, 1955, BA-L B 141/17511, Bl. 2.

14
. Brandt to LG Berlin Strafkammer, April 1, 1957, JA.

15
. Arthur Brandt, interview with Südwest Rundfunk, November 4, 1979; Arthur Brandt, “Van der Lubbe ist unschuldig,”
Weltwoche
, June 17, 1966; Brandt to LG Berlin Strafkammer, April 1, 1957, JA.

16
. Gerhard Jungfer, interview with Helga and Inge Brandt, November 10, 1995, JA; Hans Bernd Gisevius, “Eine Kommission muss aufklären,”
Die Zeit
, March 25, 1960.

17
. Ruth-Hanna Kuhne, Geschäftsleiterin, Amtsgericht Bremerhaven, to the Author, August 30, 2010.

18
. Dobbert to Tobias, November 5, 1957, JA.

19
. Vogt to GSTA Berlin, January 1, 1957, JA; Becker Statement, December 5, 1956, LAB B Rep 058/1293, Bl. 69–70.

20
. Diels Statement, January 15, 1957, JA.

21
. Tobias to Dobbert, November 18, 1957, JA; Peter Brandes (Curt Riess) “Feuer über Deutschland,”
Der Stern
, November 9, 1957, November 16, 1957, November 30, 1957.

22
. Dobbert to Tobias, September 3, 1959, Judgment, December 15, 1980, Senator for Justice Berlin, Memo, June 24, 1966, GSTA KG to GSTA LG Berlin, July 20, 1966, LG Berlin, Beschluss, April 21, 1967, JA.