Goering (60 page)
Authors: Roger Manvell
In addition to the principal sources on the history of Nazi Germany and Goering's evidence at Nuremberg, we have drawn on both the published memoirs and the personal recollection of Papen, Schacht, Hanfstaengl, Schwerin von Krosigk and Hans Bernd Gisevius in obtaining further information for this chapter. We have consulted, among many other sources on the Reichstag fire, the excellent contemporary account written by Douglas Reed, but have supplemented this published material by investigations more particularly concerning the connections between the Dutch incendiary van der Lubbe and the Nazis, which may now be considered incontrovertible. There is still no positive evidence that Goering either initiated or was concerned in initiating the fire. Subsequently he enjoyed maintaining a mystery about whether or not he had known anything about it; it became one of his recurrent jokes. H.F. was present at the legal inquiry into the origins of the fire held in London in 1933, at which such evidence as was brought together (not all of it by any means genuine) was certainly aimed at implicating Goering. At the Nuremberg trial, however, Gisevius made Goebbels the principal instigator of the arson. See also the Appendix to this book, “The Reichstag Fire.” For Goering's connection with the Gestapo and the S.S. we have consulted principally Gerald Reitlinger's book on the S.S. Special information was given us by Frau Goering, Karl Bodenschatz and Willy Schade, the expert on forestry who was manager of Goering's shoot. There are innumerable published descriptions of Carinhall written by visitors whom Goering took on conducted tours of his mansion and his estate; their descriptions vary only because the mansion was in a constant state of development. The best description of the estate itself remains that given by Gritzbach in his official biography of Goering.
Gritzbach,
op. cit
., p. 22.
Gritzbach to H.F.
Papen,
Memoirs
, p. 256.
Documents on
British Foreign Policy
, Second Series, IV, pp. 230â31.
Quoted in Blood-Ryan,
op. cit
., pp. 187â88.
Quoted in Heiden,
op. cit
. p. 430.
Goering,
Germany Reborn,
pp.126â27.
See
Documents on German Foreign Policy
, Series C, I, pp. 93â 94.
Goering,
Germany Reborn,
p. 134. The quotation that follows is from Frischauer, op. cit., p. 101. Shirer, op. cit., p. 193, quotes the story by Halder. Goering's statement to General Donovan is quoted by Papen in his Memoirs, p. 271. Schwerin von Krosigk and Papen both told H.F. about Goering's remarks made during his captivity at Mondorf.
Documents on British Foreign Policy
, Second Series, IV, p. 431.
Information given to H.F. by Bertus Smith of The Hague.
The first of these two contradictory statements by Diels can be found in Shirer,
op. cit.
, p. 193, the second in Papen's Memoirs, p. 271.
Martha Dodd's interesting if melodramatic account of the behavior of both Diels and Goering during the trial can be found in her book
Through Embassy Eyes
, pp. 58â62. In spite of Goering's threats, Dimitroff managed to leave Germany after the trial. When Ambassador Dodd published his diary in 1941, he claimed that Diels (who was already hostile to Goering and in danger because of certain knowledge he possessed about the Reichstag fire) appealed to an unnamed American journalist to do what he could to save Dimitroff from assassination. The story was then carefully leaked to the foreign press and thus elicited a denial from Goebbels, who admitted that Goering, who was away at the time, had spoken indiscreetly. When Hanfstaengl's book appeared in 1957, he recalled that Martha Dodd told him what her father had learned and that, together with Louis Lochner, he arranged for Goering's press officer, Sommerfeldt, to lunch with a new and inexperienced representative of Reuter's agency who could brashly blurt out the rumor he had heard and ask for a statement on Goering's behalf. Sommerfeldt was then forced to vouch for Dimitroff's right to quit Germany unmolested, which he did. Unfortunately for Hanfstaengl, Goering subsequently found out his part in this affair. Martha Dodd makes no mention of this matter in her book.
A legal inquiry into the causes of the Reichstag fire was organized privately in London during the autumn of 1933 on the premises of the Law Society in Carey Street. The chairman was Lord Marley, and Sir Stafford Cripps headed a group of prominent lawyers who sifted the evidence presented by many witnesses who had recently fled from Germany; H.F. was present. The inquiry has frequently been regarded as Communist-inspired; though many prominent Communists took part, those conducting the inquiry were by no means entirely from the left. For instance, the well-known American lawyer Arthur Garfield Hays took part and subsequently attended the trial at Leipzig; he describes his experiences in his book
City Lawyer
(1942). Lawyers from several countries were observers at the inquiry.
Quoted in Shirer,
op. cit.
, p. 195.
The text of Hitler's telegram is given in Blood-Ryan, op. cit., p. 211; Goering's account appears in his
Germany Reborn
, p. 136.
Kropp gave this account to H.F.
Frau Goering gave H.F. the following details of her first acquaintance and subsequent friendship with Goering: Her first meeting was casual only, during a party rally in Weimar at which a private performance of scenes from the German classics in which she appeared had been arranged. The meeting that finally led to their friendship took place some months later in 1932, also at Weimar, when they were introduced to each other by a mutual woman friend. They walked and talked about Carin, whose death was still much on Goering's mind. By the time he was made president of the Reichstag they were living together in his flat on the Kaiserdamm, where Emmy had her own room which Goering took pride in furnishing as well as he could afford.
A possible affair with Margarete von Schirach is mentioned in Blood-Ryan,
op. cit
., p. 262. That with Käthe Dorsch belonged to his youth, and she remained a friend of the family after the marriage of Goering and Emmy, though Goering remained strictly faithful to Emmy.
For these statements see Alan Bullock's
Hitler
, p. 235, and Heiden,
Der Führer
, p. 462.
Thyssen,
op. cit
., pp. 68, 168.
Rieckhoff in
Triumph oder Bluff
? (p. 37) infers that Goering forced Hindenburg's hand in the matter of his promotion by announcing to the press in advance that he had been made a general. Milch told H.F. that this story was untrue. He was himself sent to Blomberg to discuss a number of promotions, including his own and Goering's. He told Blomberg that Goering expected to be created a full general and certainly not a major general as Blomberg had intended, since Goering was at that time only a captain. Blomberg finally agreed and on October 19, 1933, Goering was made a general, and the promotion was backdated to October 1, 1931, in order to give him seniority. Goering was delighted.
The principal source for Goering's private habits is the information given by Robert Kropp to H.F. Details provided by the cutter, Cap, which follow, were also given in conversation with H.F.
A number of the particulars that follow come from Blood-Ryan,
op
.
cit
., pp. 216â25.
Hanfstaengl,
op. cit.,
p. 212.
Galland,
The First and the Last
, p. 17.
See
Documents on British Foreign Policy,
Second Series, VI, pp. 749â51.
Details of this ceremony of interment were given H.F. by Bodenschatz, who played a prominent part in bringing the body to Carinhall. Bodenschatz also examined Himmler's car; there were holes in the windshield, but they could just as likely have been made by flying stones as by bullets.
Special sources for this and the next chapter, in both of which Goering's life is closely bound to the history of the regime as a whole, include Papen, Bodenschatz and Schacht; of considerable interest and importance arc the published memoirs of ambassadors, ministers and diplomats, such as Nevile Henderson, Lord Halifax, François-Poncet, Coulondre, Kirkpatrick and, to a lesser extent, Ambassador Dodd. The comments of Ciano and Hassell are useful, and we have drawn considerably on the published
Documents on German Foreign Policy
and the
Documents on British
Foreign Policy, together with the diplomatic papers published in the
Polish War Book
,
the French Yellow Book
and other collections as indicated below. Namier's studies of diplomacy were of particular useâ
Diplomatic Prelude
, In the
Nazi Era
and
Europe in Decay
; so also were the studies published annually up to 1938 for the Royal Institute of International Affairs, the
Survey of International Affairs
and the subsequent volumes,
Hitler's Europe.
Elizabeth Wiskemann's
Rome-Berlin Axis
is helpful on Goering's relations with the Italians. Goering's own evidence at Nuremberg and the account of his activities that he gave in
Germany Reborn,
a book written specially for publication in England in 1934, have been drawn on, and so have the published reminiscences of Paul Schmidt, Hitler's official interpreter, who also worked for Goering. Information concerning the nature of the periodic cures for drug addiction which Goering underwent were obtained from the Kahle sanatorium in Cologne and from Robert Kropp. Dahlerus, of course, published his own recollections of his discussions with Goering in his book
The Last Attempt
.
See I.M.T., IX, p. 79.
The entire German police were united under one department in June 1936. Writing in 1937, Gritzbach, Goering's official biographer, says (p. 42) that his “direct and intimate connection with the German police remains as direct and intimate today as it was when he placed Himmler over them.” He then speaks of the “mutual trust and comradeship” between Goering and Himmler “in the pursuit of their common task.”
Papen confirmed in conversation with H.F. that Goering undoubtedly saved his life by placing him under house arrest.
See Wheeler-Bennett,
Nemesis of Power
, p. 323.
This account of the ceremony was confirmed by Milch in conversation with H.F.
Goering was echoing a remark once made by Dr. Lueger, mayor of Vienna and a notorious anti-Semite. There is ample evidence that Goering helped many Jews whom he favored for one reason or another, such as the Ballins, whose story has already been told. Frau Goering assiduously brought to his attention cases she thought deserving and interceded for the men and women involved; so also did Käthe Dorsch and Gustaf Gründgens, the famous actor, who was another family friend.
Kropp told H.F. about Frau Goering's first knowledge that Goering wanted to marry her: “I was to drive her somewhere where the Chief was to join her for the weekendâI think it was Weimar. The Chief had given me a sealed envelope which I was to hand to Frau Sonnemann with strict instructions she was not to open it until we had arrived. She took the envelope, but, being a woman, she opened it at once. I saw her beam with delight; she jumped straight out of the car before we started, rushed back into the house, where she had just left Goering, and threw her arms round him. Only later did I learn what was in the letterâjust two words in the Chief's handwriting: â
Wir heiraten
' [We're getting married].”
Schmidt,
Hitler's Interpreter
, pp. 30, 32.
See Namier,
Diplomatic Prelude
, pp. 220-21;
the Polish War Book
, pp. 25â26;
Survey of International
Affairs
, I, pp. 205â 6. For the April mission below, see Schmidt,
op. cit.
, pp. 27â30.
See Bullock, Hitler, p. 328.
See I.M.T., IV, p. 66.
Schacht's account of his battle with Goering over economic policy can be found in his memoirs,
My First Seventy-six
Years, Chapter 49. See also
Account
Settled
, pp. 98â100. On the matter of Goering's ability as a minister handling economic affairs, Winkler, one of Hitler's principal advisers on such matters, subsequently told H.F. that Goering could assess a balance sheet by intuition. When H.F. repeated this to Schacht he merely laughed and said, “Goering as an economist was a bloody fool.” But in many respects Goering was a good executive who knew how to delegate authority.
For these various meetings in Italy see Wiskemann,
Rome-Berlin Axis
, pp. 72â74; Schmidt,
op. cit
., pp. 62â64; the
Ciano Papers
, pp. 80â81, and
Documents on German Foreign Policy
, Series D, I, Nos. 199, 208.
See Hibbert,
Mussolini
, p. 83.
See
Survey of International Affairs
, 1937, I, pp. 325-26, 409, 471n.
Ellen Wilkinson gave her own account of this episode to H.F.
For the visits of Lord Londonderry to Goering see Schmidt,
op. cit
., p. 52, and Papen's
Memoirs
, p. 399; for the visit of the Windsors, Schmidt, p. 74.
See François-Poncet,
Souvenirs d'une ambassade à Berlin
, pp. 10, 272, and Coulondre,
De Stalin a Hitler
, pp. 272-77.
Polish White Book
, pp. 36-39.
Henderson,
Failure of a Mission
, p. 80. The quotations that follow are from p. 84
