Hitler: Ascent, 1889-1939 (179 page)

260 
François-Poncet,
Als Botschafter in Berlin
, p. 187. See Strenge,
Ferdinand von Bredow
, p. 235 (dated 24 June 1934): “Everyone asked himself: what does Papen want? Who does he have behind him? What’s Hitler stance toward him?…There’s something undetermined and indeterminable in the air.” On the mood in June 1934 see also Klemperer,
Tagebücher 1933–1941
, p. 116 (entry for 13 June 1934): “Everywhere there is uncertainty, things bubbling under the surface, secrets. Day in, day out, we wait.” See also Martha Dodd,
Nice to meet you, Mr. Hitler! Meine Jahre in Deutschland 1933 bis 1937
, Frankfurt am Main, 2005 p. 153, who writes of an “electrically charged” atmosphere ahead of 30 June: “Everyone could sense something in the air but no one knew what.”

261 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 65 (entry for 18 June 1934).

262 
Papen to Hitler, 27 June 1934; BA Lichterfelde, NS 10/50. See Papen,
Der Wahrheit eine Gasse
, pp. 349f.

263 
Hans-Günther Seraphim (ed.),
Das politische Tagebuch Alfred Rosenbergs aus den Jahren 1934/35 und 1939/40
, Göttingen, 1956, p. 31. See Pyta,
Hindenburg
, p. 845.

264 
See Höhne,
Mordsache Röhm
, p. 238.

265 
See ibid., pp. 239–43. On 29 June, while visiting Ribbentrop’s home, Himmler declared that Röhm was a “dead man.” Joachim von Ribbentrop,
Zwischen London und Moskau: Erinnerungen und letzte Aufzeichnungen
, ed. Annelies von Ribbentrop, Leoni am Starnberger See, 1961, p. 52.

266 
Quoted in Longerich,
Die braunen Bataillone
, p. 212.

267 
Ebermayer,
Denn heute gehört uns Deutschland
, p. 326 (dated 27 June 1934).

268 
Frei,
Der Führerstaat
, p. 30; on the military’s preparation for the action against the SA see Fallois,
Kalkül und Illusion
, pp. 134–9.

269 
Quoted in Höhne,
Mordsache Röhm
, p. 256.

270 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 71 (entry for 29 June 1934).

271 
Ibid., p. 72 (entry for 1 July 1934). On the sombre mood at the dinner table in Hotel Dreesen see Hans Baur,
Ich flog Mächtige der Erde
, Kempten in Allgäu, 1956, p. 119.

272 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 72 (entry for 1 July 1934).

273 
Baur,
Ich flog Mächtige der Erde
, p. 119. According to Wilhelm Brückner, Reichswehr officers told Hitler that “armed Munich SA men had turned out for roll call” at the airport. The situation was described as “very threatening.” Memorandum by Wilhelm Brückner dated 28 May 1949; IfZ München, ED 100/43.

274 
Höhne,
Mordsache Röhm
, p. 267.

275 
Report from Hitler’s chauffeur Erich Kempka; quoted in Evans,
The Third Reich in Power
, pp. 32.; see also the transcript of an interview with Erich Kempka dated 25 March 1952; IfZ München, ZS 253.

276 
See Longerich,
Die braunen Bataillone
, p. 217; Frei,
Der Führerstaat
, p. 32. See Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 72 (entry for 1 July 1934): “Heines is pathetic. [Caught] with a boy of pleasure.”

277 
See Höhne,
Mordsache Röhm
, p. 269.

278 
See ibid., pp. 271–4. Facsimile of the list in Otto Gritschneder,
‘Der Führer hat Sie zum Tode verurteilt…”: Hitlers “Röhm-Putsch’-Morde vor Gericht
, Munich, 1993, p. 28. See Frank,
Im Angesicht des Galgens
, pp. 148–51. Frank claimed that it was thanks to his own intervention that not more people were executed in Stadelheim.

279 
See the list of the murdered in Gritschneder,
“Der Führer,
” pp. 60–2. On Fritz Gerlich see Rudolf Morsey (ed.),
Fritz Gerlich—ein Publizist gegen Hitler: Briefe und Akten 1930–1934
, Paderborn, 2010, pp. 36–9. On Ballerstedt see his sister-in law’s memorandum (undated) in BayHStA München, Nl Ballerstedt. On Bredow see Strenge,
Ferdinand von Bredow
, p. 238.

280 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 72 (entry for 1 July 1934).

281 
Hans Bernd Gisevius,
Adolf Hitler: Versuch einer Deutung
, Munich, 1963, p. 291.

282 
Christa Schroeder,
Er war mein Chef: Aus dem Nachlass der Sekretärin von Adolf Hitler
, ed. Anton Joachimsthaler, 3rd edition, Munich and Vienna, 1985, p. 51.

283 
See Gritschneder,
“Der Führer,
” pp. 32–6.

284 
Frank,
Im Angesicht des Galgens
, p. 149.

285 
Quoted in Machtan,
Hitlers Geheimnis
, pp. 244f. See Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 73 (entry for 4 July 1934).

286 
Cabinet meeting on 3 July 1934;
Die Regierung Hitler
, part 1, vol. 2, no. 375, pp. 1354–8.

287 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 74 (entry for 4 July 1934).

288 
Papen to Hitler, 10 July, 12 July 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/50. See also Petzold,
Franz von Papen
, pp. 226–9, who has consulted further documents held in the special archives in Moscow, Papen papers.

289 
Domarus,
Hitler
, vol. 1, part 1, p. 405; Kahr, memoirs, pp. 1091ff. (on Hindenburg’s visit to Kahr’s house at the end of August/beginning of September 1920); BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51; Hindenburg’s telegram to Kahr, 23 Oct. 1933; ibid., Nl Kahr 16.

290 
According to Hitler’s communication to the mayor of Hamburg, Krogmann, 18 Aug. 1934; Pyta,
Hindenburg
, p. 849. According to Wilhelm Brückner, Hindenburg had told Hitler: “If you want to create history, you also have to take measures that will make bloodshed unavoidable.” Memorandum by Wilhelm Brückner dated 28 May 1949; IfZ München, ED 10/43. See also chauffeur Erich Kempka’s questioning on 26 Sept. 1945; IfZ München, ZS 253; Hossbach,
Zwischen Wehrmacht und Hitler
, p. 50.

291 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 76 (entry for 6 July 1934).

292 
Ibid., p. 73 (entry for 4 July 1934).

293 
Quoted in Kershaw,
The Hitler Myth
, p. 88. Further examples on pp. 110–13. See also
Deutschland-Berichte der Sopade
, 1 (1934), pp. 197–200. Foreign diplomats reached a similar verdict. See U.S. Consul Ralph C. Busser’s report from Leipzig dated 19 July 1934, and Charles M. Hathaway’s from Munich dated 20 July 1934; Bajohr and Strupp (eds),
Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich,
” pp. 412f., 414f.

294 
Luise Solmitz’s diary, 30 June 1934; quoted in Evans,
The Third Reich in Power
, p. 39.

295 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 76 (entry for 7 July 1934).

296 
See ibid., pp. 77f. (entry for 11 July 1934).

297 
François-Poncet,
Als Botschafter in Berlin
, p. 190.

298 
Papen to Hitler, 13 July 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/50. After the speech, Papen wrote to Hitler that he felt the “urge, as in January 1933, to shake your hand and thank you for everything you have given anew to the German people by crushing the insipient second revolution and proclaiming immutable principles of statesmanship.” Papen to Hitler, 14 July 1934; ibid.

299 
Domarus,
Hitler
, vol. 1 part 1, pp. 410–24 (quotations on pp. 415, 421, 424).

300 
Quoted in Reinhard Mehring,
Carl Schmitt: Aufstieg und Fall. Eine Biographie
, Munich, 2009, p. 352.

301 
Kershaw,
The Hitler Myth
, p. 89; see
Deutschland-Berichte der Sopade
, 1 (1934), pp. 201f.

302 
Kalshoven,
Ich denk so viel an Euch
, p. 236 (entry for 14 July 1934).

303 
Heinrich Hoffmann,
Hitler wie ich ihn sah: Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotographen
, Munich and Berlin, 1974, p. 72. See Olaf Rose (ed.),
Julius Schaub: In Hitlers Schatten
, Stegen, 2005, p. 140; Wilhelm Brückner told criminal investigators in Traunstein on 25 June 1952 that in his presence Hitler “had never talked to anyone ever again about this action”; IfZ München, ED 100/43.

304 
Klemperer,
Tagebücher 1933–1941
, p. 122 (entry for 14 July 1934).

305 
Mann,
Tagebücher 1933–1945
, pp. 458 (entry for 4 July 1934), 462 (entry for 7 July 1934), 463 (entry for 8 July 1934). See Thea Sternheim,
Tagebücher. Vol. 2: 1925–1936
, ed. and selected Thomas Ehrsam and Regula Wyss, Göttingen, 2002, p. 589 (entry for 5 July 1934): “Germany is being systematically destroyed by the bloodhound and petty bourgeois Adolf Hitler. The German as the world’s nightmare and scum.”

306 
Quoted in Astrid Pufendorf,
Die Plancks: Eine Familie zwischen Patriotimus und Widerstand
, Berlin, 2006, p. 373.

307 
Liebmann’s notes, 5 July 1934; Frei,
Der Führerstaat
, p. 39. See Blomberg’s edict to the military, 1 July 1934; Müller,
Armee und Drittes Reich
, pp. 206f. See also Schäfer,
Werner von Blomberg
, p. 141; Fallois,
Kalkül und Illusion
, pp. 150–4.

308 
See Longerich,
Heinrich Himmler
, p. 184; Frei,
Der Führerstaat
, p. 40.

309 
See Longerich,
Die braunen Bataillone
, pp. 220–4.

310 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, vol. 3/1, p. 87 (entry for 2 Aug. 1934).

311 
Cabinet meeting on 1 Aug. 1934 (9:30 p.m.);
Die Regierung Hitler
, part 1, vol. 2, no. 382, pp. 1384f.

312 
Quoted in Fallois,
Kalkül und Illusion
, p. 162. See Schäfer,
Werner von Blomberg
, pp. 151–5.

313 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 88 (entry for 4 Aug. 1933). Schwerin von Krosigk (essay on Hitler’s personality,
c
. 1945) wrote that at the subsequent cabinet meeting it was apparent that the death of the “old man” hit Hitler “very hard.” Hitler, Krosigk recalled, had been “visibly moved” as he told of his final visit to Neudeck; IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5. Oskar von Hindenburg thanked Hitler in a telegram on 2 Aug. 1934 for the “warm words” about the death of his father; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde NS 10/123.

314 
Cabinet meeting on 2 Aug. 1934;
Die Regierung Hitler
, part 1, vol. 2, no. 383, pp. 1386–8.

315 
Domarus,
Hitler
, vol. 1, part 1, p. 438. See Hoegen,
Der Held von Tannenberg
, pp. 411–14.

316 
See Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 90 (entry for 8 Aug. 1934): “High alert on account of an alleged political testament made by the old man, perhaps written by Papen?…Decision: political testament will be treated as of concern only to the Führer and the government.”

317 
Reprinted in Hubatsch,
Hindenburg und der Staat
, pp. 380–3 (quotations on pp. 382f.) On the story of Hindenburg’s testament see Pyta,
Hindenburg
, pp. 864–7.

318 
Hoegen,
Der Held von Tannenberg
, p. 420.

319 
Goebbels,
Tagebücher
, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 95 (entry for 20 Aug. 1934).

320 
Quoted in Kershaw,
The Hitler Myth
, p. 68. On coercion of voters and voting fraud in connection with the election of 19 Aug. 1934, see
Deutschland-Berichte der Sopade
, 1 (1934), pp. 282–7, 347–9.

321 
Mann,
Tagebücher 1933–1934
, p. 510 (entry for 20 Aug. 1934).

322 
Klemperer,
Tagebücher 1933–1941
, pp. 137f. (entry for 21 Aug. 1934).

323 
Danish ambassador Herluf Zahle, 4 Aug. 1934; Bajohr and Strupp (eds),
Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich
, p. 417.

15
Eviscerating Versailles

1 
Max Domarus,
Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen 1932–1945. Vol. 2: Untergang. Part 2: 1941–1945
, Munich, 1965, p. 1659.

2 
Akten der Reichskanzlei: Die Regierung Hitler. Part 1: 1933/34. Vol. 1: 30 Januar bis 31 April 1933
, ed. Karl-Heinz Minuth, Boppard am Rhein, 1983, no. 19, pp. 62f.

3 
Goebbels’s confidential speech of 5 April 1940 to members of the German press, quoted in Rainer F. Schmidt,
Die Aussenpolitik des Dritten Reiches 1933–1939
, Stuttgart, 2002, p. 11.