Doctor Goebbels: His Life and Death

358 Pages·2010·4.079 MB·English

by  Manvell, Roger

“Our broadcasts in English are, aer all, very effective. However, an
aggressive, superior, and insulting tone gets us nowhere. I have oen said so
to our various departments. You can only get anywhere with the English by
talking to them in a friendly and modest way. e English speaker, Lord
Haw-Haw, is especially good at biting criticism, but in my mind the time for
spicy debate is past … during the third year of a war one must wage it quite
differently from the �rst year … today they want nothing but facts. e
more cleverly, therefore, the facts are put together, and the more
psychologically and sensitively they are brought before the listening public,
the stronger is the effect.”
Dr Joseph Goebbels
“e ‘little doctor’ was probably the most intelligent, from a purely brain
point of view, of all the Nazi leaders. He never speechi�ed; he always saw
and stuck to the point; he was an able debater, and, in private conversation
astonishingly fair-minded and reasonable.”
Sir Neville Henderson
British Ambassador to Germany, 1937-1939
Dr Joseph Goebbels, 1933

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Skyhorse edition: ISBN 978-1-61608-029-7
Frontline edition: ISBN 978-1-84832-588-3
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Manvell, Roger, 1909-1987.
   Doctor Goebbels: His Life and Death : his life and death / Roger Manvell
and Heinrich Fraenkel.
         p. cm.
   Originally published: London, Heinemann, 1960.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
   ISBN 978-1-61608-029-7 (pbk. : alk. paper)
   1. Goebbels, Joseph, 1897-1945. 2. Nazis--Biography. 3. Propaganda,
German--History--20th century. 4. Germany--Politics and government-
-1918-1933. 5. Germany--Politics and government--1933-1945. 6. Germany.
Reichsministerium für Volksaulärung und Propaganda. I. Fraenkel,
Heinrich, 1897-1986. II. Title. III. Title: Dr. Goebbels.
   DD247.G6M33 2010
   943.085092--dc22
   [B]
2010001788
A CIP data record for this title is available from the British Library.
Printed in Canada
Contents
Introduction
Chapter 1: e First Years
Chapter 2: “History's Children”
Chapter 3: Berlin
Chapter 4: e Fight for Power
Chapter 5: Minister for Propaganda and Public Enlightenment
Chapter 6: “ese Years of Triumph”
Chapter 7: Total War
Chapter 8: e Last Months
Chapter 9: e Bunker
Notes
Appendix A: Chief Events in the Life of Goebbels
Appendix B: Plan of the Fiihrerbunker
Bibliography
Index
Acknowledgments
O are due to the Wiener Library in London and to the Institut �ir
UR THANKS
Zeitgeschichte in Munich for their unfailing and courteous assistance. We
would also like to acknowledge the help we have received from the Verlag
Ullstein Bilderdienst in Berlin, the Hulton Picture Library and the National
Film Archive in London during the period we were compiling the
illustrations that appear in this volume.
We also wish to acknowledge permission to quote from the following
published works: In the Shelter with Hitler, by Gerhard Boldt, by permission
of Messrs. Gerald Duckworth and Co. Ltd.; Failure of a Mission, by Sir
Nevile Henderson, by permission of Mr. Raymond Savage, Literary Executor
for the late Sir Nevile Henderson; e Goebbels' Diaries, translated by Louis
P. Lochner, by permission of Hamish Hamilton Ltd; My Part in Germany's
Fight, by Joseph Goebbels (1935), by permission of Hurst and Blackett; e
Hitler I Knew, by Otto Dietrich, published by Methuen; Hitler's Table Talk,
published by Weidenfeld and Nicolson; Radio goes to War, by Charles J.
Rollo, published by Faber and Faber. Acknowledgment should also be made
to Dr. Rudolf Semmler for permission to quote from his book, Goebbels the
Man next to Hitler, to Professor H. R. Trevor-Roper and Messrs. Macmillan
and Co. for their courtesy in permitting us to reproduce the sketch-plan of
the Bunker from e Last Days of Hitler, and to M. Francois Genoud for
permission to quote from Goebbels' private letters, from his 1925-26 Diary,
from his Michael and Kampf um Berlin, from his Last Testament and from
miscellaneous broadcasts, speeches and articles by Goebbels.
R
OGER MANVELL
H
EINRICH FRAENKEL
Illustrations
Joseph Goebbels
Friedrich Goebbels
Maria Katherina Goebbels
e Goebbels' house in Rheydt
Goebbels at the Rheydt Gymnasium, 1916
With Else and Alma
Goebbels' calligraphy
In Würzburg
Else
Goebbels the undergraduate
Hitler with Nazi officials, 1926
Goebbels' office in Berlin, 1927
Mjolnir cartoons in Der Angriff
Goebbels' publicity in Berlin
Otto Strasser
Gregor Strasser
In a court of law, 1931
Goebbels, 1932
Leaving his car, 1930
Entering the Reichstag
In his car with Frick
Goebbels' marriage ceremony
Procession aer the ceremony
Nazi leaders, 1933
In the Ministry
At the Tennishallen, 1933
Goebbels as orator, 1933
Pogrom against Jewish-owned shops
Burning of the books, 1933
With his bodyguard of Storm-Troopers, 1933
Addressing a rally of Storm-Troopers, 1934
Addressing the Hitler Youth
e gestures of the orator
e Sportpalast
At the theatre
At the marriage of his sister Maria
At the helm of his motorboat
Lida Baarova
With Magda and Hanke
e family group, 1942