Hitler: Ascent 1889-1939 - Volker Ullrich (2016)

Notes

Introduction

1In Thomas Mann, An die gesittete Welt: Politische Schriften und Reden im Exil, Frankfurt am Main, 1986, p. 253f.

2Norbert Frei, 1945 und wir: Das Dritte Reich im Bewusstsein der Deutschen, Munich, 2005, p. 7.

3Jens Jessen, “Gute Zeiten für Hitler,” Die Zeit, 11 Oct. 2012; idem, “Was macht Hitler so unwiderstehlich?,” Die Zeit, 23 Sept. 2004.

4Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936; idem, Adolf Hitler: Ein Mann gegen Europa. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1937; Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, London, 1990 (first published 1952); Joachim Fest, Hitler, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973; Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998; idem, Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis, London, 2000. In addition, Sebastian Haffner’s essay Anmerkungen zu Hitler is consistently thought-provoking.

5Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Ein Mann gegen Europa, p. 267.

6Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 6.

7See Rainer Zitelmann, “Hitlers Erfolge: Erklärungsversuche in der Hitler-Forschung,” Neue Politische Literatur, 27 (1982), pp. 47-69, at p. 47 f.; John Lukacs, Hitler: Geschichte und Geschichtsschreibung, Munich, 1997, p. 20f.; Ulrich Nill, “ ‘Reden wie Lustmorde’: Hitler-Biographen über Hitler als Redner,” in Josef Kopperschmidt (ed.), Hitler als Redner, Munich, 2003, pp. 29-37, at pp. 35-7.

8Thea Sternheim, Tagebücher 1903-1971. Vol. II: 1925-1936, eds. Thomas Ehrsam und Regula Wyss, Göttingen, 2002, p. 664 (entry for 31 Oct. 1935). In a letter to Konrad Heiden, Thea Sternheim wrote that he was the first to say “decisive words on these matters.” She added: “How marvellous to see such a finely honed rapier gleaming.” Ibid., pp. 665f. (entry for 4 Nov. 1935).

9Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 9: 1926-1937, ed. Sabine Gruber and Ulrich Ott, with Christoph Hilse and Nadin Weiss, Stuttgart, 2010, p. 663 (entry for 14 April 1936).

10See Ernst Schulte Strathaus, expert on cultural questions in the staff of the Führer’s deputy, to Gerhard Klopfer, 5 Oct. 1936, requesting “that the Gestapo and the Security Service collect information on the writer Konrad Heiden.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/45.

11See Lukacs, Hitler, p. 22f.; Gerhard Schreiber, Hitler: Interpretationen 1923-1983: Ergebnisse, Methoden und Probleme der Forschung, Darmstadt, 1984, pp. 312-14.

12Bullock, Hitler, p. 382. Bullock revised his position in later works, in particular his double biography Hitler and Stalin: Parallel Lives, London, 1991.

13Hermann Rauschning, Die Revolution des Nihilismus, Zurich, 1938, p. 56. Rauschning repeated this assessment when he published his conversations with Hitler (Gespräche mit Hitler, Zurich, 1940). Bullock and Fest saw this book as a major source, while Kershaw doubted its authenticity. See Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. xiv. The present volume also does not use this source. On the question of the authenticity of Gespräche mit Hitler, see Jürgen Hensel and Pia Nordblom (eds.), Hermann Rauschning: Materialien und Beiträge zu einer politischen Biographie, Osnabrück, 2003, pp. 151ff.

14Eberhard Jäckel, Hitlers Weltanschauung: Entwurf einer Herrschaft (1969), revised edition, Stuttgart, 1981. Jäckel’s investigation had been triggered by the British historian Hugh Trevor-Roper’s remark that Hitler’s world view had been fixed from 1923 at the latest, and was afterwards expressed “absolutely clear and consequential” in his actions. Quoted in ibid., p. 19.

15Eberhard Jäckel, “Rückblick auf die sogenannte Hitler-Welle,” Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, 28 (1977), pp. 695-710, at p. 706.

16Karl-Dietrich Bracher, “Hitler—die deutsche Revolution: Zu Joachim Fests Interpretation eines Phänomens,” Die Zeit, 12 Oct. 1973. Bracher, who published major works on the demise of the Weimar Republic, the rise of the Nazis and the Hitler dictatorship in the 1950s and 60s, himself helped pave the way for a more intense, critical investigation of the formation, structure and consequences of National Socialism and the Third Reich. See Karl-Dietrich Bracher, Die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik (1955), 3rd revised edition, Villingen, 1960; idem, Wolfgang Sauer and Gerhard Schulz, Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung: Studien zur Errichtung des totalitären Herrschaftssystems in Deutschland 1933/34 (1960), new edition, Frankfurt am Main and Vienna, 1974; idem, Die deutsche Diktatur: Entstehung, Struktur, Folgen (1969), 7th edition, Cologne, 1993.

17Theodor Schieder, “Hitler vor dem Gericht der Weltgeschichte,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 27 Oct. 1973.

18Fest, Hitler, p. 22. See also ibid., p. 216: “Hitler’s rise to the point where he exercised an almost magical hold on people’s imaginations is unthinkable without the coincidence of an individual and a social-pathological situation.”

19Ibid., p. 1035.

20See Hermann Graml, “Probleme einer Hitler-Biographie: Kritische Bemerkungen zu Joachim C. Fest,” Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 22 (1974), pp. 76-92, at pp. 83, 88; Hannes Heer, “Hitler war’s”: Die Befreiung der Deutschen von ihrer Vergangenheit, Berlin, 2005, p. 33f.

21See Fest, Hitler, p. 291f.

22See Volker Ullrich, “Speers Erfindung,” Die Zeit, 4 May 2005; idem, “Die Speer-Legende,” Die Zeit, 23 Sept. 1999. The correspondence preserved in the Koblenz Federal Archive (N1340/17, 1340/53, 1340/54) reveals how closely Speer, Fest and the publisher Jobst Wolf Siedler worked together. The author plans to publish a separate study dedicated to this topic.

23Klaus Hildebrand, “Hitler: Rassen- und Weltpolitik. Ergebnisse und Desiderata der Forschung,” Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen, 19/1 (1976), pp. 207-24, at p. 213.

24These became available in an edition prepared by the Munich Institute for Contemporary History from the 1980s.

25Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, pp. xii, xxvi, xxix (quotation on p. xxvi).

26So Norbert Frei in his review “Dem Führer entgegenarbeiten,” Neue Zürcher Zeitung, 6 Oct. 1998.

27Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, pp. 529-31. See also ibid., pp. 436-7: “Remarkable in the seismic upheavals of 1934-4 was not how much, but how little, the new chancellor needed to do to bring about the extension and consolidation of his power.”

28Klaus Hildebrand, “Nichts Neues über Hitler: Ian Kershaws zünftige Biographie über den deutschen Diktator,” Historische Zeitschrift, 270 (2000), pp. 389-97, at p. 392.

29See the author’s reviews of Kershaw’s two volumes: “Volk und Führer,” Die Zeit, 8 Oct. 1998; “Die entfesselten Barbaren,” Die Zeit, 19 Oct. 2000.

30Frank Schirrmacher, “Wir haben ihn uns engagiert,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 6 Oct. 1998.

31Numerous books have been published that provide new insight into Hitler’s personality and certain phases of his life—or at least promise to do so—the complete titles of which can be found in the bibliography. Claudia Schmölders’ “physiognomic biography,” Hitlers Gesicht (2000); Lothar Machtan’s controversial revelatory study about Hitler’s alleged homosexuality, Hitlers Geheimnis (2001); Birgit Schwarz’s ground-breaking work about Hitler’s views on art, Geniewahn: Hitler und die Kunst (2009); Timothy W. Ryback’s research into Hitler’s library and his reading habits, Hitler’s Private Library (2009); Dirk Bavendamm’s portrayal of his early years, Der junge Hitler (2009); Thomas Weber’s investigation into Hitler’s experiences in the First World War, Hitler’s First War (2010); Ralf Georg Reuth’s attempt to explain the origins of Hitler’s anti-Semitism, Hitlers Judenhass (2009); Othmar Plöckinger’s path-breaking studies about Hitler’s “formative years” in Munich from 1918 to 1920 (2013) and the history of Mein Kampf (2006); Ludolf Herbst’s thesis about the creation of a German messiah, Hitlers Charisma (2010); Mathias Rösch’s examination of Die Münchner NSDAP 1925-1933 (2002); Andreas Heusler’s history of the Brown House, Wie München zur “Hauptstadt der Bewegung” wurde (2008); and Sven Felix Kellerhoff’s and Thomas Friedrich’s investigation into Hitler’s relationship with the capital, Hitlers Berlin (2003) and Die missbrauchte Hauptstadt (2007). Hitler’s private life too has attracted increased attention over the last decade, from Anton Joachimsthaler’s documentation Hitlers Liste (2003), which attempts to shed light on his personal relationships by investigating the list of gifts presented by Hitler in 1935/6, to Brigitte Hamann’s research into Hitler’s relationship with the Wagner family, Winifred Wagner und Hitlers Bayreuth (2002) and with the Linz doctor Eduard Bloch, Hitlers Edeljude (2008); Wolfgang Martynkewicz’s portrait of Munich publishers and early Hitler supporters Hugo und Elsa Bruckmann, Salon Deutschland (2009); Anna Maria Sigmund’s reconstruction of the triangular relationship between Hitler, his niece Geli Raubal and his driver Emil Maurice, Des Führers bester Freund (2003); to Heike B. Görtemaker’s meticulously researched biography, Eva Braun: Ein Leben mit Hitler (2010), which explodes numerous myths surrounding the Führer’s lover. In addition, we have Ulf Schmidt’s medical-historical study, Hitlers Arzt Karl Brandt (2009), Jürgen Trimborn’s studies on Hitler’s favourite sculptor, Arno Breker: Der Künstler und die Macht (2011) and his star director, Leni Riefenstahl: Eine deutsche Karriere (2002); Karin Wieland’s dual biography, Dietrich & Riefenstahl: Der Traum von der neuen Frau (2011); and Timo Nüsslein’s portrait of Hitler’s first architect, Paul Ludwig Troost, 1878 -1934 (2012). At the same time a wealth of biographies has been published of leading figures in the Weimar Republic and the Nazi regime, which also shed light on Hitler and his rule. These include Wolfram Pyta’s broad canvas, Hindenburg: Herrschaft zwischen Hohenzollern und Hitler (2007), as well as Stefan Krings on Hitler’s press spokesman Otto Dietrich (2010); Ernst Piper on Hitler’s chief ideologue Alfred Rosenberg (2005); Robert Gerwarth on the head of the Reich Security Main Office, Reinhard Heydrich (2011); Dieter Schenk on Hitler’s chief lawyer and later general governor of occupied Poland, Hans Frank (2006); Hans Otto Eglau on Hitler’s sponsor, the industrialist Fritz Thyssen (2003); Christopher Kopper on Hitler’s banker, Hjalmar Schacht (2006); Kirstin A. Schäfer on “Hitlers first field marshal,” Werner von Blomberg (2006); Klaus-Jürgen Müller on Major-General Ludwig Beck (2008); and Johannes Leicht on Heinrich Class, chairman of the Pan-Germanic League. In addition there have been numerous monographs and essays on particular aspects of the Third Reich, which have enriched our understanding of the foundation and functioning of the Nazi Regime. I shall mention here only Götz Aly’s provocative study Hitlers Volksstaat (2005); Adam Tooze’s history of the Nazi economy, The Wages of Destruction (2007); Wolfgang König’s investigation of the National Socialist consumer society, Volkswagen, Volksempfänger, Volksgemeinschaft (2004); Markus Urban’s portrayal of the party rallies, Die Konsensfabrik (2007); the surprise bestseller by Eckart Conze, Norbert Frei, Peter Hayes und Moshe Zimmermann about the history of the Foreign Office, Das Amt und die Vergangenheit (2010); Frank Bajohr’s enlightening research into corruption in the Nazi era, Parvenüs und Profiteure (2001); and Michael Wildt’s ground-breaking investigations into the leadership of the Reich Security Main Office, Generation des Unbedingten (2002) and the violence directed against Jews in the German provinces, Volksgemeinschaft als Selbstermächtigung (2007). The concept of Volksgemeinschaft (ethnic community) in particular has been debated extensively by historians in recent years. It is therefore not surprising that the German Historical Museum in 2010 showed an exhibition on the connection between ethnic community and crime; the exhibition catalogue, edited by Hans-Ulrich Thamer and Simone Erpel, was published as Hitler und die Deutschen: Volksgemeinschaft und Verbrechen. On the concept of Volksgemeinschaft see also the collection of essays edited by Frank Bajohr and Michael Wildt, Volksgemeinschaft: Neue Forschungen zur Gesellschaft des Nationalsozialismus (2009). Last but not least, with his trilogy The Coming of the Third Reich (2004), The Third Reich in Power (2006) and The Third Reich at War (2009), the British historian Richard J. Evans has given us the most comprehensive history of National Socialism to date, which deserves to be called the standard work on the subject.

One of the main sources for the present volume was the 1980 volume of Hitler’s collected notes, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905-1924, ed. Eberhard Jäckel and Axel Kuhn, and the subsequent 13-volume edition of Hitler’s speeches, writings and decrees, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—1925-1933, completed by the Munich Institute for Contemporary History in 2003. Both editions demonstrate conclusively how early Hitler’s obsessive world view developed and how consistent it remained; see Wolfram Pyta, “Die Hitler-Edition des Instituts für Zeitgeschichte,” Historische Zeitschrift, 281 (2005), pp. 383-94. It would be welcome if the Institute were to bring out a likewise thoroughly edited volume of direct Hitler source material for the period 1933-1945. Until that happens, historians will have to rely on Max Domarus’s collection of Hitler’s speeches and proclamations, Reden und Proklamationen, which is less than satisfactory in a number of respects. Particularly crucial for the present volume were the files of Reich Chancellery, published by the Historical Commission of the Bavarian Sciences together with the German Federal Archive as Akten der Reichskanzlei: Die Regierung Hitler. Kershaw had no access to vols. 2-6, edited by Friedrich Hartmannsgruber and covering the years 1934 to 1939, which appeared between 1999 and 2012. One major source, which has never been fully analysed, are the diaries of Joseph Goebbels, edited by Elke Fröhlich and commissioned by the Munich Institute for Contemporary History. They have only been available to scholars since 2006. Although stylised and written with an eye towards posterity, the diaries, given the proximity of Goebbels to his Führer, contain important insights into Hitler’s thinking and motivation. They also yield a surprisingly vivid depiction of Hitler the private person. On the value of the diaries as historical source material see Angela Hermann, Der Weg in den Krieg 1938/39. Studien zu den Tagebüchern von Joseph Goebbels, Munich 2011, pp. 1-11. For criticism of the Munich edition, albeit exaggerated, see Bernd Sösemann, Alles nur Propaganda? Untersuchungen zur revidierten Ausgabe der sogenannten Goebbels-Tagebücher des Münchner Imstituts für Zeitgeschichte, in Jahrbuch der Kommunikationsforschung, 10 (2008), pp. 52-76. Just as valuable a source as the writings of Hitler’s allies are those of his contemporaries in general, both admirers and detractors. The latter category includes Thomas Mann, Victor Klemperer, Thea Sternheim, Theodor Heuss, Sebastian Haffner and Count Harry Kessler, whose diaries only appeared in their entirety with the publication in 2010 of vol. 9, covering the period 1926-1937. Another important source are the reports made by foreign diplomats from ten different countries published by Frank Bajohr und Christoph Strupp of the Hamburg Institute for Contemporary History in 2011 under the title Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich.”

In addition to consulting published source material the author also carried out substantial research of his own at the Federal Archive Berlin-Lichterfelde, the Federal Archive Koblenz, the Munich Institute for Contemporary History, the main Bavarian State Archive and the Bavarian State Library in Munich, and the Swiss Federal Archive in Bern. The author was surprised how much there was still to discover there, even though Hitler’s life is considered one of the most thoroughly researched subjects in history.

32Cited in Andreas Hillgruber, “Tendenzen, Ergebnisse und Perspektiven der gegenwärtigen Hitler-Forschung,” Historische Zeitschrift, 226 (1978), pp. 600-21, at p. 612.

33Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. xxiv. See also Kershaw’s interview with Franziska Augstein and Ulrich Raulff: “In gewisser Weise war er der Mann ohne Eigenschaften,” Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, 1 Oct. 1998: “Above all I wanted to specify the context in which he was able to function, that is, in which a person of his limited abilities was able to rise to positions of ever-greater power.”

34Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. xii.

35James P. O’Donnell, “Der grosse und der kleine Diktator,” Der Monat, 30 (1978), pp. 51-62, at p 61. In conversation with the American historian Harold Deutsch on 11 May 1950, Hitler’s former military adjutant, Gerhard Engel, remarked: “Just think how many faces Hitler had. He was one of the most elegant actors ever seen in the history of the world…Compared with him…a man like Mussolini was a mere amateur, despite his Caesar-like gestures.” IfZ Munich, ZS 222, vol. 2.

36Fest, Hitler, p. 29.

37Schwerin von Krosigk to Georg Franz, 13 July 1962; BA Koblenz, N 1276/42.

38Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Der Mann gegen Europa, p. 213. See also ibid., p. 214: there Heiden writes that the subjugator of men was “one of the unhappiest people in his private life.”

39Bullock, Hitler, p. 380; Fest, Hitler, pp. 714, 718.

40Kershaw in “In gewisser Weise war er der Mann ohne Eigenschaften.” See also Kershaw, Hitler, vol. 1, p. xxv: the “black hole” of Hitler the private individual.

41Hans Mommsen, interviewed by Ulrich Specks, “Ein Mann ohne Privatsphäre,” Frankfurter Rundschau, 10 Oct. 2001.

42See the Bild-Zeitung headline of 21 Aug. 2004: “Darf man ein Monster als Menschen zeigen?” See also “Der Film Der Untergang zeigt ihn als Menschen. Darf man das?,” Tagesspiegel, 11 Sept. 2004.

43Albert Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher (1975), Berlin and Munich, 2002, p. 63 (entry for 10 Feb. 1947).

44Leni Riefenstahl, letter to Albert Speer, 8 Jun. 1976; BA Koblenz, N 1340/49.

45Fest, Hitler, p. 697 ff.

46Stefan Zweig, Die Welt von Gestern: Erinnerungen eines Europäers, Stuttgart and Hamburg, p. 415.

47Kershaw in “In gewisser Weise war er der Mann ohne Eigenschaften.”

48Sebastian Haffner coined the phrase in Geschichte eines Deutschen: Die Erinnerungen, 1914-1933, Stuttgart and Munich, 2000, p. 88.

49Rudolf Augstein, “Hitler oder die Sucht nach Vernichtung der Welt,” Der Spiegel, no. 38, 1973, pp. 63-86, at p. 63.

50Eberhard Jäckel, “Hitler und die Deutschen: Versuch einer geschichtlichen Erklärung,” in Geschichte und Gegenwart: Festschrift für Karl-Dietrich Erdmann, ed. Hartmut Boockmann, Kurt Jürgensen and Gerhard Stoltenberg, Münster, 1980, pp. 351-64, at p. 364.

1 The Young Hitler

1Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 357 (dated 21 Aug. 1942).

2See Dirk Bavendamm, Der junge Hitler: Korrekturen einer Biographie 1889-1914, Graz, 2009, p. 54.

3See Anna Maria Sigmund, Diktator, Dämon, Demagoge: Fragen und Antworten zu Adolf Hitler, Munich, 2006, p. 125f. (on p. 124 see the facsimile of the legal documents dated 16 Oct. 1876); Guido Knopp, Geheimnisse des “Dritten Reiches,” Munich, 2011, pp. 25-9. The facsimile of the parish register was first published in Franz Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend: Phantasien, Lügen und Wahrheit, Vienna, 1956, p. 16.

4For a summarised discussion of the possible motives see Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, pp. 5-9.

5Particularly Werner Maser, Adolf Hitler: Legende—Mythos—Wirklichkeit, 12th edition, Munich and Esslingen, 1989, p. 36. Following this, Wolfgang Zdral, Die Hitlers: Die unbekannte Familie des Führers, Frankfurt am Main and New York, 2005, p. 19f.

6Bayerischer Kurier, 12 March 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/13. The special edition of the Wiener Sonn- und Montagszeitung with the headline “Hitler heisst Schücklgruber” in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17.

7Hans Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, p. 330f. For the history of the speculation about Hitler’s Jewish grandfather also see Brigitte Hamann, Hitlers Wien: Lehrjahre eines Diktators, Munich and Zurich, 1996, pp. 69-72; Knopp, Geheimnisse des “Dritten Reiches,” pp. 18-20. For a genealogical tree see ibid., pp. 16-18.

8See Maser, Adolf Hitler, pp. 27-30.

9August Kubizek, Adolf Hitler: Mein Jugendfreund, Graz and Göttingen, 1953, p. 59.

10Statement of Herr Hebestreit, a customs officer in Braunau, from 21 June 1940; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a.

11See Franziska Hitler’s marriage license and death certificate in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a. Next to nothing is known about Klara Pölzl’s childhood and youth. See Bavendamm, Der junge Hitler, p. 78f.

12Petition reprinted in Zdral, Die Hitlers, p. 24f.

13Facsimile of birth and baptism certificate in Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 49.

14See Anton Joachimsthaler, Korrektur einer Biographie: Adolf Hitler 1908-1920, Munich, 1989, p. 31; Christa Schroeder, Er war mein Chef: Aus dem Nachlass der Sekretärin von Adolf Hitler, ed. Anton Joachimsthaler, 3rd edition, Munich and Vienna, 1985, pp. 213f.; Olaf Rose (ed.), Julius Schaub: In Hitlers Schatten, Stegen, 2005, p. 337 ff.

15On this source material see Bavendamm, Der junge Hitler, pp. 21-4; Ludolf Herbst, Hitlers Charisma: Die Erfindung eines deutschen Messias, Frankfurt am Main, 2010, p. 64f.; Othmar Plöckinger, “Frühe biographische Texte zu Hitler: Zur Bewertung der autobiographischen Texte in ‘Mein Kampf,’ ” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 58 (2010), pp. 93-114.

16Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. Vol. 1: Eine Abrechnung, 7th edition, Munich, 1933, p. 1.

17See Marlies Steinert, Hitler, Munich, 1994, p. 24; Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 135: “My youthful German was the dialect that Lower Bavaria speaks—I could never forget it or learn Viennese jargon.”

18See, for example, Monologe, p. 26 (dated 27/28 Sept. 1941), p. 171 (dated 3/4 Jan. 1942).

19See Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, pp. 63f., 122-4.

20See Zrdal, Die Hitlers, pp. 30f.

21Quoted in Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 13. Hitler told his friend Kubizek that conflicts “often ended with his father beating him.” Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 55. See also Albert Speer, Erinnerungen, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, 1993, p. 138. Hitler once bragged to his secretary Christa Schröder that he had taken 32 blows without uttering the slightest gasp of pain (Er war mein Chef, p. 63). Compare this with Bavendamm, Der junge Hitler, pp. 114f.

22See Bradley F. Smith, Adolf Hitler: His Family, Childhood and Youth, Stanford, 1967, pp. 43-5. In August 1942, Hitler recalled that “his old man was a passionate beekeeper,” adding that he had been “repeatedly stung to the point that he [Hitler] had almost died,” Monologe, p. 324 (dated 3 Aug. 1942).

23See Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, p. 332. Hitler is said to have confided: “That was the most horrible shame I have ever felt. Oh, Frank, I know what a devil alcohol is! In my youth, it was my worst enemy—even worse than my father.” But there are reasons to doubt the truth of this statement. See Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, pp. 93f.; Bavendamm, Der junge Hitler, p. 101.

24Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998-2006, vol. 2, p. 336 (entry for 9 Aug. 1932). See also ibid., p. 199 (entry for 20 Jan. 1932): “Hitler told moving stories of his childhood. Stories about his strict father and loving mother.”

25Quoted in Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 16; see Smith, Adolf Hitler, p. 51; on his half-brother Alois Hitler and his son William Patrick see Knopp, Geheimnisse des “Dritten Reiches,” pp. 31-8, 55-70.

26Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 53.

27Among others, Alice Miller, Am Anfang war Erziehung, Frankfurt am Main, 1980; following on, Christa Mulack, Klara Hitler: Muttersein im Patriarchat, Rüsselsheim, 2005, p. 51; for critics of the psychoanalytical interpretations see Wolfgang Michalka, “Hitler im Spiegel der Psycho-Historie: Zu neueren interdisziplinären Deutungsversuchen der Hitler-Forschung” in Francia, 8 (1980), pp. 595-611; Gerhard Schreiber, Hitler: Interpretationen 1923-1983. Ergebnisse, Methoden und Probleme der Forschung, Darmstadt, 1984, pp. 316-27; Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, pp. 606-7 n63.

28Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929-1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 425.

29Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1, p. 390 (entry for 22 July 1938).

30Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 6. See Hitler, Monologe, p. 375 (dated 29 Aug. 1942): “I spent a lot of time in my school years outside.” In a letter to his childhood friend Fritz Seidl in Graz on 16 Oct. 1923, Hitler recalled “our sunny days as young scallywags we idled away together with others,” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/14; reprinted in Adolf Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905-1924, ed. Eberhard Jäckel with Axel Kuhn, Stuttgart, 1980, no. 585, p. 1038. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 6, p. 49 (entry for 19 Aug. 1938): “He told stories about his youth in Leonding and Lambach. It was a happy time for him.”

31BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a.

32Hitler, Monologe, p. 281 (dated 17 Feb. 1942). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/2, p. 299 (entry for 20 Dec. 1936): “We talked about Karl May and his adventurous life. The Führer loves reading his books.”

33Albert Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, Munich, 2002, p. 523 (entry for 5 May 1960). On his reading of Karl May, see Smith, Adolf Hitler, pp. 66f.; Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 21, 544-8; Bavendamm, Der junge Hitler, pp. 359-76.

34Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 3. See Otto Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, Munich, 1955, p. 166: “In his own telling, even as a boy, Hitler was a wild and hard-to-tame youth.”

35Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 37. According to the school register, Hitler attended the Volksschule in Leonding from 27 Feb. 1899 until he transferred to the Realschule in Linz on 17 Sept. 1900; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/65.

36Published in Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, pp. 105f. In a letter to a former colleague on 28 April 1935, Heumer described how the assessment had come to pass. After the November 1923 putsch, Angela Raubal had given him a letter from Hitler’s lawyer Lorenz Roder requesting an “objective characterization” of Hitler as a school pupil in order to “combat certain rumour in the hostile press.” BA Koblenz, N 1128/30.

37Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 6.

38See Smith, Adolf Hitler, pp. 69f.; Bavendamm, Adolf Hitler, p. 133.

39Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 7.

40Ibid., p. 16. Klara Hitler’s death announcement in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17.

41See Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, pp. 124-9; Smith, Der junge Hitler, p. 94.

42Transcript made by Dr. Leopold Zaumer from Weitra on 16 and 23 Oct. 1938 of statements made by Marie Koppensteiner and Johann Schmidt, both children of Theresia Schmidt, née Pölzl; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a. In April 1938, the city of Weitra made Hitler an honorary citizen, pointing out that the Hitler and Pölzl family homes were only four kilometres away in the town of Spital: “Close family members of the Führer and Reich chancellor live here. The Führer and Reich chancellor also spent some time in his youth here.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 51/80.

43Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 5, p. 331 (entry for 3 June 1938).

44“Unser Führer Adolf Hitler als Student in Steyr von seinem einstigen Lehrer Gregor Goldbacher Prof. i. R.”; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a.

45Hitler, Monologe, p. 170 (dated 8 and 9 Jan. 1942); see also ibid., p. 376 (dated 29 Aug. 1942): “At least half of my professors had mental problems.” See also Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 217 (dated 12 April 1942): “He said he had mostly unpleasant memories of the teachers who had run through his young life.” See Gustav Keller, Der Schüler Adolf Hitler: Die Geschichte eines lebenslangen Amoklaufs, Münster, 2012, p. 110. The author—an educational psychologist—sees Hitler’s poor performance in school as “the decisive trigger of his terrible psychological mis-development.” It led to an inferiority complex for which Hitler tried to compensate with his “exaggerated desire for acknowledgement and power.” Yet Keller’s thesis that “Hitler ran amok for his entire life until finally committing suicide” is far too simplistic (quotations on pp. 3, 118, 121).

46Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 12. For L. Poetsch see Bavendamm, Der junge Hitler, pp. 136-41. In a letter dated 20 June 1929, Poetsch informed Hitler that his first name was Leopold and not Ludwig, as the first three editions of My Struggle had read: “Do not hold it against your old teacher, who remembers his former pupil fondly, if he takes the liberty to write to you,” Poetsch gushed. On 2 July 1929, Hitler wrote back to express his gratitude: “They [the lines you wrote] immediately called up memories of my youth and the hours I spent with a teacher to whom I owe countless things and who partly paved the path I’ve travelled down.” Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 3, Part 2: März 1929-Dezember 1929, ed. and with notes by Klaus A. Lankheit, Munich, New Providence, London and Paris, 1994, no. 46, p. 279 with n2.

47See Evan Burr Bukey, “Patenstadt des Führers”: Eine Politik- und Sozialgeschichte von Linz 1908-1945, Frankfurt am Main and New York, 1993, p. 16.

48Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 16.

49See Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 23; Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 40f.

50Kubizek dates the beginnings of his friendship with Hitler as “All Saints’ Day 1904” (p. 20). But Jetzinger has proven that the two boys met one another in the autumn of 1905; Hitlers Jugend, pp. 137, 141.

51See Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 77-83 and subsequently, Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 21f. In the late 1930s the main NSDAP archive in Munich charged the journalist Renato Attilo Bleibtreu with locating material relating to Hitler’s youth. He visited August Kubizek, who had been forced to give up his musical career after the First World War and become a local official in the town of Eferding near Linz. Bleibtreu noted: “If Kubitscheck [sic] can write down his recollections of Hitler in the same manner he tells them, they will be one of the most important holdings in the archive.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a. For Renato Bleibtreu see Brigitte Hamann, Hitlers Edeljude: Das Leben des Armenarztes Eduard Bloch, Munich and Zurich, 2008, pp. 339-49.

52Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 34f.

53See Claudia Schmölders, Hitlers Gesicht: Eine physiognomische Biographie, Munich, 2001, pp. 7, 9, 62f., 104, 182.

54Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 26.

55Ibid., p. 27.

56Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 15. During a visit to Linz in April 1943, Hitler gave his companions a tour of the city theatre. Albert Speer wrote: “Visibly moved, he showed us the cheap seat in the uppermost rows where he had sat when he saw Lohengrin, Rienzi and other operas for the first time.” Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 259 (entry for 14 Jan. 1951).

57Thomas Mann, “Versuch über das Theater” in Essays I: 1883-1914, Frankfurt am Main, 2002, p. 139.

58Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 101.

59Quoted in Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, p. 132.

60Cf. Rienzi episode in Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 133-42 (quotations on pp. 140f. and 142). Speer related Hitler saying about the Rienzi overture in the summer of 1938: “Listening to this divinely blessed music as a young man in the Linz theatre, it occurred to me that I too would be able to unify the German Reich and make it great.” Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 136, entry for 7 Feb. 1948. On Hitler’s encounter with Kubizek on 3 Aug. 1939 in Bayreuth see Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, pp. 390-2. Bavendamm (Der junge Hitler, p. 282) uncritically accepts Kubizek’s account, writing that as early as 1905, inspired by Rienzi, “Hitler believed in his political ‘mission.’ ” Jochen Köhler advances a similar view when he writes of Hitler’s “mystical initiation”; Wagners Hitler: Der Prophet und sein Vollstrecker, Munich, 1997, p. 35.

61Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 117.

62Cf. “Stefanie” episode in Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 76-89: discussed in Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, pp. 142-8; Anton Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste: Ein Dokument persönlicher Beziehungen, Munich, 2003, pp. 48-52. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part I, vol. 2/3, p. 81 (entry for 13 Dec. 1932): “Hitler told us about the great love of his youth. It’s moving how he worships women.” Ibid., vol. 5, p. 331 (entry for 3 June 1938): “The Führer talked of his childhood and his first love in Linz.” Lothar Machtan dismisses Kubizek’s account as a manoeuvre intended to distract from the homosexual overtones of his friendship with Hitler but he offers little proof for this view; Hitlers Geheimnis: Das Doppelleben eines Diktators, Berlin, 2001, pp. 47-57. We cannot, of course, rule out that there was a homosexual component in this “youthful bond,” as Kubizek characterized his relationship to Hitler. On close male relationships at the turn of the century, see Claudia Bruns, Politik des Eros: Der Männerbund in Wissenschaft, Politik und Jugendkultur 1880-1934, Cologne, Weimar and Vienna, 2008.

63Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 18.

64Facsimile in Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 192. For the four postcards, ibid., pp. 146-9; Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, pp. 151-5; printed in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, nos 3-6, p. 44f. In the mid 1970s, Paula Kubizek stated that she still possessed cards and letters from Hitler and was leaving them to her sons. “I don’t want them to be sold,” she said. “They should stay in the family.” Paula Kubitschek (sic) to Henriette von Schirach, 10 Nov. 1976; BayHStA Munich, Nl H. v. Schirach 3.

65Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 145.

66Hamann, Hitlers Edeljude, p. 81.

67Compare the hospital operations record from 1907 and the notes made by the doctor, Karl Urban, from 16 Nov. 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/65 and NS 26/17a.

68Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 52.

69Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 18f.

70Ibid., p. 19.

71Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 166f.; Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 54.

72Eduard Bloch, “Erinnerungen an den Führer und dessen verewigte Mutter” (Nov. 1938); BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/65. See also Eduard Bloch on Renato Bleibtreu, 8 Nov. 1938; ibid.

73Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, pp. 12, 24.

74Rudolph Binion advances this thesis in “…dass ihr mich gefunden habt”: Hitler und die Deutschen, Stuttgart, 1978, p. 38.

75Hamann, Hitlers Edeljude, p. 69. At the start of 1908, Hitler sent Bloch a letter wishing him a happy new year, signed “In continuing gratitude, Adolf Hitler.” See Bleibtreu’s report, BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a.

76Hamann, Hitlers Edeljude, p. 261.

77Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 176.

78See Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 58, 85. Maser argues for the idea of Hitler as “a man of wealth,” Adolf Hitler, p. 83.

79Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 59-62. This correspondence was discovered amidst the effects of Johanna Motloch and confiscated by the Gestapo. Martin Bormann presented Hitler with copies of the letters in Oct. 1942. He described Hitler’s reaction to Heinrich Himmler: “The Führer was very moved by the memory of what he had experienced in the past.” Ibid., p. 590n193.

80Hitlers Tischgespräche, p. 276 (dated 10 May 1942); see also Monologe, p. 120 (dated 15/16 Jan. 1942).

81See Hamann, Hitlers Edeljude, p. 94.

82See Zdral, Die Hitlers, pp. 52, 203-6.

83Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 63; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 9, p. 47.

2 The Vienna Years

1Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. Vol. 1: Eine Abrechnung, 7th edition, Munich, 1933, p. 137.

2Stefan Zweig, Die Welt von Gestern: Erinnerungen eines Europäers, Stuttgart and Hamburg, p. 27.

3Cf. Carl E. Schorske, Wien: Geist und Gesellschaft im Fin de Siècle, Munich, 1994.

4See Brigitte Hamann, Hitlers Wien: Lehrjahre eines Diktators, Munich and Zurich, 1996, pp. 135-50.

5Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 22f.; see August Kubizek, Adolf Hitler: Mein Jugendfreund, Graz and Göttingen, 1953, p. 202.

6See Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 398, 439.

7See ibid., pp. 467-9.

8See Julia Schmidt, Kampf um das Deutschtum: Radikaler Nationalismus in Österreich und dem Deutschen Reich 1890-1914, Frankfurt am Main and New York, 2009.

9Quoted in Franz Herre, Jahrhundertwende 1900: Untergangsstimmung und Fortschrittsglauben, Stuttgart, 1998, p. 190.

10Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 20.

11Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 224f.

12See ibid., p. 226f.

13Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 36f.; see Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 133 (entry for 13 March 1942): “He said that he always starts with the end, then browses through some sections in the middle, and only reads the whole book if his initial impression was positive.” For Hitler’s reading habits see Timothy W. Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life, London, 2009, p. 114f.

14Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 380 (dated 1 Sept. 1942).

15Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 232; see Monologe, p. 224 (dated 24/25 Jan. 1942): “How I enjoyed all those Wagner performances after the turn of the century! Those of us who were his loyal fans were known as Wagnerians.”

16See Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 229, 234; Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 91-5; Dirk Bavendamm, Der junge Hitler: Korrekturen einer Biographie 1889-1914, Graz, 2009, pp. 333-6.

17Based on Birgit Schwarz, Geniewahn: Hitler und die Kunst, Vienna, Cologne and Weimar, 2009, pp. 21ff. (“Hitlers Lieblingsmaler” chapter).

18Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah: Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotographen, Munich and Berlin, 1974, p. 29. See transcript of a conversation with Heinrich Hoffmann from 5 Dec. 1953: “Hitler said it was his fondest dream to own one of Grützner’s works.” IfZ, Munich, ZS 71. Further, Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 103; Albert Speer, Erinnerungen: Mit einem Essay von Jochen Thies, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, 1993, pp. 56f.

19Hitlers Tischgespräche, p. 146 (dated 27 March 1942). See Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929-1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 461: “Stuff like this bears no resemblance whatsoever to painting. It is merely the mental excrement of a sick mind.”

20See Schwarz, Geniewahn, pp. 82f.

21Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 206f. For Ringstrasse see Philipp Blom, Der taumelnde Kontinent: Europa 1900-1914, Munich, 2008, p. 71.

22See Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 197; Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 53.

23See Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 239-49; Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 96-8. On piano lessons see Josef Prewratsky-Wendt, “Meine Erinnerungen an meinen Klavierschüler Adolf Hitler!” from 17 Nov. 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/65. The piano teacher, who also gave Kubizek lessons, described Hitler as a “likeable, almost shy young man…serious and calm, of medium build.”

24Thomas Mann, An die gesittete Welt: Politische Schriften und Reden im Exil, Frankfurt am Main, 1986, p. 256.

25Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 199f.

26Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 83.

27Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 290f.

28See Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 10. On the “German School Association” see Schmid, Kampf um das Deutschtum, pp. 30ff.

29Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 106. See also Hitler, Monologe, p. 379 (dated 1 Sept. 1942): “I didn’t fall under Vienna’s spell because I was very strict about my patriotic German convictions.” Building on such sentiments, Bavendamm argues that Hitler believed from his earliest days that he was on a nationalist mission. The young Hitler, Bavendamm writes, “never lost sight of the ultimate goal of a greater German Reich with himself as its leader.” Der junge Hitler, p. 218.

30Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 107.

31See Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 337, 349, 362.

32Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 128.

33Ibid., p. 109.

34Hitler, Monologe, p. 153 (dated 17 Dec. 1941).

35See Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 429.

36Hitler, Monologe, p. 153 (dated 17 Dec. 1941). For Lueger’s “city revolution” see John W. Boyer, Karl Lueger 1844-1910: Christlichsoziale Politik als Beruf. Eine Biographie, Vienna, Cologne and Weimar, 2010, p. 181ff.

37See Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 132f.

38See Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 208-16.

39Ibid., pp. 296f.

40Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 43.

41Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 296.

42Hitler’s letters to Kubizek, 21 July and 17 Aug. 1908 in Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 308f., 310f.; also published in Adolf Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905-1924, ed. Eberhard Jäckel with Axel Kuhn, Stuttgart, 1980, nos 13, 14, pp. 49-51.

43Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 312.

44See also Franz Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend: Phantasien, Lügen und Wahrheit, Vienna, 1956, p. 218; Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 196.

45Hitlers Tischgespräche, p. 276 (dated 10 May 1942).

46See also Bradley F. Smith, Adolf Hitler: His Family, Childhood and Youth, Stanford, 1967, pp. 112f.; Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 196. In June 1938, Hitler told Goebbels that “he left home at the age of seventeen and didn’t get back in touch until 1922.” Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998-2006, vol. 5, p. 331 (entry for 3 June 1938).

47Hitler, Monologe, p. 317 (dated 11/12 March 1942).

48Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 40-2.

49For a debunking of his claims of working on a building site see Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 206-11.

50See copies of the registration cards in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a. For Hitler’s changing job descriptions see Anton Joachimsthaler, Korrektur einer Biographie: Adolf Hitler 1908-1920, Munich, 1989, p. 32.

51A letter from Hitler to the Linz municipal authorities, 21 Jan. 1914; Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, pp. 262-4 (quotation on p. 263); also published in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 19, pp. 53-5.

52Ian Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 52. After the Anschluss of Austria in 1938, Viennese newspapers ran articles on a flat in Simon-Denk-Strasse 11 in which he apparently lived in 1909; see Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 206-8. But there is no evidence that Hitler lived there other than a photograph held by the Austrian National Library that bears the inscription: “The house in Vienna’s District 9, Simon-Denk-Gasse 11, where Hitler lived as a lodger from 16 September to November 1909.” Sigmund sees this as the “missing link” in Hitler’s whereabouts during the fall of 1909 without engaging with Hamann’s assertions to the contrary; Anna Maria Sigmund, Diktator, Dämon, Demagoge: Fragen und Antworten zu Adolf Hitler, Munich, 2006, p. 157f.

53See also Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, pp. 186, 203.

54Reinhold Hanisch, “Meine Begegnung mit Hitler” (1939); BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/64 (the spelling errors have been corrected); published in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, pp. 49f. (quotation on p. 49). A longer, three-part version of “I was Hitler’s Buddy” appeared in New Republic, 5, 12, and 19 April 1939, pp. 239-42, 270-2, 297-300. On the credibility of this source see Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 264-71.

55Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 49. When asked what he was waiting for, Hitler is said to have responded: “I don’t know myself.” Hanish remarked: “I have never seen such helpless resignation to bad luck.” Hanisch, “I was Hitler’s Buddy,” p. 240.

56See also Smith, Adolf Hitler, p. 132; Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 227.

57See also Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 229-34; Hertha Hurnaus et al. (eds), Haus Meldemannstrasse, Vienna, 2003 (foreword by Brigitte Hamann), pp. 5-7.

58Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 35; see also Hitler, Monologe, p. 316 (entry for 10/11 March 1942): “In my youth, I was a bit of an oddball who preferred to be alone rather than needing company.”

59Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 275.

60This is the view put forward in Lothar Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis: Das Doppelleben eines Diktators, Berlin, 2001. Compare with Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 515.

61See Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 286: “As he often told me, he worried about becoming infected.”

62Quotation from Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 523.

63See also Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 44f.

64On this see Joachim Radkau, Das Zeitalter der Nervosität: Deutschland zwischen Bismarck und Hitler, Munich and Vienna, 1998.

65Hanisch, “I was Hitler’s Buddy,” p. 299.

66See the two facsimiles of the “Meldezettel für Unterpartei” in Haus Meldemannstrasse, pp. 6f.

67Transcript of Hitler’s testimony from 5 Aug. 1910; first published in Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, p. 224. Hanisch later denied the accusation that he had cheated Hitler, saying that following the latter’s instructions, he had sold the picture for 12 Kronen, of which he had given Hitler 6 Kronen. Undated record from Reinhold Hanisch in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/64.

68See Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 249f., 507-10.

69Transcript from the Linz district council from 4 May 1911; published in Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, p. 226.

70Karl Honisch, “Wie ich im Jahre 1913 Adolf Hitler kennenlernte”; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a; published in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, pp. 51-8. On 31 May 1939, Honisch sent his reminiscences to the NSDAP main archive with the commentary: “As requested, I have written everything down as thoroughly as possible. It should come as no surprise that I have forgotten a lot since twenty-six years have passed in the meantime.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a.

71Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 54 (Joachimsthaler’s misreadings have been corrected).

72Ibid., p. 55.

73Ibid., p. 56.

74Ibid., p. 56f.

75See Kubizek, Adolf Hitler, p. 113: “To the best of my recollection, Hitler was already a committed anti-Semite when he came to Vienna.” Disagreeing with this: Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 82.

76Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 69. See also Hitler’s letter to an unknown “Herr Doktor” of 29 Nov. 1921: “Within the space of a year the harshest sort of reality made me, who had been raised in a rather cosmopolitan family, into an anti-Semite.” Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 325, p. 525. See also Hitler’s testimony to Munich Court I on 26 Feb. 1924: “I came to Vienna as a cosmopolitan and left it as an absolute anti-Semite and the mortal enemy of the entire Marxist world view.” Der Hitler-Prozess 1924, ed. and annotated by Lothar Gruchmann and Reinhold Weber with Otto Gritschneder, part 1, Munich, 1997, p. 20. See also Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 3: Zwischen den Reichstagswahlen Juli 1928-September 1930. Part 2: März 1929-Dezember 1929, ed. Klaus As Lankheit, Munich, 1994, doc. 62, p. 341 (entry for 3 Aug. 1929): “I had been aware of the threat represented by Jews since I was eighteen and read whatever I could find on the subject.”

77Fest, Hitler, p. 64. Bullock sees the roots of Hitler’s anti-Semitism in his “tortured sexual jealousy.” Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, London, 1990, p. 39f. Haffner writes that Hitler “carried around his anti-Semitism from the very beginning like a congenital hunchback”; Sebastian Haffner, Anmerkungen zu Hitler, 21st edition, Munich, 1978, p. 15.

78On what follows see Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 239-42, 426-503; and subsequently, although partly a qualification of Hamann’s theories, Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, pp. 60-7. Critical of this theory is Ralf Georg Reuth, Hitlers Judenhass: Klischee und Wirklichkeit, Munich and Zurich, 2009, pp. 21-30, but his attempt to stylise Hitler into a “friend to Jews” (p. 28) is misleading. Before Brigitte Hamann, John Toland questioned Hitler’s assertion that he had become an anti-Semite in Vienna. Toland argued that Hitler’s anti-Jewish prejudice was probably fairly typical for the time and place and that he had become a hardcore anti-Semite at some later juncture. John Toland, Adolf Hitler: Volume 1, New York, 1976, p. 48f.

79Still of fundamental importance is Peter G. J. Pulzer, Die Entstehung des politischen Antisemitismus in Deutschland und Österreich 1867-1914, Gütersloh, 1964; new edition with a research report, Göttingen, 2004.

80Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 404f.; for Lueger’s anti-Semitism see Boyer, Karl Lueger, pp. 89ff.

81On Guido List and Lanz von Liebenfels see Hamann, Hitlers Wien, pp. 293-319.

82Wilfried Daim, Der Mann, der Hitler die Ideen gab: Jörg Lanz von Liebenfels, new and revised edition, Vienna, 1994.

83Quoted in Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 499.

84Hanisch, “I was Hitler’s Buddy,” p. 271. See also Franz Jetzinger, “Meine Erlebnisse mit Hitler Dokumenten,” notes dated 12 July 1953: “There is hardly a trace of anti-Jewish hatred in his periods in Linz and Vienna.” IfZ München, ZS 325.

85Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 498.

86For a summary see ibid., pp. 239-41.

87Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit: Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, p. 28.

88Recording of the owner of Kafee Kubata, Marie Wohlrabe, from 11 June 1940, and statements of the woman serving at the till, Maria Fellinger, on 17 June 1940; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a. Analysed in Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 620f.n87.

89See Hamann, Hitlers Wien, p. 568.

90For Rudolf Häusler’s biography see ibid., pp. 566-8; Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis, pp. 67ff.

91Facsimile of the registration form in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 17.

92Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 138.

93See David Clay Large, Where Ghosts Walked: Munich’s Road to the Third Reich, New York and London, 1997, pp. 3-42.

94See Schwarz, Geniewahn, pp. 70f.

95Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 139.

96Erich Mühsam, Unpolitische Erinnerungen: Mit einem Nachwort von Hubert van den Berg, Hamburg, 1999, p. 89.

97Hitler, Monologe, p. 115 (dated 29 Oct. 1941). For Heilmann & Littmann see Schwarz, Geniewahn, pp. 76f.

98Hans Schirmer’s report reprinted in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, pp. 84f.; see further reports from the NSDAP main archive by people who bought paintings in Munich on pp. 85-9.

99On Hitler’s escape from registering for the draft, see the description and documents in Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, pp. 253-65.

100First published in ibid., pp. 262-4 (see p. 273 for the facsimile of the letter); also in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 20, pp. 53-5. On the attempt by the SS to gain possession of Hitler’s military record after the Anschluss, see Franz Jetzinger, “Meine Erlebnisse mit Hitler-Dokumenten.”

101Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend, p. 265.

102Quoted in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, pp. 78f.

3 The Experience of War

1Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. Vol. 1: Eine Abrechnung, 7th edition, Munich, 1933, p. 179. See Hitler’s explanation from 14 April 1926: “I wore a soldier’s grey uniform for almost six years. Of my time on Earth, these six years will remain not only my most eventful but also my most cherished years.” Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 1: Die Wiedergründung der NSDAP Februar 1925-Juni 1926, ed. and annotated Clemens Vollnhals, Munich, London, New York and Paris 1992, no. 123, p. 383.

2This is also quite rightly emphasised in Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, p. 73. Thomas Weber’s contrary thesis—that the First World War did not form Hitler but rather that he remained fully open and malleable—is unconvincing; Thomas Weber, Hitler’s First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War, Oxford and New York, pp. 254, 345. After he was shunted off as a consul general to San Francisco in January 1939, Hitler’s former adjutant Fritz Wiedemann used the trans-Atlantic crossing aboard the MS Hamburg to jot down his key memories. Wiedemann summarised what Hitler had said upon appointing him before Christmas in 1933: “Emphasised importance of war and revolution for own development. Said, ‘Otherwise I would have likely made an excellent architect.’ ” BA Koblenz, N 1720/4.

3Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 174.

4Kurt Riezler, Tagebücher, Aufsätze und Dokumente, ed. and introduced Karl Dietrich Erdmann, Göttingen 1972, p. 183 (entry for 7 July 1914). On the German Reich leadership’s risky politics during the July 1914 crisis see Volker Ullrich, Die nervöse Grossmacht: Aufstieg und Untergang des deutschen Kaiserreichs 1871-1918, Frankfurt am Main, 1997, pp. 250-63.

5Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 176. Later, with an eye towards the outbreak of the First World War, Hitler declared: “The most devastating thing for the German government is not that it did not want war, but that in fact it was manoeuvred into war against its own volition.” Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 2: Vom Weimarer Parteitag bis zur Reichstagswahl Juli 1926-Mai 1928. Part 1: Juli 1926-Juli 1927, ed. and annotated Bärbel Dusik, Munich, London, New York and Paris, 1992, no. 104, p. 256 (dated 17 April 1927).

6First reprinted in Egmont Zechlin, “Bethmann Hollweg, Kriegsrisiko und SPD,” in Der Monat, no. 208 (1966), p. 32.

7See Das Hitler-Bild: Die Erinnerungen des Fotografen Heinrich Hoffmann, ed. Joe J. Heydecker, St. Pölten and Salzburg, 2008, p. 49. This is a reprint of a series based on audio recordings that appeared, starting in November 1954, in Münchner Illustrierte magazine.

8Quoted in Anton Joachimsthaler, Korrektur einer Biographie: Adolf Hitler 1908-1920, Munich, 1989, p. 101.

9When Hitler happened to see the photo at Hoffmann’s studio, he reportedly remarked: “I too was in that crowd!” Hoffmann promptly enlarged the image and succeeded in locating Hitler. The photographer later recalled: “The photo quickly became world-famous. There was hardly a newspaper in Germany or abroad that did not publish it. We had to make thousands and thousands of prints to satisfy the demand.” Heydecker, Hoffmann- Erinnerungen, p. 50. See also, Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah: Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotographen, Munich and Berlin, 1974, pp. 32f. Recently the authenticity of the photographs has been doubted: see Sven Felix Kellerhof, “Berühmtes Hitler-Foto möglicherweise gefälscht,” in Die Welt, 14 Oct. 2010. On Hoffman’s darkroom see Rudolf Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler: Fotografie als Medium des Führer-Mythos, Munich, 1994, p. 26ff.; Heike B. Görtemaker, Eva Braun: Leben mit Hitler, Munich, 2010, pp. 14ff.

10Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 177.

11Stefan Zweig, Die Welt von Gestern: Erinnerungen eines Europäers, Stuttgart and Hamburg, p. 254.

12Erich Mühsam, Tagebücher 1910-1924, ed. and with an afterword by Chris Hirte, Munich, 1994, pp. 101, 109 (entries for 3/4 and 11 Aug. 1914).

13Quoted in Bernd Ulrich and Benjamin Ziemann (eds), Frontalltag im Ersten Weltkrieg: Wahn und Wirklichkeit, Frankfurt am Main, 1994, p. 31. See also Benjamin Ziemann, Front und Heimat: Ländliche Kriegserfahrungen in Bayern 1914-1923, Essen, 1997, pp. 41ff.

14Richard J. Evans (ed), Kneipengespräche im Kaiserreich: Die Stimmungsberichte der Hamburger Politischen Polizei 1892-1914, Reinbek by Hamburg, 1989, p. 415 (dated 24 and 29 July 1917).

15Thomas Mann, “Gedanken im Kriege,” in Essays II: 1914-1916, ed. and with critical commentary by Hermann Kurzke, Frankfurt am Main, 2002, p. 32.

16Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 177.

17See ibid., p. 179.

18See the detailed account in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, pp. 102-9, which is based on research done by Bavarian officials in 1924.

19See ibid., p. 113.

20See ibid., p. 114; Weber, Hitler’s First War, pp. 21-4; Fritz Wiedemann, Der Mann, der Feldherr werden wollte: Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen des Vorgesetzten Hitlers im 1. Weltkrieg und seines späteren persönlichen Adjutanten, Velbert and Kettwig, 1964, p. 18.

21Hitler to A. Popp, 20 Oct. 1914; Adolf Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905-1924, ed. Eberhard Jäckel with Axel Kuhn, Stuttgart, 1980, no. 24, p. 59.

22Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 180.

23Hitler to A. Popp, 20 Oct. 1914; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 24, p. 59.

24Ibid., no. 25, p. 59.

25Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, pp. 407f. (dated 23 March 1944). See Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998-2006, vol. 5, p. 253 (entry for 10 April 1938): “The Führer told of how the song ‘Die Wacht am Rhein’ had moved him when he crossed over [the river] for the first time in October 1914.”

26Hitler to J. Popp, 3 Dec. 1914; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 26, p. 60.

27Based on John Horne and Alan Kramer, Deutsche Kriegsgreuel 1914: Die umstrittene Wahrheit, Hamburg 2004, pp. 65-72.

28See Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 120.

29Hitler to E. Hepp, 5 Feb. 1915; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 30, pp. 64-9.

30Hitler’s account tallies with the numbers in the official regiment history. Its fighting strength had decreased to a mere 750 men and non-commissioned officers and 4 officers. This means that of the regiment’s 3,000 soldiers, around 70 per cent fell or were wounded in battle. See Fridolin Solleder (ed.), Vier Jahre Westfront: Geschichte des Regiment List RIR 16, Munich, 1932, p. 60. See Weber, Hitler’s First War, pp. 48f.

31Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 130f. See also a letter by Rudolf Hess from 29 June 1924: “Yesterday, the tribune told stories from 1914 that were so vivid and fascinating that I felt overwhelmed.” BA Bern, Nl Hess; quoted in Othmar Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches: Adolf Hitlers “Mein Kampf” 1922-1945, Munich, 2006, p. 48.

32R. Hess to I. Pröhl, 29 June 1924; Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 342.

33Hitler to J. Popp, 26 Jan. 1915; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 29, p. 63.

34See Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 24; Balthasar Brandmayer, Zwei Meldegänger, Bruckmühl, 1932, p. 48.

35Hitler to J. Popp, 3 Dec. 1914; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen no. 26, p. 60.

36The incident is described in Hitler’s letter to E. Hepp, 22 Jan. 1915; ibid., no. 27, p. 68.

37Hitler to J. Popp, 3 Dec. 1914; ibid., no. 26, p. 61.

38Hitler to J. Popp, 26 Jan. 1915; ibid., no. 29, pp. 63f.

39Hitler to E. Hepp, 5 Feb. 1915; ibid., no. 30, pp. 68f.

40Quoted in Michael Jürgs, Der kleine Frieden im Grossen Krieg. Westfront 1914: Als Deutsche, Franzosen und Briten gemeinsam Weihnachten feierten, Munich, 2003, p. 43.

41Ibid., p. 87. See Weber, Hitler’s First War, p. 61.

42Statement by Heinrich Lugauer, a runner in RIR. 16, on 5 Feb. 1940; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/47. See Weber, Hitler’s First War, p. 63.

43Hitler, Monologe, p. 46 (entry for 24/25 July 1941). See ibid., p. 71 (entry for 25/26 Sept. 1941): “I’m infinitely grateful that I experienced the war as I did.” Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 203 (entry for 21 July 1930): “Boss told us about the war. It’s his favourite topic and one that never runs dry.”

44Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 3: Zwischen den Reichstagswahlen Juli 1928-September 1930. Part 3: Januar 1930-September 1930, ed. Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1994, doc. 116, p. 430 (dated 16 Sept.1930). See Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929-1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 142: Wagener recounts Hitler saying that, after reading a book on the Battle of the Somme, he only then fully understood “why someone would lie in a dirty hole and hold out.” See also Hess, Briefe, p. 263 (dated Aug. 1920): “From the very beginning to the end of the war, Hitler was on the frontlines as a common soldier.”

45See Weber, Hitler’s First War, pp. 99-101, 283. Hitler immediately sued the Echo der Welt for defamation. In its judgment of 9 March 1932, the Hamburg State Court ruled that the defendant was prohibited from portraying Hitler’s wartime service in a way that “suggested the plaintiff had tried to shirk his duties as a soldier.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/17a.

46Ferdinand Widmann to A. Hitler, 9 March 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/18.

47Statement by Heinrich Lugauer on 5 Feb. 1940; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/47. Further statements by Wilhelm Hansen, Hans Raab and Hans Bauer in ibid. In March 1933, the Berner Tageblatt newspaper published an article, “written by a German academic,” which read: “He [Hitler] was always prepared to do difficult duties. I often experienced how the runners disagreed about whose turn it was when one of them was called by the regimental office…It was always Hitler who stole away and voluntarily delivered the message.” Berner Tageblatt, 23 March 1933; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, R 43 II/959.

48Transcript by Friedrich Petz from 1922; quoted in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 160f. See the similar verdicts of the regimental commander Major Baron Anton von Tabeuf in February 1922 (ibid., p. 169) and his deputy Baron von Godin in July 1918 (ibid., p. 175f.) In 1931, the last commander of the regiment, Maximilian Baligand, dedicated a copy of the regimental history to “his brave runner, the honorable former private Adolf Hitler with gratitude and in memory of serious but great times in the past.” Timothy W. Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life, London, 2009, p. 14.

49Wiedemann added: “On the field of battle, he proved his worth as a courageous and particularly reliable runner, who deserved his Iron Cross, First Class and who was put forward for that honour numerous times, before he actually received it.” BA Koblenz, N 1720/4. See also Wiedemann, Der Mann, pp. 25, 85.

50See Weber, Hitler’s First War, pp. 293f., 321-5, 341f.

51Ibid., pp. 105f, 345.

52Stefan Ernstling, Der phantastische Rebell: Alexander Moritz Frey oder Hitler schiesst dramatisch in die Luft, Zurich, 2007, p. 52.

53Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 26. See Fritz Wiedemann’s statement from 1 July 1947; Robert M. W. Kempner, Das Dritte Reich im Kreuzverhör: Aus den unveröffentlichten Vernehmungsprotokollen des Anklägers in den Nürnberger Prozessen, Munich, 2005, p. 92 (“not leadership material”).

54Max Amann’s questioning in Nuremberg on 5 Nov. 1947; Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 160.

55Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 181.

56Hess, Briefe, p. 342 (dated 29 June 1924). For the phenomenon of fear in the First World War, see Susanne Michl and Jan Plamper, “Soldatische Angst im Ersten Weltkrieg,” Geschichte und Gesellschaft, 35.2 (2009), pp. 209-48.

57Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 181.

58Hitler, Monologe, p. 75 (dated 27/28 Sept. to 9 Oct. 1941).

59Ibid., p. 296 (dated 24/25 Feb. 1942). In the spring of 1926, Hitler underlined a passage from Ernst Jünger’s book Feuer und Blut (Fire and Blood) that described this side of the experience of war. See Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library, pp. 82-4.

60Hitler, Monologe, p. 71 (dated 25/26 Sept. 1941).

61Max Amann’s questioning in Nuremberg on 5 Nov. 1947; Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 158.

62Brandmayer, Zwei Meldegänger, p. 103.

63See Werner Maser, Adolf Hitler: Legende—Mythos—Wirklichkeit, 12th edition, Munich and Esslingen, 1989, pp. 315, 598-628. For a critical perspective see Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, pp. 161-4; Guido Knopp, Geheimnisse des “Dritten Reiches,” Munich, 2011, pp. 268-76.

64See Lothar Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis: Das Doppelleben eines Diktators, Berlin, 2001, pp. 81ff. Machtan largely based his assertions on later testimony by Hans Mend, the List Regiment’s equestrian orderly, but Mend was a known liar and psychopath. See Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, pp. 143f.; Weber, Hitler’s First War, pp. 137-9.

65See Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, pp. 144f.; Weber, Hitler’s First War, p. 317.

66See Weber, Hitler’s First War, p. 139f.

67Examples in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, pp. 128, 160; Claudia Schmölders, Hitlers Gesicht: Eine physiognomische Biographie, Munich, 2000, pp. 11-13. See also Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 104; Weber, Hitler’s First War, p. 139.

68Hitler, Monologe, p. 219 (dated 22/23 Jan. 1942).

69Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 182.

70Max Amann’s questioning in Nuremberg on 5 Nov. 1947; Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 159.

71Brandmayer, Zwei Meldegänger, pp. 66-8.

72Hitler to E. Hepp, 5 Feb. 1915; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 30, p. 69.

73Hitler, Monologe, p. 411 (dated 19 May 1944). See Otto Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, Munich, 1955, p. 164. Hans Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, p. 46: “I had a well-thumbed paperback copy of The World as Will and Representation in my knapsack.” On the topic of Hitler reading Schopenhauer, see Birgit Schwarz, Geniewahn: Hitler und die Kunst, Vienna, Cologne and Weimar, 2009, pp. 51-3, who asserts that Schopenhauer’s idea of genius supported Hitler’s view of himself as an artist. By contrast Ryback (Hitler’s Private Library, p. 104) doubts that Hitler ever read Schopenhauer during the war. Reports from his former regimental comrades confirm that Hitler spent every free minute reading. See Heinrich Lugauer’s statement of 5 Feb. 1940 and Hans Bauer’s of 15 Feb. 1940; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/47.

74See John Keegan, The Face of Battle: A Sturdy of Agincourt, Waterloo and the Somme, London, 1978, pp. 204ff; Gerhard Hirschfeld, Gerd Krumeich and Irina Renz (eds): Die Deutschen an der Somme 1914-1918: Krieg, Besatzung, Verbrannte Erde, Essen, 2006, pp. 79ff.

75Quoted in Hirschfeld et al., Die Deutschen an der Somme, p. 147. Hitler, too, described the Battle of the Somme as “more hell than war”; Mein Kampf, p. 209.

76Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 29.

77Hitler, Monologe, p. 172 (dated 3/4 Jan. 1942).

78Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 210.

79Ibid., p. 210. See Hitler’s testimony in front of Munich Court I on 26 Feb. 1924: “Whereas we had previously showed absolute obedience at the front, it more or less dissolved in the field hospital.” Der Hitler-Prozess 1924, ed. and annotated by Lothar Gruchmann and Reinhold Weber with Otto Gritschneder, part 1, Munich, 1997, p. 21. On “self-mutilation,” see Ulrich and Ziemann, Frontalltag, pp. 151-3.

80Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 211.

81Ingo Materna and Hans-Joachim Schreckenbach (eds) with Bärbel Holtz, Berichte des Berliner Polizeipräsidenten zur Stimmung und Lage der Bevölkerung in Berlin 1914-1918, Weimar, 1987, no. 175, p. 156. For background see Volker Ullrich, “Kriegsalltag: Zur inneren Revolutionierung der wilhelminischen Gesellschaft,” in Wolfgang Michalka (ed.), Der Erste Weltkrieg: Wirkung—Wahrnehmung—Analyse, Munich and Zurich, 1994, pp. 603-21.

82Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 211.

83Quoted in Ziemann, Front und Heimat, p. 274.

84W. Rathenau to W. Schwaner, 4 Aug. 1916; Walther Rathenau, Briefe. Vol. 2: 1914-1922, ed. Alexander Jaser, Clemens Picht and Ernst Schulin, Düsseldorf, 2006, p. 1552.

85Quoted in Volker Ullrich, “ ‘Drückeberger’: Die Judenzählung im Ersten Weltkrieg,” in Julius H. Schoeps and Joachim Schlör (eds), Antisemitismus: Vorurteile und Mythen, Munich and Zurich, 1995, p. 214.

86Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 211. See Hitler’s speech on 29 Feb. 1928: “For four years, these people avoided serving at the front.” Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 2: Vom Weimarer Parteitag bis zur Reichstagswahl Juli 1926-Mai 1928. Part 2: August 1927-Mai 1928, ed. and annotated Bärbel Dusik, Munich, 1992, no. 237, pp. 701f.

87Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 211f.

88See John Toland, Adolf Hitler: Volume 1, New York, 1976, pp. 70. Reuth’s assumption that during the war Hitler had been completely free of anti-Jewish sentiment seems rather implausible; Ralf Georg Reuth, Hitlers Judenhass: Klischee und Wirklichkeit, Munich and Zurich, 2009, pp. 35-43. But that does not mean that he despised Jews. Weber (Hitler’s First War, p. 237) also asserts that in early 1917 Hitler was “no committed, avowed anti-Semite.”

89Wiedemann, Der Mann, pp. 33f.

90Hitler to K. Lanzhammer, 19 Dec. 1916; www.europeana1914-1918.eu. Facsimile in Süddeutsche Zeitung, 3 May 2012. Hitler to B. Brandmayer, 21 Dec. 1916; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen no. 44, p. 78.

91Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 30. In August 1938, Professor Max Unold contacted Wiedemann and informed him: “Some time ago, I found the enclosed notebook from the war and discovered that as a corporal in my replacement battalion in Munich in 1917, I had none other than Adolf Hitler in my quarters.” According to Unold’s notes, the battalion was quartered in a school on Munich’s Luisenstrasse in February and March of 1917. M. Unold to F. Wiedemann, 18 Aug. 1938; BA Koblenz, N 1720/8.

92Hitler, Monologe, p. 57 (dated 8/9-10/11 Aug. 1941).

93See the entry “Tank” (author: Gerhard P. Gross) in Gerhard Hirschfeld, Gerd Krumeich and Irina Renz (eds) with Markus Pöhlmann, Enzyklopädie Erster Weltkrieg, Paderborn, 2003, pp. 917-19.

94Hitler prepared himself by reading Max Osborn’s book on Berlin, which appeared as vol. 43 of the series Berühmte Kunststätten im Leipziger Verlag E. A. Seemann; he had purchased it in November 1915 in Tournes. Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library, pp. 7f, 18-22.

95Hitler to E. Schmidt, 6 Oct. 1917; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 50, p. 82. See also Hitler’s Berlin visits between 1916 and 1918, Thomas Friedrich, Die missbrauchte Hauptstadt: Hitler und Berlin, Berlin, 2007, pp. 11-27; Sven Felix Kellerhoff, Hitlers Berlin: Geschichte einer Hassliebe, Berlin and Brandenburg, 2005, pp. 17-20.

96Hitler to M. Amann, 8, 11, and 12 Oct. 1917; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, nos 51-53, pp. 82f.

97Volker Ullrich, Kriegsalltag: Hamburg im Ersten Weltkrieg, Cologne, 1982, pp. 85-92 (quotation on p. 87).

98Berichte des Berliner Polizeipräsidenten, no. 242, p. 213.

99Ullrich, Kriegsalltag, p. 126. For a case study of the strike in Jan. 1918, idem, “Der Januarstreik 1918 in Hamburg, Kiel und Bremen: Eine vergleichende Studie zur Geschichte der Streikbewegungen im Ersten Weltkrieg,” in Zeitschrift für Hamburgische Geschichte, (1985), pp. 45-74.

100Quoted in Bernd Ulrich, Die Augenzeugen: Deutsche Feldpostbriefe in Kriegs- und Nachkriegszeit 1914-1933, Essen, 1997, p. 74n104; Ulrich and Ziemann, Frontalltag, p. 196.

101Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 213, 217.

102Berichte des Berliner Polizeipräsidenten, no. 270, p. 240.

103See Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 172; Weber, Hitler’s First War, p. 209.

104Hitler, Monologe, p. 152 (dated 10/11 Nov. 1941). For the awarding of the Iron Cross, First Class see Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 173; Weber, Hitler’s First War, p. 215. By contrast Othmar Plöckinger (Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren: Hitlers prägende Jahre im deutschen Militär 1918-1920, Paderborn, 2013, p. 16f.) doubts that Gutmann played a role in Hitler’s commendation since he was not a member of the regiment at the time when Hitler was put forward for or awarded the Iron Cross. See ibid., p. 18, for a facsimile of the list of recorded soldiers in Hitler’s regiment on 4 Aug. 1918.

105Quoted in Ulrich and Ziemann, Frontalltag, p. 204.

106Hitler, Monologe, p. 100 (dated 21/22 Oct. 1941). See Weber, Hitler’s First War, pp. 218, 219.

107Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 221.

108For a summary see Hans-Joachim Neumann and Henrik Eberle, War Hitler krank? Ein abschliessender Befund, Bergisch-Gladbach, 2009, pp. 42-8.

109Hitler to an unknown “Herr Doktor,” 29 Nov. 1921; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 325, p. 526. Facsimile in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, pp. 92-4. See Hitler’s testimony in front of Munich Court I, 26 Feb. 1924: “For a short time, I was completely blind and didn’t think I would ever be able to see again…Over the course of my treatment, my condition improved to the point that when I was released from the field hospital I could at least read large headlines.” Der Hitler-Prozess 1924, vol. 1, p. 19.

110This is suggested in Bernhard Horstmann, Hitler in Pasewalk: Die Hypnose und ihre Folgen, Düsseldorf, 2004 (quotation on p. 113).

111Quoted in Uwe Lohalm, Völkischer Radikalismus: Die Geschichte des Deutschvölkischen Schutz- und Trutzbundes 1919-1923, Hamburg, 1970, p. 53.

112Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 221-5. See also Hitler’s testimony in front of Munich Court I, 26 Feb. 1924: “On 9 November (1918) it became clear to me, and that night I made my decision: the vacillations in my life between whether to go into politics or remain an architect came to an end. That night I decided that, if I got my vision back, I would turn to politics.” Der Hitler-Prozess 1924, p. 21.

113Ernst Deuerlein, Hitler: Eine politische Biographie, Munich, 1969, p. 40.

4 The Leap into Politics

1Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 234 (dated 25/26 Jan. 1942).

2See Anton Joachimsthaler, Korrektur einer Biographie: Adolf Hitler 1908-1920, Munich, 1989, p. 187; Othmar Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren: Hitlers prägende Jahre im deutschen Militär 1918-1920, Paderborn, 2013, p. 29.

3See Bernhard Grau, Kurt Eisner 1867-1919: Eine Biographie, Munich, 2001, pp. 343ff.

4Wilhelm Herzog, Menschen, denen ich begegnete, Bern and Munich, 1959, pp. 67 f.

5See Grau, Kurt Eisner, pp. 388ff.

6Michael Epkenhans, “ ‘Wir als deutsches Volk sind doch nicht klein zu kriegen…’: Aus den Tagebüchern des Fregattenkapitäns Bogislav von Selchow 1918/19,” in Militärgeschichtliche Mitteilungen, 55 (1996), p. 202.

7Quoted in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 190. In November 1929, Hitler declared: “I did not support that revolution for a second.” Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 3, Part 2: März 1929-Dezember 1929, ed. and annotated by Klaus A. Lankheit, Munich, New Providence, London and Paris, 1994, doc. 93, p. 436. Joachim Riecker (Hitlers 9. November: Wie der Erste Weltkrieg zum Holocaust führte, Berlin, 2009, p. 49) offers no evidence for his statement that Hitler “was initially positive towards the revolution.”

8Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. Vol. 1: Eine Abrechnung, 7th edition, Munich, 1933, p. 226.

9Franz J. Bauer (ed.): Die Regierung Eisner 1918/19: Ministerratsprotokolle und Dokumente, Düsseldorf, 1987, no. 40b, p. 246 (dated 3 Jan. 1919). The Münchener Neueste Nachrichten newspaper wrote of a “dance pandemic”; quoted in Martin H. Geyer, Verkehrte Welt: Revolution, Inflation und Moderne. München 1914-1924, Göttingen, 1998, p. 72. On the phenomenon of the “dance craze” during the November revolution, see also Volker Ullrich, Die Revolution von 1918/19, Munich, 2009, pp. 42f.

10Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 226. On the stay in Traunstein and the date of the return to Munich, see Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 34-6 (page 33 contains a photo of Hitler together with Ernst Schmidt in the Traunstein training camp).

11See ibid., pp. 37-41.

12Quoted in Friedrich Hitzer, Anton Graf Arco: Das Attentat auf Kurt Eisner und die Schüsse im Landtag, Munich, 1988, p. 391.

13Quoted in Michaela Karl, Die Münchner Räterepublik: Porträts einer Revolution, Düsseldorf, 2008, p. 108.

14Ralf Höller, Der Anfang, der ein Ende war: Die Revolution in Bayern 1918/19, Berlin, 1999, p. 193.

15Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol 7: 1919-1923, ed. Angela Reinthal with Janna Brechmacher and Christoph Hilse, Stuttgart, 2007, p. 222 (entry for 5 April 1919).

16On the Freikorps of Ritter von Epp, see the brochure and newspaper clipping collection in BA Koblenz, N 1101/34. Upon Epp’s discharge from the Reichswehr in October 1923, Bavarian state premier Eugen von Knilling thanked the general for his “courageous intervention in liberating Munich from the hands of Bolshevism.” Knilling went on: “Your services are part of history and represent an honourable page that shines out from the darkness of recent years.” E. v. Knilling to Ritter von Epp, 31 Oct. 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1101/43a.

17Erich Mühsam, Tagebücher 1910-1924, ed. and with an afterword by Chris Hirte, Munich, 1994, p. 191 (entry for 7 May 1919).

18Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie, p. 64. In his 1933 autobiography, Eine Jugend in Deutschland, Ernst Toller reported that during a period of incarceration, a fellow prisoner told of meeting Hitler in a Munich barracks in the first months of the republic. “Back then, Hitler declared he was a Social Democrat,” the man allegedly said. Ernst Toller, Prosa, Briefe, Dramen, Gedichte, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1961, p. 165.

19See Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 204, who puts the vote in mid-February 1919. Ralf Georg Reuth (Hitlers Judenhass: Klischee und Wirklichkeit, Munich and Zurich, 2009, p. 89) reaches a similar conclusion, writing that the “government soldier Adolf Hitler” was an “adherent of Social Democracy” in late February and March 1919. Plöckinger (Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 42-6) correctly rejects this assertion as untenable.

20Bauer, Die Regierung Eisner, introduction, p. lxi.

21Hitler, Monologe, p. 248 (dated 1 Feb. 1942).

22Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 123. Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, p. 120, also writes of “sheer opportunism.” Ludolf Herbst (Hitlers Charisma: Die Erfindung eines deutschen Messias, Frankfurt am Main, 2010) characterises Hitler’s stance as “wait and see” (p. 96) adding, “Hitler skilfully manoeuvred his way through a political difficult time” (p. 99).

23See Ralf Georg Reuth, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Munich and Zurich, 2003, p. 78f.; Thomas Weber, Hitler’s First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War, Oxford and New York, p. 251. Contrary to this, Plöckinger (Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 43) describes Hitler’s participation in the funeral procession as “less than likely.”

24Quoted in John Toland, Adolf Hitler: Volume 1, New York, 1976, p. 85.

25See Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 213f.; Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 48f. Reuth’s idea that Hitler became “a functionary in the gears of global Communist revolution” (Hitlers Judenhass, p. 94) is completely off-base.

26Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 226. Plöckinger expresses well-founded doubts about this version in Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 57, 64f.

27Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 227.

28Quoted in Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 214. See also the investigating committee’s report about Georg Dufter dated 4 June 1919 in Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 344f.

29See Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 100.

30Joachimsthaler, Korrektur, p. 225.

31Hellmuth Auerbach, “Hitlers politische Lehrjahre und die Münchner Gesellschaft 1919-1923,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 25 (1977), p. 18.

32As found in Karl Mayr’s anonymous article in the U.S. magazine Current History, “I was Hitler’s Boss: By a former officer of the Reichswehr,” Nov. 1941, p. 193. For a critical perspective see Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 102n11.

33Ernst Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt in die Politik und die Reichswehr,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 7 (1959), p. 179.

34See Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 103f., 108. Here the author corrects the position he previously held: see Othmar Plöckinger, “Adolf Hitler als Hörer an der Universität München im Jahr 1919: Zum Verhältnis zwischen Reichswehr und Universität,” in Elisabeth Kraus (ed.), Die Universität München im Dritten Reich: Aufsätze, vol. 2, Munich, 2008, pp. 13-47.

35The programme for the first course can be found in Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc. 2, pp. 191f. For the third course’s speakers see Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 108-10.

36Diary of Gottfried Feder, vol. 1 (entries for 6 June and July 1919), IfZ München, ED 874. For Feder’s theories see Reuth, Hitlers Judenhass, pp. 158-61; Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 263-5.

37Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 229.

38Karl Alexander von Müller, Mars und Venus: Erinnerungen 1914-1918, Stuttgart, 1954, p. 338.

39Ibid., pp. 338f. See also Müller’s notes, “Berührungen mit der NSDAP,” about the two lectures, Karl Mayr and his “curious protégé”; BayHStA München, Nl K. A. v. Müller 101.

40Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 243. For something similar see Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 4: Von der Reichstagswahl bis zur Reichspräsidentenwahl Oktober 1930-März 1932. Part 2: Juli 1931-Dezember 1931, ed. Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1996, doc. 80, p. 250 (entry for 4 April 1931).

41Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc. 4, p. 196f.; see Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 113-19 (see p. 120 for a facsimile of the handwritten list of participants in Walther Bendt’s “educational commando”).

42See Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 123f.

43Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 235.

44Orderly Lorenz Frank on 23 Aug. 1919 in Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc. 9, p. 200. Other voices in Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 128.

45Report by First Lieutenant Bendt on 21 Aug. 1919 in Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc. 7, p. 199.

46See Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 194ff., 210ff.

47Quoted in Dirk Walter, Antisemitische Kriminalität und Gewalt: Judenfeindschaft in der Weimarer Republik, Bonn, 1999, p. 55.

48Quoted in Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 330.

49Münchener Neueste Nachrichten from 14 Nov. 1919; quoted in Hans-Günter Richardi, Hitler und seine Hintermänner: Neue Fakten zur Frühgeschichte der NSDAP, Munich, 1991, p. 81.

50For the anti-Semitic pamphlets available in libraries and reading rooms for troops see Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 218ff, 251ff.

51Report by First Lieutenant Bendt dated 21 Aug. 1919; Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc. 7, p. 199. In Landsberg Prison in June 1924, Hitler told Rudolf Hess that he had “only arrived at his current stance on the Jewish question after some serious internal conflicts.” Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, pp. 334f. (dated 11 June 1924).

52A. Gemlich to Captain Mayr, 4 Sept. 1919; Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc 10a, pp. 201f.

53Hitler to A. Gemlich, 16 Sept. 1919; Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc. 12, pp. 203-5; also reproduced in Adolf Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905-1924, ed. Eberhard Jäckel with Axel Kuhn, Stuttgart, 1980, no. 61, pp. 88-90. Plöckinger (Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 143) correctly concludes that in his answer Hitler “did not advance any original positions, but merely summarised views and ideas that were already widespread in anti-Semitic circles.” On the interpretation of the “Gemlich letter,” see also ibid., pp. 332-8.

54See Walter, Antisemitische Kriminalität, pp. 34f.

55See Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 257, 334f.

56Hitler to A. Gemlich, 16 Sept. 1919; Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc. 12, p. 204. See also Hitler’s contribution to a discussion at an NSDAP meeting on 6 April 1920: “We do not want to be the sort of emotional anti-Semites who create a pogrom mood. We are filled with the uncompromising determination to grasp this evil by the roots and tear it out in its entirety (enthusiastic applause).” Ibid. no. 91, p. 119.

57Captain Mayr to A. Gemlich, 17 Sept. 1919; Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc. 11, p. 202f. Against the background of these remarks it is all the more astonishing that Karl Mayr would get close to the SPD in 1923 and later collaborate with the Reich Banner Black-Red-Gold. See Othmar Plöckinger, “Frühe biographische Texte zu Hitler: Zur Bewertung der autobiographischen Texte in ‘Mein Kampf,’ ” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 58 (2010), p. 99n25.

58Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 236.

59See Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 144, 147-51.

60See Auerbach, “Hitlers politische Lehrjahre,” p. 8f.; Werner Maser, Die Frühgeschichte der NSDAP: Hitlers Weg bis 1924, Frankfurt am Main and Bonn, 1965, pp. 146-8; Reginald Phelps, “Before Hitler came: Thule Society and Germanen Orden,” in Journal of Modern History, 35 (1963), pp. 245-61; Hermann Gilbhard, Die Thule-Gesellschaft: Vom okkulten Mummenschanz zum Hakenkreuz, Munich, 1994.

61See Dirk Stegmann, “Zwischen Repression und Manipulation: Konservative Machteliten und Arbeiter- und Angestelltenbewegung 1910-1918: Ein Beitrag zur Vorgeschichte der DAP/NSDAP,” in Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, 12 (1972), p. 385ff.; Maser, Frühgeschichte, pp. 142-6.

62From February to August 1919, between 10 and 38 people took part in DAP members’ meetings. See Anton Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Weg begann in München 1913-1923, Munich, 2000, p. 251.

63Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 237f.

64See Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 151f.

65Georg-Franz Willing, Die Hitler-Bewegung: Der Ursprung 1919-1922, Hamburg and Berlin, 1962, p. 66. On the differing records of this remark see Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 643n79.

66Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 241.

67See Fest, Hitler, p. 170. According to a statement by Hans Georg Grassinger, the operational manager of the Münchener Beobachter and one of the founders of the German Socialist Party (DSP), which evolved out of the Thule Society, Hitler offered to work for the DSP and the newspaper in the fall of 1919, but there was no position for him. Testimony by Hans Georg Grassinger, 19 Dec. 1951; IfZ München, ZS 50.

68Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 243. In an article in the Illustrierter Beobachter newspaper on 3 Aug. 1929, Hitler recalled the “unbelievably tiny beginnings” of the movement. Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 2, doc. 62, pp. 336-41 (quote on p. 336).

69Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 244.

70See Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 157.

71See the report by Michael Lotter, secretary of the DAP in the NSDAP-Hauptarchiv, dated 17 Oct. 1941; Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Weg, p. 257 (see p. 258 for a facsimile of the membership card); in addition, A. Drexler in an unsent letter to Hitler from Jan. 1940: Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, pp. 97f.

72Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 390. Over lunch at the Reich Chancellery in December 1936, Hitler told stories “from the first party meetings” for which he himself “typed up and distributed flyers.” Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998-2006, vol. 3/2, pp. 274f. (entry for 3 Dec. 1936).

73Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 390. See the advertisement in the Münchener Beobachter in Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 158f.

74Max Amann’s questioning in Nuremberg on 5 Nov. 1947; Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Weg, p. 264.

75PND report on the DAP meeting of 13 Nov. 1919; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 66a, p. 93. Also in Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc. 14, pp. 205-7.

76Münchener Beobachter, 19 Nov. 1919; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 66b, p. 94.

77See Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, pp. 160-3, 169.

78Report on the DAP meeting of 10 Dec. 1919; Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt,” doc. 16, pp. 209f.; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 69b, pp. 98f.

79PND report on the DAP meeting of 16 Jan. 1919; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 73, p. 105.

80See an outline of the DAP leadership structure of Dec. 1919 in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 68, p. 95; facsimile in Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Weg, p. 266.

81A reprint of the 25-point programme, etc. in Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP, pp. 108-12.

82PND report on the DAP meeting of 24 Feb. 1920; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 83a, p. 110.

83Ibid.; see also Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren, p. 176.

84Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 406. See Hitler’s article on the second anniversary of 24 Feb. 1920 in the Völkischer Beobachter: “When I finally adjourned the meeting at 10:30 p.m., we were not the only ones who had the feeling that a wolf had been born that was destined to attack the herd of seducers and betrayers of the people.” Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 363, p. 584.

85Münchener Neueste Nachrichten, 25 Feb. 1920; quoted in Hans-Günter Richardi, Hitler und seine Hintermänner: Neue Fakten zur Frühgeschichte der NSDAP, Munich, 1991, pp. 116f.; Völkischer Beobachter, 28 Feb. 1920; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 83b, p. 111.

86See the entry in Hitler’s military pay-book; BayHStA München, Nl Adolf Hitler.

5 The King of Munich

1Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 209 (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942); see ibid., p. 147 (dated 30 Nov. 1941): “In hindsight, this was the time of the most beautiful struggle.”

2Ibid., p. 173 (dated 3/4 Jan. 1942).

3Ibid., pp. 209f. (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942).

4See David Clay Large, Where Ghosts Walked: Munich’s Road to the Third Reich, New York and London, 1997, p. 231; Andreas Heusler, Das Braune Haus: Wie München zur “Hauptstadt der Bewegung” wurde, Munich, 2008, pp. 201f.

5On the Kapp Putsch and its consequences see Heinrich August Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933: Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie, Munich, 1993, pp. 122ff.

6See Dirk Walter, Antisemitische Kriminalität und Gewalt: Judenfeindschaft in der Weimarer Republik, Bonn, 1999, pp. 64f.

7Bogislav von Selchow to Escherich, 24 June 1922; BayHStA München, Nl Escherich 47. On “Organisation Consul” and the attacks it carried out, see Martin Sabrow, Der Rathenau-Mord: Rekonstruktion einer Verschwörung gegen die Republik von Weimar, Munich, 1994.

8See Bruno Thoss, Der Ludendorff-Kreis 1919-1923: München als Zentrum der mitteleuropäischen Gegenrevolution, Munich, 1978.

9Large, Where Ghosts Walked, p. 126.

10Der Hitler-Prozess 1924, ed. and annotated by Lothar Gruchmann and Reinhold Weber with Otto Gritschneder, part 2, Munich, 1997, p. 447.

11Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. Vol. 1: Eine Abrechnung, 7th edition, Munich, 1933, p. 403.

12Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 160 (dated 19 March 1942).

13Quoted in Werner Maser, Die Frühgeschichte der NSDAP: Hitlers Weg bis 1924, Frankfurt am Main and Bonn, 1965, p. 256.

14Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 560f.

15See Reginald H. Phelps, “Hitler als Parteiredner im Jahre 1920,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 11 (1963), p. 284. See also Rudolf Hess to Milly Kleinmann, 11 April 1921: “[Hitler] speaks regularly; on Monday evenings to a small private circle, and every eight to fourteen days publicly.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 27. Hitler’s postcard to “Frau Regierungsrat” Dora Lauböck, Rosenheim, from Vienna, undated (Oct. 1920): “Yesterday spoke here for the first time with great success. Today, it’s Leopoldstadt’s turn.” IfZ München, ED 100/86.

16Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 544.

17Hitler to G. Seifert, 27 Oct. 1921; Adolf Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905-1924, ed. Eberhard Jäckel with Axel Kuhn, Stuttgart, 1980, no. 309, p. 509. Figures from Kurt Pätzold and Manfred Weissbecker, Geschichte der NSDAP 1920-1945, Cologne, 1998, pp. 27, 54.

18See Ernst Hanfstaengl, Zwischem Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters, Munich, 1970, pp. 86f.

19John Toland, Adolf Hitler: Volume 1, New York, 1976, p. 112.

20For the typical course of a meeting see Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 37-9; Hanfstaengl’s note “ad A. H., Dez.1922”: “The conclusion culminated in a rallying cry, a slogan. The spoken word as weapon.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25.

21In Marlies Steinert, Hitler, Munich, 1994, p. 125.

22Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 84.

23Ibid., p. 85.

24Ibid., p. 41. See Franz Pfeffer von Salomon’s notes of 19 Aug. 1964. Salomon believed that Hitler’s secret was that he expressed “what was already present deep down, fermenting and boiling and waiting to be put in the right words.” IfZ München, ZS 177. Josef Kopperschmidt also saw the most important factor in Hitler’s success as a mass public speaker as the “rhetorical principle of connection,” i.e. the ability to connect with people’s existing hopes and fears. Josef Kopperschmidt (ed.), Hitler der Redner, Munich, 2003, p. 18.

25Hans Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, pp. 39f. See Dieter Schenk, Hans Frank: Hitlers Kronjurist und Generalgouverneur, Frankfurt am Main, 2006, pp. 48f.

26Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, pp. 100f.

27Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 223, p. 367 (dated 21 April 1921). On 9 January 1922, Hitler concluded a speech at an NSDAP meeting in Munich with the words: “So help me God! Amen.” Ibid., no. 341, p. 544.

28Kurt Lüdecke, I Knew Hitler: The Story of a Nazi who Escaped the Blood Purge, London, 1938, pp. 22f. On Lüdecke see Lothar Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis: Das Doppelleben eines Diktators, Berlin, 2001, pp. 302ff.

29Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 217.

30Karl Alexander von Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt: Erinnerungen. Vol. 3: 1919-1932, ed. Otto Alexander von Müller, Munich, 1966, pp. 144f.

31See Ernst Deuerlein, “Hitlers Eintritt in die Politik und die Reichswehr,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 7 (1959), p. 190; Ludolf Herbst, Hitlers Charisma: Die Erfindung eines deutschen Messias, Frankfurt am Main, 2010, p. 119.

32See the first prototypes of the swastika flag drawn by First Treasurer Rudolph Schüssler in 1920-1 in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2559. See Karl-Heinz Weissmann, Das Hakenkreuz: Symbol eines Jahrhunderts, Schnellrode, 2006.

33See Tilman Allert, Der deutsche Gruss: Geschichte einer unheilvollen Geste, Berlin, 2005.

34See Hellmuth Auerbach, “Hitlers politische Lehrjahre und die Münchner Gesellschaft 1919-1923,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 25 (1977), p. 19. On the early agitation of the NSDAP see also the undated notes by Rudolf Hess (August 1920): “Red has been chosen for good reason. Those workers who have not yet been won over are outraged by the misuse, in their eyes, of their beautiful colour red for ‘reactionary’ purposes.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 27.

35Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 16, p. 127 (dated 24 April 1920), no. 100, p. 131 (dated 11 May 1920), no. 91, p. 119 (dated 6 April 1920).

36Ibid., no. 435, p. 752 (dated 3 Dec. 1922).

37Ibid., no. 185, p. 297 (dated 17 Jan. 1921).

38Ibid., no. 248, p. 411 (dated 24 May 1931). See ibid., no. 377, p. 611 (dated 12 April 1922): November 1918 was “no achievement, but rather the beginning of our collapse.”

39Ibid., no. 96, p. 128 (dated 27 April 1920), no. 120, p. 162 (dated 15 July 1920), no. 405, p. 692 (dated 18 Sept. 1922). Joachim Riecker (Hitlers 9. November: Wie der Erste Weltkrieg zum Holocaust führte, Berlin, 2009, p. 97) sees the agitator’s “unquenchable thirst to avenge and erase [German] defeat in the First World War” as his most important source of motivation. But Riecker’s attempt to draw direct connections from this to the Holocaust is misguided.

40Ibid., no. 93, p. 124.

41See Boris Barth, “Dolchstosslegende und Novemberrevolution,” in Alexander Gallus (ed.), Die vergessene Revolution, Göttingen, 2010, p. 133.

42Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 147, p. 236 (dated 22 Sept. 1920). For the above quotes see ibid., no. 108, p. 143 (dated 11 June 1920), no. 126, p. 169 (dated 1 Aug. 1920), no. 141, p. 225 (dated 5 Sept. 1920). As early as late 1919, Hitler wrote a pamphlet with the polemical title “The Forced Peace of Brest-Litovsk and the Peace of Reconciliation and Understanding of Versailles?” (ibid., no. 72, pp. 101-4), which was widely distributed among soldiers stationed in Munich. See Othmar Plöckinger, Unter Soldaten und Agitatoren: Hitlers prägende Jahre im deutschen Militär 1918-1920, Paderborn, 2013, pp. 166f.

43Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 249, p. 412 (dated 26 May 1921), no. 252, p. 417 (dated 29 May 1921), no. 315, p. 515 (dated 11 Nov. 1921).

44Ibid., no. 224, p. 368 (dated 24 April 1921).

45Ibid., no. 227, p. 374 (dated 3 May 1921).

46Ibid., no. 368, p. 590 (dated 1 March 1922). See ibid., no. 383, p. 638 (dated 5 May 1922): “But Rathenau perpetrated his biggest swindle in Genoa when he tossed Germany’s assets into the Entente’s insatiable maw.”

47See ibid., no. 103, p. 137 (dated 31 May 1920), no. 108, p. 144 (dated 11 June 1920), no. 197, p. 318 (dated 13 Feb. 1921).

48Ibid., no. 252, p. 414 (dated 29 May 1921); no. 264, p. 444 (dated 20 July 1921).

49Ibid., no. 138, p. 212 (dated 25 Aug. 1920).

50Ibid., no. 141, p. 233 (dated 5 Sept. 1920). See ibid., no. 147, p. 234 (dated 22 Sept. 1920), no. 205, p. 336 (dated 6 March 1921), no. 412, p. 708 (dated 25 Oct. 1922).

51Ibid., no. 1239, p. 217 (dated 25 Aug 1920).

52Ibid., no. 129, p. 176 (dated 7 Aug. 1920).

53Ibid., no. 160, pp. 250, 254 (dated 26 Oct. 1920).

54Ibid., no. 140, p. 220 (dated 31 Aug. 1920).

55Ibid., no. 96, p. 127 (dated 27 April 1920), no. 203, p. 333 (dated 6 March 1921).

56Ibid., no. 101, p. 134 (dated 19 May 1920).

57Ibid., no. 96, p. 127 (dated 27 April 1920), no. 187, p. 300 (dated 27 Jan. 1921).

58Ibid., no. 239, p. 394 (dated 15 May 1921).

59Ibid., no. 305, p. 505 (dated 21 Oct. 1921), no. 405, p. 692 (dated 18 Sept. 1922).

60The writer Carl Zuckmayer, who attended a Hitler event in the autumn of 1923, was struck by the “numbing hammering of repeated phrases in a certain contagious rhythm.” Zuckmayer concluded: “This was practiced and skilled, and it possessed a terrifying, primitive, barbaric effectiveness.” Als wär’s ein Stück von mir, Frankfurt am Main, 1966, pp. 384f.

61Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 198.

62See Martin H. Geyer, Verkehrte Welt: Revolution, Inflation und Moderne. München 1914-1924, Göttingen, 1998, pp. 96f.

63See Steinert, Hitler, p. 125.

64Fritz Stern, Kulturpessimismus als politische Gefahr: Eine Analyse nationaler Ideologie, new edition, Stuttgart, 2005, is still the standard on this topic; Kurt Sontheimer, Antidemokratisches Denken in der Weimarer Republik: Die politischen Ideen des deutschen Nationalismus zwischen 1918 und 1933, Munich, 1968 (student’s edition).

65Quoted in Auerbach, Hitlers politische Lehrjahre, p. 26.

66See Reginald H. Phelps, “Hitlers ‘grundlegende’ Rede über den Antisemitismus,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 16 (1968), pp. 390-420 (text of the speech on pp. 400-20). Also reprinted in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 136, pp. 184-204.

67For the source material see Phelps, “Hitlers ‘grundlegende’ Rede,” pp. 395-9. In a letter to Theodor Fritsch on 28 Oct. 1930, Hitler claimed to have “intensively studied the Handbook on the Jewish Question in his early years in Vienna.” Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 4: Von der Reichstagswahl bis zur Reichspräsidentenwahl Oktober 1930-März 1932. Part 1: Oktober 1930-Juni 1931, ed. Constantin Goschler, Munich, 1993, doc. 32, p. 133.

68Cited in Phelps, “Hitlers ‘grundlegende’ Rede,” p. 400.

69Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 273, p. 452 (dated 12 Aug. 1921).

70Ibid., no. 275, p. 458 (dated 19 Aug. 1921).

71Ibid., no. 171, p. 273 (dated 3 Dec. 1920), no. 285, p. 471 (dated 8 Sept. 1921), no. 585 (dated 23 Feb. 1922), no. 223, p. 366 (dated 21 April 1921).

72Heinrich Heim to Fritz von Trützschner, 12 Aug. 1920; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/18. On 3 Nov. 1943, an employee at the NSDAP Archive added the following note: “The letter to Herr von Trützschner was written in 1920 by today’s Ministerial Council Heim (Party Chancellery) and returned as undeliverable. It was given to me unopened by Party Comrade Heim for the Party Archive. The letter contains an extraordinarily interesting characterisation of the Führer and his stance back then on the Jewish question.” On Heinrich Heim’s biography, see Werner Jochmann’s introduction in Monologe, pp. 11f. See also the exchange between Rudolf Hess and Heim in 1936/38 in BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1993/300, Box 7.

73Karl Mayr to Wolfgang Kapp, 24 Sept. 1920; Erwin Könnemann and Gerhard Schulze (eds), Der Kapp-Lüttwitz-Ludendorff-Putsch: Dokumente, Munich, 2002, p. 526. In a letter of 11 Dec. 1920 to the Pan-Germanic leaders Heinrich Class and Ernst Bang, Munich Police President Ernst Pöhner recommended Hitler as “a first-rate organisational and agitating force,” who had become known as “the best speaker of the National Socialist German Workers Party in all of Bavaria.” Quoted in Johannes Leicht, Heinrich Class 1868-1953: Die politische Biographie eines Alldeutschen, Paderborn, 2012, p. 288.

74Klaus Gietinger, Der Konterrevolutionär Waldemar Pabst: Eine deutsche Karriere, Hamburg, 2009, p. 220.

75Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 50. See also the characterisation of Hitler: “A powerful forehead, blue eyes, the entire head like that of a bull and a voice with a wonderful everyday tone as well.” Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 3: Zwischen den Reichtagswahlen Juli 1928-September 1930. Part 2: März 1929-Dezember 1929, ed. Klaus A. Lankheit, Munich, 1994, doc. 62, p. 342.

76Margarete Plewnia, Auf dem Weg zu Hitler: Der “völkische” Publizist Dietrich Eckart, Berlin, 1970, p. 67.

77Transcript of the testimony from 15 Nov. 1923 in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2180. See Hermann Esser’s testimony for Ralph Engelmann, 5 March 1970: “Eckart regarded Hitler as the only man capable of making a popular movement into something huge. He knew exactly that Hitler was the sort of speaker these masses needed.” BayHStA München, Nl Esser.

78Fest, Hitler, p. 196.

79Hitler, Monologe, p. 208 (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942).

80For the acquisition of the Völkischer Beobachter see Drexler’s note from 1940, reprinted in Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, pp. 128f.; transcript of a conversation with Hans Georg Grassinger, the operations manager, on 19 Dec. 1951; IfZ München, ZS 50.

81Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 175, pp. 277f. (dated 18 Dec. 1920).

82Timothy W. Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life, London, 2009, p. 29.

83Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 781.

84Christa Schroeder, Er war mein Chef: Aus dem Nachlass der Sekretärin von Adolf Hitler, ed. Anton Joachimsthaler, 3rd edition, Munich and Vienna, 1985, p. 65. Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 4, p. 51 (entry for 15 March 1937): “The Führer…talked about Dietrich Eckart. What a gentleman!”

85Hitler, Monologe, p. 161 (dated 28/29 Dec. 1941), p. 208 (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942).

86Transcript of a conversation with Mathilde Scheubner-Richter on 9 July 1952; IfZ München, ZS 292. For further information, see also Ernst Piper, Alfred Rosenberg: Hitlers Chefideologe, Munich, 2005, pp. 57ff.; Gerd Koenen, Der Russland-Komplex: Die Deutschen und der Osten 1900-1945, Munich, 2005, pp. 266-8.

87Cited in this order in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 106, p. 140 (dated 6 June 1920), no. 124, p. 166 (dated 27 July 1920), no. 197, p. 319 (dated 13 Feb. 1921), no. 72, p. 451 (dated 4 Aug. 1921), no. 352, p. 560 (dated 30 Jan. 1922).

88Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 264 (dated 14 Sept. 1920), p. 267 (dated 11 April 1921). After the first meeting with the “tribune” he had become “an enthusiastic follower within minutes,” Hess wrote to Ilse Pröhl on 10 July 1924 from Landsberg prison; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33. For Hess’s participation in putting down the Soviet Republic see his letter to his parents, dated 18 May 1919; Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, pp. 240-2; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 21. On his close relationship with Karl Haushofer see Hess’s letters to his parents, dated 19 May 1921 and 8 May 1923; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 27, 31.

89Unpublished memoirs of Gustav Ritter von Kahr, p. 877; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51.

90R. Hess to Kahr, 17 May 1921; Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 32-134 (quote on p. 133).

91See Albrecht Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer”: Der Wandel von Hitlers Selbstverständnis zwischen 1919 und 1924 und die Entwicklung der NSDAP, Munich 1975, pp. 72-89 (on DSP), pp. 95-109 (on the merger of the parties).

92Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 129, pp. 173-9, no. 132, p. 181 (dated 8 Aug. 1920).

93Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer,” p. 100.

94Ibid., p. 99.

95Quoted in ibid., p. 109. In conversation on 31 Oct. 1951, Gerhard Rossbach described his first impression of Hitler with the words: “A pathetic civilian with a badly knotted tie who had nothing but art on his mind and always showed up late. Brilliant speaker with great powers of suggestion.” IfZ München, ZS 128.

96For a summary of the contents, see Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer,” pp. 111-16. Dickel was an adherent of Otto Damaschke’s ideas for land reform and had established a housing project for workers in the moorlands near Augsburg, which he named Dickelsmoor. See Franz Maria Müller, “Wie Hitler Ausburg eroberte. Erlebnisbericht aus der Frühzeit der nationalsozialistischen Bewegung” (undated, post-1945); IfZ München, MS 570.

97Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer,” pp. 119f.

98Ibid., pp. 121f.

99Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 338, p. 539 (dated 5 Jan. 1922). For Hitler’s hatred towards education professionals see Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929-1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 57.

100Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, p. 163.

101Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 262, pp. 436-8 (dated p. 438).

102Quoted in Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer,” p. 128. Committee member Benedict Angermeier resigned in protest over Hitler being named NSDAP party chairman. See the testimony of his sons Paul and Kurt Angermeier, 22 Jan. 1952; IfZ München, ZS 20.

103Reprinted in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 138-40.

104Quoted in Maser, Frühgeschichte, p. 276.

105On the party conference of 29 July 1921 see Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 269, pp. 447-9, no. 270, pp. 449f. NSDAP Vice-Chairman Oskar Körner reported on 4 Aug. 1921 to Gustav Seifert (Hanover): “All existing misunderstandings within the party, which were caused by external elements, have been completely eradicated.” IfZ München, MA 736/141.

106On the party charter of 29 July 1921 see Tyrell, Vom “Trommler” zum “Führer, pp. 132-50.

107Quoted in Maser, Frühgeschichte, p. 280.

108Quoted in ibid., p. 281.

109See Emil Maurice’s affidavit on 16 March 1946; IfZ München, ZS 270. On the creation of the SA see Peter Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone: Geschichte der SA, Munich, 1989, pp. 22-5. The founding proclamation is reprinted in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 144.

110On Röhm see Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, pp. 15-22.

111Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 301, p. 499 (dated 5 Oct. 1921).

112On the violent attacks on Jews in Munich see Walter, Antisemitische Kriminalität, pp. 97ff.

113Hitler, Monologe, pp. 122f. (dated 2 Nov. 1941). See also ibid., p. 146 (dated 30 Nov 1941): “I could only use people who knew how to brawl.”

114See a report on this meeting in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 145f.

115Rudolf Hess to Klara and Fritz Hess dated 7 July 1922; Hess, Briefe, p. 291.

116Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 147.

117Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 563-7 (quote on p. 567). See also the report on the meeting in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 316, pp. 515-17 (dated 12 Nov. 1921).

118Fest, Hitler, p. 211.

119Large, Where Ghosts Walked, p. 144f. See also the Austrian consul general to Munich’s report in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 153f.

120Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 399, p. 679 (dated 16 Aug. 1922). A further demonstration planned for 25 Aug. on Königsplatz was banned. See diaries of G. Feder, vol. 4 (entry for 25 Aug. 1923); IfZ München, ED 874.

121Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 615. See also Hitler, Monologe, pp. 144f (entry for 30 Nov. 1941): “As soon as we were outside, we gave them such a hiding that the street was clear within ten minutes.”

122See the overview provided in Maser, Frühgeschichte, pp. 320f.

123See Auerbach, “Hitlers Lehrjahre,” p. 36; Pätzold and Weissbecker, Geschichte der NSDAP, p. 67; Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 157.

124See Michael H. Kater, “Zur Soziologie der frühen NSDAP,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 19 (1971), pp. 124-59 (these figures on p. 139).

125See Heusler, Das Braune Haus, p. 120.

126Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 116, p. 156 (dated 3 June 1920). See also Tischgespräche, p. 204 (dated 8 April 1942): “The entire initial years of the time of struggle were aimed at winning over workers for the NSDAP.”

127Notes by Rudolf Hess, “Der Nationalsozialismus in München” (undated, 1922); BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 6/71.

128From the transcript of the Reicherts’ daughter Antonie Reichert’s questioning on 20 June and 9 Sept. 1952; IfZ München 287; see Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 53.

129See Toland, Adolf Hitler: Volume 1, p. 142f. (based on Helene Hanfstaengl’s recollections).

130See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 42f.; David G. Maxwell, “Ernst Hanfstaengl—Des ‘Führers’ Klavierspieler,” in Ronald Smelser, Enrico Syring and Rainer Zitelmann (eds), Die braune Elite II: 21 weitere biographische Skizzen, Darmstadt, 1993, pp. 137-49. Peter Conradi’s biography, Hitlers Klavierspieler: Ernst Hanfstaengl—Vertrauter Hitlers, Verbündeter Roosevelts, Frankfurt am Main, 2007, is little more than a paraphrasing of Hanfstaengl’s memoirs.

131Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 52.

132Ibid., pp. 52f. For further books in Hitler’s library at the Thierschstrasse residence, among them Einhart’s German History (the pseudonym of Pan-German Heinrich Class), see Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library, pp. 49-51. Antonie Reichert said that Hitler owned “a lot of architectural literature” as well as a gramophone and a collection of Richard Wagner records; IfZ München, ZS 287.

133Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 55

134Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 188, p. 303 (dated 27 Jan. 1921). See also Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 109; Maser, Frühgeschichte, pp. 282-4. Less enlightening is Wulf C. Schwarzwäller, Hitlers Geld: Vom armen Kunstmaler zum millionenschweren Führer, Vienna, 1998, pp. 32f.

135On 12 April 1923, during the period of hyper-inflation, the Willi Bruss Bank in Berlin transferred to Hitler’s account a “donation in support of your anti-Semitic efforts” of 200,000 reichsmarks. BA Koblenz, N 112 8/7. See also documents concerning further donations in 1923. The chairman of the Pan-Germanic League, Heinrich Class, gave 3,000 marks in August 1920 and also supported Hitler financially in the years that followed. See Leicht, Heinrich Class, pp. 286f.

136Handwritten letter from Hermine Hoffmann to Hitler; BA Koblenz, N 1128/5. On 11 July 1938, Hermine Hoffmann’s 81st birthday, Hitler visited her in Solln, bringing flowers and liqueur. See the daily notes of SS Untersturmführer Max Wünsche, 11 July 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/125. See also Hitler, Monologe, p. 315, dated 10/11 March 1942): “Of all my maternal friends, only old Mrs. Hoffmann was unfailingly solicitous.” On Hitler’s relationship with Hermine Hoffmann, see also Martha Schad: “Above all, his eyes are extraordinarily compelling.” “Freundinnen und Verehrerinnen,” in, Ulrike Leutheusser (ed.), Hitler und die Frauen, Munich, 2003, pp. 30-2; Anton Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste: Ein Dokument persönlicher Beziehungen, Munich, 2003, pp. 130-5.

137Hitler’s postcards to Dora and Theodor Lauböck in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1242 and IfZ München, ED 100/86. Also reprinted in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 152, p. 248, no. 156, p. 246, no. 304, p. 503, no. 373, p. 598. The Lauböcks also maintained a relationship with Hitler’s sister, Paula. See the undated postcard from Dora Lauböck to Hitler with a handwritten postscript from Paula Hitler; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1242. On Christmas 1922 see the entry in the guest book; IfZ München ED 100/86; also in Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, p. 219. On Fritz Lauböck’s employment as Hitler’s private secretary see his records on incoming and outgoing letters between May and the end of Oct. 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/29. On 17 April 1937 Fritz and Dora Lauböck gave their collected documents and papers to the Hauptarchiv der NSDAP; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1242.

138See for example the payment reminder from the Munich printers M. Müller & Sohn to the Völkischer Beobachter, Franz Eher Nachf., 22 May 1923. According to it, the newspaper’s account was 73 million marks in the red and had therefore exceeded its credit of 30 million by 43 million marks. That very day, the business director of the Beobachter, Josef Pickl, asked Hitler for help in raising a large sum of money to pay off its debts. BA Koblenz, N 1128/6 and N 1128/8.

139See Gottfried Grandel to Hitler, 27 Oct. 1920 (on the financial situation of the Völkischer Beobachter); BA Koblenz, N 1128/2; Franz Maria Müller, “Wie Hitler Augsburg eroberte” (undated, post-1945); IfZ München, MS 570.

140Emil Gansser to Karl Burhenne, 8 March 1922, with enclosed note on the Hitler movement; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1223.

141See the invitation to Hitler’s talk dated 26 May 1922 from E. Gansser; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1223. For the content of the talk see Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen no. 387, pp. 642f. See also Wilhelm Weicher’s recollections, “Wie ich Adolf Hitler kennenlernte,” in Der Türmer 36 (April 1934): “A lot of prophets stood up to speak in those heady days. I heard most of them, but none captivated me as much as Adolf Hitler.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1223; Hanfstaengl’s note on a telephone call with Emil Gansser in the spring of 1923; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25. On Hitler’s entrance see Henry A. Turner, Die Grossunternehmer und der Aufstieg Hitlers, Berlin, 1986, p. 68f.

142See ibid., pp. 70f; on Richard Franck see Hitler, Monologe, p. 208 (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942), p. 257 (dated 3 Feb. 1942).

143Quoted in Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, p. 75. On Hitler’s trip to Switzerland in the summer of 1923 see Raffael Scheck, “Swiss Funding for the Early Nazi Movement,” in Journal of Modern History, 91 (1999), pp. 793-813; Alexis Schwarzenbach, “Zur Lage in Deutschland: Hitlers Zürcher Rede vom 30 Aug. 1923,” in Traverse 2006/1, pp. 178-89. On Rudolf Hess’s stay in Switzerland in the spring of 1922 see his letters to Ilse Pröhl, dated 17 March and 4 April 1922; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 29. In Oct. 1922 Hess and Dietrich Eckart accepted an invitation to the Willeses’ country house near Zurich; Hess to Ilse Pröhl, 31 Oct. 1922; ibid. Hitler only told Hess of his own journey to Switzerland when they were imprisoned together at Landsberg: “It was a pleasure to hear him talk so excitedly of his impressions of his first journey outside Germany and Austria.” Hess to Ilse Pröhl, 18 May 1924; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33. Hitler’s passport, issued on 13 Aug. 1923, stamped with the date of entry into Switzerland of 26 Aug. 1923; BayHStA München, Nl Adolf Hitler. In his communications with Ralph Engelmann of 5 March 1970, Hermann Esser confirmed that Emil Gansser had established connection to Switzerland; BayHStA München, Nl Esser.

144Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 32; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47. See also Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 99: “Like a will-o’-wisp, he appears first here, then there, only to disappear a moment later.”

145Gottfried Feder to “my dear Herr Hitler,” 10 Aug. 1923 (which ended: “With a heartfelt greeting of Heil and in full confidence”); IfZ München, ED 100/86.

146Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 44.

147Large, Where Ghosts Walked, p. 154. See Markus Schiefer, “Vom ‘Blauen Bock’ in die Residenz—Christian Weber,” in Marita Krauss (ed.), Rechte Karrieren in München: Von der Weimarer Zeit bis in die Nachkriegsjahre, Munich, 2010, pp. 152-65 (particularly pp. 155f.).

148Martin Broszat, Der Staat Hitlers: Grundlegung und Entwicklung seiner inneren Verfassung, Munich, 1969, p. 66. See Hanfstaengl’s note “A. H.—Stammcafé Heck”; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 26.

149Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 88.

150Quoted in Auerbach, “Hitlers politische Lehrjahre,” p. 35. See the transcript of an interrogation of Göring on 20 July 1945, who claimed that Hitler had particularly welcomed him “since he always wanted to have a young officer respected throughout the nation in the ranks of the movement.” IfZ München, ZS 428. For Göring’s biography see Alfred Kube, Pour le mérite und Hakenkreuz: Hermann Göring im Dritten Reich, Munich, 1986, pp. 4-8.

151See Hamann, Winifred Wagner, pp. 73f.; Large, Where Ghosts Walked, p. 151f; Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 48f.; Schad, “Freundinnen und Verehrerinnen,” pp. 38-43; Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 68-71.

152Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt, p. 129. See also the recording by Karl Alexander von Müller “Meine Beziehungen zur NSDAP” (undated, post-1945); BayHStA München, Nl K. A. v. Müller 7. Among those who attended the Munich historian’s lectures in 1922-3 were Göring, Hess and Ernst Hanfstaengl.

153See Wolfgang Martynkewicz, Salon Deutschland: Geist und Macht 1900-1945, Berlin, 2009; Miriam Käfer, “Hitlers frühe Förderer aus dem Grossbürgertum: Das Verlegerehepaar Elsa und Hugo Bruckmann,” in Krauss (ed.), Rechte Karrieren in München, pp. 72-9. On Elsa Bruckmann’s anti-Semitic views see her letter to Karl Alexander von Müller dated 20 March 1929, in which she denigrated the German Cultural Association as a “culturally Jewified” antithesis of the ethnic-chauvinistic Fighting Association for German Culture. BayHStA München, Nl K. A. v. Müller 246.

154See Martynkewicz, Salon Deutschland, pp. 382, 387, 408.

155Herbst 1941 im “Führerhauptquartier”: Berichte Werner Koeppens an seinen Minister Rosenberg, ed. and annotated Martin Vogt, Koblenz, 2002, p. 1 (dated 6 Sept. 1941). See also the telegram from Hitler offering condolences to Elsa Bruckmann; BSB München, Bruckmanniana Suppl. Box 4; quoted in Käfer, “Frühe Förderer,” p. 74.

156Fest, Hitler, p. 197.

157Hitler told his secretary Christa Schroeder that he often felt like “an ape in a zoo”; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 69.

158Hamann, Winifred Wagner, pp. 83f.; see also Hitler, Monologe, p. 224 (dated 24/25 Jan. 1942): “When I entered Wahnfried for the first, I was so moved!”

159Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 85.

160H. St. Chamberlain to Hitler, Bayreuth, 7 Oct. 1923; the dictated letter signed by Chamberlain in BA Koblenz, N 1128/16. See Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 82.

161Hess, Briefe, p. 275 (entry for 3 July 1921).

162Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 36, 86f.

163Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis, p. 146. See Albert Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten der NSDAP: Erinnerungen aus der Frühzeit der Partei, Stuttgart, 1959, p. 133, who emphasises Hitler’s ability to “adapt himself to various people and groups.”

164Tischgespräche, p. 181 (dated 3 April 1942). See also Hitler, Monologe, pp. 204f. (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942): “No pictures of me existed. Those who didn’t know me had no idea what I looked like.”

165See Rudolf Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler: Fotografie als Medium des Führer-Mythos, Munich, 1994, pp. 92f. (on p. 93 see a reproduction of the page from Simplizissimus); Claudia Schmölders, Hitlers Gesicht: Eine physiognomische Biographie, Munich, 2000, pp. 46-8, 54.

166On the incident see Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 74f.; Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler, pp. 93f.; Pahl’s account in Thomas Friedrich, Die missbrauchte Hauptstadt: Hitler und Berlin, Berlin, 2007, p. 61.

167Quoted in Friedrich, Die missbrauchte Hauptstadt, p. 62. See also Das Hitler-Bild: Die Erinnerungen des Fotografen Heinrich Hoffmann, ed. Joe J. Heydecker, St. Pölten and Salzburg, 2008, pp. 27-36 (“Mein Kampf um das erste Hitler-Bild”).

168On Heinrich Hoffmann’s biography see Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler, pp. 26-34; Heike B. Görtemaker, Eva Braun: Leben mit Hitler, Munich, 2010, pp. 15f.; Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah: Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotographen, Munich and Berlin, 1974, pp. 7-17 (foreword by Henriette Hoffmann).

169Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 7: 1919-1923, ed. Angela Reinthal with Janna Brechmacher and Christoph Hilse, Stuttgart, 2007, p. 567 (entry for 29 Oct. 1922) On the legendary “March on Rome” see Hans Woller, Geschichte Italiens im 20. Jahrhundert, Munich, 2010, pp. 92f.

170Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 419, p. 726, no. 422, p. 728. See also Monologe, p. 43 (dated 21/22 July 1941): “The March on Rome in 1922 was a turning point of history. The mere fact that they were able to do that gave us a powerful boost.”

171Quoted in Maser, Frühgeschichte, p. 356. See Herbst, Hitlers Charisma, p. 144. On 18 Sept. 1923 the Berliner Dienst concluded that in a comparison between Hitler and Mussolini “the German Mussolini was no copy of the Italian, unable to stand on his own two feet.” BA Koblenz, N 1128/12.

172See Ludolf Herbst, Hitlers Charisma: Die Erfindung eines deutschen Messias, Frankfurt am Main, 2010, p. 139; Auerbach, “Hitlers politische Lehrjahre,” p. 24; Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 182f.

173R. Hess to K. A. v. Müller, 23 Feb. 1923; BayHStA München, Nl. K. A. v. Müller 19/1. The letter also contained an invitation to attend Hitler’s speech to university students in the Löwenbräukeller on 26 Feb. The manuscript of the prize-winning essay, which Hess claimed had been written “a couple of hours before the deadline,” is reprinted in Bruno Hipler, Hitlers Lehrmeister: Karl Haushofer als Vater der NS-Ideologie, St. Ottilien, 1996, pp. 221-6 (quotations on pp. 222, 225). See also Hess’s description of Hitler’s appearance in Zirkus Krone, which emphasised his “unbending, iron-hard dictator’s skull.” “Der Nationalsozialismus in München” (undated, 1922); BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 6/71.

174Quoted in Plewnia, Auf dem Weg zu Hitler, p. 90.

175These and other congratulatory letters and telegrams to Hitler in BA Koblenz, N 1128/7. Even among respectable middle-class audiences in Munich’s Hofgarten, Hanfstaengl observed “a certain aggressive admiration for the events south of the Alps, the élan of Mussolini’s fascist movement and the new Italy.” Hanfstaengl recorded statements like: “Indeed, we need someone like that at the top—a Renaissance man and a power politician, someone without scruples.” “Der Ruf nach dem Borgia Typ”; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25.

176On Max Weber’s concept of charismatic leadership, see the penetrating analysis in Herbst, Hitlers Charisma, pp. 11-57.

177See ibid., especially pp. 137ff.

178See Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte 1914-1949, Munich, 2003, pp. 559-61. On the origins of the Führer cult also see Ian Kershaw, The Hitler Myth: Image and Reality in the Third Reich, Oxford, 1987, pp. 21-31.

179Max Maurenbrecher, “Adolf Hitler,” in Deutsche Zeitung, 10 Nov. 1923; reprinted in Joachim Petzold, “Class und Hitler: Über die Förderung der frühen Nazibewegung durch den Alldeutschen Verband und dessen Einfluß auf die nazistische Ideologie,” in Jahrbuch für Geschichte 21 (1980), pp. 284f. Further, see André Schlüter, Moeller van den Bruck: Leben und Werk, Cologne, Weimar and Vienna, 2010, p. 299n80. In his speech to the Nationale Klub 1919 in Berlin on 29 May 1922, Hitler stressed that he “considered himself to be only the drummer for the movement of national liberation.” Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 387, p. 643.

180Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 436, p. 754 (dated 4 Dec. 1922).

181Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler, pp. 99f. (on pp. 98f. see the first three photographs). See also Hanns Hubert Hofmann, Der Hitler-Putsch: Krisenjahre deutscher Geschichte 1920-1924, Munich, 1961, p. 74, who emphasises that even before 1923 Hitler had already begun to “feel his way around in the role of messiah.”

182Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 139.

183Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 63; Richard Wagner, Lohengrin, ed. Egon Voss, Stuttgart, 2001, p. 21. See Hanfstaengl’s note: “You couldn’t find out anything about his previous life: the official hour of his birth was the outbreak of the world war in 1914, about which he never tired of talking.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25.

184Hitler to an unknown “Herr Doktor,” 29 Nov. 1921; original with Hitler’s handwritten corrections in BA Koblenz, N 1128/24; reprinted in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 325, pp. 525-7. See Othmar Plöckinger, “Frühe biographische Texte zu Hitler: Zur Bewertung der autobiographischen Texte in Mein Kampf,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 58 (2010), pp. 95f.

185Kölnische Zeitung, 8 Nov. 1922: “Ein Abend bei Adolf Hitler”; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1223.

186Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt, p. 145.

187Margarete Vollerthun to Hitler, 27 Feb. 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/5.

188Detlev Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany: Wahrnehmungen und Deutungen des Nationalsozialismus in Grossbritannien 1920 bis 1939, Göttingen and Zurich, 1996, pp. 46f., 54, 60. For the American perspective see Sander A. Diamond, Herr Hitler: Amerikas Diplomaten, Washington und der Untergang Weimars, Düsseldorf, 1985, pp. 53f.; report by Truman Smith, military attaché to the U.S. embassy, of 25 Nov. 1922; copy in BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25.

189Wartime comrade Wackerl, Munich, to Hitler, 19 April 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/7.

6 Putsch and Prosecution

1Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 171 (dated 3/4 Jan. 1942).

2Cited in David Clay Large, Where Ghosts Walked: Munich’s Road to the Third Reich, New York and London, 1997, p. 189. See also the “obituary” for the NSDAP in the Frankfurter Zeitung from 10 Nov. 1923 in Philipp W. Fabry, Mutmassungen über Hitler: Urteile von Zeitgenossen, Königstein im Taunus, 1979, p. 25. “If ridiculousness were fatal, Hitler would be long dead,” wrote the Vossische Zeitung on 9 Nov. 1931; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/87.

3See Ludolf Herbst, Hitlers Charisma: Die Erfindung eines deutschen Messias, Frankfurt am Main, 2010, pp. 212f. See also Sabine Behrenbeck, Der Kult um die toten Helden: Nationalsozialistische Mythen, Riten und Symbole 1923 bis 1945, Vierow bei Greifswald, 1996, p. 299ff.

4G. Escherich to Herrn Elvers, 28 March 1923; BayHStA München, Nl Escherich 47. For context see Heinrich August Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933: Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie, Munich, 1993, pp. 188ff.

5Adolf Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905-1924, ed. Eberhard Jäckel with Axel Kuhn, Stuttgart, 1980, no. 456, pp. 781, 783, 784. See ibid., no. 460, p. 792; no. 463, pp. 800f.

6Sebastian Haffner, Geschichte eines Deutschen: Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933, Stuttgart and Munich, 2000, p. 61. See also Martin H. Geyer, Verkehrte Welt: Revolution, Inflation und Moderne. München 1914-1924, Göttingen, 1998, pp. 382ff.

7See Ulrich Linse, Barfüssige Propheten: Erlöser der zwanziger Jahre, Berlin, 1983.

8Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Hitler-Putsch: Bayerische Dokumente zum 8./9. November 1923, Stuttgart, 1962, doc. 3, p. 164 (dated 8 Sept. 1923).

9Notes by Rudolf Hess, entitled “The party above all parties,” early 1923; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 31. Transcript of a conversation with Maria Endres on 11 Dec. 1951; IfZ München, ZS 33. For figures see Kurt Pätzold and Manfred Weissbecker, Geschichte der NSDAP 1920-1945, Cologne, 1998, p. 72. The circulation of the Völkischer Beobachter mirrored the number of party members. It increased from c.13,000 in January 1923 to 24,000 in July 1923. See the statistics compiled by Lauböck Sr, in BA Koblenz, N 1128/19.

10Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 7: 1919-1923, ed. Angela Reinthal with Janna Brechmacher and Christoph Hilse, Stuttgart, 2007, p. 570 (entry for 9 Nov. 1922).

11Quoted in Large, Where Ghosts Walked, pp. 161.

12Quotation in in Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, pp. 160f.

13Lawyer and NSDAP member Dr. Richard Dingeldey’s records of the conversation between Nortz and Hitler on 29 Jan. 1923; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/385. See also Interior Minister Dr. Schweyer to the Munich Police Directorship, 24 Jan. 1923; ibid.

14Report by Police President Nortz to the public prosecutor at the Munich District Court I with reference to Adolf Hitler, 9 Feb. 1923; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/385. On the discussion between Hitler and Kahr see unpublished memoirs of Gustav Ritter von Kahr, p. 1174; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51. According to Kahr, Hitler declared: “I’m not that stupid to destroy the work I’ve done this far with an attempted putsch. I give you my word of honour that I’m not contemplating a putsch.”

15Karl Alexander von Müller heard the conversations in the Löwenbräukeller and made notes that same night. Shorthand notes and photocopy in BayHStA München, Nl. K. A. v. Müller 19/1. See also Karl Alexander von Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt: Erinnerungen. Vol. 3: 1919-1932, ed. Otto Alexander von Müller, Munich, 1966, pp. 145f.; in addition see the meeting reports in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, nos. 467-478, pp. 805-18. The enormous red placard that invited people to the twelve gatherings in BA Koblenz, N 1128/28.

16Wolfgang Benz, Politik in Bayern 1913-1933: Berichte des württembergischen Gesandten Karl Moser von Filseck, Stuttgart, 1971, pp. 120f. See also Vorwärts, 28 Jan. 1923: “Hitler diktiert—Schweyer pariert”; and Frankfurter Zeitung, 31 Jan. 1923: “Der Held Hitler”; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/386.

17Der Hitler-Prozess 1924, ed. and annotated by Lothar Gruchmann and Reinhold Weber in collaboration with Otto Gritschneder, part 2, Munich, 1997, p. 738.

18Memorandum on the purpose and task of the Working Association of Patriotic Fighting Organisations (with handwritten amendments by Hitler), 19 April 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/4. Reprinted in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 515, pp. 902-5 (quote on p. 905). On the above see Peter Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone: Geschichte der SA, Munich, 1989, pp. 33f.

19Josef Karl Fischer to Escherich, 15 April 1923; BayHStA München, Nl Escherich 47.

20Quotes in the following, respectively: bookshop owner Hans Goltz to Hitler, 2 May 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/8; Dr. Paula Wack to Hitler, 29 April 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/7; “A true supporter” to Hitler, 4 Nov. 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/14. On the attacks in the autumn of 1923 see Dirk Walter, Antisemitische Kriminalität und Gewalt: Judenfeindschaft in der Weimarer Republik, Bonn, 1999, pp. 115-19.

21Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 520, p. 913 (dated 26 April 1923); no. 522, p. 917 (dated 30 April 1923). See also the order issued to the leaders of the fighting associations on 30 April 1923, which stipulated: “Army weapons will be taken along as a form of self-defence in case of emergency.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/104. Rudolf Hess told his parents on 8 May 1923: “The fact that we suddenly have weapons is coming to many as a complete shock.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 31.

22Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 170-3 (quote on p. 171). See also the final report on the events by the Munich Police Directorship (police commando) from 30 April and 1 May 1923, and also the letter from Police President Nortz to Public Prosecutor Dresse with reference to the 1 May 1923 attacks, 23 May 1923; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/104.

23Hitler, Monologe, p. 250 (dated 1 Feb. 1942). In his memoirs (p. 1183), Gustav von Kahr remarked that “after this embarrassment—for a time at least—Hitler became entirely meek and mild.” BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51.

24Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 523, p. 918 (dated 1 May 1923).

25Escherich’s diary for 22 Feb. and 1 May 1923; BayHStA München, Nl Escherich 10. “Escherich und der Nationalsozialismus,” interview with the Allgäuer Zeitung dated 10 May 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/3. In an enraged letter to Escherich, Göring protested in the name of all military officers in the NSDAP against being called “desperados.” Ibid.

26Quoted in Large, Where Ghosts Walked, p. 170.

27Lothar Gruchmann, “Hitlers Denkschrift an die bayerische Justiz vom 16. Mai 1923: Ein verloren geglaubtes Dokument,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 39 (1991), pp. 305-28 (Hitler’s memorandum pp. 323-8). On Gürtner’s appointment to Bavarian minister of justice see BA Koblenz, N 1530/20.

28Hitler, Monologe, p. 204 (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942); see ibid., p. 207: “Yes, I am deeply connected to this mountain.” On Hitler’s time on the Obersalzberg in 1923, see the Munich police transcript of Dietrich Eckart’s interrogation on 15 Nov. 1923; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2180: Ulrich Chaussy, Nachbar Hitler: Führerkult und Heimatzerstörung am Obersalzberg, 6th revised and extended edition, Berlin, 2007, pp. 27ff.

29Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 299 (dated 15 July 1923).

30Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 247.

31Hess, Briefe, p. 299 (dated 15 July 1923). See also Hitler’s letter to Walter Riehl, the National Socialist leader in Vienna, of 5 July 1923, in which the former writes of “being interrupted two or three times a week to hold lectures.” Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 543, p. 943. By contrast, in a letter to Hitler dated 28 Aug. 1923, Emil Maurice expressed concern “that something isn’t right here…You’ve been conspicuously quiet recently—the opposite of the way you used to live.” Quoted in Anna Maria Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund: Adolf Hitler, seine Nichte Geli Raubal und der “Ehrenarier” Emil Maurice—Eine Dreiecksbeziehung, Munich, 2003, p. 47.

32Sebastian Haffner, Geschichte eines Deutschen: Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933, Stuttgart, 2000, p. 63. See also Eugeni Xammar, Das Schlangenei: Berichte aus dem Deutschland der Inflationsjahre 1922-1924, Berlin, 2007, pp. 122f. (dated 19 Oct. 1923). Escherich’s recollections of the months from June to October 1923 provide an insightful look at how the German currency and the German economy plummeted; BayHStA München, Nl Escherich 10.

33Quoted in Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, p. 38; Harold J. Gordon, Hitlerputsch 1923: Machtkampf in Bayern 1923-1924, Frankfurt am Main, 1971, p. 219.

34See Winkler, Weimar, pp. 202-10.

35Deuerlein, Der Hitler-Putsch, no. 6, p. 170.

36Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, pp. 37, 266. See Kahr, memoirs, p. 1009: according to this source, Ludendorff had been actively and eagerly cooperating with Hitler since 1922; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51. According to the testimony of Karl Kriebel on 17 June 1952, his brother Hermann Kriebel served “as a middleman between Hitler and Ludendorff on numerous occasions.” IfZ München, ZS 256. Hess first told his parents about his contact with Ludendorff in a letter dated 22 Sep. 1920; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 25.

37Quoted in Gordon, Hitlerputsch 1923, pp. 193f. On the founding of the Patriotic Fighting Association see the letters by former Captain Weiss from 17 Sept. 1923; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/3. In addition see the diaries of G. Feder, vol. 5 (entry for 25 Sept. 1923); IfZ München, ED 874.

38Der Hitler-Prozess, Part 1, p. 190.

39BA Koblenz, N 1128/2. The quoted letters to Hitler, along with many others from the autumn of 1923 are collected in BA Koblenz, N 1128/12, N 1128/13, N 1128/14, N 1128/15: BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1, NS 26/2, NS 26/2a, NS 26/3.

40Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 566, pp. 1002, 1004.

41Hess, Briefe, pp. 303f. (dated 16 Sept. 1923). See Rudolf Olden, Hitler, Amsterdam, 1935; new edition, Hildesheim, 1981, p. 88: “Sooner or later, the moment comes when the speaker is overcome with spirit, and something unknown and undefinable bursts out of him, sobbing, screaming and gurgling.”

42Ibid., p. 304 (dated 16 Sept. 1923).

43Hitler to Kahr, 27 Sept. 1923; Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 573, p. 1017.

44Ibid., no. 581, pp. 1028f. (dated 7 Oct. 1923); no. 583, pp. 1932, 1034 (dated 14 Oct. 1923). In conversation with the head of the Bavarian crown prince’s cabinet, Count von Soden, on 26 Sept. 1923, Scheubner-Richter also declared: “There is no enthusiasm within the fighting associations for Herr von Kahr since he is a man of half-measures.” Kahr, memoirs, p. 1252; BayHStA München, Nl. Kahr 51.

45See Gordon, Hitlerputsch 1923, pp. 206-9. In his diary, Franz Ritter von Epp expressed his outrage at the “thunderbolt” Seeckt hurled at Lossow: “The entire grit this government lacks towards the outside, it tries to display towards its own people…Cowardly and craven without, brutal within.” Political diary of Ritter von Epp, vol. 1 (entry for 20 Oct. 1923); BA Koblenz, N 1101/22.

46See Kahr, memoirs, pp. 1293ff. (“The longing for a directory for the Reich”); BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51. On the autumn 1923 plans to form a “directory” see Walter Mühlhausen, Friedrich Ebert 1871-1925: Reichspräsident der Weimarer Republik, Bonn, 2006, pp. 681ff.

47Der Hitler-Prozess, part 3, p. 788.

48Deuerlein, Der Hitler-Putsch, doc. 16, pp. 186f.

49Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 589, p. 1043 (dated 23 Oct. 1923); no. 592, pp. 1049f. (dated 30 Oct. 1923). See Rudolf Hess to Karl Haushofer, 6 Oct. 1923: “The convalescence of the whole must proceed from Bavaria outwards; the Bavarians as the most German of Germans.” BA Koblenz, N 1122/15.

50Der Hitler-Prozess, part 4, p. 1587. See also ibid., part 3, p. 1199: “A man who is capable of something has the goddamned duty and responsibility to see it through.”

51Ibid., part 3, p. 659 (Seisser statement).

52Quoted in Gordon, Hitlerputsch 1923, p. 231.

53Seisser’s report on the meeting in Berlin, 3 Nov. 1923; Deuerlein, Der Hitler-Putsch, doc. 79, pp. 301-4 (quotation on p. 303). Escherich also noted in Berlin on 3 Nov. 1923: “The general view is that a national dictatorship will have to follow in the next few days. Hopefully this will be possible by legal means.” BayHStA München, Nl Escherich 10. On 11 March 1923, at the behest of Lossow, Hitler had met with Seeckt. After Hitler had held a one-and-a-half-hour monologue about his plans to topple the government in Berlin, it ended with Seeckt abruptly remarking: “From this day forth, Mr. Hitler, we have nothing more to say to each other.” Report written down from memory by Seeckt’s assistant, Colonel Hans Harald von Selchow, on 15 Oct. 1956; IfZ München, ZS 1900.

54Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 78 (Friedrich Weber’s statement on Bund Oberland); part 2, p. 772 (Lossow’s statement).

55Ibid., part 1, p. 44. See also Rudolf Hess’s records from 9 April 1924, stating that Hitler had “the definite impression” that the triumvirate would “always shy back from taking the final step” and that “it would never be taken, if he himself didn’t act.” Hess, Briefe, p. 318.

56Fritz Lauböck to Otto Weber (Lübeck), 28 Sept. 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/1. On the rumours about the reinstatement of the Bavarian monarchy see Adolf Schmalix to Christian Weber, 20 Sept. 1937; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1267.

57Ernst Hanfstaengl, Zwischem Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters, Munich, 1970, p. 120.

58Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 212.

59Heinrich Hoffmann and Dietrich Eckart, for instance, were not informed. Both only learned of the “national revolution” in the Bürgerbräukeller on the night of 9 Nov. See Heinrich Hoffmann’s manuscript for the court proceedungs of January 1947, pp. 10f.; IfZ München, MS 2049; transcript of Dietrich Eckart’s questioning on 15 Nov. 1923; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2180.

60Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 114 (Pöhner’s statement).

61Hess, Briefe, p. 310 (dated 16 Nov./4 Dec. 1923). During the preceding weeks Hess spent most of his time with his mother in Reicholdsgrün, studying economics. His former “mood of storm and stress” was “quite muted,” he wrote in a letter to his friend Professor Karl Haushofer in mid-September 1923. It felt good, he wrote, to “relax from all the external agitation.” In early October, he said that he had no intention of returning to Munich, writing, “I’m waiting to be summoned.” R. Hess to K. Haushofer, 13 Sept., 6 Oct. 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1122/15. See also Hess to Ilse Pröhl, 27 Sep., 1 Oct., 24 Oct. 1923; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 31. Accordung to these letters, Hess travelled to Munich “at the last moment,” at the end of October.

62Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 129. Gottfried Feder also first received the order to be at the Bürgerbräukeller at 9 p.m. on 8 Nov. Notes on “November 1923,” in G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 5; IfZ München, ED 874.

63Hofmann, Der Hitler-Putsch, p. 160.

64Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, p. 156.

65See Hess, Briefe, p. 311 (dated 16 Nov./4 Dec. 1923).

66Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 50.

67Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt, p. 161. See Kahr, memoirs, p. 1353; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51.

68Indictment from 8 Jan. 1924; Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 309.

69Kahr, memoirs, pp. 1354f.; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51. See Der Hitler-Prozess, part 2, p. 749 (Lossow’s statement).

70Quotes from, respectively, Der Hitler-Prozess, part 3, p.795 (Kahr’s statement); part 1, p. 51 (Hitler’s statement), p. 310 (indictment); part 2, p. 750 (Lossow’s statement); part 1, p. 310 (indictment), p. 115 (Pöhner’s statement), p. 310 (indictment). See Kahr, memoirs, pp. 1355f.; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51.

71Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt, p. 162.

72On Göring’s entrance see Der Hitler-Prozess, part 2, pp. 597, 620, 631, 634.

73Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt, pp. 162f.; Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 311 (indictment).

74Kahr, memoirs, pp. 1345f.; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51. In Munich in the spring of 1924, rumours swirled that Ludendorff had summoned his old confidant from the world war, Colonel Max Bauer, to the city on 8 Nov. 1923, but Bauer had refused to come and warned Ludendorff against the planned undertaking. As rumour had it, a letter to that effect had been confiscated when authorities had searched Ludendorff’s home, but prosecutors had decided not to use it. Political diary of Ritter von Epp, vol. 1 (entry for 27 April 1924); BA Koblenz, N 1101/22.

75Quotes from, respectively, Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 311 (indictment); part 3, p. 796 (Kahr’s statement); part 1, p. 53 (Hitler’s statement). See Kahr, memoirs, pp. 1357f; Bay HstA München, Nl Kahr 51.

76Quotes from, respectively, Der Hitler-Prozess, part 3, p. 797 (Kahr’s statement); Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt, p. 164; Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, pp. 311f. (indictment); Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt, p. 164; Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 312 (indictment). See Kahr, memoirs, pp. 1359f.; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51

77Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 53.

78See Hofmann, Der Hitler-Putsch, p. 169; Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 279: Ludendorff said that he had been unable to believe “that the gentlemen would go back on their word.” According to testimony by Mathilde Scheubner-Richter on 9 July 1952, Ludendorff visited her two days after the failed putsch and cried like a small child, saying: “Noble lady, it is the end of Germany, if German officers break their word to another German officer.” IfZ München, ZS 292.

79See Peter Longerich, Heinrich Himmler: Biographie, Munich, 2008, pp. 76f.

80Der Hitler-Prozess, part 2, p. 756 (Lossow’s statement).

81Ibid., p. 757; see Kahr, memoirs, pp. 1367f.; BayHStA München, Nl. Kahr 51.

82Text in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 597, p. 1056.

83Der Hitler-Prozess, part 3, p. 873 (Seisser’s statement).

84Der Hitler-Prozess, part 2, pp. 662f. (retired Major Alexander Siry’s statement).

85See the report by the Spanish journalist Eugeni Xammar, who was present in the Bürgerbräukeller on 8 Nov.: “Der Putsch als Spektakel” (Das Schlangenei, pp. 134-8).

86For details see Walter, Antisemitische Gewalt, pp. 120-36; further, see the indictment against forty members of Stosstrupp Hitler, dated 29 April 1924, reprinted in Hans Kallenbach, Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg, Munich, 1933, pp. 16-29.

87Detlev Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany: Wahrnehmungen und Deutungen des Nationalsozialismus in Grossbritannien 1920 bis 1939, Göttingen and Zurich, 1996, p. 80.

88See Gordon, Hitlerputsch 1923, p. 241; Walter, Antisemitische Gewalt, p. 114. On 13 Nov. 1923, the widow Elly von der Pfordten wrote to Karl Alexander von Müller with the request: “Should you be able with the help of Engineer F(eder) to tell me more about my husband’s final moments, I would be very grateful. Every word is important to me.” BayHStA München, Nl K. A. v. Müller 19/1.

89Hanfstaengl’s note; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25; Der Hitler-Prozess, part 3, p. 1203.

90Recorded as “November 1923” in G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 5; IfZ München, ED 874. The quote is from Hofmann, Der Hitler-Putsch, p. 194

91Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, p. 282 (Ludendorff’s statement).

92See ibid., p. 57 (Hitler’s statement): “Herr Ludendorff in particular took the standpoint that we had to try to go into the city ourselves, even if it were our last move, and attempt to get public opinion on our side.” See notes of a conversation with Karl Kriebel from 17 June 1952; IfZ München, ZS 258.

93Der Hitler-Prozess part 1, p. 58. See also ibid., p. 230 (Kriebel’s statement); part 2, p. 400 (Brückner’s statement). On the role of Rossbach and the Infantry School see the transcript of a conversation with Gerhard Rossbach, dated 31 Oct. 1951; IfZ München, ZS 128.

94See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 143. Text in David Jablonski, The Nazi Party in Dissolution: Hitler and the Verbotszeit 1923-1925, London, 1989, p. 29. That morning, the Münchener Neueste Nachrichten (9 Nov. 1923) ran a headline reading, “National Directorship to be Instituted.” Six days earlier, the Münchener Zeitung (3 Nov. 1923) had already run the headline “Hitler’s Putsch—Kahr’s Rape” and published Kahr’s contrary appeal. Copies of the newspapers in BayHStA München, Nl K. A. v. Müller 19/2.

95See the report by Police First Lieutenant Baron von Godin, 10 Nov. 1923; Deuerlein, Der Hitler-Putsch, doc. 97, pp. 330f.

96For the following quotations see also Anna Maria Sigmund, “Als Hitler auf der Flucht war,” in Süddeutsche Zeitung, 8 and 9 Nov. 2008 (based on the unpublished memoirs of Helene Hanfstaengl).

97See the report dramatising his wife’s memoirs in Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 6.

98Deuerlein, Der Hitler-Putsch, doc. 118, p. 372 (dated 13 Nov. 1923). See also the recollections of the Uffinger police constable Georg Schmiedel in “Ich verhaftete Adolf Hitler!,” in the Weilheimer Tageblatt, 10 Dec. 1949; BSB Müchen, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 40; further, the half-monthly report of the Weilheim Police Directorship from 30 Nov. 1923; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/66.

99On Hitler’s arrival in jail, see the description of former prison official Franz Hemmerich “Die Festung Landsberg am Lech 1920-1945,” written in 1970, pp. 3f.: “A couple of strands of hair hung down into his face, pale and sunken from stress and sleepless nights, out of which a pair of hard eyes stared out into the void.” IfZ München, ED 153; Otto Lurker, Hitler hinter Festungsmauern: Ein Bild aus trüben Tagen, Berlin, 1933, pp. 4-6 (on p. 65 see the protective custody order from 11 Nov. 1923).

100See Gordon, Der Hitlerputsch, pp. 416-23. On Hess see Hess to his parents, 21 Dec. 1923, 2 April 1924; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 31, 33; Hess, Briefe, p. 322 (dated 11 May 1924). On Feder, see “Promemoria 1923/24,” in G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 6; IfZ München, ED 874.

101Quoted in Gordon, Der Hitlerputsch, p. 313.

102Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany, p. 80. See Kahr, memoirs, pp. 1376f.; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51. In a conversation with Ritter von Epp, Minister President Knilling described Kahr as “the most hated man in Munich.” Political diary of Ritter von Epp, vol. 1 (entry for 10 Nov. 1923); BA Koblenz, N 1101/22.

103Karl Alexander von Müller to Paul Nikolaus Cossmann, 13 Nov. 1923; BayHStA München, Nl K. A. v. Müller 19/1. For the course of the mass event at Munich University on 12 Nov. 1923 see Deuerlein, Der Hitler-Putsch, doc. 113, pp. 357f.; Anton Schmalix to Christian Weber, 20 Sept. 1937; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1267. On the students’ mood see Albrecht Haushofer in retrospect to Rudolf Hess, 29 March 1935; BA Koblenz, N 1122/957.

104See Winkler, Weimar, pp. 241ff.

105Memoirs of Franz Hemmerich, p. 13; IfZ München, ED 153. See ibid., pp. 9-15: According to these sources, Hitler began his hunger strike several days after being brought to Landsberg and held out for ten days.

106Otto Gritschneder, Bewährungsfrist für den Terroristen Adolf H.: Der Hitler-Putsch und die bayerische Justiz, Munich, 1990, p. 35. See also Ott’s report in the Bayernkurier, 3 Nov. 1973, reprinted in Werner Maser, Adolf Hitlers “Mein Kampf”: Geschichte, Auszüge, Kommentare, 9th edition, Esslingen, 2001, pp. 18-20. Anton Drexler too claimed that he—together with attorney Lorenz Roder—had convinced Hitler to end his hunger strike after thirteen days. Anton Drexler to Felix Danner, 5 Jan. 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2012.

107Hess, Briefe, p. 313 (dated 16 Nov./4 Dec. 1923).

108Quoted in John Toland, Adolf Hitler: Volume 1, New York, 1976, p. 192. On 23 Nov. one of Hitler’s early visitors, the Sudeten German National Socialist Hans Knirsch, reported: “He still has no use of his arm.” Othmar Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches: Adolf Hitlers “Mein Kampf” 1922-1945, Munich, 2006, p. 32.

109See Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, pp. 86-100 (quotations on pp. 90, 91, 96f., 97, 99, 94).

110Report by deputy state prosecutor Dr. Ehard, 14 Dec. 1923, on interrogating Hitler during the previous days; Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, pp. 299-307 (quotation on pp. 299f.).

111Ibid., p. 307.

112See the reports by the Münchener Neuesten Nachrichten, 27 Feb. 1924 and the München-Augsburger Abendzeitung, 27 Feb. 1924; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1928c and NS 26/1928d. On the run-up to the trial, see Wilhelm Frick to his sister Emma, 12 Feb. 1924. Frick wrote that “the trial is attracting massive public interest—the unintended result is European fame.” BA Koblenz, N 1241/7.

113Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 156.

114München-Augsburger Abendzeitung, 27 Feb. 1924; Münchener Zeitung, 26 Feb. 1924; Münchener Neueste Nachrichten, 27 Feb. 1924; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde NS 26/1928e, NS 26/1928b, NS 26/1928d.

115Indictment from 8 Jan. 1924; Der Hitler-Prozess, part 1, pp. 308-22 (quotation on p. 324).

116Ibid., pp. 60f.

117Kahr, memoirs, p. 1450; BayHStA München, Nl Kahr 51. The quote is from Friedrich Hitzer, Anton Graf Arco: Das Attentat auf Eisner und die Schüsse im Landtag, Munich, 1988, p. 313. On Neidhardt see Bernhard Huber, “Georg Neidhardt—nur ein unpolitischer Richter?,” in Marita Krauss (ed.), Rechte Karrieren in München: Von der Weimarer Zeit bis in die Nachkriegsjahre, Munich, 2010, pp. 95-111.

118Der Hitler-Prozess, part 2, pp. 738f. See the political diary of Ritter von Epp, vol. 1 (entry for 12 March 1924): “From the trial: Lossow snd Seisser getting the job done. Kahr is collapsing.” BA Koblenz, N 1101/22.

119See Der Hitler-Prozess, part 3, pp. 1034, 1088.

120Quoted in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 205. See also the Bayerischer Kurier report, which concluded that “in terms of content” the trial was like “a rabble-rousing meeting of ethnic chauvinists”; ibid., p. 228. The Social Democratic newspaper Münchener Post (29 Feb. 1924) wrote that the proceedings were “increasingly taking on comedic qualities.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1928a.

121Der Hitler-Prozess, part 4, pp. 1591f.; Rudolf Hess called Hitler’s concluding statement “probably one of the best and most powerful speeches he’s ever given.” Hess, Briefe, p. 317 (dated 2 April 1924).

122Der Hitler-Prozess, part 4, p. 1593.

123See the exact wording of the court’s verdict in Gritschneder, Bewährungsfrist, pp. 67-94. Gottfried Feder was “deeply shaken” by the court’s ruling. G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 5 (entry for 1 April 1924); IfZ Munich, ED 874.

124Extract from the report by the Münchener Neueste Nachrichten in Der Hitler-Prozess, part 4, pp. 1597-9 (quotation on p. 1599).

125Quoted in Large, Where Ghosts Walked, p. 194; see Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany, p. 88.

126Die Weltbühne, (10 April 1924), p. 466 (reprint 1978).

127Gritschneder, Bewährungsfrist, p. 92.

128See Andreas Heusler, Das Braune Haus: Wie München zur “Hauptstadt der Bewegung” wurde, Munich, 2008, p. 105.

129In comparison, see Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, pp. 223ff., who asserts that Hitler first presented himself as the “Führer” during his Landsberg incarceration. Likewise Herbst, Hitlers Charisma, pp. 178ff.

130Hitler, Monologe, p. 262 (dated 3/4 Feb. 1942). See also Hitler’s speech in Weimar on 20 Oct. 1926, in which he said that he had no intention to take a step like the one he had back in 1923. Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 2: Vom Weimarer Parteitag bis zur Reichstagswahl Juli 1926-Mai 1928. Part 1: Juli 1926-Juli 1927, ed. and annotated Bärbel Dusik, Munich, London, New York and Paris, 1992, no. 39, p. 79.

131Sebastian Haffner, Germany: Jekyll & Hyde—Deutschland von innen betrachtet, Berlin, 1996, p. 21. See also idem, Anmerkungen zu Hitler, 21st edition, Munich, 1978, p. 9. Fest (Hitler, p. 282), also speaks of a “veritably suicidal make-up.”

132See Johannes Kunisch, Friedrich der Grosse: Der König und seine Zeit, Munich, 2004, pp. 173, 209, 368, 373, 407.

133In an essay that served as a preliminary version of his account of the Hitler putsch in the third volume of his memoirs, Karl Alexander von Müller noted: “There were already signs that should have given us pause for thought: the ruthlessness with which he broke his word to Kahr and Lossow; the wild yet cold-blooded gamble of a putsch that could have resulted in a blood-bath; and the even riskier move of ordering a march through the city, which indeed cost a number of people their lives, while he fled.” BayHStA München, Nl K. A. v. Müller 101.

134Der Hitler-Prozess, part 2, p. 738.

135Only in a letter at the end of February 1924 did Rudolf Hess consider whether it would not have been wiser “to delay the operation, not to do things too hastily…But it’s of course easy to recognise in hindsight that there was still time!” Hess to Ilse Pröhl, 28 February 1924; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33.

7 Landsberg Prison and Mein Kampf

1Hans Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, pp. 46f.

2Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, p. 188.

3Adolf Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen 1905-1924, ed. Eberhard Jäckel with Axel Kuhn, Stuttgart, 1980, no. 636, p. 1232. See Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 317 (dated 2 April 1924). In the six months he still had to serve, wrote Hess, Hitler “will have the chance to further edify and educate himself in peace.”

4Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 262 (dated 3/4 Feb. 1942).

5Ibid., p. 49 (dated 27/28 July 1941). See Hess, Briefe, p. 391 (dated 8 March 1928). Hess quotes Hitler saying that his enemies would have every reason to regret imprisoning him: “Here he had time to collect himself and arrive at some fundamental conclusions.”

6Hitler, Monologe, p. 262 (dated 3/4 Feb. 1942).

7Hess, Briefe, p. 338 (dated 18 June 1924). See also Rudolf Hess to Heinrich Heim, 16 July 1924. Hess wrote that it was not until Landsberg that he “first completely comprehended the massive importance” of Hitler as a person; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 6/71. In a speech after being released from Landsberg in November 1924, the law student Hermann Fobke declared: “I would like it if you too would recognise that this man justifies the faith we put in him, namely that he can be the leader who takes us on the path to our ultimate goal: a free, ethnically based Greater Germany.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/901.

8Carl von Ossietzky, Sämtliche Schriften. Vol. 2: 1922-1924, ed. Bärbel Boldt, Dirk Grathoff and Michael Sartorius, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1994, p. 335.

9Ernst Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters, Munich, 1970, p. 157. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 122: “You could have opened a flower shop, a vegetable shop and a wine store with all the stuff that piled up.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

10Otto Lurker, Hitler hinter Festungsmauern: Ein Bild aus trüben Tagen, Berlin, 1933, p. 20. See Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs, pp. 49f.; IfZ München, ED 153.

11Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, p. 232.

12Lurker, Hitler hinter Festungsmauern, pp. 57f.; for the visitor list see Ernst Piper, Alfred Rosenberg: Hitlers Chefideologe, Munich, 2005, p. 101; Othmar Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches: Adolf Hitlers “Mein Kampf” 1922-1945, Munich, 2006, p. 33.

13BA Berlin-Lichterfelde NS 10/123, with the handwritten addition “To the Führer from his old fellow traveller in the struggle, Elsa Bruckmann, 24 September ’34.”

14See Lurker, Hitler hinter Festungsmauern, pp. 18, 21; Hans Kallenbach, Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg, Munich, 1933, p. 82. Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs, p. 32; IfZ München, ED 153. For Hitler’s predilection for Bavarian traditional dress see Hitler, Monologe, pp. 282f. (dated 17 Feb. 1942).

15Hess, Briefe, p. 326 (dated 18 May 1924); see also ibid., pp. 323f. (dated 16 May 1924): “He looks better now that he’s well-fed and there’s no chance for him to run willy-nilly from one meeting to another until deep into the night.”

16See the register of prisoners in Landsberg in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/66; Kallenbach, Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg, pp. 55f.; Lurker, Hitler hinter Festungsmauern, p. 32; Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs, pp. 24, 26; IfZ München, ED 153.

17Kallenbach, Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg, p. 45.

18Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 157; see Kallenbach, Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg, pp. 66f. According to Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs (p. 32), Hitler served as a referee and donated books and tobacco as prizes for the winners; IfZ München, ED 153. On the sports competitions see also Rudolf Hess’s letter to his father Fritz Hess; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33.

19Kallenbach, Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg, p. 77.

20Ibid., pp. 115-17; see also Lurker, Hitler hinter Festungsmauern, p. 55.

21Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 156; see Hess, Briefe, p. 323 (dated 16 May 1924): “The treatment is beyond reproach, the absolute definition of ‘honourable.’ ” See also Hitler, Monologe, p. 113 (29 Oct. 1941): “None of the prison guards ever insulted us.”

22Quoted in Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 30n6.

23Kallenbach, Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg, p. 117.

24See Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 26. An issue of “The Landsberg Honorary Citizen” with the subtitle “Gazette of the Prisoners of Landsberg am Lech” in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/92. See also Lurker, Hitler hinter Festugsmauern, p. 35; Kallenbach, Mit Adolf Hitler auf Festung Landsberg, p. 113.

25Hitler, Monologe, p. 113 (dated 29 Oct. 1941).

26Hess, Briefe, p. 344 (dated 5 July 1924).

27See David Jablonsky, The Nazi Party in Dissolution: Hitler and the Verbotszeit 1923-1925, London, 1989, pp. 28ff.

28See Piper, Rosenberg, p. 97.

29As in Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, London, 1990, p. 122. Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, pp. 225f., disagrees, stressing Hitler’s belief in Rosenberg’s loyalty as a main motive. Piper (Rosenberg, pp. 97f.) agrees.

30Albrecht Tyrell, Führer befiehl…Selbstzeugnisse aus der “Kampfzeit” der NSDAP: Dokumentation und Analyse, Düsseldorf, 1969, doc. 22a, pp. 72f. See also party leadership of the NSDAP (“Rolf Eidhalt”) to the local Straubing chapter on 5 Dec. 1923, stating that the character of the movement as a “secret organisation” would free local chapters of “lukewarm members just going along for the ride.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/89.

31Speech by Hermann Fobke in Göttingen in Nov. 1924; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/901. See Hess, Briefe, p. 324 (dated 16 May 1924): “Of course we miss him on the outside, his unifying personality and the authority which makes small-time blowhards give in.” See also Wolfgang Horn, Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung: Die NSDAP bis 1933, Düsseldorf, 1980, p. 174.

32Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 159.

33See Jablonsky, The Nazi Party in Dissolution, p. 54; Tyrell, Führer befiehl, p. 68; Horn, Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung, pp. 177f.

34Tyrell, Führer befiehl, doc. 31, pp. 81-3 (quote on p. 82). See ibid., doc. 23, pp. 73f.

35See Martin H. Geyer, Verkehrte Welt: Revolution, Inflation und Moderne. München 1914-1924, Göttingen, 1998, pp. 355f.; Jablonsky, The Nazi Party in Dissolution, pp. 82f.; Horn, Der Weg zur Machtergreifung, pp. 178f.

36See Horn, Der Weg zur Machtergreifung, pp. 163, 184; Piper, Rosenberg, pp. 104f.

37For the results of the Reichstag elections see Tyrell, Führer befiehl, doc. no. 25, p. 76; for the electoral pact ibid., doc. 24b, p. 75. Gottfried Feder travelled to Landsberg on 9 May, where Hitler was “very charming and warm” and congratulated him on the election. G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 5 (entry for 9 May 1924); IfZ München, ED 874.

38See Jablonsky, The Nazi Party in Dissolution, pp. 86f.; Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 229. By contrast, in an “open letter to Herr von Graefe” on 17 March 1926, Hitler clearly contended that he had been against the merger from the very beginning: “To me during my imprisonment, the thought that my marvellous popular movement could be handed over to a clique of parliamentarians was worse than the lack of liberty itself.” Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 1: Die Wiedergründung der NSDAP Februar 1925-Juni 1926, ed. and annotated Clemens Vollnhals, Munich, London, New York and Paris, 1992, no. 111, pp. 343f.

39G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 5 (entry for 24 May 1924); IfZ München, ED 874. Full text of the declaration of 26 May 1924 in Horn, Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung, p. 187.

40Tyrell, Führer befiehl, doc. 27, pp. 77f.

41See Jochen Haupt’s pamphlet “Über die organisatorischen Massnahmen zur Fortsetzung der nationalsozialistischen Parteiarbeit in Norddeutschland,” in Werner Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution: Ursprung und Geschichte der NSDAP in Hamburg 1922-1933. Dokumente, Frankfurt am Main, 1963, doc. 16, pp. 69-72.

42Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 636, p. 1232.

43Rudolf Hess to Wilhelm Sievers, 11 May 1925; reprinted in Henrik Eberle (ed.), Briefe an Hitler: Ein Volk schreibt seinem Führer. Unbekannte Dokumente aus Moskauer Archiven—zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht, Bergisch-Gladbach, 2007, pp. 56f. In contrast, Hermann Fobke, another former Landsberg inmate, told an audience in Göttingen in Nov. 1924 “that today Hitler is still the committed anti-parliamentarian he always was.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/901.

44Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, doc. 20, pp. 77f. (quote on p. 78). Also in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 647, pp. 1238f. On 19 June, after visiting Landsberg, Gottfried Feder wrote that Hitler was “depressed,” adding “he wants to withdraw entirely from the movement and has to work, that is, write to earn money.” G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 6 (entry for 19 June 1924); IfZ München, ED 874. In a letter to Albert Stier on 23 June 1924, Hitler reiterated his decision to resign the party leadership; Tyrell, Führer befiehl, doc. 28, p. 78; also in Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 649, pp. 1239f.

45Hermann Fobke to Ludolf Haase, 23 June 1924; Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, doc. 26, pp. 90-2 (quote on p. 91). See Rudolf Hess to Heinrich Heim, 16 July 1924. Hitler, wrote Hess, did not want to take responsibility “for what is happening on the outside without his knowledge and in part against his will.” On the other hand, according to Hess, Hitler was “convinced he could get everything back on track soon after he was freed.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 6/71.

46Quoted in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 235f.; see Emil Maurice to Adolf Schmalix, 19 July 1924; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1267; Jablonsky, The Nazi Party in Dissolution, pp. 96-8.

47Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 236.

48Confidential report about the Weimar conference by Adalbert Volck, a lawyer from Lüneburg, 20 July 1924; Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, doc. 30, pp. 98-102 (quote on p. 101). See Jablonsky, The Nazi Party in Dissolution, pp. 103ff.

49G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 6 (entry for 14 Aug. 1924); IfZ München, ED 874. See Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 233f.; Horn, Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung, p. 192; Piper, Rosenberg, pp. 108f.

50Hermann Fobke to Adalbert Volck, 29 July 1924; Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, doc. 33, pp. 122-4 (quote on p. 123); see ibid., doc. 37, p. 133; doc. 51, p. 165 (“position of strict neutrality”).

51Hess, Briefe, p. 349 (dated 17 Aug. 1924).

52Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 166. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 128: “His healthy political instincts told him to let the various groups fight it out and stay in the background himself for the time being.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

53See Bullock, Hitler, pp. 126f.; Fest, Hitler, p. 316.

54Der Hitler-Prozess 1924, ed. and annotated by Lothar Gruchmann and Reinhold Weber with Otto Gritschneder, part 1, Munich, 1997, p. 299. See Hitler’s letter to Adolf Vogl, 10 Jan. 1924: “I am expressing my resentment in what I’m writing to justify myself, the first part of which I hope will outlive the trial and me.” Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 604, p. 1060.

55Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs, p. 35; IfZ München, ED 153.

56See Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 21f.

57See Wolfgang Horn, “Ein unbekannter Aufsatz Hitlers aus dem Frühjahr 1924,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 16 (1968), pp. 280-94. See Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 23-6.

58Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 636, pp. 1232f. On 12 May 1924, Hitler told something similar to a delegation of National Socialist deputies from Salzburg: “At the moment he was writing a book…in which he will settle the scores with the critics who emerged after 8 Nov.” Quoted in Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 34.

59See Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 38, 42-8 (on p. 39 see also the catalogue’s title page with a photograph of Hitler). See also Timothy W. Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life, London, 2009, p. 66.

60See Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 49; based on it, Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library, p. 67. On the autobiographical sections of Mein Kampf see Othmar Plöckinger, “Frühe biographische Texte zu Hitler: Zur Bewertung der autobiographischen Texte in ‘Mein Kampf,’ ” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 58 (2010), pp. 112f. Plöckinger has shown that Hitler basically only recapitulated and embellished those details of his biography that were already known in ethnic-chauvinistic circles.

61Hess, Briefe, pp. 341f. (dated 29 June 1924). For more on this see Chapter 3, p. 56.

62Hess, Briefe, p. 346 (entry for 23 July 1923). The first sentence quoted, which is missing in the Wolf Rüdiger Hess edition, in BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33.

63Otto Lurker, Hitler hinter Festungsmauern: Ein Bild aus trüben Tagen, Berlin, 1933, p. 56. For a critical perspective on this legend see Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 122. Also Florian Beierl and Othmar Plöckinger, “Neue Dokumente zu Hitlers Buch ‘Mein Kampf,’ ” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 57 (2009), pp. 261-95 (in particular pp. 273, 278f.).

64See the details provided by Ilse Hess on 28 Dec. 1952 and 29 June 1965 in Werner Maser, Adolf Hitlers “Mein Kampf”: Geschichte, Auszüge, Kommentare, 9th edition, Esslingen, 2001, p. 29. Further, Olaf Rose (ed.), Julius Schaub: In Hitlers Schatten, Stegen, 2005, p. 59. On Hitler’s working methods see Beierl and Plöckinger, “Neue Dokumente,” pp. 276ff. Both Rudolf Hess and prison guard Franz Hemmrich bear witness to Hitler setting out his initial thoughts by hand. Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 153; Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs, pp. 35f.; IfZ München, ED 153.

65Hess, Briefe, p. 347 (dated 24 July 1924). See also ibid., p. 349 (dated 17 Aug. 1924): “My daily routine begins as follows—at 5 a.m., I get up and make cups of tea for Hitler (who is writing his book) and myself.”

66Ibid., p. 347 (dated 4 Aug. 1924). In his letter to Heinrich Heim dated 16 July 1924 Hess announced that Hitler’s book should be appearing in the autumn. BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 6/71.

67Hermann Fobke to Eduard Heinze, a National Socialist in Stettin, 23 Aug. 1924; Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 55. See also Hermann Fobke to Adalbert Volck, 29 July 1924; Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, doc. 33, p. 124.

68Leybold’s report from 15 Sept. 1924; Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 238.

69See Anna Maria Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund: Adolf Hitler, seine Nichte Geli Raubal und der “Ehrenarier” Emil Maurice—eine Dreiecksbeziehung, Munich, 2003, p. 71. In contrast, Franz Hemmrich (memoirs, p. 57) asserts that the Munich censors gave the manuscript of Mein Kampf back to Hitler; IfZ München, ED 153.

70Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 161f.

71On this see Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 67ff.

72Ibid., pp. 76-8, 86-9.

73Ibid., pp. 68, 71f., 85, 151. There is no evidence for the common claims that either Father Bernhard Stempfle, the editor in chief of the Miesbacher Anzeiger, or Hanfstaengl helped edit the manuscript. See ibid., pp. 129f., 133-41. Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, pp. 141f.; BSB München, Ana 405, Box 47. In early March 1925, Stolzing-Cerny gave Gottfried Feder page proofs of Mein Kampf with passages relating to Feder. “Quite wonderful,” he commented. G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 6 (entry for 5 March 1925); IfZ München, ED 74.

74See Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 120: Also Wolfgang Martynkewicz, Salon Deutschland: Geist und Macht 1900-1945, Berlin, 2009, pp. 424f. (Letter from Elsa Bruckmann to her husband dated 26 Sept. 1924); Hitler, Monologe, p. 206 (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942).

75Hess, Briefe, p. 370 (dated 24 Oct. 1926). Among other things, Hess now also put together the running heads, as Stolzing-Cerny had got things “terribly wrong” in the first volume. Hess to his father Fritz Hess, 24 Oct. 1926; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 36.

76Ibid., p. 346 (dated 23 July 1924). See ibid., p. 349 (dated 17 Aug. 1924): “Its publication will be a severe blow for his enemies.”

77For the figures see Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 177-82.

78Rudolf Hess to his father Fritz Hess, 19 April 1933; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 51. The time-consuming corrections to the “people’s edition” were made by Rudolf and Ilse Hess. See Rudolf Hess to his parents, 16 April 1930; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 45. On what follows see Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 182-8, 407-13, 432-40.

79Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, p. 46. See also Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929-1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 415.

80See Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library, p. 77f. For example, Emil Maurice received the tenth copy of the luxury edition of 1925, limited to 500 copies, with the dedication: “For my loyal and upstanding shield bearer.” Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 72f. (see p. 73 for the facsimile of the dedication). During the 1925 Wagner Festival in Bayreuth, Hitler also presented Winifred Wagner with a freshly printed, personally dedicated copy of the first volume. See Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, p. 142.

81Hitler, Mein Kampf. Vol. 1: Eine Abrechnung, 7th edition, Munich, 1933, pp. 231f.

82On the style of the book, see Fest, Hitler, pp. 291-3. The cultured Fest does not conceal his contempt for the “half-educated” Hitler. In a similar vein, see Bullock, Hitler, p. 122; Ralf Georg Reuth, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Munich and Zurich, 2003, p. 172. According to Hess, Hitler remarked in Landsberg: “Nobody should write in German unless he has read Schopenhauer, with his beautifully clear style.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33. There is no evidence of a “clear style” in Mein Kampf, however.

83Lurker, Hitler hinter Festungsmauern, p. 52; Franz Hemmrich’s (memoirs, p. 28) wrote that Hitler’s cell increasingly came to resemble a “small study.” IfZ München, ED 153. In November 1937, Rudolph Schüssler claimed that in 1924 he had delivered “the most significant material from the Sternecker period,” which formed the basis of Mein Kampf, in two large packages to Landsberg. See Ernst Schulte-Strathaus, Central Party Archive employee, to staff director Martin Bormann, 27 Nov. 1937; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/55.

84Otto Strasser, Hitler und ich, Konstanz, 1948, p. 78. See Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library, p 69. The Bruckmanns sent the Chamberlain books to the prison, see Martynkewicz, Salon Deutschland, p. 410. On the influence of Paul de Lagarde on Hitler see Ulrich Sieg, “Ein Prophet nationaler Religion: Paul de Lagarde und die völkische Bewegung,” in Friedrich Wilhelm Graf (ed.), Intellektuellen-Götter, Munich, 2009, pp. 1-19.

85See Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library, pp. 66-71 (quote on p. 71). On Ford also see Reuth, Hitler, pp. 174f.

86See Timothy Ryback, Hitlers Bücher: Seine Bibliothek—sein Denken, Cologne, 2010, pp. 126-49 (chapter not included in the earlier English and American editions). That Hitler had read the work of Madison Grant is confirmed by his speech in Zirkus Krone on 6 April 1927; Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 2: Vom Weimarer Parteitag bis zur Reichstagswahl Juli 1926-Mai 1928. Part 1: Juli 1926-Juli 1927, ed. and annotated Bärbel Dusik, Munich, London, New York and Paris, 1992, no. 99, p. 236.

87See Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library, p. 114f; Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 149. For a selection of Hitler’s reading see Chapter 2, p. 32.

88See also the analysis of Eberhard Jäckel, still the standard on the subject, in Hitlers Weltanschauung: Entwurf einer Herrschaft, Stuttgart, 1981. See also Barbara Zehnpfennig, Hitlers “Mein Kampf”: Eine Interpretation, 2nd edition, Munich, 2002, which endeavours to make “something comprehensible” out of the text (p. 32).

89Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 372.

90Ibid., pp. 312, 314, 316.

91Quotations in ibid., pp. 372, 317, 422.

92Ibid., p. 317.

93Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 654, p. 1242.

94Hitler, Mein Kampf, pp. 69f.

95Saul Friedländer, Das Dritte Reich und die Juden: Die Jahre der Verfolgung 1933-1939, Munich, 1998, pp. 87ff., particularly pp. 104, 113f.

96See the overview in Jäckel, Hitlers Weltanschauung, p. 69.

97Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 772. See Hitler’s speech at Zirkus Krone, 13 April 1927; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 1, no. 104, pp. 259f.

98See Hess, Briefe, p. 345 (dated 10 July 1924). But Bruno Hipler, Hitlers Lehrmeister: Karl Haushofer als Vater der NS-Ideologie, St. Ottilien, 1996, pp. 159, 207, completely exaggerates the situation when he calls Haushofer the “spiritual father” of the Nazi world view and the “inspiration” behind Mein Kampf. For a critical perspective see Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 144f. See also Karl Lange, “Der Terminus ‘Lebensraum’ in Hitlers Mein Kampf,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 13 (1965), pp. 426-37.

99See Axel Kuhn, Hitlers aussenpolitisches Programm, Stuttgart, 1970, p. 115. While in Landsberg, Hitler read Haushofer’s 1913 book about Japan, Dai Nihonaus, which uses the example of Japan to illustrate the necessity of war for survival among peoples. See Hess, Briefe, p. 328 (dated 19 May 1924). On the content of the book see Hippler, Hitlers Lehrmeister, pp. 29ff.

100Hitler, Mein Kampf, p. 154.

101Ibid., pp. 739, 742.

102Ibid., p. 743.

103Victor Klemperer, LTI: Notizbuch eines Philologen, 24th edition, fully revised, ed. and annotated Elke Fröhlich, Stuttgart, 2010, p. 34. See also Joachim Riecker, Hitlers 9. November: Wie der Erste Weltkrieg zum Holocaust führte, Berlin, 2009, p. 87: “There are few politicians who, before taking power, so openly described their fundamental convictions and allowed such a free view into their emotional lives as Adolf Hitler.”

104See Karl Lange, Hitlers unbeachtete Maximen: Mein Kampf und die Öffentlichkeit, Stuttgart, 1968, pp. 30, 144-7.

105Strasser, Hitler und ich, pp. 79f.

106Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 362. See also, critically, Michael Wildt, Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus, Göttingen, 2008, p. 37.

107Quoted in Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 225-7.

108Hellmut von Gerlach, “Duell Hitler-Schleicher,” in Die Weltbühne, 14 June 1932, p. 875 (reprinted 1978). See Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 228-40.

109See Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 405f., 424-9, 443f.

110See Hess, Briefe, p. 351 (dated 20 Aug. 1924): “He’s as impatient as a child for his release on 1 Oct.”

111Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 26, p. 1270. On the relationship between Hitler and Werlin see Eberhard Reuss, Hitlers Rennschlachten: Die Silberpfeile unterm Hakenkreuz, Berlin, 2006, pp. 40-5. Also, Hitler, Monologe, p. 259 (dated 3/4 Feb. 1942): “The first thing I bought after being released from prison on 20 Dec. 1924 was a Mercedes compressor.”

112Franz Hemmrich’s memoirs, p. 37; IfZ München, ED 153.

113Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 238f.

114Otto Gritschneder, Bewährungsfrist für den Terroristen Adolf H.: Der Hitler-Putsch und die bayerische Justiz, Munich, 1990, pp. 101f.

115Ibid., pp. 103-7, 114-18. In late Sep. 1924 Justice Minister Gürtner also officially protested against the “conditional pardon” issued to Hitler and Kriebel, arguing that both were suspected of maintaining “contact with dissolved organisations.” BayHStA München, Nl Held 727.

116Hermann Fobke to Ludolf Haase, 2 Oct. 1924; Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, doc. 48, p. 157.

117See Alfons Probst (member of the state assembly) to State President Held, 22 Sept. 1924, on the memo dated 16 Sept. 1924 from Ministerial Councillor Josef Pultar, secretary to the president of the Austrian National Council in Vienna; BayHStA München, Nl Held 731. Report of the Regensburger Anzeiger, 7 Nov. 1924, “Hitlers Staatsangehörigkeit (mit hs. Zusatz des Sohnes von Held)”; ibid., Nl Held 730. See also Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 239f.; Donald Cameron Watt, “Die bayerischen Bemühungen um Ausweisung Hitlers 1924,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 6 (1958), pp. 270-80.

118Hitler, Sämtliche Aufzeichnungen, no. 664, pp. 1246f. (entry for 16 Oct. 1924). See Hess, Briefe, p. 353 (dated 14 Oct. 1924): Austria “has revoked the tribune’s citizenship…We are rejoicing!”

119See Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, pp. 74f.; Franz Jetzinger, Hitlers Jugend: Phantasien, Lügen und Wahrheit, Vienna, 1956, pp. 279f. (see p. 272 for the facsimile of Hitler’s application, dated 7 April 1925).

120See Gritschneder, Bewährungsfrist, pp. 119-30. The telegram from the Bavarian state prosecutor to the management of Landsberg Prison, dated 20 Dec. 1924, in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde NS 26/67.

121G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 6 (entry for 8 Dec. 1924): “Heavy defeat” for the National Socialists; IfZ München, ED 874.

122Maria Hof to State President Held, 16 Dec. 1924; BayHStA München, Nl Held 729.

123Hitler, Monologe, p. 260 (dated 3/4 Feb. 1942). On 18 Nov. 1938, Hitler visited Landsberg and had his assistant Brückner present gifts to two guards, whom he still recognised. Daily diaries of Max Wünsche, dated 18 Nov. 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/125.

124Hess, Briefe, p. 359 (entry for 20 Dec. 1924). According to Rudolf Buttmann’s diary, entry for 20 Dec. 1924, Director Leybold refused Strasser admittance to the facility, citing Hitler’s wish that there be no “leaving ceremonies”; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 82.

125See Rudolf Buttmann’s diary entry about a conversation at the Bechsteins’ house in Berlin on 19 June 1925, in which Hitler articulated “his disappointment with Ludendorff since he let the three of them escape during the night of 8/9 Nov. 1923”; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 82.

126Hess, Briefe, p. 357 (dated 11 Dec. 1924).

127See Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah: Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotographen, Munich and Berlin, 1974, pp. 41f.; Das Hitler-Bild: Die Erinnerungen des Fotografen Heinrich Hoffmann, ed. Joe J. Heydecker, St. Pölten and Salzburg, 2008, pp. 61f.; Rudolf Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler: Fotografie als Medium des Führer-Mythos, Munich, 1994, p. 95.

128Hitler, Monologe, p. 260 (dated 3/4 Feb. 1942).

129Martynkewicz, Salon Deutschland, pp. 409-11.

130Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 163f. See also the account of Christmas Eve in Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, pp. 128f.; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

131First newsletter to local group leaders and VB representatives in Bavaria, 31 Dec. 1924; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/88.

132Emil Hamm to Hermann Fobke, 11 Jan. 1925; Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 65.

133BayHStA München, Nl Held 730. See Adalbert Volck to Hermann Fobke, 15 Jan. 1925: “Hitler has to step up before the end of the year. Now those who are indecisive and complaining are doing the talking.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/899.

8 Führer on Standby

1Ernst Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters, Munich, 1970, p. 167. Hanfstaengl originally wrote in his unpublished memoirs (p. 125): “The next time I’m not going to fall off the high wire.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

2Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 1: Die Wiedergründung der NSDAP Februar 1925-Juni 1926, ed. and annotated Clemens Vollnhals, Munich, 1992, doc. 50, p. 99 (dated 12 June 1925).

3Ibid., doc. 51, p. 102 (dated 14 June 1925). See ibid., doc. 54, p. 105 (dated 5 July 1925), doc. 55, p. 116 (dated 8 July 1925): “That is why this city is holy ground for me and the movement.”

4See Peter Longerich, Deutschland 1918-1933: Die Weimarer Republik, Hannover, 1995, pp. 160ff., 231ff.; Heinrich August Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933: Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie, Munich, 1993, pp. 306ff.

5On what follows see Peter Gay, Weimar Culture: The Outside as Insider, new edition, New York, 2002; Ursula Büttner, Weimar: Die überforderte Republik 1918-1933, Stuttgart, 2008, p. 298ff.; Peter Hoeres, Die Kultur von Weimar: Durchbruch der Moderne, Berlin-Brandenburg, 2008, pp. 84ff.

6Sebastian Haffner, Geschichte eines Deutschen: Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933, Stuttgart and Munich, 2000, p. 72; see Jürgen Peter Schmied, Sebastian Haffner: Eine Biographie, Munich, 2010, p. 30.

7Bayerischer Anzeiger, 21 Jan. 1925; BayHStA München, Nl Held 730.

8Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 364 (dated 2 March 1925). See G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 7 (entry for 13 March 1925): “Hitler in Berlin…Full of confidence a[nd] strength.” IfZ München, ED 874. Rudolf Hess had been released from Landsberg prison on 30 Dec. 1924, and through Karl Haushofer found part-time employment at the “German Academy.” A position of trust at Hitler’s side seemed more appealing, however, not least because it was better paid. Rudolf Hess to Klara Hess, 11 Jan. 1925; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 31.

9Otto Strasser, Hitler und ich, Konstanz, 1948, p. 82. The previous quote in Bayerischer Anzeiger, 9 Jan. 1925; BayHStA München, Nl. Held 730. According to Gregor Strasser, Pöhner had arranged for Hitler to have access to Held at a meeting of the People’s Bloc (Völkischer Block) parliamentary fraction to the Bavarian Landtag. Diary of R. Buttmann, entry for 12 Jan. 1925; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 82.

10Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 1 and 2, pp. 1-6 (quote on p. 3). Hitler sent Gregor Strasser an advance copy of the statement with the note: “Only now is he once again a political somebody.” Diary of R. Buttmann, entry for 26 Feb. 1925; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 82.

11Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 4, pp. 7-9 (quote on p. 9).

12Ibid., doc. 6, pp. 14-28 (quotes on pp. 20, 21, 27). Gottfried Feder characterised Hitler’s speech as a “masterly mix of the purest demagoguery…and the purest patriotism.” G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 7 (entry for 27 Feb. 1925); IfZ München, ED 874.

13Hess, Briefe, p. 363 (dated 2 March 1925); see diary of R. Buttmann, entry for 27 Feb. 1925; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 82; Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, pp. 134f.

14See Mathias Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP 1925-1933: Eine Untersuchung zur inneren Struktur der NSDAP in der Weimarer Republik, Munich, 2002, pp. 170-4. On the foundation of the Nazi faction of the Bavarian Landtag see Rudolf Buttmann’s diary entries for 22 Sept., 24 Sept., 27 Sept. 1925; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 83. For more on Buttmann’s role see Susanne Wanninger, “Dr. Rudolf Buttmann—Parteimitglied Nr. 4 und Generaldirektor der Münchner Staatsbibliothek,” in Marita Krauss (ed.), Rechte Karrieren in München: Von der Weimarer Zeit bis in die Nachkriegsjahre, Munich, 2010, pp. 80-94. The local chapters of the National Socialist Working Association in northern Germany subordinated themselves to the reconstituted NSDAP in late February 1925. See the circular from Ludolf Haase dated 28 Feb. 1925; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/899.

15Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 6, p. 20.

16Karl Alexander von Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt: Erinnerungen, ed. Otto Alexander von Müller, Munich, 1966, p. 301. See Wolfgang Martynkewicz, Salon Deutschland: Geist und Macht 1900-1945, Berlin, 2009, pp. 412-14; Miriam Käfer, “Hitlers frühe Förderer aus dem Grossbürgertum: Das Verlegerehepaar Elsa und Hugo Bruckmann,” in Krauss (ed.), Rechte Karrieren in München, p. 63.

17Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 6, p. 28n9.

18Ibid., doc. 14-16, pp. 40-7; doc. 19-39, pp. 52-72 (quote on p. 59).

19Ibid., doc. 40, p. 73 (dated 4 April 1925).

20Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 180. In his unpublished memoirs, Hanfstaengl quotes Hitler saying with satisfaction: “Finally we’re rid of him.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47. See the interview with Hermann Esser dated 13 March 1964, vol. 1: “Hitler was naturally happy as a lark. For him that was the end of the matter.” BayHStA München, Nl Esser.

21Escherich’s diaries, looking back at April 1925; BayHStA München, Nl Escherich 12.

22Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 42, pp. 76f. (dated 28 April 1925). See also Rudolf Hess to his parents, 24 April 1925: “Many obstacles will now be removed for the tribune, and that might even be decisive.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 35.

23See Bettina Amm, Die Ludendorff-Bewegung: Vom nationalsozialistischen Kampfbund zur völkischen Weltanschauungssekte, Hamburg, 2006.

24Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 4, p. 9. On what follows see Peter Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone: Geschichte der SA, Munich, 1989, pp. 45-52; Transcript of an interview with Franz Pfeffer von Salomon dated 20 Feb 1953; IfZ München, ZS 177.

25R. Buttmann’s diaries, entry for 21 Feb. 1925; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 82. On what follows see Udo Kissenkoetter, Gregor Strasser und die NSDAP, Stuttgart, 1978, pp. 16-22: idem, “Gregor Strasser,” in Ronald Smelser and Rainer Zitelmann (eds), Die Braune Elite: 22 biographische Skizzen, Darmstadt, 1989, pp. 273ff.

26Gregor Strasser to Joseph Goebbels, 11 Nov. 1925; Albrecht Tyrell, Führer befiehl…Selbstzeugnisse aus der “Kampfzeit” der NSDAP: Dokumentation und Analyse, Düsseldorf, 1969, doc. 46, p. 115.

27Ibid., doc. 50a, p. 121.

28See Hinrich Lohse, “Der Fall Strasser,” undated memorandum (c. 1952); IfZ München, ZS 265. Figures from Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, p. 270.

29Quoted in Ralf Georg Reuth, Goebbels, Munich and Zurich, 1990, pp. 76f.; see also Peter Longerich, Joseph Goebbels: A Biography, London, 2015, pp. 3ff. See Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 1, p. 108 (entry for 20 March 1924): “Hitler is an idealist who’s full of enthusiasm. When I read his speeches, I’m buoyed by them and allow them to carry me to the stars.”

30Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1, p. 353 (entry for 11 Sept. 1925).

31Ibid., p. 344 (entry for 21 Aug. 1925).

32According to Hermann Fobke’s report on the founding of the Working Association Northwest, dated 11 Sept. 1925; Werner Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution: Ursprung und Geschichte der NSDAP in Hamburg 1922-1933. Dokumente, Frankfurt am Main, 1963, doc. 66, pp. 207-11 (quote on p. 209).

33Ibid., doc. 67, p. 213. See also Gerhard Schildt, “Die Arbeitsgemeinschaft Nord-West: Untersuchungen zur Geschichte der NSDAP 1925/26,” diss. Freiburg, 1964, pp. 105-14.

34Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/1, p. 365 (entry for 14 Oct. 1925). On the Gauleiter convention in Weimar on 12 July 1925 see ibid., p. 326 (entry for 14 July 1925); G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 7 (entry for 12 July 1925); IfZ München, ED 874.

35Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/1, p. 375 (entry for 6 Nov. 1925). On 20 Nov. 1925, Hitler and Goebbels met again at an event in Plauen and once again Goebbels noted: “He greeted and welcomed me like an old friend. How I like him! What a fellow!” ibid., p. 379 (entry for 23 Nov. 1925).

36Extract from Strasser’s draft manifesto in Tyrell, Führer befiehl, doc. 49a, p. 119; reprinted in full in Reinhard Kühnl, “Zur Programmatik der nationalsozialistischen Linken: Das Strasser-Programm von 1925/26,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 14 (1966), pp. 317-33.

37See Tyrell, Führer befiehl, doc. 48, pp. 117-19.

38See Schildt, “Arbeitsgemeinschaft,” pp. 140-53. Feder’s appearance was by no means a surprise, in contrast to how Goebbels depicted it in his diaries (part 1, vol. 1/1, p. 48, entry for 25 Jan. 1926). Feder had told Goebbels he would be coming in a letter on 23 Dec. 1925; see Longerich, Goebbels, p. 65.

39Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 259 (dated 3/4 Feb. 1942). See ibid., p. 307 (dated 28 Feb./1 March 1942). See also Hamann, Winifred Wagner, pp. 138-42; Elsa Bruckmann to Hitler, Bayreuth, 26 July 1925; copy in BA Koblenz, N 1128/30. At an NSDAP event in Bayreuth on 29 July 1925, Hitler declared that “even as a young man, he had wanted to attend the Wagner festival, and now his wish had come true.” Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 58, p. 139.

40See the diary entries of Rudolf Buttmann, who visited Hitler three times in Berchtesgaden in Sept. 1925. On 25 Sept., Alfred Rosenberg—the editor in chief of the Völkischer Beobachter—complained that he had not seen Hitler for three months. “Important letters are still going unanswered,” Rosenberg fretted. On the evening of 26 Sept., Hitler went to Nuremberg before heading to a “German Day” in neighbouring Fürth the following day. Buttmann held his first conference with Hitler in the party’s Munich headquarters on 14 Oct. On 18 Dec. Hitler declared that he would remain in Munich until April to “take care of organisational work.” See Buttmann’s diary entries for 4, 9, 11, 18, 25, 26, 27 Sept., 14 Oct., 18 Dec. 1925; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 83.

41Hitler, Reden Schriften Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 74, p. 175.

42See Gregor Strasser to Joseph Goebbels, 8 Jan. 1926. Strasser wrote that Feder had received the draft manifesto and would try to “warm Hitler up for it.” Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, doc. 71, p. 220. On 30 Jan. 1926, after the second Hanover conference, Feder told Hitler and Hess about Strasser’s “ambush.” Hitler agreed with Feder’s “annihilating criticism” of Strasser’s draft programme. G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 8 (entry for 30 Jan. 1926); IfZ München, ED 874. See also R. Buttmann to his wife, 11 Feb. 1926: “Strasser has drawn up a draft platform…that is said to be terrible.” BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 63,2.

43Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 52 (entry for 6 Feb. 1926).

44Ibid., p. 53 (entry for 11 Feb. 1926).

45Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 101, pp. 294-6 (dated 14 Feb. 1926); Hinrich Lohse, “Der Fall Strasser,” undated memorandum (c. 1952); IfZ München, ZS 265. Buttmann, who only grudgingly participated in the Bamberg conference and had driven back to Munich that evening with Strasser and Esser, noted that, in particular, Hitler had rejected “Strasser’s support for the whole business of seizing aristocratic property and his foreign policy fantasies.” See R. Buttmann’s diary entry for 14 Feb. 1926; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 83: R. Buttmann to his wife, 11 Feb. 1926; ibid., Nl Buttmann 63,2. On the Bamberg conference see Schildt, “Arbeitsgemeinschaft,” pp. 155-65.

46Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 55 (entry for 15 Feb. 1926).

47Ibid., p. 55 (entry for 15 Feb. 1926). G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 8 (entry for 14 Feb. 1926): “Hitler took him to task sentence by sentence.” IfZ München, ED 874.

48BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/900; see also Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, doc. 74, p. 225 (entry for 5 March 1926).

49See Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 342.

50Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 2: Vom Weimarer Parteitag bis zur Reichstagswahl Juli 1926-Mai 1928. Part 1: Juli 1926-Juli 1927, ed. and annotated Bärbel Dusik, Munich, 1992, doc. 29, p. 64. See Udo Kissenkoetter, Gregor Strasser und die NSDAP, Stuttgart 1978, p. 31.

51Interview with Hermann Esser dated 16 March 1964, vol. 1; BayHStA München, Nl Esser.

52For the following quotes see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, pp. 71-3 (entry for 13 April 1926).

53Ibid., p. 76 (entry for 19 April 1926).

54Ibid., p. 96 (entry for 16 June 1926).

55Ibid., pp. 111f. (entries for 23 and 24 July 1926). In December 1926, Hitler gave Goebbels “the very first copy” of the second volume of Mein Kampf. Goebbels read it on his return trip to Berlin “with feverish anticipation.” He wrote: “The real Hitler just as he is! I sometimes almost cried out in joy.” Ibid., p. 159 (entry for 12 Dec. 1926).

56Ibid., p. 89 (entry for 24 May 1926): “He heaps praise on me in public.” On the party conference of 22 May 1926 see Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 143-146, pp. 428-65 (quotations on pp. 437, 461, 464, 441, 444).

57Goebbels, Tagebücher part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 103 (entry for 6 July 1926). On the party rally in Weimar on 3 and 4 July 1926 see Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 1, doc. 3-7, pp. 4-25; diaries of G. Feder, vol. 8 (entries for 3/4 July 1926); IfZ München, ED 874. According to Buttmann, the Hitler greeting was trotted out for the first time in Weimar. R. Buttmann’s diary entry for 4 July 1926; BayHStA Müchen, Nl Buttmann 83. See also Volker Mauersberger, Hitler in Weimar: Der Fall einer deutschen Kulturstadt, Berlin, 1999, pp. 222-8.

58Quoted in Wolfgang Horn, Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung: Die NSDAP bis 1933, Düsseldorf, 1980, p. 276.

59Figures from Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, pp. 254, 291; Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, pp. 690-1n250; Ludolf Herbst, Hitlers Charisma: Die Erfindung eines deutschen Messias, Frankfurt am Main, 2010, p. 224.

60Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP, pp. 213, 529. See also Andreas Heusler, Das Braune Haus: Wie München zur “Hauptstadt der Bewegung” wurde, Munich, 2008, pp. 110, 123. These sources belie Hitler’s contention at an NSDAP event on 13 April 1926 “that the party experienced continuous, major growth in membership both within Munich and without.” Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 123, p. 375.

61See Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP, pp. 206f., 210f., 530.

62R. Buttmann to his wife, 3 Feb. 1927; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 63,2. See Goebbels, Tagebücher part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 179 (entry for 5 Feb 1927): “Hitler is said to be furious with me. We’ll see.”

63On the election results see Jürgen Falter, Thomas Lindenberger and Siegfried Schumann, Wahlen und Abstimmungen in der Weimarer Republik: Materialien zum Wahlverhalten 1919-1931, Munich, 1986, pp. 98, 108, 111.

64Hess, Briefe, p. 375 (dated 23 Jan. 1927). See also Rudolf Hess to Ilse Pröhl, 23 Jan. 1927: “…the tribune is convinced that this year will be the big year. He was glowing again today: ‘Hess, you will see that I’m not mistaken!!!’ ” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 39. In Nov. 1925 Hitler declared he had a “feeling” that the movement would make a “mighty leap” in 1926. R. Buttmann’s diary for 14 Nov. 1925; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 83.

65Quoted in David Clay Large, Where Ghosts Walked: Munich’s Road to the Third Reich, New York and London, 1997, p. 215.

66Theodor Heuss, Politik: Ein Nachschlagewerk für Theorie und Praxis, Halberstadt, 1927, p. 138; quoted in Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP, p. 533.

67Detlev Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany: Wahrnehmungen und Deutungen des Nationalsozialismus in Grossbritannien 1920 bis 1939, Göttingen and Zurich, 1996, p. 118.

68Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 269-79 (quotes on pp. 270, 271, 272). On the “long wait” for Hitler see the diaries of R. Buttmann, entry for 9 March 1925; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 83. The Völkischer Beobachter of 11 March 1927 carried a relatively short report on the meeting because the stenographer had lost her notes (Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 1, doc. 884, pp. 179-81). See also Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, p. 226.

69For the figures see Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 1, doc. 94, 96, 99, pp. 221, 227, 235. The quote in ibid., p. 235n3.

70Ibid., doc. 94, 121, pp. 252, 371 (dated 16 Dec. 1925 and 11 April 1926).

71Ibid., doc. 128, p. 397 (dated 17 April 1926).

72Ibid., doc. 48, 94, pp. 87, 250.

73Ibid., vol. 2, part 1, doc. 104, p. 265 (dated 13 April 1927); Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 2: Vom Weimarer Parteitag bis zur Reichstagswahl Juli 1926-Mai 1928. Part 2: August 1927-Mai 1928, ed. and annotated Bärbel Dusik, Munich, 1992, doc. 258, pp. 779, 789 (dated 17 April 1928).

74Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 112, p. 354 (dated 18 March 1926); vol. 2, part 2, doc. 199, p. 560 (dated 27 Nov. 1927), doc. 224, p. 654 (dated 26 Jan. 1928); Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 3: Zwischen den Reichstagswahlen Juli 1928-September 1930. Part 1: Juli 1928-Februar 1929, ed. Bärbel Dusik and Klaus A. Lankheit with Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1993, p. 21 (dated 13 July 1928): “Look at our culture: Negro dancing, the jimmy [i.e. shimmy], jazz bands, pathetic cubism, Dadaism, butchered literature, wretched theatre, terrible cinema, cultural devastation as far as you can see.”

75Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 61, p. 145 (dated 15 Aug. 1925).

76Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 26, p. 57 (dated 25 March 1925), doc. 145, p. 475 (dated 22 May 1926); vol. 2, part 1, doc. 152, p. 395 (dated 26 June 1927). On the crass anti-Semitism Goebbels propagated in Der Angriff, which began appearing weekly in 1927, see Longerich, Goebbels, pp. 90-2. Goebbels’s hate campaign was directed above all against Berlin Police Vice President Dr. Bernhard Weiss, who was defamed as “Isidor Weiss.” See Dietz Bering, Kampf um Namen: Bernhard Weiss gegen Joseph Goebbels, Stuttgart, 1991, p. 241ff.

77Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 1, doc. 146, p. 369 (dated 13 June 1927); vol. 2, part 2, doc. 235, p. 674 (dated 24 Feb. 1928).

78Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 103, pp. 297-330 (quotes on pp. 298, 315, 318, 319f., 325). See Werner Jochmann, Im Kampf um die Macht: Hitlers Rede vor dem Hamburger Nationalklub von 1919, Frankfurt am Main, 1960; Manfred Asendorf, “Hamburger Nationalklub, Keppler-Kreis, Arbeitsstelle Schacht und der Aufstieg Hitlers,” in 1999: Zeitschrift für Sozialgeschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, 2 (1987), pp. 106-50, particularly pp. 107-13; see also Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, pp. 286f. Hitler also avoided any anti-Semitic statements and held “a moderate and tedious speech” when addressing Rhineland industrialists in the Hotel Düsseldorfer Hof in Königswinter on 1 Dec. 1926. Notes of Wilhelm Breucker dated 22 Oct. 1956; IfZ München, ZS 1193.

79Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 1, doc. 80, p. 158 (dated 20 Feb. 1927). The above quotations ibid., doc. 94, p. 225 (dated 30 March 1927); doc. 62, p. 111 (dated 1 Jan. 1927).

80Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 57, p. 136 (dated 15 July 1925), doc. 78, p. 202 (dated 8 Oct. 1925), doc. 147, p. 466 (dated 30 May 1926).

81Ibid., vol. 2, part 2, doc. 168, p. 495 (dated 21 Aug. 1927).

82Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 94, p. 240 (dated 16 Dec. 1925); vol. 2, part 1, doc. 7, pp. 19f. (dated 4 July 1926).

83Ibid., vol. 2, part 1, doc. 83, p. 167 (dated 6 March 1927); doc. 102, p. 247 (dated 9 April 1927).

84Ibid., vol. 2, part 2, doc. 197, p. 559 (dated 24 Nov. 1927); doc. 230, p. 662 (dated 1 Feb. 1928).

85Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 136, p. 418 (dated 22 April 1926); doc. 94, p. 261 (dated 16 Dec. 1925).

86Tyrell, Führer befiehl, pp. 168-73 (quotation on p. 173).

87Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 103 (entry for 16 Oct. 1928).

88Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 78, pp. 199, 203 (dated 28 Oct. 1925).

89Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 190.

90Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 92, p. 237 (dated 12 Dec. 1925); vol. 2, part 1, doc. 59, p. 106 (dated 18 Dec. 1926). See ibid., vol. 3, part 1, doc. 65, p. 350 (dated 11 Dec. 1928): “We intend to wage this struggle exactly the way the Prince of Peace has taught us.” At an SS meeting in Munich on 5 Dec. 1930 Hitler declared that in their political activities National Socialists “advocate principles for which Christ was once born and for which he was persecuted and crucified by the Jews.” Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 4: Von der Reichstagswahl bis zur Reichspräsidentenwahl Oktober 1930-März 1932. Part 1: Oktober 1930-Juni 1931, ed. Constantin Goschler, Munich, 1993, doc. 38, p. 149.

91Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 18, p. 51 (dated 22 May 1925); vol. 2, part 2, doc. 190, p. 544 (dated 9 Nov. 1927), doc. 278, p. 844 (dated 19 May 1928).

92Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 129, p. 398 (dated 7 April 1926); vol. 2, part 1, doc. 140, p. 341 (dated 3 June 1927). For the idea of National Socialism as a political religion see Michael Burleigh, The Third Reich: A New History, London, 2000, pp. 114-20; Herbst, Hitlers Charisma, pp. 196-8, 207. On Hitler’s appropriation of Christianity see Michael Rissman, Hitlers Gott: Vorsehungsglaube und Sendungsbewusstsein eines deutschen Diktators, Zurich and Munich, 2001, pp. 29-33.

93Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 1, p. 3 (dated 26 Feb. 1925).

94Ibid., vol. 2, part 2, doc. 183, p. 515 (dated 30 Sept. 1927).

95Tyrell, Führer befiehl, doc. 78d, pp. 203-5 (quote on p. 204). Also in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 1, doc. 4, pp. 23-6.

96Hess, Briefe, p. 386 (dated 20 Nov. 1927).

97Tyrell, Führer befiehl, no. 65, pp. 169, 171. See also Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 1, doc. 159, pp. 414f.

98Ibid., vol. 1, doc. 159, p. 482 (dated 24 June 1926). On the “Woltereck case” see Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP, p. 206.

99Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 1, doc. 130, p. 321. On the Munich SA rebellion see Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP, pp. 157-65.

100Hess, Briefe, p. 375 (dated 23 Jan. 1927). See Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929-1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 44; Tyrell, Führer befiehl, p. 148.

101Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 182.

102Rudolf Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler: Fotografie als Medium des Führer-Mythos, Munich, 1994, pp.162-9 (quote on p. 163). See Claudia Schmölders, Hitlers Gesicht: Eine physiognomische Biographie, Munich, 2000, p. 106.

103Tyrell, Führer befiehl, doc. 57b, p. 156 (dated 3 July 1926). In a letter to Rudolf Hess’s fiancée Ilse Pröhl, dated 16 Nov. 1927, Goebbels reported about a meeting with Hitler in Nuremberg the previous day: “What a man he is! I’m almost envious that you can be at his side all the time. We can all be proud of him.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1993/300, Box 5. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 291 (entry for 16 Nov. 1927): “He is fabulously clear in his vision.” On Goebbels’s propagation of the Führer cult see Thomas Friedrich, Die missbrauchte Hauptstadt: Hitler und Berlin, Berlin, 2007, pp. 200-4.

104Hess, Briefe, p. 386 (dated 20 Nov. 1927).

105Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 2, doc. 166, pp. 485-7 (quotation on p. 486).

106Report by the Reich Commissioner for Public Order on the NSDAP rally in Nuremberg on 19-21 Aug. 1927; Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 279-85 (quotation on p. 280). See G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 9 (entry for 21 Aug. 1927): “The entire SA paraded by. Decorated with flowers, they cheered the Führer. Hitler must have felt that this was a great hour.” IfZ München, ED 874. Similar, Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 258 (entry for 22 Aug. 1927). The programme for the rally is in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/390.

107Daniel Siemens, Horst Wessel: Tod und Verklärung eines Nationalsozialisten, Berlin, 2009; p. 72.

108Tyrell, Führer befiehl, doc. 68d, p. 185.

109Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 2, doc. 181, p. 514, doc. 216, p. 595, doc. 264, p. 794.

110Rudolf Hess to his parents, 9 June 1925; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 35. See Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 52, p. 103; ibid., doc. 135, p. 416 (dated 22 April 1926).

111Ibid., vol. 2, part 2, doc. 11/12, p. 583 (dated 2 Jan. 1928). On Strasser’s party reform see Kissenkoetter, Gregor Strasser und die NSDAP, pp. 34-40.

112On this framework see Herbst, Hitlers Charisma, pp. 244f.; Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP, pp. 133-7. On the Fighting League for German Culture see Martynkewicz, Salon Deutschland, pp. 439ff.

113On the concept of the “war youth generation” see Ulrich Herbert, “ ‘Generation der Sachlichkeit’: Die völkische Studentenbewegung der frühen zwanziger Jahre,” in Frank Bajohr, Werner Johe and Uwe Lohalm (eds), Zivilisation und Barbarei: Die widersprüchlichen Potentiale der Moderne, Hamburg, 1991, pp. 115-44.

114For more on Himmler and the development of the SS see Peter Longerich, Heinrich Himmler: Biographie, Munich, 2008, pp. 18-125.

115See Stefan Frech, Wegbereiter Hitlers? Theodor Reismann-Grone: Ein völkischer Nationalist 1863-1949, Paderborn, 2009, pp. 263-7, 285f. On Hitler’s speech of 18 June 1926, see Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 157, pp. 478-89 (quotation on p. 480). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 97 (entry for 19 June 1926): “Yesterday Hitler spoke to industrialists in Essen. Fabulous!…Hitler is up to all his tasks.”

116Hess, Briefe, p. 380 (dated 27 April 1927). On Hitler’s speech of 27 April 1927 see Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 1, doc. 112, pp. 285f.

117Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 2, doc. 174, pp. 501-9 (quotations on pp. 508, 505). Further, see Henry A. Turner, Die Grossunternehmer und der Aufstieg Hitlers, Berlin, 1986, pp. 113-15; Martynkewicz, Salon Deutschland, pp. 435-7; Käfer, “Hitlers frühe Förderer,” pp. 64f. Later Hitler reported that after their conversation Kirdorf had “paid almost all the party’s debts and got it back on its feet.” Albert Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, Munich, 2002, p. 123 (entry for 20 Oct. 1947). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/2, p. 252 (entry for 15 Nov. 1936).

118Quoted in Turner, Grossunternehmer, p. 111. In a letter to his son Hermann on 29 Nov. 1927, Reusch wrote: “I cannot say that I discovered much intellectual about [Hitler’s ideas].” Christian Marx, Paul Reusch und die Gutehoffnungshütte: Leitung eines deutschen Grossunternehmens, Göttingen, 2013, p. 321.

119Rudolf Hess to his parents, 14 Dec. 1927; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 39.

120Kirdorf to Hitler, 8 Aug. 1929; quoted in Dirk Stegmann, “Zum Verhältnis von Grossindustrie und Nationalsozialismus 1930-1933,” in Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, 13 (1973), pp. 399-482 (quotation on p. 414). In a letter congratulating Kirdorf on his 87th birthday on 8 April 1934, Hitler thanked him again for his contribution to the “revival of our German people and empire.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/123. When Kirdorf died on 13 July 1938, Hitler took part in his funeral. See daily diaries of Max Wünsche, dated 13, 14 and 16 July 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/125.

121Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 2, doc. 209, p. 587. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 301 (entry for 12 Dec. 1927): “The boss was generally in good spirits. The cause is coming along well on all fronts.”

122R. Buttmann’s diary entry for 4 Jan. 1928; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 85.

123Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 2, doc. 272, pp. 836f. (dated 14 May 1928).

124Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 368 (entry for 13 May 1928).

125On the results of the Reichstag election see Peter D. Stachura, “Der kritische Wendepunkt? Die NSDAP und die Reichstagswahlen vom 20. 5. 1928,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 26 (1978), pp. 66-99 (tables on pp. 84f.).

126Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 2, doc. 279, p. 847 (dated 20 May 1928). See Hess, Briefe, pp. 392f. (dated 28 June 1928): “What is better, stronger and more powerful has prevailed because of natural selection and now exists as a single party with an ethnic orientation.”

127Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 293; Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 373 (entry for 21 May 1928).

128See Longerich, Goebbels, p. 100. On the temporary ban between May 1927 and April 1928 see ibid., pp. 104-9. On the development of the Berlin NSDAP under the leadership of Goebbels see Andreas Wirsching, Vom Weltkrieg zum Bürgerkrieg? Politischer Extremismus in Deutschland und Frankreich 1918-1933/39: Berlin und Paris im Vergleich, Munich, 1999, pp. 437-54; Friedrich, Die missbrauchte Hauptstadt, pp. 160ff.

129R. Buttmann’s diary entries for 4 and 10 July 1928; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 85. On the election results in Munich see Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP, pp. 227, 534.

130Quoted in Richard J. Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich, London, 2004, p. 209; see Stachura, “Wendepunkt,” p. 93.

131Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2, part 2, doc. 203, pp. 570-82.

132Ibid., vol. 2, part 2, doc. 254, pp. 771f. (dated 13 April 1928).

133Hitler, Monologe, pp. 206f. (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942). On the dating of the rental agreement see Anton Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste: Ein Dokument persönlicher Beziehungen, Munich, 2003, pp. 285, 288f. Ulrich Chaussy, Nachbar Hitler: Führerkult und Heimatzerstörung am Obersalzberg, 6th revised and extended edition, Berlin, 2007, p. 46, erroneously gives spring 1927 as the date. Elsa Bruckmann, Winifred Wagner and Helene Bechstein helped with the furnishing of the Wachenfeld guesthouse. See Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, p. 124; Käfer, “Hitlers frühe Förderer,” p. 59. Helene Bechstein shared Hitler’s preference for the Obersalzberg. On 27 July 1926 she told Rudolf Hess that she was delighted that “Wolf” was able to relax there for a few days: “Hopefully he will find a house up there someday. I won’t give up on that plan.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1993/300, Box 2. In Feb. 1927 the Bechsteins bought a house for themselves on the Obersalzberg from an industrialist from Fürth; see Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, p. 87f.

134Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 6: Register, Karten, Nachträge, ed. Katja Klee, Christian Hartmann and Klaus A. Lankheit, Munich, 2003, doc. 8, pp. 325f. (dated 17 May 1926). See Othmar Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches: Adolf Hitlers “Mein Kampf” 1922-1945, Munich, 2006, pp. 159f.; Timothy W. Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library: The Books That Shaped His Life, London, 2009, pp.79-84; Heimo Schwilk, Ernst Jünger: Ein Jahrhundertleben, Munich and Zurich, 2007, p. 289.

135Quoted in Martynkewicz, Salon Deutschland, p. 425.

136Gerhard L. Weinberg (ed.), Hitlers Zweites Buch: Ein Dokument aus dem Jahr 1928, Stuttgart, 1961. Reprinted in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 2 A: Aussenpolitische Standortbestimmung nach der Reichstagswahl Juni-Juli 1928, ed. und annotated Gerhard L. Weinberg, Christian Hartmann and Klaus A. Lankheit, Munich, 1995.

137Hess, Briefe, p. 392 (dated 28 June 1928). See the letter from Winifred Wagner dated 24 June 1928: “Wolf is in Berchtesgaden writing a new book, which I’m to receive as a birthday present. Hess, who knows about these things, thinks very highly of it.” Hamann, Winifred Wager, pp. 165f.

138Adolf Hitler, Die Südtiroler Frage und das Deutsche Bündnisproblem, Munich, 1926; reprinted in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 100, pp. 269-93.

139See the introduction by Gerhard L. Weinberg in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2A, pp. XVIf.; Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 291.

140Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2A, quotations on pp. 10f., 19, 60, 66, 119, 183.

141Ibid., vol. 2, part 1, doc. 2, pp. 11-22. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 53 (entry for 14 July 1928).

142See Plöckinger, Geschichte eines Buches, p. 163. In July 1929 Goebbels noted: “He’s writing a new book about foreign policy.” Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1 /3, p. 281 (entry for 5 July 1929).

143See the introduction by Gerhard L. Weinberg in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 2A, pp. xxIf.; Ryback, Hitler’s Private Library, p. 92.

144Albert Speer, Erinnerungen: Mit einem Essay von Jochen Thies, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, 1993, p. 100.

145Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 1, doc. 15, pp. 52f. (dated 2 Sept. 1928).

146Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3; p. 75 (entry for 1 Sept. 1928).

147Tyrell, Führer befiehl, doc. 74, p. 196 (dated 29 March 1926).

148Ibid., doc. 82, pp. 211-13 (quotations on pp. 211, 212). It is uncertain whether the letter was sent or not. See ibid., p. 211n31.

149Ibid., doc. 98, p. 254. See Otto Erbersdobler’s answers to a questionnaire from A. Tyrell, July 1968; IfZ München, ZS 1949.

150See Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 1, doc. 50, p. 100: “The art of leadership consists of the leader taking the people in their current form as his material and deploying them where they are best deployed.”

151Albert Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten der NSDAP: Erinnerungen aus der Frühzeit der Partei, Stuttgart, 1959, pp. 127f. See Gregor Strasser’s similar statements in Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, pp. 127f.

152Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, pp. 128f.

153Longerich, Deutschland 1918-1933, p. 254; Winkler, Weimar, p. 352.

154See Rudolf Heberle, Landbevölkerung und Nationalsozialismus: Eine soziologische Untersuchung der politischen Willensbildung in Schleswig-Holstein 1918 bis 1932, Stuttgart, 1963, pp. 124ff., 156ff.; Gerhard Stoltenberg, Politische Strömungen im schleswig-holsteinischen Landvolk 1918-1933, Düsseldorf, 1962, pp. 110ff.; Stephanie Merkenich, Grüne Front gegen Weimar: Reichsland-Bund und agrarischer Lobbyismus 1918-1933, Düsseldorf, 1998, pp. 247ff.

155Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 3: Zwischen den Reichstagswahlen Juli 1928-September 1930. Part 2: März 1929-Dezember 1929, ed. Klaus A. Lankheit, Munich, 1994, doc. 14, p. 120 (dated 23 March 1920). See ibid., doc. 3, p. 36 (dated 6 March 1929): “What we had been preaching for years, now became reality.”

156Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich, p. 211.

157See the results in Tyrell, Führer befiehl, p. 381.

158Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 1, doc. 52, pp. 245-53 (dated 20 Nov. 1928).

159Hess, Briefe, p. 393 (dated 24 Oct. 1928).

160Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 299-301. See also Hitler’s account of the trip, in which he gleefully noted “how greatly our National Socialist idea has taken form and shape in people’s heads here.” Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 2, doc. 9 and 10, pp. 105-14 (quotation on p. 111).

161Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 247 (entry for 14 May 1929).

162G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 11 (entry for 25 June 1929): “Glorious election victory in Coburg. 13 of 25 seats!”; IfZ München, ED 874. On the election results see Falter et al., Wahlen und Abstimmungen, pp. 98, 108, 111. See also Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich, p. 211.

163Hitler’s call of 1 March 1929 for the party rally in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 2, doc. 1, pp. 3-7 (quotation on p. 5). See also Rudolf Hess to his parents, 21 May 1929: “This time it will be a magnificent occasion!” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 43.

164Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 1, doc. 67, pp. 357-60 (quotations on pp. 358, 359). See also Otto Wagener’s report, who had taken part in a rally for the first time. Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, pp. 9-21; Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, pp. 293-9 (entries for 1-6 Aug. 1929). The day’s programme is in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/391.

165See Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, pp. 94f. According to testimony by Walter Stennes on 29 July 1968, the SA could “hardly be preserved” at that point. Stennes said that Hitler had been “desperate and pale as a sheet” and claimed that only intervention by himself and Salomon von Pfeffer had prevented a catastrophe. IfZ München, ZS 1147.

166According to sworn testimony by Prince August Wilhelm on 16 May 1947, he was accepted into the NSDAP in April 1930 and into the SA in December 1931. IfZ München, ZS 1318. See also Lothar Machtan, Der Kaisersohn bei Hitler, Hamburg, 2006, pp. 165-7, 171.

167Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 295 (entry for 3 Aug. 1929).

168See Winkler, Weimar, pp. 347f.; Longerich, Deutschland 1918-1933, pp. 251f.

169See Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 2, doc. 50, pp. 290-2 (dated 9 July 1929), doc. 55, p. 303 (dated 25 July 1929), doc. 56, pp. 304f. (dated 25 July 1929). See also Klaus Wernecke (with Peter Heller), Der vergessene Führer: Alfred Hugenberg—Pressemacht und Nationalsozialismus, Hamburg, 1982, pp. 147ff. On Hugenberg’s media empire see Heidrun Holzbach, Das “System Hugenberg”: Die Organisation bürgerlicher Sammlungspolitik vor dem Aufstieg der NSDAP, Stuttgart, 1981, pp. 259ff.

170Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 285 (entry for 12 July 1929).

171Ibid., p. 281 (entry for 5 July 1929). See Longerich, Goebbels, pp. 113-16.

172Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 2, doc. 88, pp. 411-20.

173On the election results see Falter et al., Wahlen und Abstimmungen, pp. 90, 111.

174Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 9: 1926-1937, ed. Sabine Gruber and Ulrich Ott with Christoph Hilse and Nadin Weiss, Stuttgart, 2010, p. 264 (entry for 3 Oct. 1929), p. 268 (entry for 7 Oct. 1929). See also Jonathan Wright, Gustav Stresemann 1878-1929: Weimars grösster Staatsmann, Munich, 2006.

175See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 231; Heike B. Görtemaker, Eva Braun: Leben mit Hitler, Munich, 2010, p. 53. On Hugo Bruckmann’s help with renting the apartment see Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 112-15. After visiting Prinzregentenstrasse on 10 April 1930, Winifred Wagner reported that Hitler had beamed “like a child.” See Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 181. The Reichert family, with whom Hitler had lodged on Thierschstrasse, also moved to Prinzregentenstrasse; there they lived in a small apartment on the third floor. Anni Winter, the wife of Ritter von Epp’s former manservant Georg Winter, became Hitler’s housekeeper. In early December 1933, the landlord assured Hitler that he intended neither to raise the rent nor to sell the apartment: Hugo Schühle to Hitler, 1 Dec. 1933; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/123. In 1935, Hitler bought the whole building, at which point the Reicherts moved out. That meant that Hitler had the third floor all to himself. See transcript of an interview with Anni Winter (undated, post-1945); IfZ München, ZS 194.

9 Dark Star Rising

1Letter from Hitler to a German living abroad, 2 Feb. 1930; Fritz Dickmann, “Die Regierungsbildung in Thüringen als Modell der Machtergreifung: Ein Brief Hitlers aus dem Jahr 1930,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 14 (1966), pp. 454-65 (quotation on p. 464). Also reprinted in Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 3: Zwischen den Reichtagswahlen Juli 1928-September 1930. Part 3: Januar 1930-September 1930, ed. Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1994, doc. 11, pp. 59-64.

2See Harold James, Deutschland in der Weltwirtschaftskrise 1924-1936, Stuttgart, 1988, pp. 65ff.

3Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte 1914-1949, Munich, 2003, p. 259. On the extent of unemployment see Heinrich August Winkler, Der Weg in die Katastrophe: Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung in der Weimarer Republik 1930 bis 1933, Berlin and Bonn, 1987, pp. 23f.

4See Wehler, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte, pp. 553-61, 571f.

5See Ludwig Richter, Die Deutsche Volkspartei 1918-1933, Düsseldorf, 2002, pp. 595ff.

6See Heinrich August Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933: Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie, Munich, 1993, p. 372; see also Karl-Dietrich Bracher’s classic study, Die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik: Eine Studie zum Problem des Machtverfalls in der Demokratie, Villingen, 1955, 3rd revised and expanded edition, 1960, pp. 296ff.

7See Wolfram Pyta, Hindenburg: Herrschaft zwischen Hohenzollern und Hitler, Munich, 2007, pp. 555-75.

8See Eberhard Kolb, Die Weimarer Republik, 2nd edition, Munich, 1988, pp. 125f.

9Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 2, p. 120 (entry for 30 March 1930).

10Ibid., p. 124 (entry for 4 April 1930). See ibid., p. 131 (entry for 13 April 1930).

11Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3 doc. 31, pp. 146f.

12Dickmann, “Regierungsbildung,” pp. 461, 462. On the game of poker Hitler played with the formation of the Thuringia state government see Volker Mauersberger, Hitler in Weimar: Der Fall einer deutschen Kulturstadt, Berlin, 1999, pp. 237-55; Martin Broszat, Die Machtergreifung: Der Aufstieg der NSDAP und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik, Munich, 1984, pp. 103-7.

13See Mauersberger, Hitler in Weimar, pp. 262-80 (quotation on p. 270). For election results for Weimar see ibid., p. 242.

14Hitler to Frick, 2 April 1931; Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 4: Von der Reichstagswahl bis zur Reichspräsidentenwahl Oktober 1930-März 1932. Part 1: Oktober 1930-Juni 1931, ed. Constantin Goschler, Munich, 1993, doc. 78, pp. 245f.

15See Patrick Moreau, “Otto Strasser—Nationaler Sozialismus versus Nationalsozialismus,” in Ronald Smelser and Rainer Zitelmann (eds), Die Braune Elite: 22 biographische Skizzen, Darmstadt, 1989, pp. 286-98. For greater detail see idem, Nationalsozialismus von links: Die “Kampfgemeinschaft Revolutionärer Nationalsozialisten” und die “Schwarze Front” Otto Strassers 1930-1935, Stuttgart, 1985.

16Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 71 (entry for 24 Jan. 1930).

17Ibid., p. 111 (entry for 16 March 1930). See ibid., p. 119 (entry for 28 March 1930): “I don’t believe a word he says any more. He doesn‘t dare move against Strasser. What will happen later if he has to rule Germany as its dictator?”

18See Daniel Siemens, Horst Wessel: Tod und Verklärung eines Nationalsozialisten, Berlin, 2009, pp. 129ff. The quotation in Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 94 (entry for 23 Feb. 1930).

19Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 144 (entry for 28 April 1930).

20Otto Strasser, Hitler und ich, Konstanz, 1948, pp. 129-47 (quotations on pp. 137, 138, 144). The report is based on Otto Strasser’s notes immediately after the conversation. Albert Krebs quotes a similar statement by Hitler: “Socialism? What is socialism? If people have enough to eat and can amuse themselves, that is socialism.” Albert Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten der NSDAP: Erinnerungen aus der Frühzeit der Partei, Stuttgart, 1959, p. 143.

21Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 162 (entry for 22 May 1930).

22See Jürgen Falter, Thomas Lindenberger and Siegfried Schumann, Wahlen und Abstimmungen in der Weimarer Republik: Materialien zum Wahlverhalten 1919-1931, Munich, 1986, p. 108.

23Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3, doc. 67, pp. 249f. (dated 30 June 1930).

24Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 188 (entry for 1 July 1930).

25Gregor Strasser to Rudolf Jung, 22 July 1930; Albrecht Tyrell, Führer befiehl…Selbstzeugnisse aus der “Kampfzeit” der NSDAP: Dokumentation und Analyse, Düsseldorf, 1969, doc. 136, pp. 332f.; see Hinrich Lohse, “Der Fall Strasser,” undated memorandum (c.1952); IfZ München, ZS 265; Moreau, “Otto Strasser,” pp. 290ff.

26See Bracher, Auflösung, pp. 335-40; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 378-81; Kolb, Die Weimarer Republik, p. 126.

27See Gerhard Paul, Aufstand der Bilder: Die NS-Propaganda vor 1933, Bonn, 1990, pp. 90-2 (quotations on pp. 91, 92).

28Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 236 (entry for 11 Sept. 1930).

29Quotations from the following: Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3, doc. 87, pp. 325, 329 (dated 12 Aug. 1930); doc. 81, pp. 295f. (dated 3 Aug. 1930); doc. 76, p. 280 (dated 18 July 1930); doc. 90, p. 357 (dated 18 Aug. 1930); doc. 86, p. 322 (dated 10 Aug. 1930); doc. 110, p. 140 (dated 10 Sept. 1930); doc. 90, p. 359 (dated 18 Aug. 1930).

30For example, see Wehler, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte, p. 569; Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, p. 330; Ralf Georg Reuth, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Munich and Zurich, 2003, p. 228; Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 459; John Toland, Adolf Hitler: Volume 1, New York, 1976, p. 253.

31Quotations in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3, doc. 76, pp. 277, 279 (dated 18 July 1930); doc. 77, pp. 285, 289 (dated 24 July 1930); doc. 82, p. 299 (dated 5 Aug. 1930); doc. 86, p. 316 (dated 10 Aug. 1930); doc. 108, p. 391 (dated 8 Sept. 1930).

32Quotations in ibid., vol. 3, part 3, doc. 87, p. 322 (dated 12 Aug. 1930); doc. 90, p. 345 (dated 18 Aug. 1930); doc. 86, p. 311 (dated 10 Aug. 1930); doc. 90, p. 351 (dated 18 Aug. 1930); doc. 92, p. 364 (dated 21 Aug. 1930).

33Ibid., vol. 3, part 3, doc. 109, pp. 394-407 (quotation on p. 407).

34Ibid., vol. 3, part 3, doc. 107, pp. 387, 388 (dated 7 Sept. 1930).

35Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 405 (dated 10 Sept. 1930); see Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 170 (dated 3/4 Jan. 1942). According to Hanfstaengl (Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters, Munich, 1970, p. 207) Hitler said before the election that he would have been satisfied with forty.

36Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3, doc. 116, p. 420 (dated 16 Sept. 1930).

37See Falter et al., Wahlen und Abstimmungen, pp. 71f.

38See Jürgen Falter, Hitlers Wähler, Munich, 1991, pp. 98ff, particularly pp. 366ff. For a summary see Michael Wildt, Geschichte des Nationalsozialismus, Göttingen, 2008, pp. 58-64; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 389f.; Broszat, Machtergreifung, pp. 113-17.

39Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, pp. 239f. (entries for 15 Sept. and 16 Sept. 1930).

40Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 9: 1926-1937, ed. Sabine Gruber and Ulrich Ott with Christoph Hilse and Nadin Weiss, Stuttgart, 2010, pp. 375, 377 (entry for 15 Sept. 1930).

41Victor Klemperer, Leben sammeln, nicht fragen wozu und warum: Tagebücher 1925-1932, ed. Walter Nowojski, Berlin, 1996, p. 659 (entry for 15 Sept. 1930).

42Thea Sternheim, Tagebücher. Vol. 2: 1925-1936, ed. and selected Thomas Ehrsam and Regula Wyss, Göttingen, 2002, p. 296 (entry for 15 Sept. 1930), p. 298 (entry for 20 Sept. 1930).

43Bella Fromm, Als Hitler mir die Hand küsste, Berlin, 1993, p. 35 (dated 14 Oct. 1930).

44Frankfurter Zeitung, 15 Sept. 1930; quoted in Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, p. 318.

45Carl von Ossietzky, “Vor Sonnenuntergang,” in Die Weltbühne, 16 Sept. 1930, pp. 425-7 (quotation on p. 426). Also in idem, Sämtliche Schriften. Vol. 5: 1929-1930, ed. Bärbel Boldt, Ute Maack and Günther Nickel, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1994, pp. 445-8.

46“Quietus,” “Die Zukunft des Nationalsozialismus,” in Die Weltbühne, 23 Sept. 1930, pp. 477-80 (quotation on p. 477).

47Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 377 (entry for 18 Sept. 1930).

48Quoted in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 320.

49Julius Curtius, Sechs Jahre Minister der deutschen Republik, Heidelberg, 1948, pp. 170f.; see Andreas Rödder, Stresemanns Erbe: Julius Curtius und die deutsche Aussenpolitik 1929-1931, Paderborn, 1996, p. 96.

50Detlev Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany: Wahrnehmungen und Deutungen des Nationalsozialismus in Grossbritannien 1920 bis 1939, Göttingen and Zurich, 1996, pp. 161f. (quotation on p. 162).

51Ibid., pp. 163-6 (quotations on pp. 165, 166f.). An excerpt from the Rothermere article is also in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 322f. See also Brigitte Granzow, A Mirror of Nazism: British Opinion and the Emergence of Hitler 1929-1933, London, 1964, pp. 101ff.; Ian Kershaw, Making Friends with Hitler: Lord Londonderry and Britain’s Road to War, London, 2005, p. 58.

52Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3, doc. 115, p. 419.

53Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 589. On the SPD’s policy of tolerance see Winkler, Weimar, pp. 394-6; Kolb, Weimarer Republik, p. 127; Bracher, Auflösung, pp. 370f.

54On the talks between Brüning and Hitler on 5 Oct. 1930 see Heinrich Brüning, Memoiren 1918-1934, Stuttgart, 1970, pp. 192-6 (quotations on pp. 194, 195, 196). See also Herbert Hömig, Brüning: Kanzler in der Krise der Republik. Eine Weimarer Biographie, Paderborn, 2000, pp. 204-8; Gerhard Schulz, Von Brüning zu Hitler: Der Wandel des politischen Systems in Deutschland 1930-1933, Berlin and New York, 1992, pp. 179-82; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 393f. On how the talks came about see Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, pp. 141-3.

55Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 255 (entry for 6 Oct. 1930).

56Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, p. 141 writes that Hitler could only free himself from his feelings of inferiority vis-à-vis Brüning by developing a “hate complex.” See also Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 339.

57Hess, Briefe, p. 495 (dated 24 Oct. 1930).

58Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 209.

59Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3, doc. 124, p. 452n2. For the interviews see ibid., doc. 124, pp. 452f (Daily Mail, 25 Sept. 1930); doc. 127, pp. 461-8 (Gazzetta del Popolo, 29 Sept. 1930); vol. 4, part 1, doc. 1, pp. 3f. (The Times, 2 Oct. 1930); doc. 2, pp. 4-9 (Hearst press, 4 Oct. 1930).

60Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2, 1, p. 264 (entry for 18 Oct. 1930). Quotations from Thomas Mann, “Deutsche Ansprache: Ein Appell an die Vernunft,” Berlin, 1930; reprinted in idem, Gesammelte Werke in Einzelbänden: Von deutscher Republik, Frankfurt am Main, 1984, pp. 294-314. See Thomas Mann, Briefe III: 1924-1932, selected and ed. Thomas Sprecher, Hans R. Vaget and Cornelia Bernini, Frankfurt am Main, 2011, p. 491 (dated 29 Oct. 1930) and commentary pp. 516-18. See also Klaus Harpprecht, Thomas Mann: Eine Biographie, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1995, pp. 664-7; Winkler, Weimar, p. 391; David Clay Large, Where Ghosts Walked: Munich’s Road to the Third Reich, New York and London, 1997, p. 222.

61Friedrich Meinecke, “Nationalsozialismus und Bürgertum,” in Kölnische Zeitung, 21 Dec. 1930; quoted in Kurt Sontheimer, Antidemokratisches Denken in der Weimarer Republik: Die politischen Ideen des deutschen Nationalismus zwischen 1918 und 1933, Munich, 1968 (student’s edition), pp. 293f.

62Sebastian Haffner, Geschichte eines Deutschen: Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933, Stuttgart and Munich, 2000, pp. 88f.

63Alongside Sontheimer’s classic study, Antidemokratisches Denken, see the concise and hard-hitting analysis in Wehler, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte, pp. 486-93. See also Reinhard Mehring, Carl Schmitt: Aufstieg und Fall. Eine Biographie, Munich, 2009, pp. 247ff; Heimo Schwilk, Ernst Jünger: Ein Jahrhundertleben, Munich and Zurich, 2007, pp. 340ff.; André Schlüter, Möller van den Bruck: Leben und Werk, Cologne, Weimar and Vienna, 2010, pp. 287ff.; Detlef Felken, Oswald Spengler: Konservativer Denker zwischen Kaiserreich und Diktatur, Munich, 1988.

64Bernd Sösemann (ed.), Theodor Wolff: Der Journalist. Berichte und Leitartikel, Düsseldorf, 1993, p. 273 (dated 14 Sept. 1930).

65Ossietzky, Sämtliche Schriften, vol. 5, pp. 435f. (quotation on p. 435).

66Ossietzky, “Brüning darf nicht bleiben,” in ibid., pp. 450-4 (quotation on p. 453). See also Hans-Erich Kaminski, “Die Rechte soll regieren,” in Die Weltbühne, 23 Sept. 1930, pp. 470-3.

67Ossietzky, Sämtliche Schriften, vol. 5, pp. 447, 453, 455. Kurt Tucholsky ridiculed Hitler in similar fashion, calling him “an upstart Mongolian,” a “house painter” and a “man with a beery vocal organ.” Philipp W. Fabry, Mutmassungen über Hitler: Urteile von Zeitgenossen, Königstein im Taunus, 1979, p. 63. On Die Weltbühne’s underestimation of Hitler see Alexander Gallus, Heimat “Weltbühne”: Eine Intellektuellengeschichte im 20. Jahrhundert, Göttingen, 2012, p. 55.

68Ernst Toller, “Reichskanzler Hitler,” in Die Weltbühne, 7 Oct. 1930. See Richard Dove, Ernst Toller: Ein Leben für Deutschland, Göttingen, 1993, pp. 179f.

69Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 214; see Hans Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, pp. 84-6.

70Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3, doc. 123, pp. 434-57 (quotations on pp. 434, 439, 438f., 440, 444, 445, 441).

71Richard Scheringer, Das grosse Los: Unter Soldaten, Bauern und Rebellen, Hamburg, 1959, p. 236; see Ralf Georg Reuth, Goebbels, Munich and Zurich, 1990, p. 176.

72Complete version of the memorandum in Robert W. Kempner (ed.), Der verpasste Nazi-Stopp: Die NSDAP als staats- und republikfeindliche, hochverräterische Verbindung. Preußische Denkschrift von 1930, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1983, pp. 17-135 (quotations on pp. 135, 117).

73Quoted in Schulz, Von Brüning zu Hitler, p. 160.

74See Johannes Hürter, Wilhelm Groener: Reichswehrminister am Ende der Weimarer Republik 1928-1932, Munich, 1993, pp. 270, 284-92; Schulz, Von Brüning zu Hitler, pp. 157-60.

75Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2, 1, p. 327 (entry for 18 Jan. 1931).

76Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 385 (entry for 13 Oct. 1930).

77See Dirk Walter, Antisemitische Kriminalität und Gewalt: Judenfeindschaft in der Weimarer Republik, Bonn, 1999, pp. 209-11; Thomas Friedrich, Die missbrauchte Hauptstadt: Hitler und Berlin, Berlin, 2007, pp. 254-60. On 14 Oct. 1930, Thea Sternheim noted: “National Socialist rowdies have smashed the windows of downtown Jewish businesses as the inaugural act of the pogrom carefully prepared by their press.” Tagebücher, vol. 2, p. 299. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 260 (entry for 14 Oct. 1930).

78Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 1, doc. 7, p. 19 (International News Service, 14 Oct. 1930); see also ibid., doc. 8, p. 22f. (The Times, 14 Oct. 1930).

79The transcript of the Reichstag session of 18 Oct. 1930 is reprinted in Klaus Schönhoven and Jochen Vogel (eds), Frühe Warnungen vor dem Nationalsozialismus: Ein historisches Lesebuch, Bonn, 1998, pp. 115-24 (quotation on p. 115).

80See Martin Döring, “Parlamentarischer Arm der Bewegung”: Die Nationalsozialisten im Reichstag der Weimarer Republik, Düsseldorf, 2001, pp. 271-6.

81Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 298, p. 301 (entries for 6 and 10 Dec. 1930). See Reuth, Goebbels, p. 182f.; Peter Longerich, Joseph Goebbels: A Biography, London, 2015, pp. 140f.; Friedrich, Die missbrauchte Hauptstadt, pp. 271-6. Thea Sternheim quoted the Jewish gallery owner and art dealer Alfred Flechtheim as saying: “You shouldn‘t provoke the people! Get rid of the film!” She commented: “If Jews are that cowardly, pogroms will happen.” Tagebücher, vol. 2, pp. 311f. (entry for 8 Dec. 1930).

82Quoted in Döring, “Parlamentarischer Arm,” p. 279.

83On the atmosphere of latent civil war during the final years of the Weimar Republic, see Dirk Blasius, Weimars Ende: Bürgerkrieg und Politik 1930-1933, Frankfurt am Main, 2008, pp. 22ff.; Andreas Wirsching, Vom Weltkrieg zum Bürgerkrieg? Politischer Extremismus in Deutschland und Frankreich 1918-1933/39: Berlin und Paris in Vergleich, Munich, 1999, pp. 575ff.

84See Peter Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone: Geschichte der SA, Munich, 1989, pp. 116ff.

85As in Hitler’s letter to Interior Minister Groener, 14 Nov. 1931; Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933: Vol. 4: Von der Reichstagswahl bis zur Reichspräsidentenwahl Oktober 1930-März 1932. Part 2: Juli 1931-Dezember 1931, ed. Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1996, doc. 71, pp. 198-203 (quotation on p. 200). See also Hitler’s letter to Brüning of 13 Dec. 1931, in which he writes of “pure self-defence…against the terror of Communist murderers.” Ibid., doc. 94, p. 271.

86See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 230 (entry for 1 Sept. 1930): “At 2 a.m. a telegram from Berlin. SA stormed and destroyed headquarters.” On the first Stennes revolt see Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, pp. 102-4; idem, Goebbels, pp. 134-7; Wirsching, Vom Weltkrieg zum Bürgerkrieg?, pp. 459f.

87Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3, doc. 100, pp. 378f. (entry for 1 Sept. 1930).

88Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 231 (entry for 3 Sept. 1930).

89See Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, pp. 81 ff., 115ff.

90Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 1, doc. 59, pp. 200f.

91Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 357 (entry for 4 March 1931). See ibid., p. 373 (entry for 28 March 1931: “Something foul in the SA again. Stennes isn’t letting up.”).

92Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 1, doc. 67, pp. 229f. (dated 7 March 1931).

93Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 377 (entry for 2 April 1931). Hitler’s order of 30 March 1931 in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 1, doc. 72, pp. 236f.

94Quoted in Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 349.

95Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 1, doc. 79, pp. 246-8 (quotation on p. 247).

96Ibid., doc. 80, pp. 248-58 (quotations on pp. 254, 255, 256, 258). In an angry letter of 13 April 1931 to Julius Friedrich Lehmann, the Pan-Germanic League’s main publisher, Hitler complained about the reporting on the Stennes affair in the Deutsche Zeitung newspaper, which he accused of maliciously taking up a position against him. Not even the “Jewish press,” fumed Hitler, had behaved “so disgracefully” in this case (ibid., doc. 93, pp. 290-2). On 21 April 1931, the chairman of the Pan-Germanic League, Heinrich Class, sent Hugenberg a copy of the letter, which, as he noted showed “the putative saviour of Germany at the apex of megalomania, hotheadedness, impoliteness and lack of judgement.” Class asked: “What will become of this?” BA Koblenz, N 1231/36.

97Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 387 (entry for 17 April 1930).

98Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 345, 366. See also Hess, Briefe, p. 406 (dated 24 Oct. 1930).

99See Andreas Heusler, Das Braune Haus: Wie München zur “Hauptstadt der Bewegung” wurde, Munich, 2008, pp. 132-8; Hitler’s call to members of 26 May 1930 in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3, doc. 50, pp. 207-9.

100Timo Nüsslein, Paul Ludwig Troost, 1878-1934, Vienna, Cologne and Weimar, 2012, pp. 69f. On the relationship between Hitler and Troost see ibid., pp. 66-76.

101Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 202 (entry for 20 July 1930), p. 280 (entry for 12 Nov. 1930), p. 353 (entry for 26 Feb. 1931). See Nüsslein, Paul Ludwig Troost, pp. 103f.; Heusler, Das Braune Haus, pp. 142f.

102Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 1, doc. 61 (dated 21 Feb. 1931), pp. 206-18 (quotation on p. 214).

103Hess, Briefe, pp. 408f. (dated 10 March 1930). On the renovations see Nüsslein, Paul Ludwig Troost, pp. 82-7; Heusler, Das Braune Haus, pp. 146f.

104Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, pp. 93f.; see also Heusler, Das Braune Haus, pp. 159f. In an interview dated 13 March 1964, vol. 2, Hermann Esser said that more or less all meetings in the Brown House were carried out standing; BayHStA München, Nl Esser. In his testimony from July 1968, Stennes confirmed that part of Hitler’s nature was “to plan things such that no one knows which direction he’s headed in and only he himself was acquainted with all his contacts.” IfZ München, ZS 1147. On the furnishing of Hitler’s office see Birgit Schwarz, Geniewahn: Hitler und die Kunst, Vienna, Cologne and Weimar, 2009, pp. 118f.

105Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 163 (entry for 24 May 1930), p. 353 (entry for 26 Feb. 1931). See also ibid., p. 202 (entry for 20 July 1930): “Horrible middle-of-the-road cretins”; p. 371 (25 March 1931): “Horrible to see him mingling with these philistines”; p. 394 (28 April 1931): “The people surrounding Hitler. Gruesome!”; p. 153 (12 May 1930): “The most primitive company.”

106See Stefan Krings, Hitlers Pressechef Otto Dietrich 1897-1952: Eine Biographie, Göttingen, 2010, pp. 103-5.

107Heusler, Das Braune Haus, pp. 156f.

108Erich Mühsam, “Jedem das Seine,” in Die Welt am Montag, 1 June 1931; reprinted in idem, Ein Lesebuch: Sich fügen heisst lügen, ed. Marlies Fritzen, Göttingen, 2003, pp. 244f.

109See Hans Otto Eglau, Fritz Thyssen: Hitlers Gönner und Geisel, Berlin, 2003, pp. 127f.

110See ibid., pp. 87, 96, 105, 108, 117, 122-7; Henry A. Turner, Die Grossunternehmer und der Aufstieg Hitlers, Berlin, 1986, pp. 177, 180, 184f. In a letter of 30 Dec. 1931, Thyssen informed Hugenberg that he was “friends with Göring.” BA Koblenz, N 1231/39. On Göring’s role as Hitler’s representative in Berlin, see the transcript of his testimony from 20 July 1945: “The Führer entrusted me with this office because back then I was the only one in the party with enough contacts to represent the party in society.” IfZ München, ZS 428.

111See Christopher Kopper, Hjalmar Schacht: Aufstieg und Fall von Hitlers mächtigstem Bankier, Munich and Vienna, 2006, pp. 173-7.

112Fromm, Als Hitler mir die Hand küsste, p. 32 (dated 12 Feb. 1930).

113Kopper, Hjalmar Schacht, p. 189.

114Hjalmar Schacht, 76 Jahre meines Lebens, Bad Wörishofen, 1953, p. 351. See Kopper, Hjalmar Schacht, pp. 188f. On the role of Stauss see Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 174f. Hitler had spoken with Stauss in Göring’s apartment as early as the end of September 1930. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 251 (entry for 30 Sept. 1930).

115Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 319 (entry for 6 Jan. 1931).

116Schacht, 76 Jahre, p. 351. On the meeting of 5 Jan. 1931 see also Kopper, Hjalmar Schacht, pp. 189-91; Eglau, Fritz Thyssen, pp. 120-2; Turner, Grossunternehmer, p. 176.

117Schacht, 76 Jahre, p. 352.

118Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929-1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 398.

119Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 327 (entry for 18 Jan. 1931); Hess, Briefe, pp. 405f. (dated 24 Oct. 1930).

120See, for example, Carl von Ossietzky: “In his early years, Adolf Hitler may have acted out of a genuine ignorance. Today he’s only a creature of industry.” Sämtliche Schriften, vol. 5, p. 435 (dated 9 Sept. 1930). Kurt Hiller wrote in Die Weltbühne, 23 Sept. 1930, p. 468: “National Socialism has been bought off by the industrialists who act according to the principle ‘divide and conquer’ and fragment the proletariat into warring factions.”

121See Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 139-53.

122See Kolb, Die Weimarer Republik, p. 122.

123See Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 157, 164. In a parliamentary faction meeting in June 1929, Göring sneered to Feder: “You know yourself that your economic policies aren’t binding for the party.” G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 11 (entry for 4 June 1929); IfZ München, ED 874.

124Turner, Grossunternehmer, p. 165.

125Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 443.

126See Turner, Grossunternehmer, p. 160. The meeting was arranged by Admiral Magnus von Levetzow, Kaiser Wilhelms II’s political attaché, who had been a follower of the Nazi movement since September 1930. See Gerhard Granier, Magnus von Levetzow: Seeoffizier, Monarchist und Wegbereiter Hitlers: Lebensweg und ausgewählte Dokumente, Boppard am Rhein, 1982, pp. 153f.

127Stefan Frech, Wegbereiter Hitlers? Theodor Reismann-Grone: Ein völkischer Nationalist, 1863-1949, Paderborn, 2009, p. 288.

128Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 3, part 3, doc. 36, pp. 141-4 (quotation on p. 144). See Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 10f.; Manfred Asendorf, “Hamburger Nationalklub, Keppler-Kreis, Arbeitsstelle Schacht und der Aufstieg Hitlers,” in 1999: Zeitschrift für Sozialgeschichte des 19. und 20. Jahrhunderts, 2 (1987), pp. 123-6.

129Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, pp. 366, 371 (entries for 17 and 25 March 1931). Comment about Repuke quoted in Dirk Stegmann, “Zum Verhältnis von Grossindustrie und Nationalsozialismus 1930-1933,” in Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 13 (1973), p. 419. See also Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 168f.; Longerich, Goebbels, p. 144.

130See Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, pp. 478-80; Turner, Grossunternehmer, p. 172.

131See Stegmann, “Zum Verhältnis,” pp. 418f.; Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 178, 181f.

132See Oron James Hale, “Adolf Hitler: Taxpayer,” in American Historical Review, 60 (1955), pp. 830-42; Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 185f.

133See Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 186f.; see also Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 423 (dated 6 July 1942); Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 216.

134See Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 187f.; see also Hitler’s statement dated 7 April 1932 in Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 5: Von der Reichspräsidentenwahl bis zur Machtergreifung April 1932-Januar 1933. Part 1: April 1932-September 1932, ed. Klaus A. Lankheit, Munich, 1996, doc. 19, pp. 36f. On Hitler’s new Berlin residence see Friedrich, Die missbrauchte Hauptstadt, pp. 291-4.

135Winkler, Weimar, p. 421.

136Thea Sternheim, Tagebücher, vol. 2, p. 362 (entry for 13 July 1931). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 57 (entry for 15 July 1931): “Danatbank is closing its counters. Panic on the markets and in the economy. A giant scandal.”

137See Falter et al., Wahlen und Abstimmungen, pp. 100, 94, 95.

138Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 328 (entry for 18 Jan. 1931), p. 407 (entry for 17 May 1931).

139Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 2, doc. 12, pp. 39f. (dated 21 July 1931).

140Ibid., doc. 20, pp. 65-7 (quote on p. 66). The previous quote in ibid., p. 67n15.

141Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, pp. 73f. (entry for 10 Aug. 1931).

142See Walter, Antisemitische Kriminalität und Gewalt, pp. 211-21 (quotations on pp. 213, 218); Wirsching, Vom Weltkrieg zum Bürgerkrieg?, pp. 463f.; Friedrich, Die missbrauchte Hauptstadt, pp. 319-25.

143Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 31, pp. 104-6 (quotation on pp. 105f.) and report by the Munich police headquarters on Hitler’s speech in ibid., p. 106n16.

144Hess, Briefe, p. 414 (dated 9 Sept. 1931).

145Astrid Pufendorf, Die Plancks: Eine Familie zwischen Patriotimus und Widerstand, Berlin, 2006, p. 252. On Hindenburg’s plans in the autumn of 1931 see Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 629f. See also Brüning, Memoiren, p. 386, who wrote that Hindenburg spoke generally on 13 Sept. 1931 about the need to “move more to the right.”

146Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 116 (entry for 5 Oct. 1931). See Longerich, Goebbels, p.162f.

147Quoted in Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 355. See Thilo Vogelsang, Reichswehr, Staat und NSDAP: Beiträge zur deutschen Geschichte 1930-1932, Stuttgart, 1962, pp. 135-7. See also Die Deutschnationalen und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik: Aus dem Tagebuch von Reinhold Quaatz 1928-1933, ed. Hermann Weiss and Paul Hoser, Munich, 1989, p. 157 (entry for 20 Oct. 1931): “Schleicher characterised Hitler precisely as a dreamer and an unstable character, even if full of patriotic desires.”

148Brüning, Memoiren, p. 391. See Hömig, Brüning: Kanzler in der Krise, pp. 397f.

149On Hitler’s meeting with Hindenburg of 10 Oct. 1931 see Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 634-7. Further, Hitler, Monologe, p. 211 (dated 18 Jan. 1942): “I immediately crossed the bridge to becoming a soldier, but it was a huge challenge to cross the bridge into politics.”

150Brüning, Memoiren, p. 391; Ernst von Weizsäcker, Erinnerungen, Munich, 1950, p. 103; see Hömig, Brüning: Kanzler in der Krise, p. 398.

151Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 1014n43 und p. 634.

152Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 121 (entry for 12 Oct. 1931). Hitler told Magnus von Levetzow that his “general estimation of the old man” was that he was “an unimportant but not unlikeable figure.” Granier, Magnus von Levetzow, p. 311 (dated 14 Oct. 1932). By contrast, among party comrades, Hitler supposedly described Hindenburg as “a trembling old man unable to take a leak.” Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, p. 34.

153See Richter, Deutsche Volkspartei, pp. 713ff.; Reinhard Neebe, Grossindustrie, Staat und NSDAP 1930-1933, Göttingen, 1981, pp. 99-110; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 430f.

154Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 2, doc. 46, pp. 134-59 (quotations on pp. 143, 152). See also Hitler to Brüning, 13 Dec. 1931, Ibid., doc. 94, pp. 264-92 (particularly p. 287).

155See Schacht, 76 Jahre meines Lebens, pp. 367f.; Kopper, Hjalmar Schacht, pp. 191-4.

156Turner, Grossunternehmer, p. 220. See also Erich von Gilsa to Paul Reusch, 13 Oct. 1931: “Noticeably, none of the true leaders of industry were present.” Schulz, Von Brüning zu Hitler, p. 559n825.

157Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 121 (entry for 12 Oct. 1931).

158Hitler to Franz Seldte, 2 Dec. 1931; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol 4, part 2, doc. 82, pp. 226-31 (quotation on p. 228). See Otto Schmidt-Hannover, Umdenken oder Anarchie: Männer—Schicksale—Lehren, Göttingen, 1959, p. 182, where Hitler in Bad Harzburg is described as “cocky and scatterbrained…like a cross between a prima donna and a Napoleon imitator.” On how the Harzburg rally came about and the events of the day, see the recent account by Larry Eugene Jones, “Nationalists, Nazis, and the Assault against Weimar: Revisiting the Harzburg Rally of October 1931,” in German Studies Review, 29 (2006), pp. 483-94 (particularly p. 488).

159Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 2, doc. 43 and 44, pp. 123-32 (quotation on p. 130). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 122 (entry for 12 Oct. 1931), who described Hitler as “pale as a ghost” and “in bad form” but still “miles above everyone else.”

160Vossische Zeitung, 28 Oct. 1931; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/87. In a letter to Otto Schmidt-Hannover on 3 January 1932, Hugenberg complained about “the ugly game that the National Socialists are playing with their former allies.” BA Koblenz, N 1231/39.

161On a car trip to the wedding of Magda and Joseph Goebbels on 19 Dec. 1931, Hitler told Victoria von Dirksen, an aristocrat who sympathised with the National Socialists, that he needed to assume power as soon as possible, which was “why he was looking around in all directions for allies.” He added that he would reach agreement with Hugenberg “when the moment was right.” See the letter from DNVP Press Officer Hans Brosius to Hugenberg (based on statements by Dirksen), 23 Dec. 1931; BA Koblenz, N 1231/192. On the role of the Dirksen Salon as a go-between connecting the traditional aristocracy and National Socialism, see Stephan Malinowski, Vom König zum Führer: Sozialer Niedergang und politische Radikalisierung im deutschen Adel zwischen Kaiserreich und NS-Staat, Berlin, 2003, pp. 554f.

162Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 2, doc. 48, pp. 159-64 (quotation on p. 160).

163Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 128 (entry for 19 Oct. 1931).

164Deuerlein, Aufstieg, pp. 361f. On the “Boxheim documents” see Ulrich Herbert, Best: Biographische Studien über Radikalismus, Weltanschauung und Vernunft 1903-1989, Bonn 1996, pp. 112-19. See also Bracher, Auflösung, pp. 431-5; Schulz, Von Brüning zu Hitler, pp. 604-8; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 433f.

165Quoted in Herbert, Best, p. 116.

166Thea Sternheim, Tagebücher, vol. 2, p. 379 (entry for 27 Nov. 1931).

167Quoted in Schulz, Von Brüning zu Hitler, p. 608.

168Report in The Times of 5 Dec. 1931 on Hitler’s press conference; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 2, doc. 83, pp. 231-5. See ibid., doc. 91, pp. 256-9 (Hitler’s article of 11 Dec. 1931, originally conceived to be a speech on American radio).

169Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 258. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 205: “He came in and spoke brilliantly, clearly, rationally and utterly convincingly.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

170Hubert R. Knickerbocker, Deutschland so oder so?, Berlin, 1932, pp. 207f. See also the report by Sefton Delmer, the Berlin correspondent for the Daily Express, on his first meeting with Hitler in May 1931. Sefton Delmer, Die Deutschen und ich, Hamburg, 1963, pp. 114-18, particularly p. 116.

171Frederic M. Sackett to Henry L. Stimson, 7 Dec. 1931; quoted in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 2, doc. 85, p. 239n4.

172Dorothy Thompson, Kassandra spricht: Antifaschistische Publizistik 1932-1942, Leipzig and Weimar, 1988, pp. 41-3.

173Klaus Mann, Der Wendepunkt: Ein Lebensbericht, Frankfurt am Main, 1963, pp. 228f. Mann remembered the meeting happening “around a year before Hitler came to power,” that is in early 1932. His diary, however, gives the date as 14 July 1932: “At the very next table Adolf Hitler in the stupidest sort of company. His inferiority is strikingly obvious. Extremely talentless. The fascination he exerts is the biggest embarrassment in history.” Klaus Mann, Tagebücher 1931 bis 1933, ed. Joachim Heimannsberg, Peter Laemmle and Winfried F. Schoeller, Munich, 1989, p. 64. See Uwe Naumann (ed.), “Ruhe gibt es nicht, bis zum Schluss.” Klaus Mann, 1906-1949: Bilder und Dokumente, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1999, p. 132.

174Theodor Heuss, Hitlers Weg: Eine historisch-politische Studie über den Nationalsozialismus, 6th edition, Stuttgart, Berlin and Leipzig, 1932 (quotations on pp. 103, 131, 105, 138, 148f., 99, 100). In late October 1931, Heuss sent the manuscript (minus the final chapter) to the Union Deutsche Verlagsgesellschaft publishers in Stuttgart. By 19 Dec., the proof corrections were finished. “It is entirely without polemic—an empirical study spiced up with a lot of irony,” Heuss wrote to his friend Friedrich Mück in Heilbronn on 21 Dec. 1931. Theodor Heuss, Bürger der Weimarer Republik: Briefe 1918-1933, ed. Michael Dorrmann, Munich, 2008, no. 186, pp. 431-3, no. 193, pp. 447-53 (quotation on pp. 450f.). For a facsimile of the first edition, see p. 451. On 25 Jan. 1932, Goebbels noted: “Read Theodor Heuss’s pamphlet ‘Hitlers Weg’ [Hitler’s Way]. Better late than never. Not completely stupid. He knows a lot about us. Exploits this somewhat unfairly. But it’s a critique you don’t have to be ashamed of.” Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 203. See also Peter Merseburger, Theodor Heuss: Der Bürger als Präsident. Biographie, Munich, 2012, pp. 279-85.

175Klemperer, Tagebücher 1925-1932, p. 739 (entry for 25 Dec. 1931); Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 400 (entry for 31 Dec. 1931).

10 Hitler and Women

1Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, p. 210.

2Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, p. 303.

3For a summary see Hans-Joachim Neumann and Henrik Eberle, War Hitler krank? Ein abschliessender Befund, Bergisch-Gladbach, 2009, pp. 52-60; see also Heinz Linge, Bis zum Untergang: Als Chef des Persönlichen Dienstes bei Hitler, ed. Werner Maser, Munich, 1982, p. 94; Werner Maser, Adolf Hitler: Legende—Mythos—Wirklichkeit, 12th edition, Munich and Esslingen, 1989, pp. 323f.; Gustav Keller, Der Schüler Adolf Hitler: Die Geschichte eines lebenslangen Amoklaufs, Münster, 2012, p. 25, repeats the story of the bitten penis without discussion. On the tale that Hitler had lost a testicle after being wounded at the beginning of October 1916, see Thomas Weber, Hitler’s First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War, Oxford and New York, 2010. pp. 154f.

4Ernst Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters, Munich, 1970, pp. 183f. In his unpublished memoirs (p. 3), Hanfstaengl writes that Hitler was, “in the medical sense, impotent” and lived in a “sexual no man’s land.” Hitler has “no normal sex life,” he added (p. 42); BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47. In an interview on 28 Oct. 1951, Hanfstaengl contended that Hitler had had a sexual relationship with Rudolf Hess. IfZ München, ZS 60.

5See Guido Knopp, Hitler: Eine Bilanz, Berlin, 1995, pp. 140f.

6Lothar Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis: Das Doppelleben eines Diktators, Berlin, 2001, p. 7. The theory of Hitler’s repressed homosexuality has also been put forward in Manfred Koch-Hillebrecht, Homo Hitler: Psychogramm eines Diktators, Munich, 1999, pp. 249, 406.

7Lothar Machtan, “Was Hitlers Homosexualität bedeutet: Anmerkungen zu einer Tabugeschichte,” in Zeitschrift für Geschichtswissenschaft, 51 (2003), pp. 334-51 (quotations on pp. 337, 336). In contrast, see Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 353, who rejected assertions that Hitler was homosexual as a “fanciful combination that can be disproven by pure, empirical facts.”

8Christa Schroeder, Er war mein Chef: Aus dem Nachlass der Sekretärin von Adolf Hitler, ed. Anton Joachimsthaler, 3rd edition, Munich and Vienna, 1985, pp. 153, 152, 155. See also Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 61, who cited Eva Braun as saying: “Believe me, he’s an absolute eunuch and not a man, despite his constant desires.” See also Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 9: 1926-1937, ed. Sabine Gruber and Ulrich Ott with Christoph Hilse and Nadin Weiss, Stuttgart, 2010, p. 631 (entry for 28 Jan. 1935): “Hitler is said most probably to be neither hetero- nor homosexual, but rather a eunuch who has no sexual feelings.” (Kessler’s statement was based on remarks by Hermann Keyserling.)

9Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 448. See also Helm Stierlin, “Anziehung und Distanz: Hitler und die Frauen aus der Sicht des Psychotherapeuten,” in Ulrike Leutheusser (ed.), Hitler und die Frauen, Munich, 2003, p. 264. Stierlin asserts that “the erotic needs and sexual energy that were blocked in his private self were allowed to express themselves all the more wildly in his public self.”

10Guido Knopp, Hitlers Frauen und Marlene, Munich, 2001, p. 37.

11Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, pp. 230f. (dated 25/26 Jan. 1941); also for the following quote. See Karl Wilhelm Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener bei Hitler, Hamburg, 1949, p. 43: “Often during his excursions, he would exclaim: ‘My God is that a beautiful girl (a beautiful woman).’ ”

12Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 152.

13See Brigitte Hamann, Hitlers Wien: Lehrjahre eines Diktators, Munich and Zurich, 1996, pp. 517-19.

14Joachim Radkau, Das Zeitalter der Nervosität: Deutschland zwischen Bismarck und Hitler, Munich and Vienna, 1998, p. 147.

15See above, p. 61. Speer recalled Hitler’s close circle of intimates noticing that he “never broached sexual topics or told dirty jokes.” Speer to Joachim Fest, 13 Sept. 1969; BA Koblenz, N 1340/17.

16See Maser, Adolf Hitler, p. 315.

17Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, p. 139.

18Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 355. A relationship between Hitler and Jenny Haug was also confirmed by Maria Enders, an employee in the NSDAP offices, in a conversation on 11 Dec. 1951; IfZ München, ZS 33.

19See Martha Schad, “ ‘Das Auge war vor allen Dingen ungeheuer anziehend’: Freundinnen und Verehrerinnen,” in Ulrike Leutheusser (ed.), Hitler und die Frauen, Munich, 2003, pp. 30-55; Anton Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste: Ein Dokument persönlicher Beziehungen, Munich, 2003, pp. 63-135.

20Hitler, Monologe, p. 316 (dated 10/11 March 1942).

21Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 139; see Schad, “Freundinnen und Verehrerinnen,” p. 40. All the same, Hitler still sent “Fräulein Bechstein” a birthday telegram in June 1938. Daily diaries of Max Wünsche dated 23 June 1938; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/125.

22Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 148.

23Deuerlein, Aufstieg, p. 238. The prison guard Franz Hemmrich also recalled (p. 44) Hitler being “extremely indifferent” to the female sex: “He treated them with charming politeness but without the slightest hint of salaciousness in either his words or his gaze.” IfZ München, ED 153.

24Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 145 (dated 27 March 1942). In a conversation about the “women’s question” in July 1924 in Landsberg, Hitler declared: “Women have no place in the political representation of the people. Politics is an exclusively male domain, especially in those areas where the logical extension of politics means that men will have to shed their blood.” Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 345 (dated 10 July 1924). See diaries of G. Feder, vol. 11 (entry for 1 Nov. 1929); IfZ München, ED 874.

25Hitler, Monologe, pp. 315f. (dated 10/11 March 1942); p. 310 (dated 1 March 1942). See also Hitlers Tischgespräche, p. 273 (dated 8 March 1942): “Marriage, as Hitler sees it, is…a task in which career battles are the job of the man, and the household order, the sanctuary from which the struggle for survival is launched, is the woman’s role.”

26Hess, Briefe, p. 332 (dated 8 June 1924). According to testimony by the highest party judge of the NSDAP, Walter Buch, on 1 May 1947, even before 9 Nov. 1923 Hitler had declared: “I cannot marry. My wife will be Germania.” IfZ München, ZS 805. Hitler seems to have seen his sister Paula on rare occasions. Gottfried Feder confirms her presence in Munich in February 1923: diaries, vol. 5 (entry for 8 Feb. 1923); IfZ München, ED 874.

27R. Buttmann’s diary for 23 Dec. 1924; BayHStA München, Nl Buttmann 82; Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 1: Die Wiedergründung der NSDAP Februar 1925-Juni 1926, ed. and annotated Clemens Vollnhals, Munich, London, New York and Paris, 1992, doc. 8, p. 32.

28Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 153.

29Anna Maria Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund: Adolf Hitler, seine Nichte Geli Raubal und der “Ehrenarier” Emil Maurice—Eine Dreiecksbeziehung, Munich, 2003, p. 94.

30“Hitlers unbekannte Geliebte: Ein Bericht von Gunter Peis,” in Stern, 13 June 1959, pp. 28-34.

31On what follows see Peis, “Hitlers unbekannte Geliebte,” on which was based Anna Maria Sigmund, “Marie Reiter,” in idem., Die Frauen der Nazis: Die drei Bestseller vollständig aktualisiert in einem Band, Munich, 2005, pp. 673-729; Schad “Freundinnen und Verehrerinnen,” pp. 69-79.

32Hitler, Monologe, p. 230 (dated 25/26 Jan. 1942).

33See above, pp. 263f.

34Henriette von Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, Munich, 1983, pp. 244f.

35Machtan, Hitlers Geheimnis, p. 180.

36Hitler, Monologe, p. 208 (dated 16/17 Jan. 1942).

37Sigmund, “Maria Reiter,” p. 694. Hitler’s postcards and letters are reprinted in full in Anna Maria Sigmund, Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 3, Munich, 2002, pp. 11ff.; see Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 187-96. The authenticity has been assured. A graphology report can be found in the appendix of the Stern report of 13 June 1959.

38Sigmund, “Maria Reiter,” p. 698.

39Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 357. See Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 156 (“the only woman he ever loved”); Das Hitler-Bild: Die Erinnerungen des Fotografen Heinrich Hoffmann, ed. Joe J. Heydecker, St. Pölten and Salzburg, 2008, p. 77 (“Hitler’s great love”); Fest, Hitler, p. 447 (“his one great love”); Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, p. 352 (“Hitler, for the first and only time in his life…became emotionally dependent on a woman”); Ronald Hayman, Hitler & Geli, London, 1997, p. 3 (“Geli was the crucial woman in Hitler’s life, more important than Eva Braun”).

40For biographical details see Anna Maria Sigmund, “Geli Raubal,” in: idem, Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, Vienna, 1998, pp. 131ff.; idem.; Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 23ff.

41Memoirs of Franz Hemmrich, p. 44; IfZ München, ED 153.

42Quoted in Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 101.

43Hess, Briefe, p. 385 (dated 17 Sept. 1927). Hitler, Angela Raubal and Geli Raubal added greetings on a postcard sent by Rudolf Hess to Ilse Pröhl from the Sächsische Schweiz on 2 Sept. 1929; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 39. See Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 1/2, p. 258 (entry for 22 Aug. 1927): “I’m getting to know the boss’s relatives. Likeable people just like him”; p. 260 (entry for 24 Aug. 1927): “Took my leave of the boss and his sweet niece Geli.” See ibid., p. 267 (entries for 8 and 10 Sept. 1927).

44H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 46. On Geli Raubal’s outward appearance see also Hayman, Hitler & Geli, pp. 102-4; Baldur von Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, Hamburg, 1967, p. 107.

45Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah: Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotographen, Munich and Berlin, 1974, p. 124; see H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 50. Gottfried Feder confirmed that Hitler’s niece had been at the Osteria Bavaria for the first time on 10 Nov. 1927; G. Feder’s diaries, vol. 10; IfZ München, ED 874.

46H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, pp. 55-9 (quotation on p. 58).

47Ibid., p. 61; see Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 125f.

48Geli Raubal to Emil Maurice, 24 Dec. 1927; partially reprinted in Sigmund, “Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen um Hitler, vol. 1, pp. 140f. (see p. 141 for a facsimile of the letter).

49See Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 127-9 (see p. 128 for a facsimile of a reference signed by Hitler, which gives the leaving date of Jan. 1928). See also IfZ München, ZS 290.

50Nerin E. Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler: Leben und Schicksal, Velbert und Kettwig, 1968, p. 24.

51Quoted in Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 127.

52H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 51. In 1929 Hanfstaengl observed Geli Raubal and Hitler taking in a performance at Munich’s Residenztheater together. They behaved like a “romantic couple,” Hanfstaengl noted. Note by Hanfstaengl “Geli & A. H.”; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 26.

53See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 52 (entry for 13 July 1928); p. 54 (entry for 15 July 1928).

54Ibid., p. 123 (entry for 15 Nov. 1928). See ibid., p. 124 (entry for 17 Nov. 1928), p. 126 (entry for 19 Nov. 1928). About Hitler’s performance at the Sportpalast Rudolf Hess wrote to his parents on 21 Nov. 1928: “You cannot imagine what the meeting was like—18,000 people and the boss’s oratory has rarely been as captivating.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 41.

55See Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 154, 159.

56Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 295 (entry for 2 Aug. 1929).

57Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 24.

58Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 124. See also an interview with Hermann Esser, dated 18 March 1964, vol. 1, who claimed that it was obvious that “Hitler was very attached to her, to say nothing of being in love.” BayHStA München, Nl Esser.

59Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, pp. 105f. (entry for 19 Oct. 1928). On the rumours see also Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 105; Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, p. 323.

60Ralf Georg Reuth (ed.), Joseph Goebbels Tagebücher. Vol. 1: 1924-1929, Munich and Zurich, 1992, p. 428 (entry for 22 Nov. 1929). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 68 (entry for 20 Jan. 1930): “He’s not working very much…And then there are the women, the women.”

61Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 233. See also Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 198, where he claims that Hitler’s relationship “had directed his male libido into the proper channel for the first and only time in his life.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

62Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 153. Henriette von Schirach was also convinced that “there were no intimate relations between the two.” Quoted in Knopp, Hitler: Eine Bilanz, p. 144. See Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, p. 327.

63Transcript of a conversation with Adolf Vogl and his wife on 2 Jan. 1952; IfZ München, ZS 167; see Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 235f.; Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 144. In October 1923, the lawyer Richard Dingeldey invited Hitler to dinner on Franz-Joseph-Strasse 37. Also on the guest list were “our common friends Herr and Frau Vogl” and the Wagner scholar and musical director Alfred Lorenz. See R. Dingeldey to “my most esteemed Herr Hitler,” 10 Oct. 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/15.

64See Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 185; Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 146: Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 202 (entry for 20 July 1930).

65See Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929-1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 98.

66See the bill issued by Rich & Söhne, Munich for “1 pair of snake leather shoes (cost 33 marks),” which Geli Raubal had purchased on 14 July 1931. The head of the company wrote: “My dear Herr Hitler! In accordance with your order, which we greatly value, we present you with a bill for the shoes purchased by your niece and send our fond regards with a Heil!” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557.

67Olaf Rose (ed.), Julius Schaub: In Hitlers Schatten, Stegen, 2005, p. 107.

68Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, pp. 125f. (quotation on p. 126). See also H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, pp. 62-4.

69H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 64.

70Rose, Julius Schaub, p. 108. Schaub gives the date as 18 Sept., which cannot be correct as Geli Raubal spent that evening locked in her room.

71See Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 21; Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 170.

72Heydecker, Hoffmann-Erinnerungen, p. 78. See Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 128. On the morning of 19 Sept., Hess called Goebbels and told him: “Geli shot herself last night. What a terrible blow! I don’t dare to speculate about her motives. How will the boss get over it?” Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 103 (entry for 20 Sept. 1931).

73Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 203-5 (see p. 204 for a facsimile of the speeding ticket).

74See ibid., pp. 174f.

75Ibid., pp. 170f. See idem, “Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, p. 149.

76Statements from Georg Winter, Anni Winter, Maria Reichert and Anna Kirmair are part of the final report from the Munich police dated 28 Sept. 1931; reprinted in Sigmund, “Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, pp. 148f.; see also idem., Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 171-3.

77Hitler’s statement from 19 Sept. 1931; reprinted in Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 175f.; see idem, “Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, pp. 150, 154.

78Münchener Post, 21 Sept. 1931; for further examples of press commentary, see Regensburger Echo, 25 Sept. 1931 (“Tragedy in Munich’s Bogenhausen”), Freistaat, 22 Sept. 1931 (“Hitler’s family drama”), Fränkische Tagespost, 21 Sept. 1931 (“Suicide in Hitler’s apartment”) in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/13.

79See Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 179f.; idem, “Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, p. 151.

80Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 4: Von der Reichstagswahl bis zur Reichspräsidentenwahl Oktober 1930-März 1932. Part 2: Juli 1931-Dezember 1931, ed. Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1996, doc. 36, pp. 109-11.

81On the rumours see Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 203; Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 27f.; Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 242. The story of Geli’s pregnancy can be traced back to Bridget Hitler, the first wife of Hitler’s half-brother, Alois; see Michael Unger (ed.), The Memoirs of Bridget Hitler, London, 1979, pp. 70-7. The claim that Hitler was the murderer was spread by Otto Strasser, who heard it from his brother Paul, who himself heard it from his brother Gregor, murdered in 1934; Otto Strasser, Hitler und ich, Konstanz, 1948, pp. 236-8.

82See Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 211; interview with Hermann Esser on 20 March 1964, vol. 1; BayHStA München, Nl Esser; Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 184f. Leo Raubal also called his sister’s death “a mystery” in an interview of 22 March 1971; IfZ München, ZS 2239. Adolf Vogl considered it “out of the question” that Geli Raubal could have committed suicide. IfZ München, ZS 167.

83H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 67; see Gun, Eva Hitler-Braun, p. 21.

84See Hayman, Hitler & Geli, p. 145. See also O. Strasser, Hitler und ich, p. 97. Strasser, however, merely writes of “extravagant wishes” that “the imagination of a healthy man would hardly believe possible.”

85Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 233, 238. See the very similar account in Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, pp. 189, 192; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

86Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 234. See Hayman, Hitler & Geli, p. 154, who uncritically accepts Hanfstaengl’s version. The nude portraits, which as late as 1998 Anna Maria Sigmund reprinted and described as genuine (“Geli Raubal,” in Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, p. 144), were in fact fakes by forger Konrad Kujau. Sigmund corrected her mistake in 2003 in her book Des Führers bester Freund (pp. 208f.).

87Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 28. See Heydecker, Hoffmann-Erinnerungen, p. 79. Gun and Hoffmann rely on an anecdote told by Anni Winter. According to Winter, before Geli Raubal locked herself in her room, she had discovered a letter from Eva Braun while tidying up Hitler’s chamber. In it, Braun thanked Hitler for inviting her out to the theatre. But it was no secret to Raubal that Hitler had been meeting up with Heinrich Hoffmann’s assistant for some time. As far as we can tell, Raubal did not see Braun as a rival. See also Rose, Julius Schaub, p. 103, who writes of a fleeting meeting between the two at the 1930 Oktoberfest. Gunter Peis (“Die unbekannte Geliebte”) emphasises Raubal’s “jealousy of Mimi Reiter,” who claimed to have slept with Hitler in the summer of 1931 (see above p. 275). More recently Peter Longerich (Joseph Goebbels: A Biography, London, 2015, p. 160) has insinuated that there might have been a connection between Hitler’s interest in Magda Goebbels (p. 285) and Raubal’s suicide.

88As in the statement by Emil Maurice dated 5 June 1945; quoted in Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, p. 186.

89Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, pp. 130-4; see Hoffmann’s manuscript for his court trial (January 1947), p. 14: Hoffmann claimed that Hitler shut himself away for ten days, which is manifestly untrue; IfZ München, MS 2049; Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 22; Otto Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, Munich, 1955, p. 198 (from a statement by Gregor Strasser); Hans Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, pp. 97f. (from a statement by Rudolf Hess); Karl Alexander von Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt: Erinnerungen. Vol. 3: 1919-1932, ed. Otto Alexander von Müller, Munich, 1966, p. 307. Elsa Bruckmann is quoted as saying that Hitler was “utterly broken and spent several hours sobbing in incomprehension.”

90Fest, Hitler, p. 445. See also Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 354: “He seemed to be on the verge of a nervous breakdown. He spoke of giving up politics and finishing it all.”

91Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 2, doc. 37, pp. 111-15. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 107 (entry for 25 Sept. 1931): “Early yesterday: picked up the boss. Looked haggard and pale as chalk…He didn’t say much. Not a word about Geli.”

92See Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 193-5; Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 211 (entry for 5 Feb. 1932), p. 366 (entry for 19 Sept. 1932); Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 133. Hitler hired the florist Karl A. Rolleder in Vienna to maintain Raubal’s grave, although he neglected to pay the bill for the plants, bouquets, cleaning and upkeep of his niece’s final resting place. The florist was forced to send Hitler a reminder, asking the latter to not take it amiss if he “permitted himself to recall the outstanding sums.” Karl A. Rolleder to Hitler, 5 Nov. 1931, 22 Feb. 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557.

93Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 135 (entry for 27 Oct. 1931). See ibid., p. 154 (entry for 22 Nov. 1931): “The boss talked about women whom he loves a lot. About the special one he has yet to find…About Geli, whom he lost and for whom his heart pines. He was very emotional. We all like him so very much. He’s so selfless.” See also Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 54-6.

94Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 358. See Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 117.

95Hess, Briefe, p. 415 (dated 9 Nov. 1931).

96See above pp. 7f. and below pp. 380f. See also the justified criticism from Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 10f.

97Fest, Hitler, p. 446.

98H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 73; Hoffmann’s manuscript for his court trial (January 1947), p. 14: “With the death of his niece, a piece of Hitler’s humanity was dead and buried as well. He became a different person.” IfZ München, MS 2049; see Marlies Steinert, Hitler, Munich, 1994, p. 252; Kershaw, Hitler: Hubris, p. 354.

99Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 85 (entry for 26 Aug. 1931); p. 91 (entry for 4 Sept. 1931). On Hitler’s meeting with Magda Quant in Hotel Kaiserhof see Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, pp. 376-8.

100Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, pp. 98, 100 (entries for 14 and 16 Sept. 1931).

101See Longerich, Goebbels, p. 159.

102Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 200 (entry for 20 Jan. 1932). Among the women that the Goebbelses invited to social events in order to introduce them to Hitler was the singer and actress Gretl Slezak, the daughter of celebrated tenor Leo Slezak, whom a youthful Hitler had admired at the Linz Stadttheater in the role of Lohengrin. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 247 (entry for 22 March 1932); p. 271 (entry for 30 April 1932); vol. 2/3, p. 63 (entry for 20 Nov. 1932), p. 75 (entry for 6 Dec. 1932). See also Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 159-62; Sigmund, Des Führers bester Freund, pp. 272f.; Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 489-96.

103Leni Riefenstahl, Memoiren, Munich, 1987, p. 214: On the meeting with Hitler in May 1932 see ibid., pp. 157-60. See Jürgen Trimborn, Riefenstahl: Eine deutsche Karriere, Berlin, 2002, pp. 129-33; Karin Wieland, Dietrich & Riefenstahl: Der Traum von der neuen Frau, Munich, 2011, pp. 176-8. In early Nov. 1932, Leni Riefenstahl paid Hitler a visit in Hotel Kaiserhof. “She’s very enthusiastic about us,” noted Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 50 (entry for 3 Nov. 1932).

104See Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 39-43; Anna Maria Sigmund, “Eva Braun,” in idem, Die Frauen der Nazis, vol. 1, pp. 159ff.

105Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 135.

106Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 46f.; for a critical perspective on Gun’s portrayal see Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 19-21.

107See Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 21-3; H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 224; Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, pp. 49f.

108Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 156. The NSDAP treasurer, Franz Xaver Schwarz, also said during questioning on 21 July 1945 that the relationship between Hitler and Eva Braun had been “purely platonic”; IfZ München, ZS 1452.

109H. v. Schirach, Frauen um Hitler, p. 226.

110See Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 55; Maser, Adolf Hitler, p. 322, who relies on a statement by Anni Winter from 1969. During her internment together with Christa Schroeder in Augsburg in 1945, Winter told of how Eva Braun began paying weekend visits half a year after Raubal’s suicide. “Every Saturday,” Winter said, “she appeared with a little suitcase at the apartment on Prinzregentenplatz.” Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 234f.

111Görtemaker, Eva Braun, p. 52. Upon examining the photos of the 1938 Munich Conference, which showed Daladier, Mussolini and Chamberlain in Hitler’s apartment, Eva Braun allegedly told her best friend Herta Schneider (née Ostermeier): “If Chamberlain only knew the history of this sofa.” Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 55.

112Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 99.

113Richard Wagner, Rienzi, der Letzte der Tribunen: Grosse tragische Oper in fünf Akten. Nach der Originalpartitur ed. Egon Voss, Stuttgart, 2010, pp. 59f.; see also Hanfstaengl’s note, “Rienzi—A. H.”; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25.

114Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 358.

115Gun, Eva-Braun-Hitler, p. 57. See Fritz Wiedemann, Der Mann, der Feldherr werden wollte: Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen des Vorgesetzten Hitlers im 1. Weltkrieg und seines späteren persönlichen Adjutanten, Velbert and Kettwig 1964, p. 70.

116Gun, Eva Braun-Hitler, p. 56. See Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 59-62, who discusses the question of when the attempt would have happened, and considers the beginning of Nov. 1932 as the most likely date.

117Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah, p. 137; see Hoffmann’s manuscript for his court trial (January 1947), p. 22; IfZ München, MS 2049.

118Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 164; Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 441f. On the question of motives see Görtemaker, Eva Braun, pp. 62f.

119Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 287; see also Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 236: “Hitler was at his most mild…It was the last time I experienced him in such a relaxed mood.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

11 Bids and Bluffs

1Joseph Goebbels, Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei, Munich, 1934, p. 20. On the later changes to the diary see Peter Longerich, Joseph Goebbels: A Biography, London 2015, pp. 192.

2Otto Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht: Persönliche Erlebnisse mit meinem Führer, 2nd edition, Munich, 1934 (quotations on pp. 15, 36, 58, 80). See Stefan Krings, Hitlers Pressechef Otto Dietrich 1897-1952: Eine Biographie, Göttingen, 2010, pp. 267f.

3See Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 2, p. 186 (entry for 1 Jan. 1932): “The new year must bring the decision.”

4Leopold Schwarzschild, Chronik eines Untergangs: Deutschland 1924-1939, ed. Andreas P. Wesemann, Vienna, 2005, p. 232. See Golo Mann, Erinnerungen und Gedanken: Eine Jugend in Deutschland, Frankfurt am Main, 1986, p. 442.

5Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 4: Von der Reichstagswahl bis zur Reichspräsidentenwahl Oktober 1930-März 1932. Part 3: Januar bis März 1932, ed. Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1997, doc. 1, pp. 3-10 (quotations on pp. 4, 5).

6Ibid., doc. 2, pp. 11-13 (quotation on p. 12).

7Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 413 (dated 3 Sept. 1931).

8See Hitler to Karl Haniel, 25 Jan. 1932; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 13, pp. 69f.

9Ibid., doc. 15, pp. 74-110 (quotations on pp. 81, 88, 106, 109). On Hitler’s appearance before the Düsseldorf Industrial Club see Henry A. Turner, Die Grossunternehmer und der Aufstieg Hitlers, Berlin, 1986, pp. 260-71; Gustav Luntowski, Hitler und die Herren an der Ruhr: Wirtschaftsmacht und Staatsmacht im Dritten Reich, Frankfurt am Main, 2000, pp. 43-6; Volker Ackermann (ed.), Treffpunkt der Eliten: Die Geschichte des Industrie-Clubs Düsseldorf, Düsseldorf, 2006, pp. 128-39.

10Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht, pp. 46-9.

11See Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 268f.; Luntowski, Hitler und die Herren an der Ruhr, pp. 46f.; Ackermann, Treffpunkt der Eliten, pp. 127f.; Krings, Hitlers Pressechef, pp. 148f.

12See Turner, Grossunternehmer, p. 265.

13See Hans Otto Eglau, Fritz Thyssen: Hitlers Gönner und Geisel, Berlin, 2003, p. 134. In a letter to Hugenberg on 20 Jan. 1932, which was sent from the Park Hotel in Düsseldorf, Thyssen announced he was resigning his membership in the DNVP. On 28 Jan. 1932, Thyssen added that he never deceived Hugenberg about the fact that he would only be a member of the party “as long as it was committed to cooperating with Hitler.” BA Koblenz, N 1231/39.

14Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, Munich, 1955, pp. 185f. See Krings, Hitlers Pressechef, p. 149n216, who quotes from the unpublished section of his memoirs: “I noticed that relatively minor sums were coming in. There were a couple of cheques for a few thousand marks, but relative to Hitler’s expectations, the overall results were scant, which made him voice his disappointment.”

15See Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 274f.; Eglau, Fritz Thyssen, p. 135.

16See Heinrich Brüning, Memoiren 1918-1934, Stuttgart, 1970, pp. 451, 500; Heinrich August Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933: Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie, Munich, 1993, p. 444; Wolfram Pyta, Hindenburg: Herrschaft zwischen Hohenzollern und Hitler, Munich, 2007, pp. 645-50.

17Quoted in Johannes Hürter, Wilhelm Groener: Reichswehrminister am Ende der Weimarer Republik 1928-1932, Munich, 1993, pp. 322f. In late January 1932, after negotiations had broken down, Groener described Hitler as a “visionary and idol of stupidity” and a “jester of the masses” who should be kept away from political power “at all costs.” Ibid., p. 324.

18See Hitler to Brüning, 12 Jan., 15 Jan., 25 Jan. 1932; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 6, pp. 11-13; doc. 8, pp. 34-44; doc. 12, pp. 58-68. Rudolf Hess thought it was “utterly brilliant” how Hitler “turned the tables” with regard to Hindenburg’s candidature. Rudolf Hess to Klara Hess, 15 Jan. 1932; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 49. In a letter to Brüning of 11 Jan. 1932 Hugenberg said the DNVP would refuse to support an extension of Hindenburg’s term of office. BA Koblenz, N 1231/36.

19Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 199 (entry for 20 Jan. 1932).

20Ibid., p. 205 (entry for 28 Jan. 1932), p. 207 (entry for 30 Jan. 1932).

21Ibid., p. 209 (entry for 3 Feb. 1932).

22Brüning, Memoiren, p. 519.

23Hermann Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei: Aufzeichnungen aus den Jahren 1929-1932, ed. Thilo Vogelsang, Stuttgart, 1961, p. 144 (entry for 15 Feb. 1932). See Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 658-63.

24Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 225 (entry for 23 Feb. 1932).

25A copy of the contract of employment prepared between the Free State of Braunschweig and the writer Adolf Hitler in BA Koblenz, N1128/27. For documentation surrounding Hitler’s citizenship see Rudolf Morsey, “Hitler als Braunschweigischer Regierungsrat,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 8 (1960), pp. 419-48; see also Gunnhild Ruben, “Bitte mich als Untermieter bei Ihnen anzumelden!”: Hitler und Braunschweig 1932-1935, Norderstedt, 2004, pp. 42-52.

26Morsey, “Hitler als Braunschweigischer Regierungsrat,” p. 442.

27Goebbel, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 228 (entry for 26 Feb. 1932). See also ibid., p. 230 (entry for 1 March 1932): “He’ll have to present himself as ‘Government Counsel Hitler.’ Well, well.” At Baldur von Schirach’s wedding with Henriette Hoffmann on 31 March 1932, where Hitler and Röhm served as best men, he signed the registry as “Government Counsel Hitler.” Note by Henriette von Schirach, “76 Jahre Leben in Deutschland” (1989); BayHStA München, Nl. H. v. Schirach 3.

28Heinrich August Winkler, Der Weg in die Katastrophe: Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung in der Weimarer Republik 1930 bis 1933, Berlin and Bonn, 1987, pp. 512f. On the clashes over the candidacy within the political Right, see Volker R. Berghahn, “Harzburger Front und die Kandidatur Hindenburgs für die Präsidentschaftswahlen 1932,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 13 (1965), pp. 64-82.

29Thea Sternheim, Tagebücher. Vol. 2: 1925-1936, ed. and selected Thomas Ehrsam and Regula Wyss, Göttingen, 2002, p. 394 (entry for 16 Feb. 1932).

30Quoted in Klaus Schönhoven and Jochen Vogel (eds), Frühe Warnungen vor dem Nationalsozialismus: Ein historisches Lesebuch, Bonn, 1998, pp. 245f.; see Martin Döring, “Parlamentarischer Arm der Bewegung”: Die Nationalsozialisten im Reichstag der Weimarer Republik, Düsseldorf, 2001, pp. 322f.; Winkler, Weimar, p. 446.

31Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 226 (entry for 24 Jan. 1932).

32Ibid., pp. 230f. (entry for 1 March 1932); see Gerhard Paul, Aufstand der Bilder: Die NS-Propaganda vor 1933, Bonn, 1990, pp. 95f.

33Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 29, pp. 138-44 (quotation on p. 142).

34Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 229 (entry for 28 Feb. 1932).

35Quoted in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 32, p. 153n1.

36Quoted in ibid., doc. 34, p. 166n1.

37Hitler to Hindenburg, 28 Feb. 1932; ibid., doc. 30, pp. 145-50 (quotation on p. 147).

38Ibid., doc. 39, p. 191; see ibid., doc. 29, p. 144; doc. 32, pp. 160f.; doc. 35, p. 172; doc. 36, p. 181; doc. 41, p. 199; doc. 43, p. 202; doc. 45, p. 214. On this element of Hitler’s election strategy see also Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 671f.

39Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 32, p. 157; see ibid., doc. 34, p. 169; doc. 36, p. 179; doc. 39, p. 191; doc. 41, p. 199; doc. 43, p. 201; doc. 45, p. 213.

40Quoted in Wolfgang Horn, Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung: Die NSDAP bis 1933, Düsseldorf, 1980, p. 347n66; see Paul, Aufstand der Bilder, p. 97.

41Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 235 (entry for 6 March 1932).

42Ibid., p. 237 (entry for 9 March 1932). See also ibid., p. 241 (entry for 13 March 1932): “Hitler just called from Nuremberg. Everyone is confident of victory. He is too.” On 29 Feb. 1932, Wilhelm Frick had written to his sister Emma: “We’ll have to use all our strength if we’re to be victorious. Our prospects are quite good.” BA Koblenz, N 1241/7.

43Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 46, pp. 219-22 (particularly pp. 219f.).

44See Jürgen Falter, Thomas Lindenberger and Siegfried Schumann, Wahlen und Abstimmungen in der Weimarer Republik: Materialien zum Wahlverhalten 1919-1931, Munich, 1986, p. 46.

45See Horn, Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung, p. 349; Winkler, Weimar, p. 449.

46Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, pp. 241f. (entry for 14 March 1932).

47Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 47, pp. 223-5 (quotations on pp. 224, 225).

48Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht, pp. 62f.

49Ernst Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters, Munich, 1970, p. 271.

50Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 50, pp. 239-45 (quotations on p. 239).

51See Wolfgang Stribrny, “Der Versuch einer Kandidatur des Kronprinzen Wilhelm bei der Reichspräsidentenwahl 1932,” in Geschichte in der Gegenwart: Festschrift für Kurt Kluxen, Paderborn, 1972, pp. 199-210; Willibald Gutsche, Ein Kaiser im Exil: Der letzte deutsche Kaiser Wilhelm II in Holland, Marburg, 1991, pp. 138-40. On this episode see also Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 674-8; Gerhard Granier, Magnus von Levetzow: Seeoffizier, Monarchist und Wegbereiter Hitlers. Lebensweg und ausgewählte Dokumente, Boppard am Rhein, 1982, pp. 173f.; Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 252 (entry for 31 March 1932), p. 253 (entry for 1 April 1932). Heinrich Class, the chairman of the Pan-Germanic League, also called upon the ultra-nationalists to vote “unanimously” for Hitler in the run-off election: Class to Hugenberg, 19 March 1932; BA Koblenz, N 1231/36. In a lengthy letter to Hitler on 20 March 1932, Hugenberg justified his decision to remain passive in the run-off election by claiming that Hitler’s candidacy had no chance of success and by citing the NSDAP’s repeated violations of cooperative agreements reached in Bad Harzburg. BA Koblenz, N 1231/37. See also Hugenberg to Crown Prince Wilhelm, 27 April 1932; ibid.

52Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 59, pp. 258-61 (quote on p. 258).

53Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 243 (entry for 16 March 1932), p. 246 (entry for 21 March 1932).

54Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht, p. 70; see Krings, Hitlers Pressechef, p. 119. “To his great regret” Hess did not accompany Hitler on his “flying tour” because the Führer wanted him “to keep an eye on things” at Munich party headquarters. Ilse Hess to the parents of Rudolf Hess, 9 May 1932; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 49.

55Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 5: Von der Reichspräsidentenwahl bis zur Machtergreifung April 1932-Januar 1933. Part 1: April 1932-September 1932, ed. Klaus A. Lankheit, Munich, 1996, doc. 7, pp. 20f.; see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 255 (entry for 5 April 1932).

56See the apt analysis in Paul, Aufstand der Bilder, pp. 204-10 (quotation on p. 208).

57Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, p. 214. See also Rudolf Hess to his parents, 23 Aug. 1928: “He has a great aversion to flying…He has a strong feeling that one day something will happen to him when he’s flying.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 41. See Hess, Briefe, p. 418 (dated 4 May 1932); Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, pp. 191f. (dated 9/10 Jan. 1942). In Hans Baur’s account (Ich flog Mächtige der Erde, Kempten im Allgäu, 1956, p. 81), Hitler’s “lack of faith in air travel” came from his first-ever flight around the time of the Kapp Putsch, during which the pilot had to make an emergency landing.

58See Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht, pp. 79-82.

59Sefton Delmer, Die Deutschen und ich, Hamburg, 1963, pp. 146-8. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 212: “Hitler usually took the left- or right-hand front seat and dozed off, or pretended to. Or he would stare silently out the window or at a map. When people tried to attract his attention, he would bury himself in a newspaper or some notes.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

60See ibid., p. 151; see Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, p. 270n2. On the margins of a campaign event in Gera on 26 July 1932, Hitler’s entourage also “lashed out at the crowd in a number of places.”

61Ibid., doc. 8, pp. 21-5 (quotation on p. 23).

62See the bills from 1 Sept. to 4 Sept. 1931, 10 Sept. to 13 Sept. 1931, 3 Dec. to 6 Dec. 1931, 10 Dec. to 13 Dec. 1931, 2 March 1932, 21 March to 22 March 1932, 28 April to 2 May 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557. For the article in Welt am Montag see Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 11, pp. 27f.n12.

63See the speech in Schwenningen, 9 April 1932: ibid., doc. 28, p. 47. See ibid., doc. 25, pp. 42f. (dated 8 April 1932); doc. 20, p. 38 (dated 7 April 1932). Hitler’s declaration of 7 April 1932: ibid., doc. 19, pp. 36f. See also the affidavit by Rudolf Hess on 13 April 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/328; Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 253 (entry for 2 April 1932): “The Hitler bill for 4,000 marks at the Kaiserhof is an unpleasant matter. Of course it’s fake. I’m going to read them the Riot Act. The Kaiserhof will give in.”

64Falter et al., Wahlen und Abstimmungen, p. 46; Winkler, Weimar, p. 453.

65Sternheim, Tagebücher, vol. 2, p. 399 (entry for 11 April 1932).

66Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 259 (entry for 10 April 1932). See also Hitler’s public declaration on 10 April 1932, in which he claimed that “a great victory has been achieved.” Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 30, p. 49; and Hitler’s interview with Sefton Delmer from 10 April 1932: “ ‘It is a great victory for us,’ he said to me, his eyes shining with delight.” Ibid., doc. 33, p. 51.

67Goebbels, Tagerbücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 260 (entry for 12 April 1932).

68Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 39, p. 62n2.

69Ibid., doc. 45, p. 75 (dated 18 April 1932); doc. 57, p. 91 (dated 22 April 1932).

70Falter et al., Wahlen und Abstimmungen, pp. 101, 91, 113, 94, 89. The architect Troost noted in his diary on 27 April 1932: “[Hitler] arrived in a fine mood, overjoyed at his success in the local elections.” Timo Nüsslein, Paul Ludwig Troost 1878-1934, Vienna, Cologne and Weimar, 2012, p. 103.

71Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, pp. 267f. (entry for 25 April 1932).

72Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 683.

73See Brüning, Memoiren, pp. 541f.; Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 687.

74Hitler, Reden, Schriften Anordnungen, vol. 4, part 3, doc. 52, pp. 246-51; doc. 53, p. 251-3 (quotation on p. 252).,

75See Hürter, Wilhelm Groener, pp. 339-45; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 449f., 454; Dirk Blasius, Weimars Ende: Bürgerkrieg und Politik 1930-1933, Frankfurt am Main, 2008, pp. 39-41.

76Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 9: 1926-1937, ed. Sabine Gruber and Ulrich Ott with Christoph Hilse and Nadin Weiss, Stuttgart, 2010, p. 410 (entry for 16 April 1932). Similarly, the Foreign Office declared after Hitler’s retreat, “Hitler’s bark is worse than his bite.” Detlev Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany: Wahrnehmungen und Deutungen des Nationalsozialismus in Grossbritannien 1920 bis 1939, Göttingen and Zurich, 1996, p. 223.

77Peter Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone: Geschichte der SA, Munich, 1989, p. 154. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 261 (entry for 15 April 1932): “The ban on the SA is a done deal. But we’ll get through it.”

78Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1 doc. 36, pp. 54-6 (quotation on p. 56). See Hitler’s interview with the Evening Standard, 18 April 1932: “The prohibition of the storm troops cannot last for ever; it is only a temporary measure.” Ibid., doc. 37, pp. 57-59 (quotation on p. 57).

79See Hürter, Wilhelm Groener, pp. 345f.; Winkler, Weimar, p. 455; Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 688.

80See Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 688f.; Hürter, Wilhelm Groener, pp. 344, 348; Martin Broszat, Die Machtergreifung: Der Aufstieg der NSDAP und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik, Munich, 1984, p. 140. On Schleicher’s loss of support for Groener, see Brüning, Memoiren, p. 547; Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, p. 118 (dated 11 April 1932). Brüning saw Schleicher’s manoeuvring as “a horrible violation of the trust of his superior Groener.”

81Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 271 (entry for 29 April 1932), p. 274 (entry for 5 May 1932), p. 276 (entry for 9 May 1932).

82Ibid., p. 276 (entry for 9 May 1932).

83See Brüning, Memoiren, p. 586; Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 694.

84Theodor Heuss to Reinhold Meier, 14 May 1932; Theodor Heuss, Bürger der Weimarer Republik: Briefe 1918-1933, ed. Michael Dorrmann, Munich, 2008, p. 465. See Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, p. 120 (dated 10 May 1932); Brüning, Memoiren, p. 587.

85Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 279 (entry for 12 May 1932).

86See Hürter, Wilhelm Groener, p. 351.

87Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, p. 123 (dated 15 May 1932).

88Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, pp. 281, 283, 284, 285.

89Ibid., p. 288 (entry for 25 May 1932).

90Note by Meissner dated 14 June 1932; Walther Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat: Aus den Papieren des Generalfeldmarschalls und Reichspräsidenten von 1878 bis 1934, Göttingen, 1966, pp. 327f.; see also Otto Meissner, Staatssekretär unter Ebert, Hindenburg, Hitler, Hamburg, 1950, pp. 223f.; Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 695; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 467f.

91Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, p. 126 (dated 26 May 1932). See Meissner’s note of 14 June 1932; Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, p. 328.

92Note by Meissner dated 14 June 1932; Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, p. 329. See Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 696f.

93See Brüning, Memoiren, pp. 601f.; Meissner, Staatssekretär, pp. 226f.

94Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, p. 129 (dated 29 May 1932).

95Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 293 (entry for 31 May 1932).

96Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 427 (entry for 30 May 1932).

97Winkler, Weimar, p. 472.

98See memorandum from Meissner dated 30 May 1932; Thilo Vogelsang, Reichswehr, Staat und NSDAP: Beiträge zur deutschen Geschichte 1930-1932, Stuttgart, 1962, pp. 458f.

99Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 293 (entry for 30 May 1932).

100Falter et al., Wahlen und Abstimmungen, pp. 100, 98.

101Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 297 (entry for 6 June 1932). See ibid., p. 308 (entry for 24 June 1932): “We have to divorce ourselves from the Papen cabinet and go into the campaign free and unattached.” In late June 1932, in a conversation with the editor-in-chief of the Rheinisch-Westfälische Zeitung, Eugen Mündler, Gregor Strasser voiced his concern that “the Nazis could be blamed for the mistakes of the Papen cabinet and suffer during the campaign.” Mündler to Justice Minister Franz Gürtner, 21 June 1932; BA Koblenz, N 1530/22.

102Lutz Schwerin von Krosigk in a letter dated 12 Feb. 1971; BA Koblenz, N 1276/23. See Joachim Petzold, Franz von Papen: Ein deutsches Verhängnis, Munich and Berlin, 1995, p. 63. When asked by a journalist on 30 May, “Who will you appoint as chancellor, General?” Schleicher supposedly answered, “I’ve got someone fine in mind—you’ll be amazed.”

103See Winkler, Weimar, pp. 479f.; Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 706-8; Petzold, Franz von Papen, pp. 66f.

104Franz von Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, Munich, 1952, p. 195. On the date see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 294 (entry for 1 June 1932).

105Akten der Reichskanzlei: Weimarer Republik. Das Kabinett von Papen 1. Juni bis 3. Dezember 1932. Vol. 1: Juni bis September 1932, ed. Karl-Heinz Minuth, Boppard am Rhein, 1989, no. 18, pp. 54 and 55n10.

106Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 446 (entry for 21 June 1932), pp. 461f. (entry for 12 July 1932).

107Ibid., p. 465 (entry for 18 July 1932), See Léon Schirmann, Altonaer Blutsonntag 17. Juli 1932: Dichtungen und Wahrheit, Hamburg, 1994.

108Papen to Kerrl, 6 June 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 1, no. 10, pp. 22f.

109Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 297 (entry for 6 June 1932). See ibid., p. 298 (entry for 7 June 1932): “We’ll stay in opposition until we achieve total power. I talked to Hitler on the phone, and he shares my opinion entirely.”

110Cabinet meeting of 11 July 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 1, no. 57, pp. 204-8 (quotations on pp. 205, 207).

111See cabinet meeting of 16 July 1932; ibid., no. 63, p. 240.

112Notes by Hirtsiefer and Severing dated 20 July 1932; ibid., no. 69b, pp. 259-62 (quotation on p. 260).

113Prussian Government to the Reich Chancellor, 20 July 1932; ibid., no. 71, pp. 263f.

114Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 324 (entry for 21 July 1932).

115See Peter Lessmann, Die preussische Schutzpolizei in der Weimarer Republik: Streifendienst und Strassenkampf, Düsseldorf, 1989, pp. 367-70.

116Quoted in Winkler, Der Weg in die Katastrophe, p. 671.

117Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 324 (entry for 20 July 1932).

118Karl-Dietrich Bracher, Die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik: Eine Studie zum Problem des Machtverfalls in der Demokratie, Villingen, 1955, p. 390.

119See Winkler, Weimar, pp. 529f.

120Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 84, p. 156.

121Paul, Aufstand der Bilder, pp. 100f.

122Text in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 109, pp. 216-19. On sales see ibid., p. 216n1.

123See ibid., doc. 122, p. 241n1; Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht, pp. 109f.; Baur, Ich flog Mächtige der Erde, p. 88.

124Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 126, p. 246n1.

125Ibid., doc. 141, p. 268n4.

126Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Braunem und Weissem Haus, pp. 266f.; Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 216; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47. See also Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht, pp. 74f.: “From car to aeroplane, from aeroplane to car, from car into hotel…And repeat day after day.”

127Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 148, p. 276; see ibid., doc. 129, p. 249 (dated 21 July 1932, Göttingen): “I can only say that, yes, it is my life’s goal to destroy and eliminate these 30 parties”; doc. 151, p. 278 (dated 28 July 1932, Aachen); doc. 158, p. 285 (dated 29 July 1932, Radolfzell); doc. 159, p. 289 (dated 30 July 1932, Kempten).

128Quotations in ibid., doc. 112, pp. 224f. (dated 15 July 1932, Tilsit); doc. 113, p. 230 (dated 15 July 1932, Gumbinnen); doc. 118, p. 234 (dated 17 July 1932, Königsberg); doc. 121, p. 239 (dated 19 July 1932, Cottbus).

129Ibid., doc. 112, p. 227.

130Ibid., doc. 123, p. 244.

131Ibid., doc. 111, p. 222 (dated 15 July 1932).

132Ibid., doc. 163, p. 294 (dated 31 July/1 Aug. 1932).

133Die Deutschnationalen und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik: Aus dem Tagebuch von Reinhold Quaatz 1928-1933, ed. Hermann Weiss and Paul Hoser, Munich, 1989, p. 199 (entry for 1 Aug. 1932). On the result for 31 July 1932, see Falter et al., Wahlen und Abstimungen, pp. 41, 44.

134Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 479 (entry for 31 July 1932).

135Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 330 (entry for 1 Aug. 1932). See ibid., p. 331 (entry for 2 Aug. 1932): “We must gain power. And rule, show what we can do…Tolerating another government is deadly. Hitler sees things this way too.”

136Ibid., p. 332 (entry for 3 Aug. 1932).

137Ibid., p. 332 (entry for 4 Aug. 1932).

138Ibid., p. 333 (entry for 5 Aug. 1932). Baldur von Schirach (Ich glaubte an Hitler, Hamburg, 1967, p. 136) quoted Hitler as saying: “I want total power, now or never.”

139According to a draft letter by Schleicher to the Vossische Zeitung dated 30 Jan. 1934; Thilo Vogelsang, “Zur Politik Schleichers gegenüber der NSDAP 1932,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 6 (1958), pp. 86-118 (quotation on p. 89).

140Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 334 (entry for 7 Aug. 1932).

141Ibid., p. 337 (entry for 11 Aug. 1932).

142Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 488 (entry for 10 Aug. 1932).

143Ibid., p. 488 (entry for 11 Aug. 1932).

144Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 338 (entry for 12 Aug. 1932).

145Notes by Meissner dated 11 Aug. 1932; Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, pp. 335-8 (quotation on p. 336).

146Quoted in Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 717.

147Cabinet meeting on 10 Aug. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 1, no. 99, pp. 377-86 (quotations on pp. 379, 385f.).

148Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 339 (entry for 13 Aug. 1932).

149See Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, p. 139 (dated 13 Aug. 1932).

150On the course of the conversation see Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 222f. (quotations on p. 223); Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 340: Schleicher and Papen whispered in Hitler’s ear “as though he were a sick horse,” trying to get him to accept the vice-chancellorship. “They’re trying to wear us down,” Goebbels wrote. “That’s out of the question. Hitler is refusing…Papen wants to inform Hindenburg.” See also Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, p. 139 (dated 13 Aug. 1932).

151Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 340 (entry for 14 Aug. 1932).

152Memorandum from Meissner dated 13 Aug. 1932; first printed in Vogelsang, Reichswehr, NSDAP und Staat, pp. 479f.; also in Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, pp. 338f.; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 1, no. 101, pp. 391f. According to Meissner’s notes entitled “Hitlers Aufstieg zur Macht und seine Regierungszeit 1932-1935” (undated, post 1945), Hindenburg declared at the end of this conversation that he now had a better opinion of Hitler: “He’s fiery and passionate, but he’s a patriotic man with big plans and the best intentions.” IfZ München, ZS 1726. See also Meissner, Staatssekretär, pp. 239-41; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 510f.; Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 719f.

153This was also Goebbels’s opinion, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 340 (entry for 14 Aug. 1932): “Hitler has been lured into a trap with Hindenburg.”

154Minutes of the talks dated 13 Aug. 1932, signed by Hitler, Frick and Röhm; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 51/222; reprinted in Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 1, no. 102, pp. 393-6 (quotation on p. 395). Also in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 167, pp. 300-2.

155The official communiqué reprinted in Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 1, doc. 101, p. 392n5.

156Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, p. 141 (dated 18 Aug. 1932). See Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, p. 224.

157Minutes signed by Hitler, Frick and Röhm dated 13 Aug. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 1, doc. 102, pp. 393f.

158Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, London, 1990, p. 222. See Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, p. 300: “In front of the eyes of the entire German people, Hitler ascended the steps of power, and before those same eyes, he tumbled back down them.”

159Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 180, pp. 330-7 (quotation on pp. 330f.). See Ralf Georg Reuth, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Munich and Zurich, 2003, p. 274.

160Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 341 (entry for 14 Aug. 1932).

161Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 279.

162Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 172, pp. 313-15 (quotation on p. 314: “He was bitter over his rebuff last Saturday by President von Hindenburg”). Joachim von Ribbentrop, who visited the Obersalzberg in August 1932, found Hitler “full of fury with Herr von Papen and the entire government in Berlin.” Joachim von Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau: Erinnerungen und letzte Aufzeichnungen, ed. Annelies von Ribbentrop, Leoni am Starnberger See, 1961, p. 36.

163Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 173, pp. 173f.

164On the series of violent attacks from August 1932 see Richard Bessel, Political Violence and the Rise of Nazism: The Storm Troopers in Eastern Germany 1925-1934, New Haven, 1984, pp. 87ff.; Dirk Walter, Antisemitische Kriminalität und Gewalt: Judenfeindschaft in der Weimarer Republik, Bonn, 1999, pp. 237-40; Blasius, Weimars Ende, p. 84; Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, pp. 156f.

165Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 480 (entry for 1 Aug. 1932).

166Cabinet meeting of 9 Aug. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 1, no. 98, pp. 374-7 (quotation on pp. 374f.). See Winkler, Weimar, p. 508; Blasius, Weimars Ende, p. 87.

167See the documentation in Paul Kluke, “Der Fall Potempa,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 5 (1957), pp. 279-97; see also Richard Bessel, “The Potempa Murder,” in Central European History, 10 (1977), pp. 241-54.

168Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 174, p. 317. See also Hitler’s telegram of 23 Aug. 1932, ibid., doc. 175, pp. 318-20; Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 346 (entry for 24 Aug. 1932): “Major storm of protest because of the death sentence. Hitler has issued a sharply worded call to arms…Things at a boil everywhere.”

169Quoted in Winkler, Weimar, pp. 513f.; see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 346: “A sharply worded essay: ‘The Jews are to blame.’ It will do the job.”

170Quoted in Reuth, Hitler, p. 273. See also Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 300: “A cry of outrage is going through the general public. That went too far!”

171Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 496 (entry for 28 Aug. 1932).

172See Kluke, “Der Fall Potempa,” pp. 285f.; Blasius, Weimars Ende, p. 95. Hitler had already announced the pardons of the Potempa murderers in a speech at Zirkus Krone in Munich on 9 Sept. 1932; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 183, p. 347.

173Schacht to Hitler, 29 Aug. 1932; Hess, Briefe, pp. 420f.

174Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 348 (entry for 26 Aug. 1932).

175Brüning, Memoiren, p. 623. On the contact between the Centre and Nazi parties see Herbert Hömig, Brüning: Politiker ohne Auftrag. Zwischen Weimarer und Bonner Republik, Paderborn, 2005, pp. 31-5.

176Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 348 (entry for 26 Aug. 1932).

177See Brüning, Memoiren, p. 624; Hömig, Brüning: Politiker ohne Auftrag, p. 34.

178Hugenberg to Albert Vögler, 19 Aug. 1932; BA Koblenz, N 1231/39. In late August, rumours started circulating in Hugenberg’s party that a “cabinet of Schleicher (Chancellor)-Brüning-Strasser” was already a “done deal.” Quaatz, Die Deutschnationalen und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik, p. 201 (dated 27 Aug. 1932).

179See Winkler, Weimar, pp. 515f.

180Cabinet meeting of 10 Aug. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 1, no. 99, p. 382. See also Eberhard Kolb and Wolfram Pyta, “Die Staatsnotstandsplanung unter den Regierungen Papen und Schleicher,” in Heinrich August Winkler (ed.), Die deutsche Staatskrise 1930-33, Munich, 1992, pp. 155-81.

181Memorandum by Meissner dated 30 Aug. 1932; Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, pp. 339-43; also in Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 1, no. 120, pp. 474-9.

182Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 176, pp. 320-2 (quotation on p. 320).

183Quoted in Döring, Parlamentarischer Arm, p. 335 (also the previous quote). See Quaatz, Die Deutschnationalen und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik, p. 202 (dated 30 Aug. 1932): “Nazis very well-behaved in order to convince Hindenburg of a ‘functioning Reichstag.’ No socialists in the presidium since the Centre has moved to the right!”

184Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 354 (entry for 1 Sept. 1932).

185Ibid., p. 359 (entry for 9 Sept. 1932), p. 361 (entry for 11 Sept. 1932). See Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 736.

186Brüning, Memoiren, p. 625.

187Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 178, pp. 325-9 (quotations on pp. 328f.). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 355: “Sportpalast full beyond capacity. Hitler almost consumed with ovations. He spoke better than ever. A sharply worded final reckoning with Papen and the reactionaries. Storms of enthusiasm. This speech will work miracles.”

188Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 180, pp. 330-7 (quotations on pp. 331, 335).

189Ibid., doc. 183, pp. 339-50 (quotation on p. 350). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 358: “In the evening Zirkus Krone. Hitler really went after Papen. Thunderous ovations from the more than capacity house.”

190Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, p. 235. On the Reichstag session of 12 Sept. 1932 see Döring, Parlamentarischer Arm, pp. 337-44; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 522f.

191Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 362 (entry for 13 Sept. 1932). See Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, p. 145 (dated 13 Sept. 1932): “The only positive is the vast majority for a vote of no confidence.”

192Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 502 (entry for 13 Sept. 1932).

193See the cabinet meetings of 14 and 17 Sept. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 141, pp. 576-83, no. 146, p. 599.

194Pünder, Politik in der Reichskanzlei, p. 149 (dated 8 Oct. 1932).

195Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 372 (entry for 28 Sept. 1932), p. 373 (entry for 29 Sept. 1932).

196See Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone, pp. 159f.; Horn, Der Marsch zur Machtergreifung, pp. 357f.

197Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 38 (entry for 16 Oct. 1932).

198See Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 354-8.

199Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 1, doc. 193 (dated 24 Sept. 1932), pp. 362-5 (quotation on p. 363). See also Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 30 (entry for 2 Oct. 1932): “Hitler very optimistic. Probably too much.”

200Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 5: Von der Reichspräsidentenwahl bis zur Machtergreifung April 1932-Januar 1933. Part 2: Oktober 1932-Januar 1933, eds Klaus A. Lankheit and Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1998, doc. 5, pp. 13-15 (quotation on p. 15). See also ibid., doc. 4, pp. 10f. (interview with the Italian newspaper Il Trevere from 4 Oct. 1932): “We are neither impatient nor fearful nor nervous because we know that the 6 November elections will necessarily go our way.”

201Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 363 (entry for 14 Sept. 1932).

202Von Hassell’s notes on his discussions with Hitler in Ulrich von Hassell, Römische Tagebücher und Briefe 1932-1938, ed. Ulrich Schlie, Munich, 2004, p. 217.

203Paul, Aufstand der Bilder, p. 105.

204Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 54, p. 146 (dated 1 Nov. 1932, Karlsruhe); doc. 22, p. 77 (dated 18 Oct. 1932, Elbing).

205Ibid., doc. 56, p. 168 (dated 3 Nov. 1932, Hanover). See ibid., doc. 25, p. 85 (dated 19 Oct. 1932, Breslau), “The only thing that tempts me is leadership itself, genuine power, and nothing else.”

206Ibid., doc. 6, p. 16 (dated 11 Oct. 1932, Günzburg); doc. 21, p. 73 (dated 17 Oct. 1932, Königsberg); doc. 16, p. 61 (dated 16 Oct. 1932, Coburg).

207See Paul, Aufstand der Bilder, p. 106; Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, p. 389.

208Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 302. Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 513 (entry for 11 Oct. 1932) reported Nazi sympathisers saying that Hitler’s behaviour had shown that he and the party were “pursuing politics for reasons of prestige and elevating the party above the nation.”

209Quotations in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 12, p. 77 (dated 18 Oct. 1932, Elbing); doc. 10, p. 23 (dated 13 Oct. 1932, Nuremberg); doc. 21, p. 75 (dated 17 Oct. 1932, Königsberg), doc. 47, p. 133 (dated 30 Oct. 1932, Essen).

210Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 370 (entry for 25 Sept. 1932).

211Ibid., vol. 2/3, p. 51 (entry for 5 Nov. 1932). On the Berlin public transport strike see Winkler, Der Weg in die Katastrophe, pp. 765-73.

212Excerpts from the diary of Luise Solmitz, 4 Jan. 1932-5 March 1933; Werner Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution: Ursprung und Geschichte der NSDAP in Hamburg 1922-1933. Dokumente, Frankfurt am Main, 1963, p. 416 (dated 6 Nov. 1932).

213Falter et al., Wahlen und Abstimmungen, pp. 41, 44.

214Quoted in Bernd Sösemann, Das Ende der Weimarer Republik in der Kritik demokratischer Publizisten, Berlin, 1976, p. 164.

215Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 49 (entry for 1 Nov. 1932), p. 53 (entry for 7 Nov. 1932).

216Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 61, pp. 185f. (entry for 6 Nov. 1932).

217See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 54 (entry for 8 Nov. 1932): “Yesterday: rotten mood in the Gau”; p. 56 (entry for 11 Nov. 1932) “Bitter mood.”

218Ibid., p. 54 (entry for 9 Nov. 1932).

219Papen to Hitler, 13 Nov. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 214, p. 952n2. See Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, p. 240.

220Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 57 (entry for 12 Nov. 1932), p. 58 (entry for 13 Nov. 1932).

221Hitler to Papen, 16 Nov. 1932, Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 65, pp. 188-93 (quotation on p. 190); also in Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 214, pp. 952-6. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 61 (entry for 17 Nov. 1932): “Hitler sent a letter cancelling talk with Papen. Letter makes a big impression.”

222Cabinet meeting on 17 Nov. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 215, pp. 956-60 (quotations on pp. 957, 960). See Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, p. 241.

223Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 529 (entry for 18 Nov. 1932).

224Winkler, Der Weg in die Katastrophe, p. 790.

225Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 531 (entry for 19 Nov. 1932).

226Meissner’s minutes on Hugenberg’s reception, 18 Nov. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 217, pp. 973f. (quotation on p. 974).

227Meissner’s minutes on the meeting between Hindenburg and Dingeldey, 18 Nov. 1932; ibid., no. 219, pp. 977-9 (quotation on p. 978).

228Meissner’s minutes on the meeting between Kaas and Schäffer, 18 and 19 Nov. 1932; ibid., no. 218, pp. 975-7 (quotation on p. 976); no. 223, pp. 987f.

229Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, pp. 62f. (entry for 19 Nov. 1932).

230Meissner’s minutes on the meeting between Hindenburgs and Hitler, 19 Nov. 1932; Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, pp. 350-2; also in Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 222, pp. 984-6 (quotations on pp. 984n3, 985, 986). On the idea of an enabling law see Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 754f.

231Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 63 (entry for 20 Nov. 1932), p. 64 (entry for 21 Nov. 1932).

232Meissner’s minutes on the meeting between Hindenburgs and Hitler, 21 Nov. 1932; Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, pp. 352-6; also in Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, doc. 224, pp. 988-92 (quotations on pp. 988, 990, 992). Hitler’s letter to Hindenburg dated 21 Nov. 1932 also in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 67, pp. 194-7.

233See Hitler to Meissner, 21 Nov. 1932; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 68, pp. 197-9; Meissner to Hitler, 22 Nov. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 225, pp. 992, 994. See Meissner, Staatssekretär, pp. 248f.

234Hitler to Meissner, 23 Nov. 1932; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 69, pp. 199-205 (quotation on p. 204): Meissner to Hitler, 24 Nov. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 227, pp. 998-1000 (quotation on p. 999).

235Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 67 (entry for 25 Nov. 1932), p. 68 (entry for 26 Nov. 1932).

236Text of the petition in Eberhard Czichon, Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht? Zum Anteil der deutschen Industrie an der Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik, Cologne, 1967, no. 10, pp. 69f.

237Hjalmar Schacht to Hitler, 12 April 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 51/46. On the “Keppler Circle” see Turner, Grossunternehmer, pp. 293-301; Dirk Stegmann, “Zum Verhältnis von Grossindustrie und Nationalsozialismus 1930-1933,” in Archiv für Sozialgeschichte 13 (1973), pp. 426-8.

238On the signatories of the petition see Turner, Grossunternehmer, p. 365; Stegmann, “Zum Verhältnis von Grossindustrie und Nationalsozialismus,” pp. 434f.; Petzold, Franz von Papen, pp. 119f.; Asendorf, Hamburger Nationalklub, p. 146.

239Schacht to Hitler, 12 Nov. 1932; Czichon, Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht?, p. 64.

240Vögler to Schröder, 21 Nov. 1932; ibid., p. 72.

241Cabinet meeting of 25 Nov. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 232, pp. 1013-17 (quotation on p. 1014).

242Diary entries by Hans Schäffer dated 26 Nov. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 234, pp. 1025f.

243See Winkler, Weimar, pp. 547-53. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 70 (entry for 29 Nov. 1932): “Papen seems on the out. Schleicher at the fore again…Searching for a tolerating majority. Won’t find one with us.”

244Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 70 (entry for 28 Nov. 1932).

245Hitler’s interview to the Daily Express, 27 Nov. 1932; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 73, pp. 213f.; Delmer, Die Deutschen und ich, p. 174.

246Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 74, pp. 214f. (dated 30 Nov. 1932); see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 71 (entry for 1 Dec. 1932): “Meissner has invited the boss to visit the old man…A new 13 August is in the works. The decision: Hitler won’t go.”

247Memorandum by Meissner on the meetings with Hindenburg on 1 and 2 Dec. 1932; Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, pp. 266f.; see also Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 243-5. On Schleicher’s “vertical front” idea see Axel Schildt, Militärdiktatur auf Massenbasis? Die Querfrontkonzeption der Reichswehrführung um General Schleicher am Ende der Weimarer Republik, Frankfurt am Main and New York 1981.

248Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, p. 245.

249Schwerin von Krosigk’s diary notes on the cabinet meeting of 2 Dec. 1932; Das Kabinett von Papen, vol. 2, no. 239b, pp. 1036-8.

250Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, p. 250.

251Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 72 (entry for 2 Dec. 1932).

252See a critical appraisal of the source in Longerich, Goebbels, pp. 194f.

253Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 75 (entry for 5 Dec. 1932): “Makes me want to vomit”; p. 76 (entry for 7 Dec. 1932): “Almost a 40 per cent decline in Thuringia since 31 July.”

254Quoted in Eberhard Kolb, “Die Weimarer Republik und das Problem der Kontinuität vom Kaiserreich zum ‘Dritten Reich,’ ” in idem., Umbrüche deutscher Geschichte 1866/71-1918/19-1929/33: Ausgewählte Aufsätze, eds Dieter Langewiesche and Klaus Schönhoven, Munich, 1993, p. 367.

255Report by the Munich police, 30 Dec. 1932; quoted in Henry A. Turner, Thirty Days to Power: January 1933, London, 1996, p. 58. On the NSDAP crisis see Hans Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, p. 107; Mathias Rösch, Die Münchner NSDAP 1925-1933: Eine Untersuchung zur inneren Struktur der NSDAP in der Weimarer Republik, Munich, 2002, pp. 370f., 427f., 431.

256Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 310 (entry for 28 June 1932), p. 355 (entry for 2 Sept. 1932), p. 356 (entry for 4 Sept. 1932).

257August Heinrichsbauer to Gregor Strasser, 20 Sept. 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 51/222. See also Eugen Mündler to Franz Gürtner, 21 June 1932, who wrote that Gregor Strasser was well liked in industrialist circles because he was considered “an honest, straight-forward person.” BA Koblenz, N 1530/22.

258Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 55.

259Ibid., p. 71 (entry for 1 Dec. 1932).

260See ibid., p. 75 (entry for 6 Dec. 1932).

261Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 84, pp. 247-9 (quotations on pp. 248, 249).

262Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 75 (entry for 6 Dec. 1932).

263Quoted in Udo Kissenkoetter, Gregor Strasser und die NSDAP, Stuttgart, 1978, p. 203. The original resignation letter has not been preserved, only a handwritten draft, which is part of the estate of Strasser’s deputy, Paul Schulz. Ibid., p. 172. For more on the Strasser crisis see Peter Stachura, Gregor Strasser and the Rise of Nazism, London, 1983, pp. 103ff.

264Hinrich Lohse, “Der Fall Strasser,” undated memorandum (c.1952); IfZ München, ZS 265.

265Ibid.; see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 77 (entry for 9 Dec. 1932): “Inspectors visiting Hitler. All very downcast but none with Strasser.” Otto Wagener recalled Hitler preparing himself by reading Marc Antony’s speech from Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar. Note by Martin Broszat on a meeting with Otto Wagener, 5 Feb. 1960; IfZ München, ZS 1732.

266Ibid., p. 78 (entry for 9 Dec. 1932). See also Leni Riefenstahl’s account, for once credible, who visited Hitler in the Hotel Kaiserhof on 8 Dec. 1932; Leni Riefenstahl, Memoiren, Munich, 1987, p. 186. On the article in the Täglichen Rundschau see Kissenkoetter, Gregor Strasser und die NSDAP, p. 73.

267Hitler’s order from 9 Dec. 1932; Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 86, p. 251.

268See Kissenkoetter, Gregor Strasser und die NSDAP, p. 177.

269See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 78 (entry for 10 Dec. 1932): “Feder has tripped himself up. Asks for a sabbatical in a letter that goes to the press before it goes to Hitler. That can’t be topped. Everyone outraged.” In early January 1933, Otto Engelbrecht, the NSDAP district and regional director in Murnau, reported back to the party leadership about a conversation with Feder on 30 Dec. 1932. He quoted Feder as saying that he, “like Strasser, had long realised that the movement had passed its zenith. For that reason, it had been unwise to refuse to join the government.” BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 51/222.

270Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 79 (entry for 10 Dec. 1932).

271Ibid., p. 81 (entry for 13 Dec. 1932).

272Ibid., p. 80 (entry for 11 Dec. 1932).

273Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 89, pp. 253-8 (quotation on p. 256).

274Ibid., doc. 92, pp. 259-61 (quotation on p. 260).

275Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 79 (entry for 11 Dec. 1932), p. 85 (entry for 17 Dec. 1932), p. 87 (entry for 22 Dec. 1932).

276Ibid., p. 89 (entry for 24 Dec. 1932). See ibid., p. 90 (entry for 25 Dec. 1932): “The main thing is that the movement sticks together. It is our ultimate source of consolation.”

277Akten der Reichskanzlei: Weimarer Republik. Das Kabinett von Schleicher 3. Dezember 1932 bis 20. Januar 1933, ed. Anton Golecki, Boppard am Rhein, 1986, no. 16, p. 57. At a meeting of the steering committee of the Pan-Germanic League on 10-11 Dec. 1932 in Berlin, Heinrich Class opined that “the role of the NSDAP has basically been played out even if it continues to have millions of supporters in the years to come.” Rainer Hering, Konstruierte Nation: Der Alldeutsche Verband 1890-1939, Hamburg, 2003, pp. 484f.; see Johannes Leicht, Heinrich Class 1968-1953: Die politische Biographie eines Alldeutschen, Paderborn, 2012, p. 387.

278Quoted in Kolb, Umbrüche deutscher Geschichte, p. 369.

279Quoted in Reuth, Hitler, p. 285.

280Quoted in Kolb, Umbrüche deutscher Geschichte, p. 368.

281Thomas Mann, Briefe III: 1924-1932, selected and ed. Thomas Sprecher, Hans R. Vaget and Cornelia Bernini, Frankfurt am Main, 2011, p. 673 (dated 22 Dec. 1932). Thomas Mann’s son, Golo Mann, felt similar; see Tilmann Lahme, Golo Mann: Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, 2009, p. 87.

282Memorandum by Malcolm Christie dated 19 Dec. 1932; Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany, p. 246.

283Quoted in Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 495. In a confidential note on 12 Jan. 1933, an advisor to the Italian consulate in Berlin, Vincenzo Cionnardi, offered a different view: “It is true that there’s lots of talk about the collapse of the party and the end, sooner or later, of the movement. But this has less to do with reality than with the hopes and expectations of the other parties and various segments of society that fear Hitler might come to power.” Frank Bajohr and Christoph Strupp (eds), Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich”: Berichte ausländischer Diplomaten über Herrschaft und Gesellschaft in Deutschland 1933-1945, Göttingen, 2011, p. 352.

284Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, pp. 419f.

285Heuss, Bürger der Weimarer Republik, p. 536 (dated 29 Dec. 1932). On Bosch’s position at the end of 1932 see Joachim Scholtyseck, Robert Bosch und der liberale Widerstand gegen Hitler 1933 bis 1945, Munich, 1999, p. 113.

286Carl von Ossietzky, “Wintermärchen,” Die Weltbühne, 3 Jan. 1933; in idem, Sämtliche Schriften. Vol. 6: 1931-1933, eds Gerhard Kraiker, Günther Nickel, Renke Siems and Elke Suhr, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 1994, pp. 437-43 (quotations on pp. 437, 440).

287Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, p. 411.

288Quoted in Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 29.

12 Month of Destiny: January 1933

1Heinrich Brüning, Memoiren 1918-1934, Stuttgart, 1970, p. 648. Albert Speer also said that in the winter of 1933-34 Hitler repeatedly talked of having been faced with “very difficult situations, which he had always escaped due to a favourable turn of events.” Albert Speer, Erinnerungen: Mit einem Essay von Jochen Thies, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, 1993, p. 54.

2Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, pp. 229f.

3See Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 2/3, p. 93 (entry for 30 Dec. 1932).

4Ibid., p. 94 (entry for 31 Dec. 1932).

5Adolf Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen—Februar 1925 bis Januar 1933. Vol. 5: Von der Reichspräsidentenwahl bis zur Machtergreifung April 1932-Januar 1933. Part 2: Oktober 1932-Januar 1933, eds Klaus A. Lankheit and Christian Hartmann, Munich, 1998, doc. 107, pp. 297-311 (quotations on pp. 298, 299, 310f.).

6Leopold Schwarzschild, Chronik eines Untergangs: Deutschland 1924-1939, ed. Andreas P. Wesemann, Vienna, 2005, p. 243. See Schwerin von Krosigk to Holm Eggers, 21 Aug. 1974, who wrote that “the influence Papen had exercised over the old gentleman” had been decisive: “In a sense, he guaranteed that the matter would turn out well.” BA Koblenz, N 1276/42.

7Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, p. 315.

8See Wolfram Pyta, Hindenburg: Herrschaft zwischen Hohenzollern und Hitler, Munich, 2007, p. 791. For an example of the earlier depiction of Hindenburg see Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 502; in Fest’s view, Hindenburg was “exhausted, confused and not always capable of maintaining an overview.”

9Karl-Dietrich Bracher, Die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik: Eine Studie zum Problem des Machtverfalls in der Demokratie, Villingen, 1955, p. 691.

10Keppler to Schröder, 19 Dec. 1932; Eberhard Czichon, Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht? Zum Anteil der deutschen Industrie an der Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik, Cologne, 1967, pp. 74-6 (quotation on p. 75). On the circumstances surrounding the meeting see also the transcript of Kurt von Schröder’s questioning on 18 June 1947; IfZ München, ZS 557.

11Heinrich Muth, “Das ‘Kölner Gespräch’ am 4. Januar 1933,” in Geschichte in Wissenschaft und Unterricht, 37 (1986), pp. 463-80, 529-41 (quotation on p. 531).

12Keppler to Schröder, 26 Dec. 1932; Czichon, Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht? pp. 76f. See also Franz von Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, Munich, 1952, p. 254.

13On Hitler’s and Papen’s motives, see Henry A. Turner, Thirty Days to Power: January 1933, London, 1996, pp. 42f.

14On the conspiratorial circumstances surrounding the meeting see Otto Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht: Persönliche Erlebnisse mit meinem Führer, 2nd edition, Munich, 1934, pp. 169f.; Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 38.

15On the course and content of the conversation see the affidavit by Kurt von Schröder dated 21 July 1947; Czichon, Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht?, pp. 77-9 (quotation on p. 78); Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 255f.; Turner, Thirty Days to Power, pp. 44f.; Joachim Petzold, Franz von Papen: Ein deutsches Verhängnis, Munich and Berlin, 1995, pp. 138-40. For a critical perspective on the sources see Muth, “Das ‘Kölner Gespräch,’ ” pp. 533-6.

16Keppler to Schröder, 6 Jan. 1933; Schacht to Schröder, 6 Jan. 1933; Czichon, Wer verhalf Hitler zur Macht?, pp. 79f.

17Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 103 (entry for 10 Jan. 1933).

18See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 47; see also Papen’s letter to Ferdinand von Bredow dated 31 Oct. 1933; Irene Strenge, Ferdinand von Bredow: Notizen vom 20. 2. 1933 bis 31. 12. 1933. Tägliche Aufzeichnungen vom 1. 1. 1934 bis 28. 6. 1934, Berlin, 2009, p. 175n1 (entry for 23 Oct. 1933).

19Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 116, p. 332n1. Further press commentary in n2.

20Ibid., doc. 116, p. 332.

21Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 100 (entry for 7 Jan. 1933). See also ibid., p. 101 (entry for 8 Jan. 1933): “The press is still buzzing with [the news of] the Hitler-Papen meeting.” For the reporting of the Tägliche Rundschau, see Petzold, Franz von Papen, pp. 140-2.

22Quoted in Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 50.

23See ibid., p. 71; Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 255, 260f. During a conversation with BVP Chairman Schäffer on 10 Jan. 1933, Schleicher was “quite dismayed” at the meeting between Papen and Hitler, who was “obviously trying to get access to the old man, even though the latter can’t stand him.” Schäffer’s diary dated 10 Jan. 1933; quoted in Astrid Pufendorf, Die Plancks: Eine Familie zwischen Patriotimus und Widerstand, Berlin, 2006, p. 305.

24Otto Meissner, Staatssekretär unter Ebert, Hindenburg, Hitler, Hamburg, 1950, p. 261.

25See Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 780.

26Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 103 (entry for 10 Jan. 1933).

27Akten der Reichskanzlei: Weimarer Republik. Das Kabinett von Schleicher 3. Dezember 1932 bis 20. Januar 1933, ed. Anton Golecki, Boppard am Rhein, 1986, no. 25, pp. 101-17 (quotations on pp. 109, 106). See Henry A. Turner, Die Grossunternehmer und der Aufstieg Hitlers, Berlin, 1986 pp. 370f.; Heinrich August Winkler, Weimar 1918-1933: Die Geschichte der ersten deutschen Demokratie, Munich, 1993, pp. 562f. On 21 Dec. 1932, Hugenberg informed Schleicher about “the concerns…we have in relation to the great economic challenges of the moment and the danger of slipping back into parliamentary procedure.” BA Koblenz, N 1231/38.

28See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 83; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 558f.

29See Meissner, Staatssekretär, pp. 251f.; Winkler, Weimar, pp. 569f. In a cabinet meeting on 16 Jan. 1933 Schleicher expressed his doubts as to whether Strasser “would bring many followers with him.” Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 56, p. 233.

30Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 50, pp. 206-8; no. 51, pp. 208-14. See Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, p. 261 (dated 12 Jan. 1933): “As we’re hearing, the presentations of the National Board of the Reich Landowners’ Association, when they were received by Hindenburg yesterday, made a deep impression upon him.”

31Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 51, p. 214n16. See Bernd Hoppe, “Von Schleicher zu Hitler: Dokumente zum Konflikt zwischen dem Reichslandbund und der Regierung Schleicher in den letzten Wochen der Weimarer Republik,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 45 (1997), pp. 629-57; Stephanie Merkenich, Grüne Front gegen Weimar: Reichsland-Bund und agrarischer Lobbyismus 1918-1933, Düsseldorf, 1998, pp. 316f.

32Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 106 (entry for 15 Jan. 1933); idem, Vom Kaiserhof zur Reichskanzlei, Munich, 1934, p. 241.

33See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, pp. 112f; Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 770.

34Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 56, p. 234n15; ibid., no. 25, p. 103.

35Statement from the DNVP Reichstag faction dated 21 Jan. 1933 (with Hugenberg’s handwritten draft) in BA Koblenz, N 1231/38. In mid-December 1932, the conservative nationalist politician and agricultural estate owner Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin called for a war against the government, proclaiming “Schleicher must go in favour of an authoritarian state leadership.” The cabinet was only presidential in name, Kleist-Schmenzin sneered, since “in reality Schleicher was dependent on parties and groups and changed his policies if he met any opposition from them.” BA Koblenz, N 1231/37.

36See Wolfgang Michalka, “Joachim von Ribbentrop: Vom Spirituosenhändler zum Aussenminister,” in Ronald Smelser and Rainer Zitelmann (eds), Die Braune Elite: 22 biographische Skizzen, Darmstadt, 1989, pp. 201-11. On the meeting of 10/11 Jan. 1933, see Joachim von Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau: Erinnerungen und letzte Aufzeichnungen, ed. Annelies von Ribbentrop, Leoni am Starnberger See, 1961, pp. 36-8. On Hitler’s visit to the opera, see Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 126, p. 346. See also Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 103 (entry for 11 Jan. 1933): “Hitler intends to talk to Papen late this evening. On tenterhooks.” When interrogated on 11 Sept. 1946, Ribbentrop testified that Wilhelm Keppler had asked him to make his house in the Berlin district of Dahlem available for Papen and Hitler’s talks; IfZ München, ZS 1357.

37Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 105 (entry for 13 Jan. 1933); Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 38.

38Quoted in Jutta Ciolek-Kümper, Wahlkampf in Lippe: Die Wahlkampfpropaganda der NSDAP zur Landtagswahl am 15. Januar 1933, Munich, 1976, p. 153. See also Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 325 (dated 21 May 1942): “He campaigned in the Lippe election with particular energy and using every ounce of his personality.”

39Ciolek-Kümper, Wahlkampf in Lippe, p. 147.

40See ibid., pp. 164f.

41Quotations in Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 114, p. 328 (dated 4 Jan. 1933, Bösingfeld), doc. 125, p. 344 (dated 9 Jan. 1933, Lage), doc. 127, p. 350 (dated 11 Jan. 1933, Lemgo), doc. 120, p. 377 (dated 6 Jan. 1933, Horn), doc. 117, p. 333 (dated 5 Jan. 1933, Leopoldshöhe).

42Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 105 (entry for 13 Jan. 1933).

43Dietrich, Mit Hitler in die Macht, p. 176. On the occasion of Grevenburg’s 400th anniversary during New Year 1937/38, Baron von Oeynhausen had a plaque mounted in the inner courtyard. As he wrote to Hitler, it was intended to recall that the Führer had “honoured” Grevenburg by residing there and “organising and leading the campaign that culminated with victory in Lippe on 15 Jan. and the historical turning point for Germany’s destiny on 30 Jan.” Baron von Oeynhausen to Hitler, 15 Dec. 1937. Wiedemann responded in Hitler’s name on 27 Dec. 1937; BA Koblenz, N 1720/8.

44Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 105 (entry for 13 Jan. 1933). See ibid., p. 98 (entry for 4 Jan. 1933); p. 99 (entry for 5 Jan. 1933); pp. 105f. (entry for 14 Jan. 1933): “Speaking of Strasser. He’s about to betray us to Schleicher…A base plot”; p. 106 (entry for 15 Jan. 1933): “Strasser wants to join the cabinet as vice-chancellor! Traitor!”

45See Ernst Deuerlein (ed.), Der Aufstieg der NSDAP in Augenzeugenberichten, Munich, 2nd edition, 1976, p. 415.

46Quoted in Ciolek-Kümper, Wahlkampf in Lippe, p. 273.

47Quoted in Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 65.

48Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 107 (entry for 16 Jan. 1933).

49Quoted in Ciolek-Kümper, Wahlkampf in Lippe, pp. 279f.

50Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 108 (entry for 17 Jan. 1933). According to an account by another participant, Hitler declared that the change in power was just around the corner and no one could stop him taking “Bismarck’s seat.” Hinrich Lohse, “Der Fall Strasser,” undated memorandum (c.1952); IfZ München, ZS 265.

51See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 112 (entry for 22 Jan. 1933), p. 115 (entry for 25 Jan. 1933).

52Keppler to Schröder, 19 Jan. 1933; Muth, “Das ‘Kölner Gespräch,’ ” p. 538.

53Hugenberg to Hitler, 28 Dec. 1932; BA Koblenz, N 1231/37. See Larry Eugene Jones, “ ‘The Greatest Stupidity of My Life’: Alfred Hugenberg and the Formation of the Hitler Cabinet, January 1933,” in Journal of Contemporary History, 27 (1992), pp. 63-87 (at p. 70).

54Die Deutschnationalen und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik: Aus dem Tagebuch von Reinhold Quaatz 1928-1933, ed. Hermann Weiss and Paul Hoser, Munich, 1989, p. 223 (entry for 17 Jan. 1933). See also Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 109 (entry for 18 Jan. 1933): “Hitler was with Hugenberg. But without success.”

55Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 39 (dated 18 Jan. 1933).

56Papen to Springorum, 20 Jan. 1933; Muth “Das ‘Kölner Gespräch,’ ” p. 538. On 7 Jan. 1933 Papen met with Springorum, Krupp, Vögler and Reusch in Dortmund to exchange opinions. We do not know the details of their discussions. See Petzold, Franz von Papen, pp. 144-6. Apparently, Papen gave the others the impression that Hitler no longer wanted the chancellorship and would be satisfied with a junior position in a coalition. See Christian Marx, Paul Reusch und die Gutehoffnungshütte: Leitung eines deutschen Grossunternehmens, Göttingen, 2013, pp. 324f.

57Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, pp. 109f. (entry for 19 Jan. 1933), p. 110 (entry for 20 Jan. 1933). See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 78. On the film The Rebel, see Siegfried Kracauer, Von Caligari zu Hitler: Eine Geschichte des deutschen Films, vol. 2, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main, 1979, pp. 275f.; 567-9.

58Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 112 (entry for 22 Jan. 1933).

59Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 143, p. 375n2.

60Ibid., pp. 375-87 (quotations on pp. 381, 375, 378, 387). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 111 (entry for 21 Jan. 1933): “Hitler entered to gigantic celebrations and spoke marvellously…Never-ending ovations. Hitler is quite a fellow.”

61Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 145, pp. 389f. On the cult of Horst Wessel see Daniel Siemens, Horst Wessel: Tod und Verklärung eines Nationalsozialisten, Berlin, 2009, pp. 131ff.

62Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 113 (entry for 23 Jan. 1933).

63Quoted in Heinrich August Winkler, Der Weg in die Katastrophe: Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung in der Weimarer Republik 1930 bis 1933, Berlin and Bonn, 1987, p. 838.

64See Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 39 (dated 22 Jan. 1933); Turner, Thirty Days to Power Weg, p. 112.

65See Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 787; Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 115. The blackmail theory is advanced, among others, in Fest, Hitler, p. 501. In May 1942, Hitler himself recalled “unreservedly laying out the political situation as he understood it and openly declaring that every further week of waiting would be a lost one.” Hitlers Tischgespräche, p. 325 (dated 21 May 1942).

66See Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, p. 265.

67Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 114 (entry for 25 Jan. 1933).

68See Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 39 (dated 22 Jan. 1933).

69Ibid., p. 39 (dated 23 Jan. 1933).

70Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 114 (entry for 25 Jan. 1933).

71Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 39 (dated 24 Jan. 1933). See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, pp. 116f. (entry for 26 Jan. 1933): “The Harzburg Front re-emerging. Frick and Göring negotiating.”

72Quaatz, Die Deutschnationalen und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik, p. 224 (dated 21 Jan. 1933).

73Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 112 (entry for 22 Jan. 1933).

74Cabinet meeting of 16 Jan. 1933; Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 56, pp. 230-8.

75Meissner’s notes on Schleicher’s reception from Hindenburg on 23 Jan. 1933; ibid., no. 65, pp. 284f.

76See Winkler, Weimar, pp. 578, 581; Turner, Thirty Days to Power, pp. 100f.; Merkenich, Grüne Front gegen Weimar, p. 318.

77Winkler, Weimar, p. 582.

78Braun to Schleicher, 28 Jan. 1933; Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 73, pp. 311f.

79Kaas to Schleicher, 26 Jan. 1933; ibid., no. 70, pp. 304f.

80Cabinet meeting of 28 Jan. 1933; ibid., no. 71, pp. 306-10.

81Ibid., no. 77, p. 317. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 118 (entry for 29 Jan. 1933): “Breaking news: Schleicher has just stepped down. So we’ve toppled him! More quickly than I thought…The old man practically chucked him out. A just punishment for this latter-day Fouché.”

82Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 535 (entry for 28 Jan. 1933).

83Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 40 (dated 27 Jan. 1933). On the talks between Hitler and Hugenberg on 27 Jan. 1933 see Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 138; Jones, “Hugenberg and the Hitler Cabinet,” p. 73. Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 117 (entry for 28 Jan. 1933): “Hitler spoke with Hugenberg who is being intransigent, insisting on Schmidt as Hitler’s state secretary, Brosius as his press spokesman and the subordination of the Berlin police to the Reichswehr. Impossible demands. Infuriating.” See also Quaatz, Die Deutschnationalen und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik, p. 228 (concerning 28 Jan. 1933): “Hugenberg suggested ‘neutralising’ the police, something Hitler heatedly rejected”; Otto Schmidt-Hannover, Umdenken oder Anarchie: Männer—Schicksale—Lehren, Göttingen, 1959, pp. 332f.

84Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 118 (entry for 29 Jan. 1933).

85On the rumours of a Papen cabinet see Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 533 (entry for 25 Jan. 1933), p. 534 (entry for 27 Jan. 1933).

86Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 41 (dated 27 Jan. 1933).

87Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 269f.

88Schwerin von Krosigk’s diary on the events in Berlin between 23 and 28 Jan. 1933; Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 77, p. 318.

89See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, pp. 143f. According to Schmidt-Hannover (Umdenken oder Anarchie, p. 340), Blomberg was “the joker added at the last minute to the contest for governmental power.” On Blomberg’s appointment see Kirstin A. Schäfer, Werner von Blomberg: Hitlers erster Feldmarschall. Eine Biographie, Paderborn, 2006, pp. 97-100.

90Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 118 (entry for 29 Jan. 1933).

91See Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 271f.; Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 42 (dated 29 Jan. 1933); Turner, Thirty Days to Power, pp. 145f.

92See Theodor Duesterberg’s unpublished memoirs, pp. 173, 179; BA Koblenz, N 1377/44.

93Theodor Duesterberg, Der Stahlhelm und Hitler, Wolfenbüttel and Hanover, 1949, pp. 38f. See also Theodor Duesterberg’s memorandum, “Die Regierungsbildung am 30. Januar 1933,” dated 27 April 1946 (which erroneously dates the meeting as 26 Jan.). Afterwards Duesterberg declared: “If you go to bed with an anaconda, you can’t complain if you wake up with your legs broken. The hour will come, Herr Privy Counsellor, in which you’ll have to flee through the garden in the middle of the night in your underpants.” IfZ München, ZS 1700. Repeated verbatim in Duesterberg’s memoirs, p. 188; BA Koblenz, N 1377/44.

94Quaatz, Die Deutschnationalen und die Zerstörung der Weimarer Republik, p. 229 (dated 29 Jan. 1933).

95Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 119 (entry for 30 Jan. 1933).

96Hammerstein’s notes from 28 Jan. 1935; Bracher, Die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik, pp. 733f.; Kurt Freiherr von Hammerstein, Spähtrupp, Stuttgart, 1963, pp. 49f. Contrary to this see Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Hammerstein oder Der Eigensinn: Eine deutsche Geschichte, Frankfurt am Main, 2008, pp. 101-7, who suggests that Hammerstein did not want to prevent a Papen-Hugenberg cabinet so much as to keep Hitler from attaining power.

97Hammerstein’s notes from 28 Jan. 1935; Bracher, Die Auflösung der Weimarer Republik, p. 734; Hammerstein, Spähtrupp, pp. 55f.

98Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 119 (entry for 30 Jan. 1933).

99Hitlers Tischgespräche, p. 327 (dated 21 May 1942); see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 119 (entry for 30 Jan. 1933): “Called Helldorf. He’s taking measures with Police Major Wecke.”

100See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, pp. 150-2; Meissner, Staatssekretär, pp. 268f.

101Wieland Eschenhagen (ed.), Die “Machtergreifung”: Tagebuch einer Wende nach Presseberichten vom 1. Januar bis 6. März 1933, Darmstadt and Neuwied, 1982, pp. 86f.

102Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 46, p. 232.

103See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 119 (entry for 30 Jan. 1933).

104Duesterberg, Der Stahlhelm und Hitler, p. 40; see Duesterberg, “Die Regierungsbildung am 30. Januar 1933”; IfZ München, ZS 1700; Duesterberg’s memoirs, p. 189, BA Koblenz, N 1377/44; Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 155.

105Duesterberg, Der Stahlhelm und Hitler, pp. 40f.; see Duesterberg, “Die Regierungsbildung am 3. Januar 1933”; IfZ München, ZS 1700; Duesterberg’s memoirs, pp. 190f.; BA Koblenz, N 1377/44. See also Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 275f.; Meissner, Staatssekretär, pp. 269f.; Turner, Thirty Days Power, pp. 156f.

106Schwerin von Krosigk’s diaries on the events of 29 and 30 Jan. 1933; Das Kabinett von Schleicher, no. 79, pp. 320-3 (quotation on p. 323).

107Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 120 (entry for 31 Jan. 1933).

108Ibid., p. 120 (entry for 31 Jan. 1933). On Hitler’s reception at the Hotel Kaiserhof see also Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 288; Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 238: “ ‘Now we’re at our destination,’ he announced with euphoric exaltation. All of us, waiters and maids included, gathered around him and tried to shake his hand”; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

109Hitler, Reden, Schriften, Anordnungen, vol. 5, part 2, doc. 150, pp. 296-8.

110Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 537 (entry for 30 Jan. 1933). See Duesterberg’s memoirs, p. 192: “There was an undeniable, massive tumult of excitement almost everywhere in Berlin during this mild winter night.” BA Koblenz, N 1377/44.

111Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah: Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotographen, Munich and Berlin, 1974, p. 49.

112Quoted in Lothar Machtan, Der Kaisersohn bei Hitler, Hamburg, 2006, p. 279. See Geoffrey Verhey, Der “Geist von 1914” und die Erfindung der Volksgemeinschaft, Hamburg, 2000, pp. 362f.

113See Hans Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, p. 129.

114Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 121 (entry for 31 Jan. 1933).

115Ibid., p. 120 (entry for 31 Jan. 1933). See Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, p. 111: “Fantastically splendid, unforgettable, magnificent hours!”

116Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, pp. 424f. (dated 31 Jan. 1933). On the headed paper Hess had crossed out “The Chancellor” and added by hand: “The day after Adolf Hitler came to power”; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 51.

117E. Krogmann’s diary from 30 Jan. 1933; quoted in Karl Heinz Roth, “Ökonomie und politische Macht: Die ‘Firma Hamburg’ 1930-1945,” in Angelika Ebbinghaus and Karsten Linne (eds), Kein abgeschlossenes Kapitel: Hamburg im “Dritten Reich,” Hamburg, 1997, p. 15. Heinrich Himmler’s mother Anna was also “moved with joy that your desire, which we all shared, has been fulfilled and your Führer has achieved this hard-won victory.” Anna Himmler to Heinrich Himmler, 31 Jan. 1933; BA Koblenz, N 1126/13.

118L. Solmitz’s diary from 30 Jan. 1933; Werner Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution: Ursprung und Geschichte der NSDAP in Hamburg 1922-1933. Dokumente, Frankfurt am Main, 1963, p. 73.

119Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Es geschah in Deutschland: Menschenbilder unseres Jahrhunderts, Tübingen and Stuttgart, 1951, p. 147.

120Ewald von Kleist-Schmenzin, “Die letzte Möglichkeit: Zur Ernennung Hitlers zum Reichskanzler am 30. Januar 1933,” in Politische Studien, 10 (1959), p. 92. See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, pp. 147f.

121Quoted in Gerhard Ritter, Carl Goerdeler und die deutsche Widerstandsbewegung, Stuttgart, 1954, pp. 65f. See Jones, “Hugenberg and the Hitler Cabinet,” p. 63.

122Quoted from the report of 1958 by the Munich Institute for Contemporary History, for example in Deuerlein, Der Aufstieg, p. 418. In comparison see Fritz Tobias, “Ludendorff, Hindenburg, Hitler: Das Phantasieprodukt des Ludendorff-Briefes vom 30. Januar 1933,” in Uwe Backes, Eckhard Jesse and Rainer Zitelmann, Die Schatten der Vergangenheit: Impulse zur Historisierung des Nationalsozialismus, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, 1992, pp. 319-43. Further, Lothar Gruchmann, “Ludendorffs ‘prophetischer’ Brief an Hindenburg vom Januar/Februar 1933: Eine Legende,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 47 (1999), pp. 559-62. Ludendorff’s letters to Hindenburg from 25 Aug. and 18 Nov. 1933, in which he protested against the loss of rights, are reprinted in Henrik Eberle (ed.), Briefe an Hitler: Ein Volk schreibt seinem Führer: Unbekannte Dokumente aus Moskauer Archiven—zum ersten Mal veröffentlicht, Bergisch-Gladbach, 2007, pp. 189f.

123See Manfred Nebelin, Ludendorff: Diktator im Ersten Weltkrieg, Munich, 2011, pp. 9f., 17. On the “reconciliation” between Hitler and Ludendorff see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 4, pp. 74, 82 (entries for 1 April and 6 April 1937). On Hitler’s reaction to the death of Ludendorff see ibid., vol. 5, p. 64 (entry for 22 Dec. 1937). In early 1941, Hitler ordered that the house where Ludendorff was born, on the estate of Kruszewnia near Posen, be preserved as a monument in honour of the general’s “undying services.” Wehrmacht Adjutant Schmundt to Lammers, 27 Jan. 1941; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, R 43 II/985.

124Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 538 (entry for 31 Jan. 1933), p. 539 (entry for 6 Feb. 1933). The Tägliche Rundschau was of the same opinion on 31 Jan. 1933: “The Harzburger, and not Herr Hitler, are the true victors.” Quoted in Petzold, Franz von Papen, p. 160.

125Vossische Zeitung, 30 Jan. 1933. Quoted in Dirk Blasius, “30. Januar 1933: Tag der Machtergreifung,” in Dirk Blasius and Wilfried Loth (eds), Tage deutscher Geschichte im 20. Jahrhundert, Göttingen, 2006, p. 51. See also Berliner Tageblatt, 30 Jan. 1933; Eschenhagen, Die “Machtergreifung,” p. 96.

126Quoted in Saul Friedländer, Das Dritte Reich und die Juden: Die Jahre der Verfolgung 1933-1939, Munich, 1998, vol. 1, p. 27. See ibid. for the statements by the Association’s board on 30 Jan. 1933: “Today in particular the old saying applies: wait and see.” See also Avraham Barkai, Der Centralverein deutscher Staatsbürger jüdischen Glaubens 1893-1938, Munich, 2002, pp. 271f.

127Willy Cohn, Kein Recht, nirgends: Tagebuch vom Untergang des Breslauer Judentums 1933-1941, ed. Norbert Conrads, Cologne, Weimar and Berlin, 2006, vol. 1, pp. 6f. (entries for 30 and 31 Jan. 1933).

128Josef and Ruth Becker (eds), Hitlers Machtergreifung: Dokumente vom Machtantritt Hitlers, 30. Januar 1933 bis zur Besiegelung des Einparteienstaats 14. Juli 1933, Munich, 1983, p. 34. See Winkler, Der Weg in die Katastrophe, p. 868.

129See Winkler, Der Weg in die Katastrophe, pp. 868, 757-9.

130Peter Jahn (ed.), Die Gewerkschaften in der Endphase der Republik 1930-1933, Cologne, 1988, doc. 170, p. 831.

131Sebastian Haffner, Geschichte eines Deutschen: Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933, Stuttgart and Munich, 2000, pp. 105f.

132See Turner, Thirty Days to Power, p. 159.

133Thea Sternheim, Tagebücher. Vol. 2: 1925-1936, ed. and selected Thomas Ehrsam and Regula Wyss, Göttingen, 2002, p. 470 (entry for 30 Jan. 1933).

134Klaus Mann, Tagebücher 1931 bis 1933, ed. Joachim Heimannsberg, Peter Laemmle and Winfried F. Schoeller, Munich, 1989, p. 113 (entry for 30 Jan. 1933). The Leipzig writer and close associate of Klaus Mann Erich Ebermayer was also “stunned” by Hitler’s appointment as chancellor: “It’s as though there’s a dark shadow upon the world. As though something terrible, irreparable and fateful has happened.” Erich Ebermayer, Denn heute gehört uns Deutschland…Persönliches und politisches Tagebuch, Hamburg and Vienna, 1959, p. 11 (entry for 30 Jan. 1933).

135Sefton Delmer, Die Deutschen und ich, Hamburg, 1963, p. 178.

136Detlev Clemens, Herr Hitler in Germany: Wahrnehmungen und Deutungen des Nationalsozialismus in Grossbritannien 1920 bis 1939, Göttingen and Zurich, 1996, pp. 252-5 (quotation on p. 254).

137See Claus W. Schäfer, André François-Poncet als Botschafter in Berlin 1931-1938, Munich, 2004, pp. 163-8.

138Paul Dinichert to Councillor Guiseppe Motta, 2 Feb. 1933; Frank Bajohr and Christoph Strupp (eds), Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich”: Berichte ausländischer Diplomaten über Herrschaft und Gesellschaft in Deutschland 1933-1945, Göttingen, 2011, pp. 354f.

139See the thoughtful observations in Heinrich August Winkler, Musste Weimar scheitern? Das Ende der ersten Republik und die Kontinuität der deutschen Geschichte, Munich, 1991.

140In Fritz Wiedemann’s recollection, in his “table talks” during the 1930s Hitler enjoyed mocking “the Bavarian government…that had sent him for a time to Landsberg Prison and then released him, instead of liquidating him.” Wiedemann added: “He left no doubt that, if the positions had been reversed, he would have ‘cracked down ruthlessly’ without any false sentimentality.” Fritz Wiedemann, Der Mann, der Feldherr werden wollte: Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen des Vorgesetzten Hitlers im 1. Weltkrieg und seines späteren persönlichen Adjutanten, Velbert and Kettwig 1964, p. 55.

141See Heinrich August Winkler, “Die abwendbare Katastrophe: Warum Hitler am 30. Januar 1933 Reichskanzler wurde,” in idem, Auf ewig in Hitlers Schatten? Anmerkungen zur deutschen Geschichte, Munich, 2007, pp. 93-104 (at p. 95).

142On the alternative of a military dictatorship under Schleicher see Turner, Thirty Days to Power, pp. 170-2. In comparison, Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte 1914-1949, Munich, 2003, p. 587, considered the Nazi regime “as the only remaining response to the crisis of state.”

143Veit Valentin, Geschichte der Deutschen, Berlin, 1947; new edition, Cologne, 1991, p. 593.

144Eberhard Jäckel, Das deutsche Jahrhundert: Eine historische Bilanz, Stuttgart, 1996, pp. 151ff, taking a firm stance against Fritz Fischer, Hitler war kein Betriebsunfall: Aufsätze, Munich, 1993, pp. 174-81. See the sharp but relevant criticism of Jäckel by Heinrich August Winkler, “Triumph des Zufalls?,” in Historische Zeitschrift 268 (1999), pp. 681-8.

145Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 155 (dated 17/18 Dec. 1941).

13 Hitler as Human Being

1Otto Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, Munich, 1955, p. 15.

2Ernst Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters, Munich, 1970, p. 217. See also Hanfstaengl’s note “ad A. H.—Charakterisierung”: “Basically you can only pin down his essence indirectly, that is, by comparing him with other contemporaries.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25.

3Albert Speer, “Alles was ich weiss”: Aus unbekannten Geheimdienstprotokollen vom Sommer 1945, ed. Ulrich Schlie, Munich, 1999, p. 50.

4André François-Poncet, Als Botschafter in Berlin 1931-1938, Mainz, 1947, p. 356.

5Otto Meissner, Staatssekretär unter Ebert, Hindenburg, Hitler, Hamburg, 1950, p. 615.

6Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1889-1936: Hubris, London, 1998, p. 340. On this connection, see above pp. 7f. Furthermore, see Dirk van Laak, “Adolf Hitler,” in Frank Möller (ed.), Charismatische Führer der deutschen Nation, Munich, 2004, p. 157, who claims that Hitler had “practically no private life.”

7Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 335.

8Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit. Eine Biographie, Zurich, 1936, pp. 330, 333.

9Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, pp. 15, 24f.

10Albert Speer, Erinnerungen: Mit einem Essay von Jochen Thies, Frankfurt am Main and Berlin, 1993, p. 37; idem, Spandauer Tagebücher, Munich, 2002, p. 634 (entry for 4 May 1965); see also the corrected manuscript of the Erinnerungen (second edition), chapter 1, on “Hitler’s Qualities”: “He could be kindly yet at the same time pitiless and unjust. He might appear loyal and honest and simultaneously amoral. Those around him saw him as a benevolent patriarch, but he could commit crimes with infernal determination.” BA Koblenz, N 1340/384. On Hitler’s “many faces” see François-Poncet, Als Botschafter in Berlin, pp. 356f.

11Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 218.

12Joachim Scholtyseck, Der Aufstieg der Quandts: Eine deutsche Unternehmerdynastie, Munich, 2011, pp. 265f. The banker Eduard Heydt felt much the same way. To Count Harry Kessler he described Hitler “as the proverbial ‘amiable fellow’ of the minor civil servant type who by no means made a deep impression when you spoke with him.” Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 9: 1926-1937, ed. Sabine Gruber and Ulrich Ott with Christoph Hilse and Nadin Weiss, Stuttgart, 2010, p. 399 (entry for 12 Dec. 1931).

13Sefton Delmer, Die Deutschen und ich, Hamburg, 1963, p. 115.

14Dorothy Thompson, Kassandra spricht: Antifaschistische Publizistik 1932-1942, Leipzig and Weimar, 1988, p. 41. See Bella Fromm, Als Hitler mir die Hand küsste, Berlin, 1993, p. 111 (dated 30 March 1933): “An average-looking man of small stature.”

15William S. Shirer, Berliner Tagebuch: Aufzeichnungen 1934-41, transcribed and ed. Jürgen Schebera, Leipzig and Weimar 1991, p. 23 (entry for 4 Sept. 1934). See François-Poncet, Als Botschafter in Berlin, p. 146, on being received by Hitler on 8 April 1933: “When I observed him up close in moments of calm, I was struck by…how average and unimpressive his facial features are, although I reminded myself that it’s precisely this insignificance that appeals to the masses who celebrate and find their own reflection in him.”

16Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Es geschah in Deutschland: Menschenbilder unseres Jahrhunderts, Tübingen and Stuttgart, 1951, p. 193.

17Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 83. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 63: “ ‘Don’t worry,’ he said. ‘I’m not creating a new fashion. In time, people will come to imitate me.’ ” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47. Rudolf Hess’s mother too disliked Hitler’s moustache. Hess promised that he would read her letter to Hitler. “But it won’t make the slightest difference,” Hess wrote. “He is the most stubborn person I know!” Rudolf Hess to his parents, 9 June 1925; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 35.

18Christa Schroeder, Er war mein Chef: Aus dem Nachlass der Sekretärin von Adolf Hitler, ed. Anton Joachimsthaler, 3rd edition, Munich and Vienna, 1985, p. 72.

19Klaus Mann, Der Wendepunkt: Ein Lebensbericht, Frankfurt am Main, 1963, p. 228.

20Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 40 (entry for 30 Nov. 1946).

21Karl Alexander von Müller, Mars und Venus: Erinnerungen 1914-1918, Stuttgart, 1954, p. 338. Theodor Duesterberg wrote in his unpublished memoirs (p. 189) of “peculiar wolf eyes.” BA Koblenz, N 1377/47.

22Brigitte Hamann, Winifred Wagner oder Hitlers Bayreuth, Munich and Zurich, 2002, p. 209.

23Otto Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe: Aufzeichnungen eines Vertrauten 1929-1932, ed. Henry A. Turner, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1978, p. 43; see also ibid., p. 56, where Wagener stressed “his large bottomless eyes.” After the Second World War, the cook on the Obersalzberg, Therese Linke, also recalled Hitler’s “very strong handshake” and his “compelling gaze.” Linke added: “It always made you feel so strange.” IfZ München, ZS 3135.

24Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 71.

25Peter Sprengel, Gerhart Hauptmann: Bürgerlichkeit und grosser Traum. Eine Biographie, Munich, 2012, p. 669.

26Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 336.

27Martha Dodd, Nice to meet you, Mr. Hitler! Meine Jahre in Deutschland 1933 bis 1937, Frankfurt am Main, 2005, p. 77.

28H. St. Chamberlain to Hitler, 7 Oct. 1923; BA Koblenz, N 1128/16.

29Schwerin von Krosigk, Es geschah in Deutschland, p. 193. See also Schwerin von Krosigk’s notes on Hitler’s personality (c.1945), in which he writes of “the fineness and beauty of his hands, which were surely the hands of an artist”; IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5. H(ubert) R. Knickerbocker, Deutschland so oder so?, Berlin, 1932, p. 207, also described Hitler as having the “hands of an artist.”

30Quoted in Rüdiger Safranski, Ein Meister aus Deutschland: Heidegger und seine Zeit, Munich and Vienna, 1994, p. 274.

31Quoted in Claudia Schmölders, Hitlers Gesicht: Eine physiognomische Biographie, Munich, 2000, p. 60.

32Sönke Neitzel, Abgehört: Deutsche Generäle in britischer Gefangenschaft, 1942-1945, Berlin, 2005, doc. 3, p. 92.

33Thomas Mann, “Bruder Hitler” (1939) in An die gesittete Welt: Politische Schriften und Reden im Exil, Frankfurt am Main, 1986, p. 255. Heinrich Class wrote in his unpublished memoirs of Hitler’s “hysterical eloquence.” Johannes Leicht, Heinrich Class, 1968-1953: Die politische Biographie eines Alldeutschen, Paderborn, 2012, p. 288.

34Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 331.

35Otto Strasser, Hitler und ich, Konstanz, 1948, p. 85. See also Ernst Niekisch, “Hitler—ein deutsches Verhängnis” (1931), in idem, Politische Schriften, Cologne and Berlin, 1965, pp. 21f., who describes Hitler as the “biggest demagogue” Germany ever produced: “He was instinctively driven to the element he made his very own—the mass event.” Or as Veit Valentin (Geschichte der Deutschen, Berlin, 1947; new edition, Cologne, 1991, p. 594) succinctly put it: “Adolf Hitler is German genius in the form of a demagogue.”

36Schwerin von Krosigk, Es geschah in Deutschland, p. 194; see Schwerin von Krosigk to Fred L. Casmir, 11 Aug. 1960: “Hitler had an intuition for what moved people internally and expressed it succinctly. His listeners felt understood and were swept away, melting into one with the speaker.” BA Koblenz, N 1276/40.

37Knickerbocker, Deutschland so oder so?, p. 206.

38Rudolf Hess, Briefe 1908-1933, ed. Rüdiger Hess, Munich and Vienna, 1987, p. 355 (dated 27. Nov. 1924). In his account of a three-hour-long speech by Hitler in Nuremberg on 3 Dec. 1928 Rudolf Hess reported that the senior civil servant who monitored the meeting for the police had “thrown all caution to the winds” and joined in the applause. At the end, “out of sheer excitement,” he had shaken Julius Streicher’s hand and “declared his faith in the tribune.” Rudolf Hess to Ilse Hess, 4 Dec. 1928; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 41.

39Golo Mann, Erinnerungen und Gedanken: Eine Jugend in Deutschland, Frankfurt am Main, 1986, p. 382. See Schwerin von Krosigk to Fred L. Casmir: “Even those who didn’t want to fall under the spell of [Hitler’s] magic had to fight against his elixir.” BA Koblenz, N 1276/40. On Golo Mann’s opposition to National Socialism prior to 1933 see Tilmann Lahme, Golo Mann: Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, 2009, pp. 70-3.

40Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 36. See Hans Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, p. 39: “His vocal organ sometimes sounded hoarse and switched strangely with drastic contrasts in volume. Sentences that began calmly would suddenly leap impressively in tone at a certain word or when they came to their conclusion.” As he was still speaking without microphone, at larger meetings Hitler was forced to talk so loudly that he sometimes lost his voice. Rudolf Hess told Ilse Pröhl about one such incident, at the exhibition hall in Essen, in a letter of 29 April 1927; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 39.

41Baldur von Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, Hamburg, 1967, p. 20.

42Schwerin von Krosigk, Es geschah in Deutschland, p. 220. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 60: “He had marked theatrical abilities and also a sharp comic eye.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47. On Hitler’s acting talents see also Heinz Schreckenberg, Hitler: Motive und Methoden einer unwahrscheinlichen Karriere. Eine biographische Studie, Frankfurt am Main, 2006, pp. 100-7.

43Albert Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten der NSDAP: Erinnerungen aus der Frühzeit der Partei, Stuttgart, 1959, p. 133.

44Schwerin von Krosigk to Fred L. Casmir, 11 Aug. 1960; BA Koblenz, N 1276/40.

45Frank Bajohr and Christoph Strupp (eds), Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich”: Berichte ausländischer Diplomaten über Herrschaft und Gesellschaft in Deutschland 1933-1945, Göttingen, 2011, p. 436. On the different roles which Hitler played during his speeches, see Gudrun Brockhaus, Schauder und Idylle: Faschismus als Erlebnisangebot, Munich, 1999, p. 226.

46Robert Coulondre, Von Moskau nach Berlin: Erinnerungen des französischen Botschafters, Berlin, 1950, p. 310. After their meeting, Coulondre asked: “What kind of a person is this infernal Hitler really?”

47Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, p. 133.

48Levetzow to Donnersmarck, 20 Nov. 1931; Gerhard Granier, Magnus von Levetzow: Seeoffizier, Monarchist und Wegbereiter Hitlers. Lebensweg und ausgewählte Dokumente, Boppard am Rhein, 1982, p. 316. Hermine had already read the second volume of Mein Kampf by the beginning of 1927. The themes had “interested her very much,” she wrote to Elsa Bruckmann on 10 Feb. 1927; Miriam Käfer, “Hitlers frühe Förderer aus dem Grossbürgertum: Das Verlegerehepaar Elsa und Hugo Bruckmann,” in Marita Krauss (ed.), Rechte Karrieren in München: Von der Weimarer Zeit bis in die Nachkriegsjahre, Munich, 2010, p. 61.

49Delmer, Die Deutschen und ich, p. 117; see Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 245; Lothar Machtan, Der Kaisersohn bei Hitler, Hamburg, 2006, pp. 220 ff., 309ff.

50Prince August Wilhelm to Rudolf Hess, 21 Sep. 1934; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1993/300, Box 1. On Hitler’s contempt for the Hohenzollern see, for example, Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 2/3, pp. 181 (entry for 5 May 1933), 331 (entry for 6 Dec. 1933). After Hitler and Göring had visited the royal castle, the crown princess is supposed to have told the servants to “open the windows [and air the place out].” Hitler later heard of this, which only bolstered his antipathy towards the crown prince and princess. Wiedemann, individual recollections, San Francisco, 28 March 1939, BA Koblenz, N 1740/4

51See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 226; Duesterberg memoirs, p. 189; BA Koblenz, N 1377/47.

52Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, pp. 148, 135.

53Ernst von Weizsäcker, Erinnerungen, Munich, 1950, p. 199.

54Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 634 (entry for 4 May 1965).

55Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 67. See Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, p. 95: “a master of imitating the way other people talked.” After Hindenburg’s death, Hitler enjoyed imitating his deep voice. See Henrik Eberle and Mathias Uhl (eds), Das Buch Hitler: Geheimdossier des NKWD für Josef W. Stalin aufgrund der Verhörprotokolle des Persönlichen Adjutanten Hitlers, Otto Günsche, und des Kammerdieners Heinz Linge, Moskau 1948/49, Bergisch Gladbach, 2005, pp. 49f.

56Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, p. 129.

57Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/2, p. 300 (entry for 21 Dec. 1936). Hitler also often performed his impressions in Wagner’s company. See Hamann, Winifred Wagner, pp. 313, 387.

58Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 199 (entry for 3 March 1947).

59Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 165.

60Hanskarl Hasselbach, one of Hitler’s personal physicians, testified after the war that Hitler had possessed “a phenomenal memory in all areas,” such as he “had never encountered in any other human being.” IfZ München, ZS 242. See also Robert Ley, “Gedanken um den Führer” (1945): “Adolf Hitler had a powerful concentration like no other—his memory never deserted him.” BA Koblenz, N 1468/4.

61See Fritz Wiedemann, Der Mann, der Feldherr werden wollte: Erlebnisse und Erfahrungen des Vorgesetzten Hitlers im 1. Weltkrieg und seines späteren persönlichen Adjutanten, Velbert and Kettwig 1964, pp. 78f.

62See Hanskarl von Hasselbach’s memorandum: “Hitlers Kenntnisse und geistige Fähigkeiten” (27 Sept. 1945); BA Koblenz, N 1128/33; Nicolaus von Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant 1937-45, Mainz, 1980, p. 150.

63See Heinrich Hoffmann, Hitler wie ich ihn sah: Aufzeichnungen seines Leibfotographen, Munich and Berlin, 1974, p. 160; Karl Wilhelm Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener bei Hitler, Hamburg, 1949, pp. 46f. Hitler acquired the 1933 navy calendar from Franz Eher Verlag in October 1932. See the receipt in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557.

64On this see Manfred Koch-Hillebrecht, Homo Hitler: Psychogramm eines Diktators, Munich, 1999, pp. 93ff. (“Hitler als Eidetiker”).

65Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 76.

66Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 149.

67See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 45; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 76.

68Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 165. See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 55.

69Hess, Briefe, p. 267 (dated 11 April 1921), p. 324 (dated 16 May 1924).

70Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 80.

71Goebbels Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 55 (entry for 9 Nov. 1932). See ibid., vol. 2/2, p. 361 (entry for 11 Sept. 1932), vol. 3/1, p. 386 (entry for 27 Feb. 1936), vol. 3 /2, p. 133 (entry for 17 July 1936). See Wilhelm Brückner’s memorandum of August 1945: “A. H. a brilliant mind, who autodidactically acquired fantastic knowledge in all areas as a youth.” IfZ München, ED 100/43.

72Karl Alexander von Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt: Erinnerungen. Vol. 3: 1919-1932, ed. Otto Alexander von Müller, Munich, 1966, pp. 302f.; see also the note from K. A. v. Müller: “Encountered Hitler repeatedly at the Bruckmanns. He had an immense but completely arbitrarily collected corpus of knowledge.” BayHStA München, Nl K. A. v. Müller 101.

73Hess, Briefe, p. 346 (dated 23 July 1924). Rudolf Hess to his parents, 29 April 1927; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 39.

74See Schwerin von Krosigk’s essay on Hitler’s personality (c.1945); IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5; transcript of an interview with Heinrich Hoffmann dated 5 Dec. 1953; IfZ München, ZS 71.

75Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 57. Müller (Im Wandel einer Welt, p. 303) wrote of a “Caliban-esque fury against the ‘arrogance of the educated.’ ” In conversation with Hans Frank, Hitler expressed his utter contempt for “the entire contradictory pretensions of professors and university priests” (Im Angesicht des Galgens, p. 47).

76Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 194

77Hitler to W. Poppelreuther, 4 July 1932; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde R 43 II/959. Hitler raised no objections to this letter being reprinted in Poppelreuther’s book, Hitler, der politische Psychologe (1933). Lammers to W. Poppelreuther, 10 Nov. 1933; ibid.

78Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 523, entry for 3 May 1960.

79Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 174, 176.

80See Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, pp. 180-2; Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 175f.

81Transcript of an interview with Mathilde Scheubner-Richter dated 9 July 1952; IfZ München, ZS 292.

82Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 31.

83Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 49. See interview with Hermann Esser dated 16 March 1964, vol. 1: one of Hitler’s “passions,” which he never lost, was for black patent leather shoes. BayHStA München, Nl Esser.

84Hess, Briefe, p. 299 (dated 15 July 1923).

85See Rudolf Herz, Hoffmann & Hitler: Fotografie als Medium des Führer-Mythos, Munich, 1994, pp. 104-6.

86See Hoffmann, Hitler, wie ich ihn sah, pp. 196f.

87See ibid., p. 197; Heinz Linge, Bis zum Untergang: Als Chef des Persönlichen Dienstes bei Hitler, ed. Werner Maser, Munich, 1982, p. 67.

88Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 174. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 143; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

89Fromm, Als Hitler mir die Hand küsste, p. 91 (dated 10 Feb. 1933). See also Duesterberg’s memoirs, p. 197: “The new Reich chancellor struck me as being like an ‘apprentice waiter’ helping out in a borrowed tuxedo in a second-rate establishment…It was hard to suppress my laughter.” BA Koblenz, N 1337/44. See also Dodd, Nice to meet you, Mr. Hitler!, p. 77, who wrote of Hitler’s hesitancy whenever he was around his diplomatic corps.

90Facsimile of the handwritten letter in Anton Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste: Ein Dokument persönlicher Beziehungen, Munich, 2003, p. 362. For the Napoleon quote see Volker Ullrich, Napoleon, Reinbek bei Hamburg, 2004, p. 144. Here, too, Goebbels served as his master’s mouthpiece. On 21 Feb. 1936, after Hitler had once again spoken at length about the beginnings of the movement, Goebbels noted: “His life truly is a tale of adventure.” Tagebücher part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 383.

91Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 55; see also Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener, pp. 29f.; Linge, Bis zum Untergang, p. 107.

92See, for example, Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/2, p. 280 (entry for 6 Dec. 1936), vol. 4, p. 49 (entry for 13 March 1937), vol. 5, p. 374 (entry for 9 July 1938).

93Quoted in Leicht, Heinrich Class, p. 288.

94Delmer, Die Deutschen und ich, p. 116.

95Ulrich von Hassell, Römische Tagebücher und Briefe, 1932-1938, ed. Ulrich Schlie, Munich, 2004, p. 216. See Rudolf Diels, Lucifer ante portas…Es spricht der erste Chef der Gestapo, Stuttgart, 1950, p. 57: “Even when he was talking to a single individual, he spoke as if he were addressing tens of thousands of people. Even in one-on-one conversations, he lapsed into the gestures of a mass orator.”

96See Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 72.

97Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 160; see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 293 (entry for 17 March 1933): “Hitler palavered. That’s when he feels most comfortable.” See also the note by Blomberg: “When he’s talking to one or two other people, he actually only ever holds monologues.” Kirstin A. Schäfer, Werner von Blomberg: Hitlers erster Feldmarschall. Eine Biographie, Paderborn, 2006, p. 119f.

98Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 203 (entry for 21 July 1930), p. 285 (entry for 19 Nov. 1930), vol. 2/2, p. 225 (entry for 13 Feb. 1932), vol. 2/3, p. 221 (entry for 5 July 1933), vol. 3/2, p. 188 (entry for 20 June 1936), p. 318 (entry for 6 Jan. 1937): “Yesterday evening, the Führer spoke at length of the war. That’s his element.”

99Schlie, Albert Speer, p. 51; see Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 21 (entry for 11 Oct. 1946).

100Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 272 (entry for 22 June 1929), vol. 2/1, p. 325 (entry for 15 Jan. 1931). See ibid., vol. 3/2, p. 151 (entry for 7 Aug. 1936): “When I speak to him alone, he talks to me like a father. That’s when I like him best.”

101Ibid., vol. 3/1, p. 181 (entry for 8 Feb. 1935), vol. 3/2, p. 219 (entry for 21 Oct. 1936).

102Müller, Im Wandel einer Welt, p. 304. See also ibid., p. 301: there was a “terrible alien air” around Hitler that “separated him from all others.” See also the testimony of his secretary Johanna Wolf on 1 July 1947: “I don’t know if he was friends with anyone. He was very reserved.” Robert M. W. Kempner, Das Dritte Reich im Kreuzverhör: Aus den unveröffentlichten Vernehmungsprotokollen des Anklägers in den Nürnberger Prozessen, Munich, 2005, p. 54.

103Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 114.

104Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, pp. 48, 45.

105According to Franz Xaver Schwarz, the NSDAP treasurer, Hitler was on informal terms with Streicher, Kriebel, Esser, Röhm and Christan Weber. He later withdrew the use of “du” with Esser. IfZ München, ZS 1452.

106O. Strasser, Hitler und ich, p. 93.

107See Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 55. On the reunion see also Thomas Weber, Hitler’s First War: Adolf Hitler, the Men of the List Regiment, and the First World War, Oxford, 2010, pp. 260ff. Hitler seems not to have answered an invitation to all former members of the regiment to celebrate a joint Christmas party in 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 51/74. But he did make a generous donation so that 210 former “List men” could visit the graves of their fallen comrades in France and Belgium in July 1938. Hitler was presented with a photo album of that trip for his fiftieth birthday on 20 April 1939. BA Koblenz, N 1720/7.

108Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 371 (entry for 25 March 1931).

109See Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 57.

110Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, pp. 35, 135.

111Handwritten letter from Helene Bechstein to Hitler, 21 April 1933; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/123.

112She complained in a letter dated 21 April 1933 about the poor treatment of the leader of the National Socialist Women’s League, Elsbeth Zander, by Robert Ley; ibid. See also Joachimsthaler, Hitlers Liste, pp. 92f. On Hitler’s birthday visit see Helene Bechstein to Rudolf Hess, 29 May 1936: “Wolf” had spoiled her, and “now that she was on her own, such attention being paid to her was twice as agreeable.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1993/300, Box 2.

113See the exuberant thank you letters from Hugo and Elsa Bruckmann dated 4 Oct. 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/123.

114Elsa Bruckmann to Georg Karo, 27 March 1934; BSB München, Bruckmanniana Suppl. Box 7; quoted in Käfer, Hitlers frühe Förderer, p. 70.

115Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 128. See Konrad Heiden, Adolf Hitler: Ein Mann gegen Europa, Zurich, 1937, pp. 207f., who writes of Hitler’s “fundamental lack of love and emotional connection”; Alan Bullock, Hitler: A Study in Tyranny, London, 1990, p. 380 (“a man who admitted no loyalties”); Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, pp. 714 (“lack of social connections”), 716 (“impoverishedness in human relationships”); Ian Kershaw, Hitler 1936-1945: Nemesis, London, 2000], p. 34 (“cut off from any meaningful personal relationship”).

116Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 56. See Hoffmann’s manuscript for his court trial (January 1947), p. 12; IfZ München, MS 2049; transcript of an interview with Heinrich Hoffmann dated 5 Dec. 1953; IfZ München, ZS 71; Heike B. Görtemaker, Eva Braun: Leben mit Hitler, Munich, 2010, pp. 24f. See also Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 92 (entry for 12 Aug. 1934): “Spent the evening at the Hoffmanns. The Führer read aloud parodies in Munich dialect. Very droll”; p. 378 (entry for 1 Feb. 1936): “Had coffee with Hoffmann. The Führer very relaxed.”

117Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 164. See Eva Rieger, Friedelind Wager: Die rebellische Enkelin Richard Wagners, Munich and Zurich, 2012, p. 53; Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 25: “He felt at home at Winifred Wagner’s. He enjoyed his life as a private person. He didn’t feel that sort of friendship with any other family and addressed them familiarly, which was a rarity for Hitler.”

118Hamann, Winifred Wagner, pp. 143, 314. See ibid., pp. 146, 209; Rieger, Friedelind Wagner, p. 53.

119See Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 247; Peter Longerich, Joseph Goebbels: A Biography, London, 2015, pp. 252f., 361.

120Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 106 (entry for 15 Sept. 1934), vol. 3/2, p. 356 (entry for 2 Feb. 1937). See ibid., p. 135 (entry for 20 July 1936): “He loves Helga as if she were his own child.”

121Ibid., p. 299 (entry for 20 Dec. 1936).

122On the Baarova affair see Longerich, Goebbels, pp. 391-6.

123See, for example, the postcards sent by Rudolf Hess to Ilse Pröhl from Hamburg (2 March 1926), Leipzig (4 March 1926), Essen (18 June 1926), Osnabrück (19 June 1926), Nuremberg (2 Aug. 1926), Detmold (25 Nov. 1926), Essen (26 and 27 April 1927), Hildesheim (30 April 1927), Leipzig (5 Sept. 1927). On most of these cards Hitler had added greetings with his own hand. BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 37, 39. On the wedding, see Hess, Briefe, pp. 389f. (dated 14 Jan. 1928); Ilse Hess to the parents of Rudolf Hess, 15 Jan. 1928; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 41. A printed wedding card in BA Koblenz, N 1122/15.

124Hamann, Winifred Wagner, p. 165.

125See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 83f.

126Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 136. See also Franz Pfeffer von Salomon’s statement dated 20 Feb. 1953: Hitler preferred to appoint people “who had something to hide or a weak point which he could use to apply the emergency brakes if he felt it necessary.” IfZ München, ZS 177.

127See Hanskarl Hasselbach’s memorandum “Hitler’s knowledge of human nature”; BA Koblenz, N 1128/33; Wilhelm Brückner’s memorandum of August 1945; IfZ München, ED 100/43.

128Richard Walter Darré, Notes 1945-1948, p. 181; IfZ München, ED 110, vol. 1.

129Heiden, Hitler: Das Zeitalter der Verantwortungslosigkeit, p. 210. See Hanskarl Hasselbach’s memorandum “Hitler’s knowledge of human nature,” which quoted the dictator as saying that he only needed a brief moment “to say what sort of a person a given individual was and how he could best use that person.” BA Koblenz, N 1128/33.

130Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 278 (entry for 14 March 1952); see Below, Als Hitlers Adjutant, p. 34.

131Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, p. 127; see Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 170; Schwerin von Krosigk, essay on Hitler’s personality; IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5.

132See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 63, 68.

133Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, pp. 75, 252.

134Speer, corrected manuscript of Erinnerungen (second version), chapter 1; BA Koblenz, N 1340/384.

135Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 208 (entry for 20 March 1929).

136Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 75. See Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 134: “Wild horses could not get it out of Hitler if he did not want to say something.”

137Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 168.

138Ibid., p. 82.

139Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, p. 135. See Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 111: “In general, self-control was one of Hitler’s most notable qualities.”

140Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 49.

141Schwerin von Krosigk to Fred L. Casmir, 11 Aug. 1960; BA Koblenz, N 1276/40. See also Hess, Briefe, p. 396 (dated 18 Dec. 1928) who writes of “this hot head who could also be so cool, sober and calculating.”

142Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 133 (entry for 20 Dec. 1947).

143Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 114. On Hitler’s “threatening stare” see also Koch-Hillebrecht, Homo Hitler, pp. 324f.

144Schwerin von Krosigk, essay on Hitler’s personality; IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5. On Hitler’s suggestive effect on Blomberg see Schäfer, Werner von Blomberg, pp. 115f.

145Speer, corrected manuscript of Erinnerungen (second version), chapter 1; BA Koblenz, N 1340/384.

146Hess, Briefe, p. 425 (dated 31 Jan. 1933).

147Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 102, 223. See Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 181: “Hitler never overcame his coffeehouse habits or his congenital inability to keep to an orderly daily working rhythm…He showed up announced or unannounced and kept others waiting for hours.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

148Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, pp. 53f.; see Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, pp. 93f., on Hitler’s inability to work systematically; interview with Hermann Esser dated 13 March 1964, vol. 2: “Hitler never really sat down at his desk in either the Brown House in Munich or the Reich Chancellory.” BayHStA München, Nl Esser.

149Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 266. See Hanfstaengl’s note about the “ink-shy Hitler”: “If he wrote down anything, it was noted on long loose sheets of paper—in pencil and in the form of bullet points.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 25.

150Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 247 (entry for 23 March 1932). See also ibid., p. 245 (entry for 19 March 1932): “Hitler constantly has new ideas. But it’s impossible to work with him and be scrupulous about details.”

151Wiedemann’s memorandum “Preparation for speeches”; BA Koblenz, N 1720/4.

152Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, pp. 78-81. See Johanna Wolf’s statement dated 1 July 1947; Kempner, Das Dritte Reich im Kreuzverhör, p. 55; Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener, pp. 42f.; Linge, Bis zum Untergang, pp. 111f.

153See Wiedemann, shorthand notes, 25 Feb. 1939; BA Koblenz, N 1720; Friedrich Hossbach (Zwischen Wehrmacht und Hitler 1934-1938, 2nd revised edition, Göttingen, 1965, p. 20) described Hitler’s life as vacillating “between a maximum need for activity and capability and an idleness that verged on apathy.”

154Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/1, p. 186 (entry for 29 June 1930). See also ibid., vol. 2/2, p. 224 (entry for 22 Feb. 1932).

155See Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 354 (entry for 8 Dec. 1953); Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 235.

156Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 28.

157Schlie, Albert Speer, p. 40. See Speer, corrected manuscript of Erinnerungen (second version), chapter 1: “Those around him spoke reverently of an antenna that allowed him to sense particular conditions and relationships.” BA Koblenz, N 1340/384.

158Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 210 (entry for 3 Feb. 1932). See ibid., vol. 2/3, p. 160 (entry for 1 April 1933): “Hitler has the finest instincts I’ve ever experienced.”

159Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 251.

160Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 76 (entry for 7 Dec. 1932). See ibid., vol. 3/2, p. 257 (entry for 19 Nov. 1936): “He has a soft spot for artists because he’s an artist himself.”

161Schlie, Albert Speer, p. 55. See Ribbentrop, Zwischen London und Moskau, p. 46.

162Hess, Briefe, p. 327 (dated 18 May 1924). In June 1924 Hitler asked his landlady Frau Reichert in a handwritten note, which Hess included with the letter he sent to his fiancée, to hand over to “Fräulein Pröhl” his “history of architecture in four volumes,” recognisable by its blue boards. BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 33

163Ibid., pp. 395f. (dated 18 Dec. 1928). See also ibid., p. 369 (dated 7 Feb. 1925).

164Schlie, Albert Speer, p. 166. See also below, pp. 597ff.

165Hitler to Countess de Castellance, Ségur, 19 April 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/123.

166See transcript of an interview with Anni Winter (undated); IfZ München, ZS 194.

167See the receipts in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557; NS 10/120. See Wiedemann’s memorandum “Architektur,” in which he said that Hitler got “the greatest pleasure” from visitors bringing him books about the architectural works of the world’s great cities. BA Koblenz, N 1720/4.

168Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 146 (dated 27 March 1942). See also Gerhard Engel, Heeresadjutant bei Hitler 1938-1943, ed. and annotated Hildegard von Kotze, Stuttgart, 1974, pp. 34 (dated 20 Aug. 1938), 48 (dated 8 April 1939).

169Adolf Hitler, Monologe im Führerhauptquartier 1941-1944: Die Aufzeichnungen Heinrich Heims, ed. Werner Jochmann, Hamburg, 1980, p. 400 (dated 13 June 1943); see Schlie, Speer, p. 57.

170See Birgit Schwarz, Geniewahn: Hitler und die Kunst, Vienna, Cologne and Weimar, 2009, pp. 103-5.

171See ibid., pp. 105ff.

172Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, p. 233 (entry for 19 May 1935); see Engel, Heeresadjutant bei Hitler, p. 33 (dated 28 Aug. 1938).

173Goebbels, Tagebücher, vol. 4, p. 235 (entry for 27 July 1937). Albert Speer confirmed that Hitler considered Wagner “the greatest artist Germany ever produced.” A. Speer to Joachim Fest, 13 Sept. 1969; BA Koblenz, N 1340/17.

174Hans Severus Ziegler, Adolf Hitler aus dem Erleben dargestellt, Göttingen, 1964, p. 171. See Hamann, Winifred Wagner, pp. 231ff.; Bernd Buchner, Wagners Welttheater: Die Geschichte der Bayreuther Festspiele zwischen Kunst und Politik, Darmstadt, 2013.

175See Rieger, Friedelind Wagner, p. 89.

176See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 3/1, pp. 357 (entry for 1 Jan. 1936), 386 (entry for 27 Feb. 1936); vol. 5, p. 96 (entry for 14 Jan. 1938). See also Wiedemann’s memorandum “Musik”; BA Koblenz, N 1720/4; Speer, Erinnerungen, pp. 144f.

177Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, pp. 103f.; see Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 79: “What a classic example of discipline it is when a father is prepared to condemn his son to death. Great deeds demand hard measures.” BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47. On the film Fridericus Rex see Siegfried Kracauer, Von Caligari zu Hitler: Eine Geschichte des deutschen Films, vol. 2, ed. Karsten Witte, Frankfurt am Main, 1979, pp. 124-6.

178Hess, Briefe, p. 371 (dated 24 Oct. 1926).

179Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 210 (entry for 3 Feb. 1932). On Girls in Uniform see Kracauer, Von Caligari bis Hitler, pp. 237-40.

180Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 211 (entry for 4 Feb. 1932).

181See above p. 359.

182Hitler, Monologe, p. 192 (dated 9/10 Jan. 1942). See also Werner Koeppen’s reports, p. 51 (dated 3 Oct. 1941): “The Führer regards the automobile as the most wonderful of humanity’s inventions as long as it’s truly used for fun.” Hitler was a member of the General German Automobile Club. See the membership cards for 1926/27 to 1930/31 in BayHStA München, Nl Adolf Hitler. Receipts for garages, petrol, car accessories and other things for 1931/32 in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557.

183Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 61; see Olaf Rose (ed.), Julius Schaub: In Hitlers Schatten, Stegen, 2005, p. 69.

184Hess, Briefe, p. 339 (dated 16 June 1924). On Hitler’s admiration for the production capacity of the American automobile industry see Rainer Zitelmann, Hitler: Selbstverständnis eines Revolutionärs, 2nd revised and expanded edition, Stuttgart, 1989, pp. 352f., 356f.

185See Eberhard Reuss, Hitlers Rennschlachten: Die Silberpfeile unterm Hakenkreuz, Berlin, 2006, pp. 45f.

186See the facsimile of Hitler’s letter to director Wilhelm Kissel dated 13 May 1932; Rose, Julius Schaub, pp. 70-2.

187Quoted in Reuss, Hitlers Rennschlachten, p. 51.

188Daimler-Benz AG to the Reich chancellor’s office, 14 June 1933; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/119. See the Daimler-Benz book, Ein Rüstungskonzern im “Tausendjährigen Reich,” ed. Hamburger Stiftung für Sozialgeschichte des 20. Jahrhunderts, Nördlingen, 1987, pp. 123ff.

189See Julius Schreck, “Mit dem Führer auf Reisen”: Beitrag für das Reemtsma-Album “Adolf Hitler” (1936); BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/121; Rose, Julius Schaub, p. 69.

190Rudolf Hess to his parents, 7 July 1925; BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 35. Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 190. See Rudolf Hess to his parents, 21 Sept. 1935: before 1933, Hitler could not bear it “if there was another car in front of him for a considerable amount of time or if he was overtaken by another car.” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 55.

191Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 175 (entry for 28 Jan. 1929).

192Ibid., vol. 2/3, p. 236 (entry for 28 July 1933). See Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, pp. 161, 208.

193Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 80; see Hanfstaengl’s unpublished memoirs, p. 60; BSB München, Nl Hanfstaengl Ana 405, Box 47.

194Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 100.

195Meissner, Staatssekretär, p. 616. See Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 158 (entry for 5 May 1948): “Right up until the end there was something ascetic in Hitler’s private life”; Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens, p. 95: “Wherever he went, he lived as simply as imaginable…His asceticism was genuine and not put on.”

196Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 140 (entry for 15 Feb. 1947).

197Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 128.

198Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 123.

199See the receipts for 1933/34 in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/115 und NS 10/119.

200See Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener, p. 24.

201See Hitler, Monologe, p. 99 (entry for 21/22 Oct. 1941); Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 134; Linge, Bis zum Untergang, p. 108.

202See Wiedemann’s shorthand notes dated 25 Feb. 1939: “I am the only head of state who doesn’t have a bank account.” BA Koblenz, N 1740/4.

203See the files in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/2557, NS 10/115, NS 10/116, NS 10/119, NS 10/120; Brückner’s notebook from 1935, which has an appendix containing a detailed breakdown of all expenditure. BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 26/1209. See also Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 210; Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 72; Rose, Julius Schaub, p. 135; Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener, p. 45.

204Max Domarus, Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen 1932-1945. Vol. 1: Triumph. Part 1: 1932-1934, Munich, 1965, p. 200. The wages were transferred to a fund to benefit those left behind by deceased SA men and police. See Schwerin von Krosigk to Staatssekretär Lammers, 15 March 1933; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/115.

205See Guido Knopp, Geheimnisse des “Dritten Reiches,” Munich, 2011, pp. 177f.

206Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, pp. 358, 362; transcript of an interview with Anni Winter (undated); IfZ München, ZS 194.

207Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 164. See Hitler, Monologe, p. 218 (dated 22 Jan. 1942): Hitler said that when he was still eating meat, he had “sweated tremendously” during his speeches and needed to drink six bottles of water to get through them. “When I became a vegetarian,” he asserted, “I only had to take a sip of water now and again.”

208Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 129; see Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 219.

209Delmer, Die Deutschen und ich, p. 152.

210Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 44

211Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 67.

212See Ulf Schmidt, Hitlers Arzt Karl Brandt: Medizin und Macht im Dritten Reich, Berlin, 2009, p. 137; Hans-Joachim Neumann and Henrik Eberle, War Hitler krank? Ein abschliessender Befund, Bergisch-Gladbach, 2009, pp. 110, 223f.

213Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 138. See Theodor Duesterberg, Der Stahlhelm und Hitler, Wolfenbüttel and Hannover, 1949, p. 99: “It was not his thing to laugh at himself.” See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 236 (entry for 27 July 1933): “Long dinner with the Führer. We laughed about Schaub’s fiasco until our cheeks started to hurt.”

214See Tischgespräche, p. 181 (dated 3 April 1942); Fest, Hitler, p. 709; Paul Schmidt, Statist auf diplomatischer Bühne 1923-45: Erlebnisse des Chefdolmetschers im Auswärtigen Amt mit den Staatsmännern Europas, Bonn, 1950, p. 366.

215Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/2, p. 189 (entry for 25 Feb. 1927). See also Hitler’s letter to Arthur Dinter dated 25 July 1928, in which he said that at the age of 39 he had “at most 20 years” to achieve what he had set out to do. Albrecht Tyrell, Führer befiehl…Selbstzeugnisse aus der “Kampfzeit” der NS DAP: Dokumentation und Analyse, Düsseldorf, 1969, no. 78d, p. 205.

216See Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, pp. 114f. On Hitler’s stomach cramps see Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 1/3, p. 150 (entry for 23 Dec. 1928), pp. 168f. (entry for 20 Jan. 1929).

217Krebs, Tendenzen und Gestalten, pp. 136f.; see also Richard Walter Darré, Notes 1945-1948, p. 34. Darré characterised Hitler as being obsessed with the “conviction that he had to achieve everything he believed destiny had charged him with before he died.” Darré added: “That meant he was always in a kind of rush, which of course also affected the people around him and his subordinates.” IfZ München, ED 110, vol. 1.

218Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 120. Heinrich Hoffmann recorded Hitler saying: “If some people think I insist too much on my plans being carried out quickly, I can only say that I sense I won’t live to be very old. That makes me try to complete all of my plans. After me, no one will be able to complete them.” Das Hitler-Bild: Die Erinnerungen des Fotografen Heinrich Hoffmann, ed. Joe J. Heydecker, St. Pölten and Salzburg, 2008, pp. 150f.; See Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 140.

219Transcript of an interview with Hanskarl von Hasselbach 1951/52; IfZ München, ZS 242.

220See Rose, Julius Schaub, p. 112; Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 218; Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus, p. 284. See Rudolf Hess to his parents, 19 Dec. 1933: “Astonishingly the Führer is very well—despite the incredible strain he is under…” BA Bern, Nl Hess, J1.211-1989/148, 51.

221Hamann, Winifred Wagner, pp. 325f.

222Wagener, Hitler aus nächster Nähe, p. 199.

223See Wiedemann, Der Mann, p. 85; Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener, p. 38. On the safety precautions for Hitler and the Reich Chancellery see official instructions in BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, R 43 II/1104a.

224Krause, 10 Jahre Kammerdiener, pp. 40f. On Schreck’s pistols see Carl Walther Waffenfabrik, Zella-Mehlis, to SS-Oberführer Schreck, 4 Dec. 1935; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/121.

225Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 29 (entry for 1 Nov. 1946).

226Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 73.

227Speer, Spandauer Tagebücher, p. 140 (entry for 15 Feb. 1947). See Schroeder, Er war mein Chef, p. 73; Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, pp. 114f.

228Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 5, p. 358 (entry for 24 June 1938); Max Wünsche’s daily diaries from 22 June 1938. On the following day Adjutant Schaub telephoned Schmeling and afterwards reported back to Hitler; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 10/125. The film of the boxing match was banned by the Propaganda Ministry, with the explicit approval of Hitler. Ibid. dated 14 July 1938. On Schmeling’s reception at the Reich Chancellery see Max Schmeling, Erinnerungen, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1977, pp. 262f., 361-5.

229Speer, Erinnerungen, p. 57.

230Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, p. 151.

231Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/2, p. 251 (entry for 29 March 1932).

232Quoted in Schmölders, Hitlers Gesicht, p. 61.

233Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 601 (entry for 6 July 1933).

14 Totalitarian Revolution

1Baldur von Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, Hamburg, 1967, p. 168.

2Theodor Heuss to Peter Rassow, 7 Feb. 1933; Theodor Heuss, In der Defensive: Briefe 1933-1945, ed. Elke Seefried, Munich, 2009, pp. 109f.

3Quoted in Josef and Ruth Becker (eds), Hitlers Machtergreifung: Dokumente vom Machtantritt Hitlers—30. Januar 1933 bis zur Besiegelung des Einparteienstaats 14. Juli 1933, Munich, 1983, p. 297. Typical of the attitudes of the conservative ministers in the cabinet was a statement by Schwerin von Krosigk in a letter to former Reich Chancellor Hans Luther on 16 April 1952: “Before National Socialism came to power, I had great respect for its idealistic goals, serious reservations about its methods and rowdy representatives, and fond hopes that it would ‘shed its skin.’ ” BA Koblenz N 1276/23. On the process of disillusionment for the German nationalists see Hermann Beck, The Fateful Alliance: German Conservatives and Nazis in 1933. The “Machtergreifung” in New Light, New York and Oxford, 2008, pp. 124ff., 133ff., 228ff.

4Quoted in Becker, Hitlers Machtergreifung, p. 217.

5See Richard Walter Darré, Notes 1945-1948, p. 42: “Nothing could be further from the truth than the belief that there had been a plan from the very start for the whole development of the Third Reich.” Darré added that Hitler had acted “as an ingenious tactician reacting to the moment.” IfZ München, ED 110, vol. 1. See also Hans-Ulrich Thamer, Verführung und Gewalt: Deutschland 1933-1945, Berlin, 1986, p. 232; Hans-Ulrich Wehler, Deutsche Gesellschaftsgeschichte 1914-1949, Munich, 2003, p. 606.

6Victor Klemperer, Ich will Zeugnis ablegen bis zum letzten: Tagebücher 1933-1941, ed. Walter Nowojski with Hadwig Klemperer, Berlin, 1995, p. 9 (entry for 10 March 1933). In April 1933, during a conversation about “the horrendous situation in Germany,” the Franco-American publisher Jacques Schiffrin said that he could not understand how “there was no resistance anywhere from anyone.” Count Harry Kessler remarked, “I couldn’t give him an explanation either.” Harry Graf Kessler, Das Tagebuch. Vol. 9: 1926-1937, ed. Sabine Gruber and Ulrich Ott with Christoph Hilse and Nadin Weiss, Stuttgart, 2010, p. 555 (entry for 5 April 1933).

7Sebastian Haffner, Geschichte eines Deutschen: Die Erinnerungen 1914-1933, Stuttgart and Munich, 2000, pp. 145-8, 152, 176-8.

8Cabinet meeting on 30 Jan. 1933; 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. 1, pp. 1-4 (quotations on p. 2).

9See Rudolf Morsey, “Hitlers Verhandlungen mit der Zentrumsführung am 31. 1. 1933,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 9 (1961), pp. 182-94.

10Cabinet meeting on 3 Jan. 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 2, pp. 5-8 (quotations on p. 6)

11Hindenburg’s decree dated 1 Feb. 1933; ibid., no. 3, p. 10n6. No one insisted on written confirmation of Hitler’s assurance that the make-up of the cabinet would not change regardless of the outcome of the election. When Schwerin von Krosigk protested to Papen, the latter replied that “you can’t begin cooperating with an act of mistrust.” Schwerin von Krosigk to Holm Eggers, 21 Aug. 1974; BA Koblenz, N 1276/42.

12Hjalmar Schacht, Abrechnung mit Hitler, Hamburg, 1948, p. 31; see also Hjalmar Schacht, 76 Jahre meines Lebens, Bad Wörishofen, 1953, p. 379: “My impression was that Hitler was weighed down by the burden of responsibility placed upon him.”

13Government appeal to the German people, 1 Feb. 1933; Max Domarus, Hitler: Reden und Proklamationen 1932-1945. Vol. 1: Triumph. Part 1: 1932-1934, Munich, 1965, pp. 191-4.

14Quoted in Hans Magnus Enzensberger, Hammerstein oder Der Eigensinn: Eine deutsche Geschichte, Frankfurt am Main, 2008, p. 114.

15Hitler’s speech to military commanders has survived in three forms: 1. notes of Lieutenant General Curt Liebmann; first reprinted in Thilo Vogelsang, “Neue Dokumente zur Geschichte der Reichswehr 1930-1933,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 2 (1954), pp. 397-439 (text on pp. 434f.); 2. notes of General Horst von Mellenthin; first reprinted in Carl Dirks and Karl-Heinz Janssen, Der Krieg der Generäle: Hitler als Werkzeug der Wehrmacht, Berlin, 1999, pp. 232-6; 3. a transcript, probably made by one of Hammerstein’s daughters, which was sent by KPD agents to Moscow on 14 Feb.; reprinted in Andreas Wirsching, “ ‘Man kann nur Boden germanisieren’: Ein neue Quelle zu Hitlers Rede vor den Spitzen der Reichswehr am 3. Februar 1933,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 49 (2001), pp. 517-50 (text on pp. 545-8). Liebmann’s notes are the most extensive, which is why they are the source for all further quotes, unless otherwise noted.

16Mellenthin’s notes read: “Marxism must be pulled up by the roots and eradicated”; Dirks and Janssen, Der Krieg der Generäle, p. 235. The Hammerstein transcript reads: “Our goal is the subjugation of Marxism by any means necessary.” Wirsching, “Eine neue Quelle,” p. 547.

17In the Hammerstein transcript, the language of this passage is sharper: “The army will then be capable of conducting an active foreign policy, and the goal of increasing the German people’s living space will be reached through military force. The goal will probably be the East. Nonetheless, it is impossible to Germanicise the populations of land that has been annexed or conquered. You can only Germanicise territory. As Poland and France have done, several million people will have to be ruthlessly expelled.” Wirsching, “Eine neue Quelle,” p. 547.

18Klaus-Jürgen Müller, Generaloberst Ludwig Beck: Eine Biographie, Paderborn, 2008, pp. 101, 103.

19Raeder’s statement before the Nuremberg military court; reprinted in Wirsching, “Eine neue Quelle,” p. 548f. (quotation on p. 549).

20Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 17, p. 51 (dated 8 Feb. 1933). On the relationship between Hitler and the military leadership during the early phase of the regime, see Klaus-Jürgen Müller, Armee und Drittes Reich 1933-1939: Darstellung und Dokumente, Paderborn, 1987, pp. 51f.

21Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 3, p. 9 (dated 1 Feb. 1933).

22Die Tagebücher von Joseph Goebbels. Part 1: Aufzeichnungen 1923-1941, ed. Elke Fröhlich, Munich, 1998, vol. 2/3, p. 122 (entry for 3 Feb. 1933), p. 213 (entry for 4 Feb. 1933).

23Reprinted in Bernd Sösemann, with Marius Lange, Propaganda: Medien und Öffentlichkeit in der NS-Dikatur, Stuttgart, 2011, vol. 1, no. 53, pp. 95-9. See Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 9, pp. 29f. (dated 2 Feb. 1933), no. 11, pp. 34f. (dated 3 Feb. 1933).

24Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 123 (entry for 4 Feb. 1933). On the election campaign of February/March 1933 see Gerhard Paul, Aufstand der Bilder: Die NS-Propaganda vor 1933, Bonn, 1990, pp. 111-13.

25Quoted in Becker, Hitlers Machtergreifung, pp. 57-60 (quote on p. 59).

26Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 126 (entry for 11 Feb. 1933).

27Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 1, pp. 203-8.

28Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 127 (entry for 11 Feb. 1933).

29Erich Ebermayer, Denn heute gehört uns Deutschland…Persönliches und politisches Tagebuch, Hamburg and Vienna, 1959, pp. 21f. (entry for 11 Feb. 1933).

30Jesko von Hoegen, Der Held von Tannenberg: Genese und Funktion des Hindenburg-Mythos, Cologne, Weimar and Vienna, 2007, pp. 378-80.

31Papen to Hugenberg, 12 Feb. 1933; BA Koblenz, N 1231/38. On the origins of the “Battle Front Black, White and Red” see Beck, The Fateful Alliance, pp. 93f.

32Hoegen, Der Held von Tannenberg, p. 382. See Wolfram Pyta, Hindenburg: Herrschaft zwischen Hohenzollern und Hitler, Munich, 2007, p. 817.

33The content of the meeting, according to the report by the leader of the Berlin offices of Gutehoffnungshütte, Martin Blank, to Paul Reusch, 21 Feb. 1933, reprinted in Dirk Stegmann, “Zum Verhältnis von Grossindustrie und Nationalsozialismus 1930-1933,” in Archiv für Sozialgeschichte, 13 (1973), pp. 477-80. See also Fritz Springorum to Paul Reusch, 21 Feb. 1933, ibid., pp. 480f.; Henry A. Turner, Die Grossunternehmer und der Aufstieg Hitlers, Berlin, 1986, pp. 393-5; Joachim Petzold, Franz von Papen: Ein deutsches Verhängnis, Munich and Berlin, 1995, pp. 170-3. On Gustav Krupp’s position see Harold James, Krupp: Deutsche Legende und globales Unternehmen, Munich, 2011, pp. 196-9. On the 75:25 split there followed a disagreement as not all donors wanted “Battle Front Black, White, Red” to receive a quarter of the money. See Hugenberg to Schacht, 2 March 1933; Schacht to Hugenberg, 3 March 1933; BA Koblenz, N 1231/38.

34Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 133 (entry for 21 Feb. 1933).

35Ibid., p. 130 (entry for 16 Feb. 1933). See Martin Broszat, Der Staat Hitlers: Grundlegung und Entwicklung seiner inneren Verfassung, Munich, 1969, pp. 90-5.

36Directive from Göring dated 17 Feb. 1933; Becker, Hitlers Machtergreifung, pp. 74f.

37Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 542 (entry for 17 Feb. 1933).

38Broszat, Der Staat Hitlers, p. 95.

39See Heinrich August Winkler, Der Weg in die Katastrophe: Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung in der Weimarer Republik 1930 bis 1933, Berlin and Bonn, 1987, p. 879; Joachim Fest, Hitler: Eine Biographie, Frankfurt am Main, Berlin and Vienna, 1973, p. 541. On SA terror attacks against the left see Richard J. Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich, London, 2004, pp. 317-21.

40Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 444 (entry for 19 Feb. 1933). See ibid., p. 544 (entry for 20 Feb. 1933), p. 545 (entry for 22 Feb. 1933).

41On the controversy over the Reichstag fire see, most recently, Sven Felix Kellerhoff, Der Reichtagsbrand: Die Karriere eines Kriminalfalles, Berlin, 2008. When all the arguments are considered, the thesis that van der Lubbe acted alone is the most plausible. In the summer of 1945, in the Mondorf internment camp near Luxembourg, Schwerin von Krosigk asked Göring who had been responsible for the Reichstag fire, saying “You can tell me the truth.” Göring responded that he would have been proud if he had “set the Reichstag ablaze,” but “unfortunately he was completely innocent.” Schwerin von Krosigk to Fritz Tobias, 27 Jan. 1970; BA Koblenz, N 1276/40; see also Schwerin von Krosigk to Heinrich Fraenkel, 20 Jan. 1975; ibid.

42See Ernst Hanfstaengl, Zwischen Weissem und Braunem Haus: Erinnerungen eines politischen Aussenseiters, Munich, 1970, pp. 294f.; Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 137 (entry for 28 Feb. 1933): “Hanfstaengl called with the news: the Reichstag is burning. What an imagination [I thought]. But it was true.”

43Rudolf Diels, Lucifer ante portas…Es spricht der erste Chef der Gestapo, Stuttgart, 1950, p. 194. Göring said to Papen: “This can only be a Communist attack on our new government!” Franz von Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, Munich, 1952, p. 302. Sefton Delmer (Die Deutschen und ich, Hamburg, 1963, p. 190) also quoted Göring telling Hitler that the fire was “definitely the work of the Communists.”

44Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 137 (entry for 28 Feb. 1933).

45Diels, Lucifer ante portas, p. 194.

46Delmer, Die Deutschen und ich, p. 191.

47Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 137 (entry for 28 Feb. 1933).

48André François-Poncet, Als Botschafter in Berlin 1931-1938, Mainz, 1947, p. 95.

49See Thamer, Verführung und Gewalt, p. 254; Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich, pp. 334f.

50Cabinet meeting on 28 Feb. 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 32, pp. 128-31 (quotation on pp. 128, 129).

51Reprinted in Becker, Hitlers Machtergreifung, pp. 107f.; Sösemann, Propaganda, vol. 1, pp. 105f. See the comprehensive analysis by Thomas Raithel and Irene Strenge, “Die Reichstagsbrandverordnung: Grundlegung der Diktatur mit den Instrumenten des Weimarer Ausnahmezustands,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 48 (2000), pp. 413-60.

52Karl-Dietrich Bracher, Wolfgang Sauer and Gerhard Schulz, Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung: Studien zur Errichtung des totalitären Herrschaftssystems in Deutschland 1933/34, 2nd revised edition, Cologne and Opladen 1962, p. 82.

53Ernst Fraenkel, Der Doppelstaat: Recht und Justiz im “Dritten Reich,” Frankfurt am Main and Cologne, 1974, p. 26. See Norbert Frei, Der Führerstaat: Nationalsozialistische Herrschaft 1933 bis 1945, new and expanded edition, Munich, 2001, p. 51.

54See Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 814.

55Becker, Hitlers Machtergreifung, p. 117.

56François-Poncet, Als Botschafter in Berlin, p. 21. See also Papen’s comment to Cardinal Michael Faulhaber, 1 March 1933: “The National Socialists are all keyed up right now, but after the elections, they’ll calm down.” Becker, Hitlers Machtergreifung, pp. 113f.

57Werner Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution: Ursprung und Geschichte der NSDAP in Hamburg 1922-1933. Dokumente, Frankfurt am Main, 1963, p. 425.

58Hedda Kalshoven, Ich denk so viel an Euch: Ein deutsch-holländischer Briefwechsel 1920-1949, Munich, 1995, p. 169 (dated 10 March 1933).

59Quoted in Ian Kershaw, The Hitler Myth: Image and Reality in the Third Reich, Oxford, 1987, p. 52.

60Becker, Hitlers Machtergreifung, pp. 116f.

61Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 550 (entry for 5 March 1933).

62See Jürgen Falter, Thomas Lindenberger and Siegfried Schumann, Wahlen und Abstimmungen in der Weimarer Republik: Materialien zum Wahlverhalten 1919-1931, Munich, 1986, pp. 41, 44.

63Ebermayer, Denn heute gehört uns Deutschland, p. 35 (dated 5 March 1933). See Kesssler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 350 (entry for 6 March 1933): “Despite unprecedented pressure and the complete paralysis of their propaganda, the Social Democrats only lost 100,000 votes and the KPD only one million. That’s an amazing and admirable demonstration of the indomitability of the ‘Marxist Front.’ ”

64Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 141 (entry for 6 March 1933).

65Sackett’s report to Foreign Minister Hull, 9 March 1933; Becker, Hitlers Machtergreifung, p. 135.

66Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 138 (entry for 2 March 1933) See also Schwerin von Krosigk’s recording for a BBC programme on German history between 1918 and 1933 (1966): “In the first time Hitler in fact seemed to be a man whom one could get on. He was very polite; when things were discussed in the cabinet he kept to the subject; he did not mind contradiction and he did not interfere with the work of the ministries.” BA Koblenz, N 1276/37.

67Schwerin von Krosigk, essay on Hitler’s personality (c.1945); Ifz München, ZS 145, vol. 5; see also Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk, Es geschah in Deutschland: Menschenbilder unseres Jahrhunderts, Tübingen and Stuttgart, 1951, p. 199.

68Cabinet meeting on 7 March 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 44, pp. 159-66 (quotations on pp. 160, 161).

69Cabinet meeting on 11 March 1933; ibid., no. 56, pp. 193-5.

70Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 145 (entry for 12 March 1933), p. 147 (entry for 15 March 1933).

71Quoted in Peter Longerich, Joseph Goebbels: A Biography, London, 2015, p. 212.

72Cabinet meeting on 7 March 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, no. 44, p. 160.

73Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 142 (entry for 8 March 1933), p. 143 (entry for 9 March 1933).

74See Volker Ullrich, “Wohlverhalten um jeden Preis: Die ‘Machtergreifung’ in Hamburg und die Politik der SPD,” in Angelika Ebbinghaus and Karl-Heinz Roth (eds), Grenzgänge: Heinrich Senfft zum 70. Geburtstag, Lüneburg, 1999, pp. 303-18; Ursula Büttner, “Der Aufstieg der NSDAP,” in Hamburg im “Dritten Reich,” ed. Forschungsstelle für Zeitgeschichte in Hamburg, Göttingen, 2005, pp. 59-62.

75See Broszat, Der Staat Hitlers, pp. 135-7; Thamer, Verführung und Gewalt, p. 260; Frei, Der Führerstaat, pp. 55f.

76G. Heim to Hindenburg, 10 March 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 54, pp. 190f. On the fall of Bavaria see Falk Wiesemann, Die Vorgeschichte der nationalsozialistischen Machtübernahme in Bayern 1932/33, Berlin, 1975.

77See Peter Longerich, Heinrich Himmler: Biographie, Munich, 2008, pp. 159f.; Robert Gerwarth, Reinhard Heydrich: Biographie, Munich, 2011, pp. 89ff .

78Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 1, p. 222; See David Clay Large, Where Ghosts Walked: Munich’s Road to the Third Reich, New York and London, 1997, p. 237.

79Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 80, p. 276 (dated 31 March 1933), no. 93, p. 312 (dated 7 April 1933). See Broszat, Der Staat Hitlers, pp. 143f.; Frei, Der Führerstaat, p. 57. In a letter to Interior Minister Frick on 29 March 1933, Hugenberg protested that the drive to “disable the Communists” was being used to undermine the position of the DNVP in the state parliaments. Hugenberg wrote of his impression that “our agreement that the fresh election, which I never wanted, would not impact on any of the parties involved was increasingly being pushed into the background.” BA Koblenz, N 1231/36.

80Rumbold to Foreign Secretary Simon, 12 April 1933; Becker, Hitlers Machtergreifung, p. 228. See Broszat, Der Staat Hitlers, p. 145; Frei, Der Führerstaat, p. 58.

81Klemperer, Tagebücher 1933-1941, p. 8 (entry for 10 March 1933).

82Diels, Lucifer ante portas, p. 255. On the SA violence after 5 March see Thamer, Verführung und Gewalt, pp. 264-6; Peter Longerich, Die braunen Bataillone: Geschichte der SA, Munich, 1989, pp. 168-71; Evans, The Coming of the Third Reich, pp. 346-8.

83Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 552 (entry for 8 March 1933). See Klemperer, Tagebücher 1933-1941, p. 9 (entry for 10 March 1933): “No one dares to say anything. Everyone’s afraid.”

84Heuss, In der Defensive, pp. 118f. (dated 14 March 1933).

85Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 1, pp. 219, 221.

86Hitler to Papen, 11 March 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 58, pp. 204-8. By contrast, immediately after 30 Jan. 1933, Hitler and Papen interacted “in a manner that could hardly have been more cordial.” Duesterberg’s memoirs, p. 197; BA Koblenz, N 1377/47.

87From recent literature see Robert Sigel, “Das KZ Dachau und die Konstituierung eines rechtsfreien Raumes als Ausgangspunkt des nationalsozialistischen Terrorsystems,” in Andreas Wirsching (ed.), Das Jahr 1933: Die nationalsozialistische Machtergreifung und die deutsche Gesellschaft, Göttingen, 2009, pp. 156-68; Ludwig Eiber, “Gewalt im KZ Dachau: Vom Anfang eines Terrorsystems,” in ibid., pp. 169-81. See also Wolfgang Benz and Barbara Diestel, Der Ort des Terrors: Geschichte der nationalsozialistischen Konzentrationslager. Vol. 2: Frühe Lager, Munich, 2005, pp. 233-74.

88Jochmann, Nationalsozialismus und Revolution, p. 431.

89Haffner, Geschichte eines Deutschen, p. 225.

90Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 134 (entry for 24 Feb. 1933).

91See Armin Nolzen, “Der ‘Führer’ und seine Partei,” in Dietmar Süss and Winfried Süss (eds), Das “Dritte Reich”: Eine Einführung, Munich, 2008, pp. 56f.

92Ebermayer, Und heute gehört uns Deutschland, p. 34 (dated 5 March 1933). See the report by the U.S. Consul General in Berlin, George S. Messersmith, 25 April 1933: “One of the most extraordinary features of the situation to an objective observer, is the fact that so many clear-thinking and really well-informed persons appear to have lost their balance and are actively approving of measures and policies which they previously condemned as fundamentally dangerous and unsound.” Frank Bajohr and Christoph Strupp (eds), Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich”: Berichte ausländischer Diplomaten über Herrschaft und Gesellschaft in Deutschland 1933-1945, Göttingen, 2011, pp. 369f. (quotation on p. 370).

93Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 223 (entry for 7 July 1933). See also Frank Bajohr, “Ämter, Pfründe, Korruption: Materielle Aspekte der nationalsozialististischen Machtergreifung,” in Wirsching (ed.), Das Jahr 1933, pp. 185-99.

94Bella Fromm, Als Hitler mir die Hand küsste, Berlin, 1993, p. 131 (dated 21 May 1933).

95Delmer, Die Deutschen und ich, p. 179.

96Antoni Graf Sobanski, Nachrichten aus Berlin 1933-1936, Berlin, 2007, p. 31.

97See Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 192, p. 658 (entry for 13 July 1933).

98Ibid., no. 56, p. 195n10 (entry for 11 March 1933). Goebbels commented: “A fantastic boost to our prestige!” Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 144 (entry for 12 March 1933).

99Ebermayer, Denn heute gehört uns Deutschland, p. 75 (dated 9 May 1933). See ibid., p. 86 (dated 16 May 1933). In May 1933, when Ebermayer’s books were banned, everyone distanced themselves from him as if he were “a leper.” “It’s incomprehensible how cowardly people are,” Ebermayer complained.

100See Haffner, Geschichte eines Deutschen, pp. 197-204.

101See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 148 (entry for 17 March 1933): “Discussed the plan for 21 March. It will be huge”; p. 149 (entry for 18 March 1933): “The entire Potsdam celebration is ready. It will be huge and classic.”

102On the following see Klaus Scheel, Der Tag von Potsdam, Berlin, 1993; Hoegen, Der Held von Tannenberg, pp. 384-93; Pyta, Hindenburg, pp. 820-4.

103See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 152 (entry for 21 March 1933).

104François-Poncet, Als Botschafter in Berlin, p. 108.

105See Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 822.

106Reprinted in Walther Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat: Aus den Papieren des Generalfeldmarschalls und Reichspräsidenten von 1878 bis 1934, Göttingen, 1966, p. 374. Goebbels commented: “The old man is like a stone memorial. He read out his message. Succinctly and imperiously.” Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 153 (entry for 23 March 1933).

107Heuss, In der Defensive, p. 126 (dated 22 March 1933).

108Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 1, pp. 226-8.

109Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 153 (entry for 23 March 1933).

110Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 824. Heinrich Brüning (Memoiren 1918-1934, Stuttgart, 1970, p. 657) also recalled that Hindenburg occasionally wiped a tear from his eye with his brown gloves.”

111Kalshoven, Ich denk so viel an Euch, pp. 182f. (dated 22 March 1933).

112Ebermayer, Und heute gehört uns Deutschland, pp. 46f. (dated 21 March 1933). See Duesterberg’s memoirs, p. 205: “Even otherwise clear-eyed people were swept away, intoxicated.” BA Koblenz, N 1377/47.

113Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 824. See also Wolfram Pyta, “Geteiltes Charisma: Hindenburg, Hitler und die deutsche Gesellschaft im Jahre 1933,” in Wirsching (ed.), Das Jahr 1933, pp. 47-69 (at p. 54).

114Schirach, Ich glaubte an Hitler, p. 168. See also Hans Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens: Deutung Hitlers und seiner Zeit auf Grund eigener Erlebnisse und Erkenntnisse, Munich and Gräfelfing, 1953, p. 129, who quoted Hitler saying on 30 Jan. 1933 that he hoped he would be able to “win over” Hindenburg.

115Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 131 (entry for 17 Feb. 1933). See Brüning, Memoiren, p. 650, who wrote that by mid-February 1933 the news from the Hindenburg residence was that “the Reich President’s previous rejection of Hitler had turned into incipient fondness.” On 12 March 1933, Hindenburg wrote to his daughter: “The patriotic upswing is pleasing. May God preserve our unity.” Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 808.

116Hitlers Tischgespräche im Führerhauptquartier, ed. Henry Picker, Stuttgart, 1976, p. 328 (dated 21 May 1942). On the change in the relationship between Hitler and Hindenburg see also Otto Dietrich, 12 Jahre mit Hitler, Munich, 1955, p. 41; Friedrich Hossbach, Zwischen Wehrmacht und Hitler 1934-1938, 2nd revised edition, Göttingen, 1965, p. 12; Schwerin von Krosigk, in his essay on Hitler’s personality (c.1945) wrote that Hitler and Hindenburg had initially treated one another with “great reserve,” but that “a relationship of great mutual respect and deep trust” had grown over the course of one-and-a-half years of working together. IfZ München, ZS 145, vol. 5.

117Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse, pp. 295, 309.

118Meissner’s minutes on Schäffer’s meeting with the Reich president, 17 Feb. 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 23, pp. 87-90 (quotations on p. 89). Meissner sent his minutes to State Secretary Lammers in the Reich Chancellory with the message: “I allow myself…to emphasise that the Reich president defended the Reich chancellor against certain contentions made by State Secretary Schäffer with great warmth and vigour.” Ibid., p. 87n1. In a letter to Reichstag Deputy Ritter von Lex on 15 March 1933, Schäffer denied—“categorically on my word of honour”—having made derogatory remarks about Hitler during the audience with Hindenburg on 17 Feb. He also pointed out that as early as Nov. 1932 he had offered “a very positive personal opinion of the Reich chancellor.” Ritter von Lex passed the letter to Hitler on that very day. BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, NS 1/123.

119Hitlers Tischgespräche, p. 329 (dated 21 May 1942).

120Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 153 (entry for 23 March 1933).

121Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 825. In a handwritten note on 30 Jan. 1934 Hindenburg expressed to Hitler his “sincere respect for your passionate work and your great achievements.” Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro no. 207 dated 30 Jan. 1934; BA Berlin-Lichterfelde, R 43 II/959.

122Pyta, “Geteiltes Charisma,” p. 61.

123Thamer, Verführung und Gewalt, p. 272.

124Cabinet meeting on 15 March 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 60, pp. 212-17 (quotations on pp. 214, 216).

125Cabinet meeting on 20 March 1933; ibid., no. 68, pp. 238-40. See Thamer, Verführung und Gewalt, pp. 274f.; Frei, Der Führerstaat, pp. 61f.

126Text in Rudolf Morsey (ed.), Das “Ermächtigungsgesetz” vom 24. März 1933: Quellen zur Geschichte und Interpretation des “Gesetzes zur Behebung der Not von Volk und Reich,” new revised and expanded edition, Düsseldorf, 2010, no. 34, pp. 70f.

127Wilhelm Hoegner, Der schwierige Aussenseiter: Erinnerungen eines Abgeordneten, Emigranten und Ministerpräsidenten, Munich, 1959, p. 92.

128Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 1, pp. 229-37; excerpts in Morsey, Das “Ermächtigungsgesetz,” no. 28, pp. 50-6.

129See Carl Severing, Mein Lebensweg: Vol. 2, Cologne, 1950, pp. 384f.

130Morsey, Das “Ermächtigungsgesetz,” pp. 43, 57, 82. See Brüning, Memoiren, pp. 656, 658f.; see also Josef Becker, “Zentrum und Ermächtigungsgesetz,” in Vierteljahrshefte für Zeitgeschichte, 9 (1961), pp. 195-210.

131Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 1, pp. 239-41; excerpts in Morsey, Das “Ermächtigungsgesetz,” no. 30, pp. 58-60.

132See Friedrich Stampfer, Erfahrungen und Erkenntnisse, Cologne, 1957, p. 268; Fest, Hitler, p. 562; Winkler, Der Weg in die Katastrophe, p. 905.

133Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 154 (entry for 25 March 1933).

134Domarus, Hitler, vol. 1, part 1, p. 242-6; excerpts in Morsey, Das “Ermächtigungsgesetz,” no. 30, pp. 60-3.

135See Morsey, Das “Ermächtigungsgesetz,” no. 30, pp. 63-6.

136Frei, Der Führerstaat, p. 61.

137Cabinet meeting on 24 March 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 72, p. 248.

138See Thamer, Verführung und Gewalt, pp. 279-82; Broszat, Der Staat Hitlers, p. 117; Pyta, Hindenburg, p. 826.

139Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 154 (entry for 25 March 1933). See Schwerin von Krosigk to Lutz Böhme, 8 May 1975: “The law was one step, but probably also the most important on the path of legality, towards converting political power into the absolute rule of a single man.” BA Koblenz, N 1276/42.

140See Saul Friedländer, Das Dritte Reich und die Juden: Die Jahre der Verfolgung 1933-1939, Munich, 1998, vol. 1, pp. 30f.; Peter Longerich, Politik der Vernichtung: Eine Gesamtdarstellung der nationalsozialistischen Judenverfolgung, Munich and Zurich, 1998, pp. 26-30; Michael Wildt, Volksgemeinschaft als Selbstermächtigung: Gewalt gegen Juden in der deutschen Provinz 1919 bis 1939, Hamburg, 2007, pp. 107ff., 115ff. See also the documents in Otto Dov Kulka and Eberhard Jäckel (eds), Die Juden in den geheimen Stimmungsberichten 1933-1945, Düsseldorf, 2004, doc. 1-6, pp. 45-9.

141Quoted in Wildt, Volksgemeinschaft als Selbstermächtigung, p. 108.

142See the article in the New York Times of 27 March 1933; reprinted in Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden durch das nationalsozialistische Deutschland 1933-1945. Vol. 1: Deutsches Reich 1933-1937, ed. Wolf Gruner, Munich, 2008, doc. 14, pp. 92-7.

143See Eckart Conze, Norbert Frei, Peter Hayes and Moshe Zimmermann, Das Amt und die Vergangenheit: Deutsche Diplomaten im Dritten Reich und in der Bundesrepublik, Munich, 2010, pp. 25-9.

144Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 156 (entry for 27 March 1933). See ibid, p. 157 (entry for 28 March 1933): “I dictated a strongly worded appeal to counteract the horrific campaign by the Jews. The mere announcement of this appeal caused that mishpoke to buckle. This is the way to deal with them.”

145Reprinted in Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden, vol. 1, doc. 17, pp. 100-4 (quotations on pp. 102f.).

146Cabinet meeting on 29 March 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 78, pp. 270f.

147Cabinet meeting on 31 March 1933; ibid., no. 80, pp. 276f.

148Quoted in Gianluca Falanga, Mussolinis Vorposten in Hitlers Reich: Italiens Politik in Berlin 1933-1945, Berlin, 2008, p. 27.

149Haffner, Die Geschichte eines Deutschen, pp. 154f.

150Ibid., p. 138.

151Rumbold’s report to Foreign Secretay Simon, 13 April 1933; Becker, Hitlers Machtergreifung, p. 232. See also the report from U.S. Consul General George S. Messersmith of 3 April 1933: “The boycott was not generally popular with the German people according to the best information which the Consulate General can secure up to this time…This is no indication that the feeling against the Jews has in any sense died down, but merely that the popular opinion does not approve of a measure which even the man in the street realizes may be destructive of the internal economic life and seriously affect Germany’s foreign trade.” Bajohr and Strupp (eds), Fremde Blicke auf das “Dritte Reich,” p. 364.

152For a summary of the public’s reaction see Hannah Ahlheim, “Deutsche, kauft nicht bei Juden!” Antisemitischer Boykott in Deutschland 1924 bis 1935, Göttingen, 2011, pp. 254-62.

153Klemperer, Tagebücher 1933-1941, p. 15 (entry for 30 March 1933). See Willy Cohn, Kein Recht, nirgends: Tagebuch vom Untergang des Breslauer Judentums 1933-1941, ed. Norbert Conrads, Cologne, Weimar and Berlin, 2006, p. 25 (entry for 1 April 1933): “the Dark Ages.” Kurt F. Rosenberg: “Einer, der nicht mehr dazugehört”: Tagebücher 1933-1937, ed. Beate Meyer and Björn Siegel, Göttingen, 2012, p. 89 (entry for 1 May 1933): “Is that the people of poets and thinkers? We were proud to be part of it and give it our strength and best intentions.”

154Kessler, Das Tagebuch, vol. 9, p. 554 (entry for 1 April 1933). In a letter of 1 April 1933 Theodor Heuss called the “boycott” on the streets of Berlin “nothing other than shameful”; In der Defensive, p. 132.

155See Longerich, Politik der Vernichtung, pp. 39-41; Wildt, Volksgemeinschaft als Selbstermächtigung, pp. 158ff.

156Text in Die Verfolgung und Ermordung der europäischen Juden, vol. 1, doc. 29, pp. 130-4.

157Hindenburg to Hitler, 4 April 1932; Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, pp. 375f.

158Hindenburg to Prince Carl of Sweden, 26 April 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 109, pp. 391f.; see Hitlers Tischgespräche, p. 330 (dated 21 May 1942).

159Hitler to Hindenburg, 5 April 1933; Hubatsch, Hindenburg und der Staat, pp. 376-8.

160See Longerich, Politik der Vernichtung, p. 41-5; Friedländer, Das Dritte Reich und die Juden, vol. 1, pp. 40-3.

161Harold James, “Die Deutsche Bank und die Diktatur 1933-1945,” in Lothar Gall et al., Die Deutsche Bank 1870-1995, Munich, 1995, p. 337. See Friedländer, Das Dritte Reich und die Juden, vol. 1, p. 46.

162On the following see Volker Ullrich, “Anpassung um jeden Preis? Die Kapitualition der deutschen Gewerkschaften 1932/33,” in Inge Marssolek and Till Schelz-Brandenburg (eds), Soziale Demokratie und sozialistische Theorie: Festschrift für Hans-Josef Steinberg zum 60. Geburtstag, Bremen, 1995, pp. 245-55.

163Peter Jahn (ed.), Die Gewerkschaften in der Endphase der Republik 1930-1933, Cologne, 1988, doc. 189, pp. 865-7.

164Ibid., doc. 197, pp. 881f.

165Leipart to Hindenburg, 10 March 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 53, pp. 188f. On SA violence against unions see Michael Schneider, Unterm Hakenkreuz: Arbeiter und Arbeiterbewegung 1933 bis 1939, Bonn, 1999, pp. 61-5.

166Cabinet meeting on 24 March 1933; Die Regierung Hitler, part 1, vol. 1, no. 72, p. 252. See Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 155 (entry for 25 March 1933): “I managed to get 1 May approved as a national holiday. The cabinet gave me a mandate to see that it is put into practice. I’m going to make it huge.” On 7 April 1933, the cabinet passed a draft law concerning the “The Holiday of National Labour.” See Die Regierung Hitler, no. 93, pp. 311f.

167Goebbels, Tagebücher, part 1, vol. 2/3, p. 170 (entry for 18 April 1933).

168Jahn, Die Gewerkschaften in der Endphase der Republik, doc. 206, pp. 898-200.

169Ibid., doc. 204, p. 897.