The Goebbels Diaries: 1942-1943

Edited, Translated and with an Introduction by Louis P. Lochner

Doubleday, 1948

Part I - January to March 1942 (Excerpts)


P. 20, Introduction

Even this sumptuous ball, however was nothing compared with the Venetian Night given by the man of the people, Joseph Goebbels, in July 1937 in honor of the delegates to the convention of the International Chamber of Commerce.

Peacock Island, charmingly located in idyllic Wannsee, some fifteen miles outside of Berlin on the way to Potsdam, with its romantic castle erected in 1794 for Frederick Wilhlem III, had been converted into a scene from the Arabian Nights. As we crossed over from the mainland on a pontoon bridge, the path leading to where Dr. and Mrs. Goebbels waited to receive their guests was lined on both sides with hundreds of the prettiest girls from Berlin's numerous higher schools. All of them were dressed in white silk breeches and blouses, white silk stocking and white leather slippers. Each held a white wand. They bowed as the guests slowly walked several hundred yards to the reception line.

On a beautiful greensward tables had been set for groups of twelve, ten, eight, and smaller parties. We were some three thousand guests. A sumptuous dinner was served the like of which we had not eaten in Berlin for years, for Rudolf Hess had already delivered himself of the slogan, "Guns instead of butter." Fringing the greensward on one side was the longest bar I have ever seen, with eighty attendants at our service to concoct any drink that might be wanted, or to serve champagne without limit. Every lady guest was presented with an artistic figurine from the Prussian State Porcelain Factory.

In another part of the island a gigantic rotunda had been constructed in which the guests could dance, and on which, later in the evening the ensemble of the Civic Opera performed a charming ballet and other members of Berlin's artist colony put on a floor show.

All for the glory of the Third Reich! But the official communiqué for the German press was stilted and drab. The common people were not to know that the days of Augustus the Strong of Saxony and Poland had returned to Germany under the auspices of the tribune of the people, Joseph Goebbels.

P. 23, Introduction

Strangely enough, my last experience as a free man in Germany had to doe with Joseph Goebbels. Stranger still, although Goebbels and I had a mutual aversion toward each other--Goebbels said in his diary entry for May 19, 1942, what he thought of me-- my last experience was a gratifying one.

January 22, 1942, p. 38

Significantly enough this film, with its absolutely anti-German tendency, was allowed to run for months in Sweden. The Swedes and Swiss are playing with fire. Let us hope they will burn their fingers before this war is over.

January 24, 1942, p. 42

The French are certainly cutting into their own flesh and, when the war is ended, will have to pay the piper for having maintained a waiting attitude far too long.

January 25, 1942, p. 48

The problem of sexual activities of the numerous foreign workers now on German soil is a difficult one. The situation in some cases is absolutely grotesque. I suppose the final solution lies in a liberal policy of establishing houses of ill fame. But that is a rather delicate matter which must be dealt with carefully.

January 27, 1942, p. 51

The US is trying desperately to drag us into a discussion of racial questions, especially in regard to Japan. The American press has lunched impassioned articles against the yellow race and is trying, via Stockholm to get them published all over the world. Several Stockholm newspapers have fallen for this palpable propaganda. I suppose the Americans believe we can be persuaded to reply to this propaganda and get dragged into the discussion. That's where they are mistaken. I have forbidden the German news services to even mention these somewhat ticklish and delicate problems, as I am convinced we cant win any laurels here. As a matter of fact our position regarding Japan and the problems of eastern Asia is rather precarious, since we are uncompromising in our racial views. It is best to overcome this difficulty by silence.

January 27, 1942, p. 52

The incidents that Sepp Dietrich related to me about the Russian people in the conquered areas are simply hair raising. They are not a people, but a conglomerate of animals. The greatest danger threatening us in the East is stolid dullness of this mass. That applies both to the civilian population and to the soldiers. The soldiers won't surrender, as is the fashion in western Europe, when completely surrounded, but continue to fight until they are beaten to death. Bolshevism has merely accentuated this racial propensity of the Russian people.

January 28, 1942, p. 52

I authorize Seyss-Inquart to open a theater in the Hague in which opera, comic opera, and drama are to be produced. I do this with one weeping and one laughing eye for, really, the Dutch don't deserve such great cultural support. Perhaps they don't even have the proper appreciation for it.

January 30, 1942, p. 60

The Fuehrer profoundly regrets the heavy losses sustained by the white race in East Asia, but that isn't our fault.

February 1, 1942, p. 63

Nothing of importance has happened internationally except that Franco has delivered a speech, … in which he declared that Spaniards are God's chosen people and will remain faithful to the Catholic Church. It would be far more fitting for Spain to remain faithful to the Axis, for no special laurels are to be had from the Catholic Church. Franco, as we know, is a bigoted churchgoer. He permits Spain to be practically governed, not by himself, but by his wife and her father confessor. That's a nice revolutionist we placed on the throne!

February 2, 1942, p. 64

But the English won't let themselves be disturbed in the complacency of their arguments. They are a very peculiar people with whom it is difficult to have an argument. They are obdurate to a degree that gets on one's nerves in the long run. But possibly that is a national advantage rather than a disadvantage.

February 4, 1942, p. 68

Quisling gave the DNB representative a long interview about his policies. He makes the somewhat grotesque claim that in his hands as premier is concentrated all the power formerly held by the King, the Parliament and the Prime Minister. That's laying it on a bit thick, for after all there is a Reich commissioner standing beside him.! Nevertheless we release this version, since naturally we are highly interested in letting the Norwegian Government appear as big and independent as possible.

February 5, 1942, p. 69

The Jewish question is again giving us a headache; this time, however, not because we have gone too far, but because we are not going far enough. Among large sections of the German people the idea is gaining headway the the Jewish question cannot be regarded as solved until all Jews have left the Reich.

February 5, 1942, p. 70

Generally speaking one can say the that the Eastern Front is no longer under severe strain.

February 6, 1942, p. 71

The Italians are not only not doing anything about the war effort, but they hardly producing anything worthwhile in the realm of the arts. One might almost say that fascism has reacted upon the creative life of the Italian people somewhat like sterilization. It is, after all, nothing like National Socialism. While the latter goes deep down to the roots, fascism is only a superficial thing.

February 10, 1942, p. 76

No matter how long it lasts, we shall have to see it through. For if we don’t succeed in shattering English domination in the world, all the sacrifices of World War I and World War II will have been in vain.

February 12, 1942, p. 80-81

I have given instruction for our Ministry to prepare dictionaries for the occupied areas in which the German language is to be taught. They are, above all, to use a terminology that conforms to our modern conception of the state. Especially those expressions are to be translated that stem from our political dogmatism. This is an indirect form of propaganda from which I expect rather good results in the long run.

February 12, 1942, p. 81

If I were an Englishman I would tremble for the fate of the Empire. But as I am not an Englishman and as I am convinced that our victory can attained only through the collapse of the British world empire, I view developments with firm confidence.

February 13, 1942, p. 83

We are waging this war not only by shedding our blood but also by supplying the materials and the labor. It is only right and just that we take the leadership of Europe definitely into our hands after the war and not let ourselves be pushed off our course by any other state, no matter how big it may be or what exaggerated claims it my put in. The German people must suffer and stand for so much; they have actual won the hegemony of Europe and have a moral right to it.

February 13, 1942, p. 83

As to Quisling, he developed very naïve ideas in his talk with the Fuehrer, as the latter confided to me. He thinks he will be permitted to build up a new Norwegian Army, protect the Norwegian harbors himself, and finally create an entirely free Norway. That, of course, is very childish. The Fuehrer replied evasively to these claims.

February 13, 1942, p. 84

Bormann complained bitterly about Rosenberg, who has managed to create a veritable chaos in his ministry and is picking a quarrel with every Tom, Dick and Harry. Rosenberg, too, is a sort of Quisling type. A good theoretician but no practitioner, he is completely at sea as far as organization is concerned besides having rather childish ideas.


February 14, 1942, p. 85

It is a characteristic fact that the French on the Eastern Front are not giving a good account of themselves. These people are no longer worth anything. They have lost their military punch. A macabre nation, bent on pleasure, which has rightly suffered a catastrophe. We need no longer have any fears -- the French won't cross our path for a long time to come.

February 14, 1942, p. 86

World Jewry will suffer a great catastrophe at the same time as Bolshevism. The Fuehrer once more expressed his determination to clean up the Jews in Europe pitilessly. There must be no squeamish sentimentalism about it. The Jews have deserved the catastrophe that has now overtaken them. Their destruction will go hand in hand with the destruction of our enemies. We must hasten this process with cold ruthlessness.

February 14, 1942, p. 86

The Fuehrer continues to have greatest admiration for the Japs. They prepared everything secretly. We have now heard that Kurusu and Nomura negotiated in Washington without having the faintest idea as to what the Japanese war leaders were planning. That's a good thing. … It means, of course, that Kurusu and Nomura played an exceedingly ludicrous role, but that is of less importance. They deserved making fools of themselves, for these two diplomats had always been the representatives of Japanese appeasement.

February 15, 1942, p. 88

The hundreds of thousands of foreign workers now employed in the Reich are a headache. The danger exists that intercourse between these workers and German women will cause a gradual deterioration of our race. This danger must be checked by every possible means. But it is difficult to discuss such a question in public because the peoples and nations affected immediately take offense. For example, the Italians fight tooth and nail as being regarded as racially inferior to, or even different from, ourselves.

February 15, 1942, p. 88

Slavs, he [Heydrich] emphasized, cannot be educated as one educates a Germanic people. One must either break them or humble them constantly. At present he does the latter.

February 15, 1942, p. 89

The Dutchman is, generally speaking, an unpolitical individual. …His character is in mnay respects quite strange to us. You therefore can't do much in Holland with cultural institutions, since the Dutchman is not used to them, and in fact, hardly knows them. His pigheadedness can't be beaten. Nevertheless I believe that further developments will improve sentiment toward us in the Netherlands.

February 18, 1942, p. 92

Looking at this film I realized once again that the Jewish race is the most dangerous one that inhabits the globe, and that we must show them no mercy or indulgence. This riffraff must be eliminated and destroyed. Otherwise it won't be possible to bring peace to the world.

February 19, 1942, p. 93

The Catholic Church continues to act in a dastardly way. A number of pastoral letters have been laid before me which are so unrealistic and treacherous that nothing need be added. Nevertheless we shall not proceed against them. Let the "skypilots" [pfaffen] have their say: we'll present our bill to them after the war.

February 20, 1942, p. 94

In times of crisis the British Government profits by the pigheadedness of the British national character, but someday, somehow, this pigheadedness will end; namely when the blows begin to be staggering and deadly.

February 20, 1942, p. 95

By a decree of the Fuehrer all intercourse with Polish girls by soldiers stationed in Poland is forbidden and punishable. I doubt very much whether this decree is practical. … As long as German women are forbidden to follow the armies in these areas one can't be too severe, for somehow nature will claim its rights after all.

February 21, 1942, p. 96

Bishop Preysing of Berlin continues to criticize the German war leaders. I had at first intended to order him to come to see me personally, and then to tell him off, but I got away form that idea because I am convinced this would lead to nothing. … It is best not to touch on this theme at all but rather to postpone it to the end of the war.

February 23, 1942, p. 98

Stalin issued [a program of] thirty points to his army. These points are about as naïve as can be imagined. But I suppose he knows how to treat his Russian people. They are as primitive as the language he uses to talk to them.

March 5, 1942, p. 111

Queen Wilhelmina has issued an appeal to Java that puts in the shade everything that has hitherto emanated from her. This Willhelmina surely is a sad sight. One can see what happens if women have a decisive word to say in politics.

March X, 1942, p. 112

I have received a report about the fate of the German minorities in Hungary. The Hungarian still dare to commit acts of effrontery toward us that go far beyond what we can stand for. I suppose, however, we must keep quiet for the moment. We are dependent upon them. But every one of us is yearning for the moment when we can really talk turkey to the Hungarians.

March 7, 1942, p. 115

Above all, the war against France must have an historic result. While France still has even a breath of life she will always remain our enemy. We must definitely eliminate France's military and political power from a future European interplay of forces.

March 7, 1942, p. 115-116

I read a detailed report from the SD and police regarding a final solution of the Jewish question. Any final solution involves a tremendous number of new viewpoints. The Jewish question must be solved within a pan-European frame. There are 11,000,000 Jews still in Europe. They will have to be concentrated later to begin with, in the East; possibly an island, such as Madagascar, can be assigned to them after the war. In any case there can be no peace in Europe until the last Jews are eliminated from the continent.

March 9, 1942, p. 118

No sympathy need be wasted on such weak peoples. It is bad and regrettable for Europe that Holland loses her colonial possessions, but in the last analysis so small a people has no right to any overseas possessions so long as a nation of the rank of Germany hasn't any at all.

March 10, 1942, p. 118

Cries of distress are heard from Australia. The possibility of a separate with Japan is already being discussed between the lines. The Japanese have come so close to Australia that it seems to lie directly before their eyes as willing and enticing booty. It has ever been the territorial aspiration of Tokyo to possess this fifth continent as territory for emigration.

March 10, 1942, p. 119

To think what question of domestic politics are laid before one in the course of a day! Should dancing girls be inducted into the Women's Labor Service? If one doesn't do it they fail to get the necessary Nazi indoctrination; if one does, they become fat and ungainly and unfit for the dancing profession. We are now trying to put the dancing girls through special courses, and while organizing them as in labor service, to give them a type of work to do that will no disqualify them for their profession.

March 11, 1942, p. 120

I took energetic measures to stop the discussion about the "Yellow Peril." It isn't possible to discuss this theme at all today, either in a positive or negative sense. The excellent reason which we can give for our present attitude cannot be discussed in public because they would undoubtedly insult the Japanese and furnish the English valuable material for argument against the Axis.

March 16, 1942, p. 126

In the East, nationalistic currents are increasingly observable in all former Baltic States. The populations there apparently imagined that the German Wehrmacht would shed its blood to set up new governments in these midget states, which at the end of the war, or possibly even during the war would veer over to the side of our enemies. That is a childish naïve bit of imagination which makes no impression upon us. One would have to take the imperial regime of Kaiser Wilhelm as a model if one were to inaugurate so shortsighted a policy. National Socialism is much more cold-blooded and much more realistic in all these questions. It does only what is useful for its own people, and in this instance the interest of our people undoubtedly lies in the rigorous establishment of German order within this area without paying any attention to the claims, more or less justified, of the small nationalities living there.

March 20, 1942, p. 136

The Fuehrer, incidentally, has rather high regard for the Soviet war leadership. Stalin's brutal hand has saved the Russian front. To hold our own we shall have to apply similar methods on our side. This toughness has sometimes been wanting with us and we must try to find an equivalent.

March 20, 1942, p. 139

That is the question that the Japanese, too, are facing. To conquer Australia won't be hard, but to fill up Australia will be a difficult task. The English didn't succeed and that's why they are going to lose Australia.

March 26, 1942, p. 146

It's a dirty low thing for the Catholic Church to continue its subversive activity in every way possible and now even to extend its propaganda to Protestant children evacuated from regions threatened by air raids. Next to the Jews these politico-divines are about the most loathsome riff-raff that we are still sheltering in the Reich. The time will come after the war for an over-all solution of this problem. Only one can be the master in the state, either the Church of the state itself. National Socialism is faced with the task of establishing supremacy uncompromisingly over the political claims of the Church.

The Goebbels Diaries: 1942-1943

Edited, Translated and with an Introduction by Louis P. Lochner

Doubleday, 1948

Part I - January to March 1942 (Excerpts)-continuation


March 27, 1942, p. 147

Beginning with Lublin, the Jews in the General Government are now being evacuated eastward. The procedure is a pretty barbaric one and not be describe here more definitely. Not much will remain of the Jews. On the whole it can be said that about 60 per cent of them will have to liquidate whereas only about 40 per cent can be used for forced labor.

The former Gauleiter for Vienna, who is to carry this measure through, is doing it with considerable circumspection and according to a method that does not attract too much attention. A judgement is being visited upon the Jews that, while barbaric, is fully deserved by them. The prophesy which the Fuehrer made about them for having brought on a new world war is beginning to come true in a most terrible manner. ON e must not be sentimental in these matters. If we did not fight the Jews, they would destroy us. It's a life and death struggle and no other regime would have the strength for such a global solution of this of this question. Here, too, the Fuehrer is the undismayed champion of a radical solution necessitate by condition and therefore inexorable. Fortunately a whole series of possibilities presents itself for us in wartime that would be denied us in peacetime. We shall have to profit by this.

The ghettos that will be emptied in the cities of the General Government will now be refilled with Jews thrown out of the Reich. This process is to be repeated from time to time. There is nothing funny in it for the Jews, and the fact that Jewry's representatives in England and America are today organizing and sponsoring the war against Germany must be paid for dearly by its representatives in Europe -- and that's only right.

The Goebbels Diaries: 1942-1943

Edited, Translated and with an Introduction by Louis P. Lochner

Doubleday, 1948

Part II - April 1942 to May 1943 Excerpts

April 2, 1942, p. 159

We must not place too great hopes on developments in France. I consider the French people sick and worm eaten. Nothing noteworthy in the way of positive contributions for the reconstruction of Europe is to be expected from them…Once more it has been proven that the Fuehrer's policy toward France has been absolutely right. One must put the Frenchmen on ice. As soon as one flatters them, they misinterpret it. The more you keep them on tenterhooks, the sooner they are inclined to come down a peg.

April 4, 1942, p. 160

One can well imagine how such an awful bombardment affects the population. Thank God, it is a case of North German population, which, on the whole, is much tougher than South German or the Southeast German population.

April 5, 1942, p. 161

I proposed to the Fuehrer that he forbid visits of German soldiers to the Pope. This series of visits has really become a public danger. The Pope, of course, embraces every opportunity to receive German soldiers in order to impress them with the whole pomp of the Vatican's ceremony. Besides, the present Pope is clever enough to use these things for obvious propaganda. He speaks German fluently and his entire bearing naturally creates the desired impression with naïve soldiers, and especially officers. That's why this evil must be stopped.

April 8, 1942, p. 165

Prostitution in Berlin is causing us many a headache these days. During a raid we found that 15 percent of all women arrested had VD, most of them even syphilis. We must certainly do something now about it. In the long run we cannot possibly avoid setting up a "red-light district" in the Reich capital similar to those in Hamburg, Nuremberg, and other large cities. You simply cannot organize and administer a city of four millions in accordance with conceptions of bourgeois morals.

April 15, 1942, p. 170-1

The English intended establishing a connection with the eastern theater of war via Sweden. But the Swedes are determined to oppose by force of arms anybody who attacks their territory. At least that's what they say today. It would have been better if we had also taken Sweden during our campaign in the north. This state has no right to national existence anyway.

April 22, 1942, p. 181

Sweden and Switzerland still haven't formally joined the International Moving Picture Association. I am now having these tow states boycotted by not supplying them with raw material. They will soon begin to feel the effects of their acting in such an aloof way.

Italian films in Germany are netting the Italians much more money than our German films net us in Italy. That fact is gradually causing us some foreign-exchange difficulties. The UFA has worked up a new export plan whereby we can gradually lay our hands on the entire Italian movie export in Europe. I hope the Italians fall for it.

April 24, 1942, p. 182

The British can do a thing like that. The British people are like children and in addition have the limitless patience of sheep. They stand for having the invasion theme played again and again without compelling Churchill to make good.

April 26, 1942, p. 188

An extended chapter of our talk is devoted by the Fuehrer to the vegetarian question. He believes more than ever that meat-eating is harmful to humanity. Of course he knows that during the war we cannot completely upset our food system. After the war, however, he intends to tackle this problem also. Maybe he is right. Certainly the arguments that he adduces in favor of his standpoint are very compelling.

April 26, 1942, p. 189

However the war ends, France will have to pay dearly, for she caused and started it. She is now being thrown back to her borders of AD 1500. This means that Burgundy will again become part of the Reich. We shall thereby win a province that so far as beauty and wealth are concerned compares more than favorably with and other German province.

April XX, 1942, p. XXX

At noon I had lunch with the Fuehrer. He is very angry about the latest English attack on Rostock. But he also gave me a few figures about or attack on Bath, according to which ours on Bath must have been much more extensive than the English raid on Rostock. The Fuehrer declared that he would repeat these raids night after night until the English were absolutely sick and tired of terror raids. He shares my opinion absolutely that cultural centers, bathing resorts and civilian cities must be attacked now; there the psychological effect is much stronger, and at the present moment psychological effect is the most important thing.

The munitions industry, he said, cannot be interfered with effectively by air raids. … Our task now must be to reply to terror with terror and to respond to the attempted destruction of German centers of culture by razing English cultural shrines to the ground. That is now to be done on the biggest scale possible. The Fuehrer has already given orders for preparing and working out such a plan of attack on a long range schedule. The English, I suppose, will have occasion to be surprised when this undertaking is launched on a big scale. There is no other way to bring the English to their senses. They belong to a class of human beings with whom you can talk only after you have first knocked out their teeth.

April 30, 1942, p. 198

Vichy would very much like to conclude a separate peace with us. But the Fuehrer is undoubtedly right in declining this. … The amputation of France would be practically out of the question. At best the French would be ready to cede Alsace to us; even in the case of Lorraine they would create the greatest difficulties. One might well ask in such a case why had war with France at all. If the French knew what the Fuehrer is one day going to demandof them their eyes would in all likelihood brim over. It is good for the present not to say anything about this and to try toget out of French attentism as much as we can.

May 4, 1942, p. 205

Women dabbling in politics are always a pain in the neck. One should not encourage them in their ambition to do their share of political talking.

May 6, 1942, p. 206

If we had to do with a civilized people in our eastern campaigns, it would long ago have collapsed, but the Russians are quite unpredictable in this and other matters. They show a capacity for suffering that is simply impossible with other peoples. The men at present in control of the Soviet Union of course know that very definitely and base their plans for the coming summer on that mentality.

May 7, 1942, p. 208

Switzerland has recalled her representative in the International Motion Picture Association. It looks as though this stinking little state is trying to provoke the International Motion Picture Association. I am going to insist that the association respond with a general boycott.

May 19, 1942, p. 220

As regards the American journalists, the representative of the United [sic] Press, Lochner is behaving in an especially contemptible way. His attacks are directed above all against German propaganda and he aims at me personally. I have never thought much of Lochner. We made too much fuss about him. We can now see what happens in time of crisis.

[For the record this editor is proud to say that he devoted himself for almost a quarter century to the Associated Press, but that, no doubt he would have been equally happy to serve so distinguished a news association as the United Press. But Goebbels was a little mixed.]

May 19, 1942, p. 221

We must become the dominating movie power on the European continent. In so far as pictures are produced in other countries they must be only of a local or limited character. It must be our aim to prevent so far as possible the founding of any new national film industry, and if necessary to hire for Berlin, Vienna or Munich such stars and technicians as might be in a position to help in this.

December 13, 1942, p. 242

It is, for example, very disagreeable for the Party that the local group leader must inform the bereaved of the hero's death of a son, brother or husband. Formerly the Church did this. Now the Party as been charged with it, with the result that in little villages people are scared to death whenever the local group leader comes to their home. The local leader is frequently looked upon as a funereal character and in some parts of our country has been given the nickname of "Bird of Death." Before this innovation was introduced I gave an impressive warning as I foresaw the results. But certain sections in the Party in their shortsightedness and in their blind hatred of the Church insisted upon driving out the devil with Beelzebub. The results now are anything but pleasant.

December 19, 1942, p. 251

All members of Parliament rose from their seats as a silent tribute to Jewry. That was quite appropriate for the British House of Commons, which is really a sort of Jewish exchange. The English, anyway, are the Jews among the Aryans. The perfumed British Foreign Minister, Eden, cuts a good figure among those characters from the synagogue. His whole education and his entire bearing can be characterized as thoroughly Jewish.

March, 2 1943, p. 265

For example, Manstein, as Goering told me, on one occasion was even prevailed upon to suggest to the Fuehrer that he lay down the Supreme Command. This didn't actually happen, as he was told off before he could carry out this intention, but the Fuehrer got to know of it anyway and has drawn the necessary conclusions about Manstein. The Fuehrer really intended to dismiss Manstein during his trip to the southern front, but refrained from so doing for the present.

March, 2 1943, p. 266

Goering realizes perfectly what is in store for all of us if we show any weakness in this war. He has no illusions about that. On the Jewish question, especially, we have taken a position from which there is no escape. That is a good thing.

March, 3 1943, p. 270

It drives one mad to think that any old Canadian boor, who probably can't even find Europe on the globe, flies to Europe from his super-rich country which his people don't know how to exploit, and here bombards a continent with a crowded population. But let's hope we can soon deliver the proper reply.

March, 4 1943, p. 272

It seems rather significant to me that this picture is running unchallenged in Sweden with Swedish captions. That's how low the so-called Nordic states have sunk!

March, 5 1943, p. 273

In the afternoon the twenty-fifth anniversary of UFA was celebrated. Klitzsch delivered a long but interesting speech about the history of the UFA. He showed how exceedingly hard a few patriots had to fight against Jewish-American efforts at control of the German motion picture during System Time.

[The Nazis always referred to the period of the Weimar Republic(1919-33) as "System Time."]

March, 9 1943, p. 282

The Fuehrer is very angry at the Italians because they are actually doing nothing. They aren't any good for the Eastern Front; they aren't any good for North Africa; they aren't any good for submarine warfare; they aren't any good even for anti-aircraft at home. The Fuehrer is right in asking why they are in the war anyway!

March, 15 1943, p. 300

You just can't trust the Jews across the street. I therefore told the Fuehrer emphatically one more that I deemed it essential to force the Jews out of the entire Reich as fast as possible. He approved, and ordered me not to cease or pause until no Jew is left anywhere in Germany.

March, 18 1943, p. 308

Goering can't understand why the English don't attack the Ruhr Valley without respite, for we have there a number of very dangerous bottlenecks. But English air strategy has never been anything but an imitation of the German. The English have never really invented anything original, but have always merely imitated what others did before them.

March, 20 1943, p. 311

Ginanthhas sent me a report about our psychological position in Tunisia. The French have proven exceptionally poor soldiers. They desert and are happy to be transported back to France. Nothing is to be expected of the French in a military way. The American soldiers, too, are considered by our troops to be the worst possible, not only because of the fact that the American soldiers have had no combat experience but also that they are not cut out to be soldiers.

March, 20 1943, p. 313

I proposed to the Fuehrer in future not to bombard slums but the residential sections of the plutocracy when making air raids on England. According to my experience this makes the deepest impression. The Fueher agrees with this. It doesn't pay to attack harbors or industrial cities.

March, 31 1943, p. 314

The Fuehrer is happy over my report that the Jews have for the most part been evacuated from Berlin. He is right in saying that the war has made possible for us the solution of a whole series of problems that could never have been solved in normal times. The Jews will certainly be the losers in this war, come what may.

April, 9 1943, p. 317

A report on interrogations of American prisoners is really gruesome. These American boys are human material that in no way stand comparison with our people. One has the impression of dealing with a herd of savages. The Americans are coming to Europe with a spiritual emptiness that really makes you hake your head. They are uneducated and don't know anything.

April, 11 1943, p. 324

Our North African undertaking has cost us much materiel and blood. In reality the Italians are responsible when all is said and done. They ought at least to have prepared sufficiently to hold their overseas possessions. Worse than that, they can't even protect their homeland. Our allies are certainly the world's worst!

April, 12 1943, p. 325

It is a curious fact that we shun the phrase "European cooperation," Just as the devil shuns holy water. I can't quite understand why that is true. So obvious a political and propaganda slogan ought really to become a general theme for public discussion in Europe. Instead, we avoid it wherever possible.

But, after all, the English are making the same mistake., no doubt at the instigation of Churchill. They refrain in every way from saying anything tangible about their war aims. I can only add, thank God: for if they were to put up a peace program somewhat along the lines of Wilson's Fourteen Points they would undoubtedly create great difficulties for us.

April, 16 1943, p. 331

In St. Hedwig's Hospital I have been able once again to observe the excellent order and splendid management of such a denominational hospital. I am very glad I forbade the closing of denominational hospitals in Berlin. They are very serviceable. The nuns should be allowed to continue their nursing. Here they can't do any harm; on the contrary, they are true benefactors of suffering humanity.

[It is interesting to note that Goebbels, when his personal health is involved, does not go to a Nazi hospital, with the so-called "Brown Sisters" in charge, but to a Catholic institution.]

April 19, 1943, p. 336

The Jews in England now demand laws to protect them against anti-Semitism. We know those tactics from our own past when we were struggling for power. It didn't help much. We were always able to find loopholes in the law. Besides, anti-Semitism cannot be eradicated by law once it has taken root with the people. A law against hating Jews is usually the beginning of the end for the Jews.

April 23, 1943, p. 340

The tone of the note is exceptionally arrogant, and the commentaries whichappeared in the Swedish press about it outdo each other in insolence. This shows that our military situation has become somewhat unstable. Two years ago the Swedes would not have dared to come to us with such a document. But this is not the end. Scores we can't settle with the Swedes today can be settled tomorrow.

May 8, 1943, p. 355

The Fuehrer recalled the case of Tuchachevsky and expressed the opinion that we were entirely wrong then in believing that Stalin would ruin the Red Army by the way he handled it. The opposite was true: Stalin got rid of all opposition in the Red Army and thereby brought an end to defeatism. The introduction of political commissars, too, has greatly enhanced the striking power of the Red Army When one takes into account that the primitive human material of the East can be taught discipline only by strictness, on can imagine what purpose Stalin had in mind when he introduced political commissars and what he has actually accomplished thereby….

Stalin enjoys the further advantage over us of being opposed by no "high society." He rid himself of this opposition by liquidations during the past twenty-five years. Although the oppostion of our "high society" constitutes no danger, it can create all sorts of petty annoyances…..

Opposition by the churches, which is giving us such an awful lot of trouble no longer exists under Bolshevism. If there is talk today of a Metropolitan of Moscow, that is naturally just a Jewish swindle. The Fuehrer rightly points out that a few months ago this Metropolitan was possibly still a furniture mover.

May 8, 1943, p. 357

From all this the Fuehrer deduced that all the rubbish of small nations still existing in Europe must be liquidated as fast as possible. The aim of our struggle must be to create a unified Europe. The Germans alone can really organize Europe. There is practically no other leading power left. IN this connection the Fuehrer re-emphasized how happy we can be that there are no Japanese on the European continent. Even though the Italians today give us many a headache and created many a difficulty, we must nevertheless consider ourselves lucky that they cannot be serious competitors in the future organization of Europe.

The Goebbels Diaries: 1942-1943

Edited, Translated and with an Introduction by Louis P. Lochner

Doubleday, 1948

Part II - April 1942 to May 1943 Excerpts (continuation)


May 8, 1943, p. 358

In this connection the Fuehrer defended the politics of Charlemange. His methods, too, had been right. It is entirely wrong to attack him as the "Butcher of the Saxons." Who will guarantee to the Fuehrer that at some later time he will not be attacked as the "Butcher of the Swiss"? Austria, after all, also had to be forced into the Reich. We can be happy that it happened in such a peaceful and enthusiastic manner; but if Schuschnigg had offered resistance, it would have been necessary , of course, to overcome this resistance by force.

[This paragraph is interesting for two reasons. In the first place, Hitler disavowed Heinrich Himmler and his pro-Saxon cult completely. Himmler had always maintained that Charlemagne was really the enemy of Germany in that he ruthlessly butchered the Saxons when her created the Holy Roman Empire. The shrine of Henry I, King of the Saxons at Quedlinburg in Lower Saxony, became as much a of a shrine for SS pilgrimages, say, the tombe of St. Boniface at Fulda is a shrine for the Roman Catholics.

In the second place, this Goebbels entry reveals that Hitler would in the event of victory have compelled Switzerland to become a part of Germany even though he might have to butcher the German element there which was quite as violently opposed to German domination as were the French and Italian elements…. ]

Charlemagner had the right idea when he pushed the Ostmark forward so far. What then happened in a limited area must now be repeated in an area of tremendous dimensions.


May 12, 1943, p. 375

The Fuehrer spoke very derogatorily about the arrogance of the higher and lower clergy. The insanity of the Christian doctrine of redemption really doesn't fit at all in our time. Nevertheless there are learned, educated men, occupying high positions in public life, who cling to it with the faith of a child. It is simply incomprehensible how anybody can consider the Christian doctrine of redemption as a guide for the difficult life of today.

May 14, 1943, p. 378

The failure of our submarines to win victories is having regrettable consequences. The defense of the Anglo-American convoys is now so formidable that, if it continues, a new situation in submarine warfare will have arisen…Our technical development both in the realm of submarines and of air war is far inferior to that of the English and the Americans. We are now getting the reward for our poor leadership on the scientific front, which did not show the necessary initiative to stimulate the willingness of scientists to co-operate.

May 16, 1943, p. 382

The Catholic clergy is collaborating with the enemies of our country in a truly treasonable manner. I could just burst with rage when I think that we cannot possibly call the guilty ones to account now. We shall have to save our vengeance until later.