Goebbels, the Man Next to Hitler.
by Rudolf Semmler
Our Price: $75.00
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
Category: Book
See more book details and other editions
Book Summary Information
Author: Rudolf SemmlerEditor: G. S. Wagner
Introduction: D. McLachlan
Edition: Hardcover
Audio: English (Original Language); English (Unknown); English (Published)
Published: 1982-03
ISBN: 0404169872
Number of pages: 234
Publisher: AMS Press / Westhouse
Book Reviews of Goebbels, the Man Next to Hitler.
Book Review: Goebbels Affirmed the Efficacy of Polish Warnings on Doomed Jews
Summary: 4 Stars
Rudolf Semmler wrote down his conversations with Joseph Goebbels. This book, in effect, is Goebbels's table talk.
Semmler attests to the anti-Christian, humanistic philosophy of Goebbels (7/24/1941), which was to be fully expressed after the war: "Then he [Goebbels] would like to produce a book on Christianity of real political importance. In it he would dispose of old-fashioned theories of Christianity, and lead from this criticism to an ethical system for the twentieth-century man." (p. 49).
Tens of thousands of Polish officers and intellectuals were murdered in cold blood, by the Soviet NKVD, at and near Katyn. Upon the discovery of the mass graves by the Germans, Goebbels exploited this tragedy for propaganda purposes. Apart from dividing the Allies, Goebbels hoped that Katyn would remind everyone of Soviet barbarism, and thereby provide fresh moral justification for the German war against the Soviet Union (pp. 82-84). Interestingly, he complained that German newspapers were devoting too little attention to Katyn: "Goebbels points to the British tactics of giving so much time and space to an event of propaganda importance that the public is eventually sick of it. That, he said, is the right method. The story must be so hammered into the public mind that the mention of the word Katyn sends a cold shoulder down the back of the stupidest man." (p. 84). (Ironically, British newspapers also devoted very little attention to Katyn. They were more interested in flattering the Soviets than in seeking justice for Poland).
David Engel has attempted to belittle the role of the Polish government-in-exile by asserting that the information it provided, on the Nazi extermination of Jews back in German-occupied Poland, was merely a repetition of what was already available from other sources. Moreover, Engel charges that the information was deliberately presented in a low-keyed manner in order to minimize its impact. In striking contrast, none other than the Nazi minister of Propaganda, Goebbels, paid a backhanded compliment to the Polish Government-in-exile, openly admitting to the effectiveness of its message. In fact, Semmler and Goebbels found the Polish action serious enough to wrestle over about how best to neutralize it. The entry of January 10, 1944, devoted by Semmler entirely to this matter and the ensuing strategy session, is here summarized: "Lately there have been a number of stories from abroad about alleged murder camps run by the Gestapo, chiefly in Poland. There, they say, Jews, Poles and other races we don't like are burnt or gassed...Now that this propaganda is gaining strength, causing a stir in the whole world press, and doing us a great deal of harm, I suggested to Goebbels that he should say something about it to the foreign press. I drew his attention particularly to statements made by members of the Polish Government in London, which contained detailed figures...Goebbels believes that a statement to the foreign press would seem too demonstrative and would give the impression that we were worried by the enemy's campaign of agitation." (pp. 117-118).
The 2006 book FEAR, by Jan Tomasz Gross (Jan Thomas Gross, J. T. Gross), has tacitly encouraged the view that the looting of (Jewish) properties by Poles was some kind of uniquely Polish vice, and was moreover yet another testimony to eternal Polish anti-Semitism. Interestingly, for all of their reputed discipline and ingrained adherence to law and order, the German people also resorted to looting, even on a large scale. Goebbels found fault with the German people, in this regard, in the aftermath of one of the Allied bombing raids on Berlin (11/24/1943): "Goebbels is informed that nowhere in Berlin have there been any demonstrations against the Government. But many half-ruined houses have been plundered and long stretches of the transport system of the city is not working." (p. 111).
On October 14, 1944, Semmler wrote: "He [Goebbels] says that it we lose the war the Russians would not find it difficult to turn the Berlin workers into Communists again." (p. 156). Goebbels words proved very prophetic. German Nazis effortlessly morphed into German Communists, and East Germany (the NRD) became one of the most repressive and doctrinaire of all the Soviet-imposed puppet states.
Other items of interest in this small volume are: the capability of a few more Hamburg-firestorm-like raids themselves to cause Germany's defeat (p. 95); a possible Nazi-western, or, less likely, a Nazi-Soviet separate peace (pp. 119-120); considerable detail about the anti-Hitler plot of July 1944 (pp. 132-147), and the plans to denounce the Geneva Convention and to shoot the Allied POWs (pp. 182-185). Interestingly, the proposed Nazi-Soviet separate peace (written about on April 12, 1944) would have included Germany's surrender of the General Government (German-occupied central Poland) to the Soviet Union (in addition to, of course, the Polish lands east of the Ribbentrop-Molotov line) (p. 120). Ironically, much of this actually happened. Poland was indeed surrendered to the Soviet Union--but not by the Nazis but by the western Allies. Only the western borders of this Soviet-ruled Polish nation were different from that envisioned by Goebbels.
Biographies & Memoirs Books
Book Subjects
- Arts & Photography
- Audiobooks on Cassette
- Audiobooks on CD
- Biographies & Memoirs
- Business & Investing
- Children's Books
- Comics & Graphic Novels
- Computers & Internet
- Cooking, Food & Wine
- e-Books
- Engineering
- Entertainment
- Gay & Lesbian
- Health, Mind & Body
- History
- Home & Garden
- Horror
- Law
- Literature & Fiction
- Medicine
- Mystery & Thrillers
- Nonfiction
- Outdoors & Nature
- Parenting & Families
- Professional & Technical
- Reference
- Religion & Spirituality
- Romance
- Science
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Sports
- Teens
- Travel
Most talked about in Nazis (sans Hitler): Goebbels, Himmler, Heydrich, Keitel, Globocnik...
Germany is our problem,by Henry Morgenthau
Harper & brothers; Published: 1945; Unknown Binding; Book
What to do with Germanyby Louis Nizer
H. Hamilton; Published: 1944; Unknown Binding; Book
The Question of German Guilt (Perspectives in Continental Philosophy, No. 16)by Karl Jaspers
Fordham University Press; Published: 2001-01-01; Paperback; Book
Best price: $23.64
Price in other shops:
Into That Darkness: An Examination of Conscienceby Gitta Sereny
Vintage; Published: 1983-01-12; Paperback; Book
Best price: $8.96
Price in other shops:
Conversations with an Executionerby Kazimierz Moczarski
Prentice-Hall; Published: 1981; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $163.64
The Stroop Report: The Jewish Quarter of Warsaw Is No More!by Juergen Stroop
Pantheon Books; Published: 1979; Library Binding; Book
Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitzby Rudolf H?ss
Da Capo Press; Published: 1996-03-21; Paperback; Book
Best price: $10.79
Price in other shops:
Top Nazi SS General Karl Wolff: The Man Between Hitler and Himmlerby Jochen von Lang
Enigma Books, New York, NY; Published: 2005-06-01; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $12.00
Price in other shops:
In The Shadow Of The Reichby Niklas Frank
Knopf; Published: 1991-08-27; Hardcover; Book
Best price: $22.98
Price in other shops:
German Crimes in Polandby Central Commission for the Investigation of German Crimes of Poland
Howard Fertig; Published: 1981-06; Hardcover; Book
Price in other shops: