He rhapsodizes about his box of disinformation tricks:
11 June. Together with the High Command of the Wehrmacht and with the Führer’s consent, I am elaborating my article about invasion. The topic is ‘the island of Crete as an example’. It is fairly obvious. It should appear in the Völkischer Beobachter and the copies will then be confiscated. London will learn of this twenty-four hours later through the United States Embassy. This is the whole point of the manoeuvre. It should all serve to disguise the actions in the east. Now we need to use more powerful methods… I shall finish the article this afternoon. It will be magnificent, a masterpiece of deviousness.
The article was written, approved by the Führer, and ‘is being sent with due ceremony to the Völkischer Beobachter. The issue will be confiscated during the night.’
The point of the trick is that the article, examining the operation to capture Crete, contained a clear hint that experience gained there contained lessons for the supposedly impending invasion of Britain. Having the issue confiscated would serve to show that Goebbels had inadvertently blurted out Germany’s ‘true’ intentions.
14 June. The Russians seem not yet to have any presentiment. At all events, they are acting in a way that is fully consonant with our wishes: densely massed troops are an easy prey for taking prisoner.
There are other entries under the same date:
East Prussia is crammed so full of troops that the Russians could inflict great damage on us with pre-emptive strikes. But they will not do so…
I order lunatic rumours to be spread in Berlin: Stalin is supposedly coming to Berlin, the red banners are already being sewn, and so on. Dr Ley phones me, having fallen for it hook line and sinker. I leave him to his delusion. At this present moment it is all to the good.
Further:
15 June. From radio intercepts we for our part can conclude that Moscow is bringing the Russian fleet into a state of combat readiness. So they are no longer as unworried as they pretend to be. But their preparations are extraordinarily amateurish. Their actions cannot be taken seriously.
Goebbels also viewed the war as a source of abundant material for German newsreels: ‘Inevitably, during such a relatively peaceful time it [the newsreel] cannot be as good as when there is fighting.’
Goebbels did not overlook his own self-interest: in Berlin, construction of a highly secure bomb shelter was commenced on Göringstrasse where he lived. It was going to be ‘a colossal structure,’ he noted with satisfaction.
In Schwanenwerder near Berlin, adding to the country houses he already possessed, construction of Goebbels’ castle was coming to a conclusion. He thought the building itself was ‘magnificent’, and also the way his wife had furnished it. Here, in comfortable remoteness, against the backdrop of an idyllic landscape, Dr Goebbels was intending to operate even more productively to ‘create general mayhem’, not omitting, in the process, to help himself to some prize treasures: ‘I bought a marvellous painting by Goya privately in France.’
Paintings from all over were being funnelled to the Ministry of Propaganda.
We have already brought together an amazing collection. The ministry will gradually be transformed into an art gallery. That is as it should be: after all this is where art is being managed from.
He intended to manage it on an international scale.
On Goebbels’ instructions a plan was being developed to establish a Berlin Academy of Fashion under the direction of Benno von Arent, Führer at that time of Germany’s artists. Here are the instructions Goebbels gave his subordinate as he sent him off to allied Italy as the representative of German cinematography.
Your mission is to bring back as much as possible that we can use. Keep smiling as you rip them off. Don’t let Italian cinema develop too much. Germany must remain the leading power in terms of cinema and consolidate its dominant position even further.
The only kind of art Goebbels had mastered to perfection was the art of blackmail, deception and conspiracy.
15 June had been the last Sunday before a terrible war was unleashed in the east. As usual, Goebbels described the previous day’s events in his diary. There had been a secret meeting of the conspirators.
16 June.
After lunch the Führer summons me to the Reich Chancellery. I am to enter through the back entrance so that no one will notice. Wilhelmstrasse is under constant surveillance by foreign journalists, so the precaution was necessary… The Führer explains the situation to me in detaiclass="underline" the offensive against Russia will begin as soon as deployment of our forces is completed. This will be in about one week’s time. The campaign in Greece has severely weakened us in material terms, so the matter has been slightly delayed. Fortunately the weather is fairly bad and the harvest in Ukraine has not yet ripened.
We are thus hoping additionally to acquire a large proportion of that harvest. This will be a massed offensive on an extremely large scale. Probably the biggest history has ever known. There will be no repetition of Napoleon’s predicament. On the very first morning a bombardment using 10,000 guns will begin. We will use the new, powerful artillery pieces that had been intended for use against the Maginot line but were not needed. The Russians have concentrated right on the border. The best situation we could have expected. If they were dispersed in the depths of the country, they would be a greater threat. They have at their disposal about 180–200 divisions, maybe a little less, but at all events about the same numbers as we have. In respect of the quality of the manpower and materiel, however, they bear no comparison at all with us. The attack will be spearheaded in different places. The Russians will be driven back without too much difficulty. The Führer expects this campaign to be completed within about four months. I believe it will be less. Bolshevism will collapse like a house of cards. An unexampled victory awaits us…
We need to attack Russia also in order to gain people. Undefeated, Russia ties up 150 of our divisions, a potential workforce we very much need for our arms industry. Our arms industry needs to work more intensively so that we can implement our programme for the production of weaponry, submarines and aircraft, then the United States, too, will be unable to harm us in any way. We have the resources, raw materials and machinery for three-shift working, but not enough people. When Russia is conquered we shall be able to demobilize several age cohorts, and then build, arm and prepare ourselves.
Only after that will we be able to begin the attack on England, from the air, on a large scale. Invading England by land is hardly going to be possible, ever. Accordingly, we must devise other ways of ensuring victory.
This time we are adopting a totally different approach from the usual, and are playing a new tune. We conduct no polemics in the press, maintain complete silence and then, one fine day, simply strike. I do my very best to persuade the Führer not to convene the Reichstag for that day. Otherwise, our entire system of deception will be vitiated. He accepts my proposal to read the proclamation over the radio…
The aim of the campaign is clear: Bolshevism must fall, and additionally England’s last sword on the continent will be knocked out of its hands…
We may possibly request the German bishops of both denominations to bless this war as ordained by God. Tsarism will not be restored in Russia, but to counteract Bolshevism we shall implement real socialism. Every old Nazi will be extremely pleased to see this. Collaboration with Russia has been, to tell the truth, a rank stain on our honour. Now we shall also destroy what we have fought against all our lives. I say this to the Führer and he entirely agrees with me. I also put in a word for Rosenberg, whose purpose in life, thanks to this campaign, is once more justified.