Елена Ржевская - Memoirs of a Wartime Interpreter - From the Battle for Moscow to Hitler's Bunker

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 detail: 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.

The Führer says that, by fair means or foul, we must win. That is the only way, and it is right morally and from necessity. When we are the victors, who will question our methods? We already have so much on our conscience that we must win, otherwise our people, with us leading it, and everything that is dear to us will be wiped off the face of the earth. So, to work!

The Führer asks what the people think. The people think that we are acting in concert with Russia, but will conduct themselves just as bravely if we call on them to wage war against Russia…

The denial by TASS is, in the Führer’s opinion, only a sign of fear. Stalin is trembling before the impending events. An end will be put to his false game. We will exploit the raw materials of this resource-rich country. The hope of the British to destroy us with a blockade will thereby be totally neutralized, and only after this will the real submarine war begin.

Italy and Japan will now receive messages that we are intending to present Russia with certain ultimatum demands in early July. They will blab about it everywhere. Then we will again have several days at our disposal. The Duce is not yet fully informed of the true extent of the planned operation. Antonescu knows a little more. Romania and Finland are joining forces with us. So, forwards! The abundant fields of Ukraine are beckoning. Our military leaders, who saw the Führer on Saturday, have prepared everything in the best possible way. Our propaganda machinery is ready and waiting…

I must now prepare everything in the most meticulous manner. It is essential, no matter what, to continue to spread the rumours: peace with Moscow, Stalin coming to Berlin, the invasion of England in the near future, all in order to cover up every aspect of the situation as it actually is. We have to hope that succeeds for some time yet…

I drove through the park, through the rear portal where people were strolling carefree in the rain. Lucky people who know nothing of all our worries and live one day at a time. It is for the sake of all of them that we work and struggle and take upon ourselves such risk. In order that our people should thrive.

I oblige everybody to say nothing about my secret visit to the Führer.

And the Germans on this last Sunday ‘stroll carefree in the rain’, with no inkling of the catastrophe into which they are to be plunged in a few days’ time by those whom they so recklessly entrusted with their destiny.

17 June.

All the preparations have been made. It is to begin in the early hours of Sunday. At 3.30 a.m. The Russians are still gathered on the border in a dense, massed formation. With their minimal transport capacity they will be unable to alter the situation in just a few days…

The US demanded that our consulates should close by 10 July and leave the country. The information library of our ministry in New York is also being closed. These are all petty pinpricks, not stabbing with a knife. We will have no problem coping with this.