Did I ever tell you about Goebbels? He incurred Hitler’s disapproval after that incident with the movie actress for which he was beaten up. That clubfooted fanatic! He forced women to submit to him sexually because of his powerful position. He influenced Hitler to become anti-Semitic more than Hitler had been before. Hitler used to come to my house once in a while for a cup of coffee, and because I led a normal life, he would leave about nine o’clock. I was in the habit of retiring early. However, Hitler used to spend practically all of his nights, sometimes until four a.m., with Goebbels and his family. God knows what evil influence Goebbels had on him during those long visits. Hermann Goering, interview Leon Goldensohn March 1946
Goebbels was the strongest representative of anti-Semitism. He saw his big chance to become powerful by using the press for anti-Semitic reasons. Personally, I think Goebbels was using anti-Semitism merely as a means of achieving personal power. Whether he had any deep-seated hatred against the Jews is questionable. I think he was too much of a thief and dishonest opportunist to have any deep-seated feelings for or against anything. But for years Goebbels had been trying in vain to become a big power. At last he saw his chance. He had whipped up anti-Semitic feelings to such a point by his vicious propaganda that he now thought he could do anything. He probably didn’t think about the consequences himself. He was a fanatic of an abnormal calibre. Streicher was a tame man compared to Goebbels, because Streicher is half crazy and stupid, whereas Goebbels was just unscrupulous, clever and dangerous. You couldn’t discuss anything with Goebbels. And for the same reason, you couldn’t discuss anything with Himmler. Goebbels was so dishonest that it didn’t pay to discuss anything with him. ibid.
There remains the problem of Goebbels’ reputation. He wore the title of Big Liar (bestowed by Anglo-Saxon propaganda) and yet he never stopped battling for propaganda to be as accurate as possible. He preferred being cynical and brutal to being caught in a lie. He used to say: ‘Everybody must know what the situation is.’ He was always the first to announce disastrous events or difficult situations, without hiding anything. The result was a general belief between 1939 and 1942 that German communiqués not only were more concise, clearer and less cluttered, but were more truthful than Allied communiqués (American and neutral opinion) – and, furthermore, that the Germans published all the news two or three days before the Allies. All this is so true that pinning the title of Big Liar on Goebbels must be considered quite a propaganda success. Jacques Ellul, The Characteristics of Propaganda
Goebbels believes that he too can inspire the German people to join the war effort on every front and he sees a potential ally in Albert Speer. Hitler’s Circle of Evil s1e8: The Rise of the Sycophants, History 2018
He [Hitler] finally gives Goebbels his backing for Total War. Hitler’s Circle of Evil s1e9: Beginning of the End
Goebbels, who has been loyal since the beginning, is devastated. There is no future without Hitler. Hitler’s Circle of Evil s1e10: Meltdown
Magda has her children sedated and she poisons them with cyanide. ibid.
They seem like ordinary men: articulate, educated, civilised. But they will turn into depraved, twisted monsters. They will commit acts of unimaginable cruelty for which they will feel no shame or remorse. Here is true evil. True Evil: The Making of a Nazi s1e1: Josef Goebbels, SBS 2018
Berlin 1945: At the heart of the ruined city the charred remains of Dr Joseph Goebbels and his wife. Joseph Gobbels: the Nazi master of propaganda and marketing. Joseph Goebbels: the man who sold Hitler. ibid.
Hitler is depicted as a national superhero idolised by his screaming fans. ibid.
Brunhilde Pomsel was born on 11th January 1911 and grew up in Berlin. She worked simultaneously for Dr Hugo Goldberg, a Jewish lawyer and insurance broker, and Wulf Bley, an avid National Socialist, until taking a job at the Reich’s broadcasting station in 1933. In 1942 she moved to the office of Joseph Goebbels, the Reich’s propaganda minister, and remained there until the end of the war. Storyville: A German Life: Goebbel’s Secretary Remembers, captions, BBC 2019
Everything that is beautiful is also tainted; and whatever’s horrible also has its bright side. Nothing’s black and white. ibid. Pomsel
I have perhaps worked with more criminals in my life than I know. ibid.
It was such a different, narrow-minded life. ibid.
8th February: The propaganda minister delivers his famous Total War speech. Chronicle of the Third Reich I II III IV, H2 2013
Goebbels’ diary entry 23rd November 1925: Great Joy. He greets me like an old friend. How I love him. The Rise of the Nazi Party s1e1: The Misfits Gather, Discovery 2014
Behind the smart exterior Goebbels is a thug. ibid.
Propaganda chief Joseph Goebbels spread many stories ... one was of a deadly technological breakthrough. Nazi Death Ray, Discovery 2015
Plans were in place for a 5,100-mile-high orbiting death ray – a giant mirror that would focus the sun’s rays. ibid.
Goebbels has created a wave of euphoria in Germany and is in Hitler’s good books. Hitler’s Circle of Evil s1e5: The Berghof Set, Netflix 2018
Goebbels was appointed Minister for Public Enlightenment and Propaganda. Secrets of War s1e45: Nazi Propaganda
‘Radio, of course, Goebbels thought as the supreme method, or instrument, of propaganda.’ ibid. Terry Charman, historian Imperial War Museum