Hitler's First Victims Page 24
23 Siegfried and Meta Goldmann: Ibid., 85.
24 “With great sadness”: Obituary in Fürther Tagblatt, April 18, 1933, reprinted in Birken am Rednitzufer—eine Dokumentation über Dr. Rudolf Benario am 12. April 1933 im KZ Dachau ermordet, Schulprojekt der Hauptschule Soldnerstrasse, Stadt Fürth, 2003, 1.
25 The cause of death was determined: E-mail from Professor Wolfgang Eisenmenger, with detailed comments to the author, January 9, 2014.
26 “Hartinger was very nice to me”: Testimony of Eva Euphrosina Ehlers (Eva Kahn), February 4, 1953, 69–70.
27 “Nevertheless, [Hartinger] advised me”: Ibid.
5 THE STATE OF BAVARIA
1 The headline-making news: “Die neue nationalsozialistische Regierung in Bayern,” Völkischer Beobachter, April 13, 1933.
2 On the last Monday: Frederick T. Birchall, “Incendiary Fire Wrecks Reichstag; 100 Red Members Ordered Seized; Alleged Communist Said to Confess Setting Blaze as Main Chamber Is Ruined—Cabinet Drafts Law to Bar Disseminating Proscribed News Abroad: INCENDIARY FIRE WRECKS REICHSTAG: FAMOUS REICHSTAG BUILDING, DAMAGED BY NIGHT FIRE,” special cable to the New York Times, February 28, 1933. For eyewitness accounts and documentation of the fire, see Walther Hofer, Edouard Calic, and Christoph Graf, eds., Der Reichstagsbrand: Eine wissenschaftliche Dokumentation (Veröffentlichungen des Internationalen Komitees zur Wissenschaftlichen Erforschung des Ursachen und Folgen des Zweiten Weltkrieges), vol. 1 (1972); vol. 2 (1978).
3 “That can only be an attack by the communists”: Franz von Papen, Der Wahrheit eine Gasse (Munich: Paul List Verlag, 1952), 302.
4 “The burning of this symbol”: Robert Jackson’s opening address, November 21, 1945, IMT, vol. 2, 110.
5 “Based on the confiscated materials”: For minutes of the meeting, see “Ministerbesprechung 28. Februar 1933,” in Akten der Reichskanzlei: Regierung Hitler 1933–1938. Teil I: Die Regierung Hitler, vol. 1 (January 20 to August 1933), ed. Karl-Heinz Minuth (Boppard am Rhein: Harald Boldt Verlag, 1983), 128–29. The volume is further noted as Reichskanzleiakten.
6 “Hitler said they were tendentious”: Otto Meissner, Staatssekretär unter Ebert, Hindenburg, Hitler: Der Schicksalsweg des deutschen Volkes, 1918–1945 (Hamburg: Hoffmann und Campe, 1950), 283.
7 “including freedom of the press”: “Verordnung des Reichspräsidenten zum Schutz von Volk und Staat [‘Reichstagsbrandverordnung’],” February 28, 1933: http://www.documentarchiv.de/ns.html.
8 “the conditions incorporated in the German national constitution”: Richard Kessler, Heinrich Held als Parlementarier: Eine Teilbiographie 1868–1924 (Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, 1971), 394.
9 “The recent developments in public affairs”: Letter from Heinrich Held to Hindenburg, February 4, 1933, in Reichskanzleiakten, vol. 1, 45.
10 Held was especially disquieted by “rumors”: Ibid.
11 There was serious concern among Hitler’s ministers: “Ministerbesprechung 28. Februar 1933,” in Reichskanzleiakten, vol. 1, 132.
12 “We are masters of the Reich”: March 5, 1933, entry in Joseph Goebbels Tagebücher, Band 2: 1930–1934, ed. Ralf Georg Reuth (Munich: Piper Verlag, 1999), 773.
13 “we will now tackle Bavaria”: March 8, 1933, entry, ibid., 775.
14 A plan was designed to destabilize: Ibid.
15 On the morning of March 9: Kurt Preis, München unterm Hakenkreuz: Die Hauptstadt der Bewegung zwischen Pracht und Trümmern (Munich: Ehrenwirth, 1980), 21.
16 “I categorically reject this request”: Ibid., 19–20.
17 “The cabinet has decided not to follow”: Ibid., 20.
18 “General von Epp has just assumed”: Ibid.
19 “Since the restructuring of Germany’s political situation”: Ibid., 21.
20 “In order to prevent”: Ibid., 23–24.
21 when Held arrived at work: Karl Schwend, Bayern zwischen Monarchie und Diktatur: Beiträge zur bayerischen Frage in der Zeit von 1918 bis 1933 (Munich: Richard Pflaum Verlag, 1954), 541.
22 “These rough characters”: T. R. Ybarra, “Says Hitler,” Collier’s Weekly, July 1, 1933, 17.
23 “Epp’s Second March”: “Epps zweiter Einmarsch in München,” Völkischer Beobachter, March 10, 1933.
24 the ministry itself was being dissolved: “Die neue nationalsozialistische Regierung in Bayern: Abschaffung des Aussenministeriums, Schaffung einer Staatskanzlei,” Völkischer Beobachter, April 13, 1933.
25 “Everything that has been achieved”: “Die Gleichschaltung—die beste und glücklichste Lösung für Deutschland,” Völkischer Beobachter, April 14–15, 1933.
26 “We owe the former Bavarian State Government”: Letter from Cardinal Faulhaber to Heinrich Held, April 3, 1933, in Ludwig Volk, ed., Akten Kardinal Michael von Faulhabers 1917–1945, vol. 1: 1917–1934 (Mainz: Matthias Grünewald Verlag, 1975), 695.
27 Faulhaber dispatched a “pastoral instruction”: “Pastorale Anweisungen Faulhabers,” ibid., 700.
28 “Right after the putsch”: Letter from Josef Hartinger to the Spruchkammer, September 19, 1946, Nuremberg, StAAm 589.
29 “Whenever the three of us were”: Letter from Josef Hartinger to the Bavarian state minister of justice, August R. Lang, February 11, 1984, DaA 20.109.
30 “It was naïve to think”: Ibid.
31 Reinhard Heydrich, as the new head of Department VI: Peter Longerich, Heinrich Himmler: Biographie (Munich: Siedler Verlag, 2008), 159.
32 “Himmler’s dual capacity”: See Warren Farr’s prosecution, December 20, 1945, IMT, vol. 4, 186.
33 “the position of a judge”: Frank, Im Angesicht des Galgens (Munich-Gräfelfing: Friedrich Alfred Beck Verlag, 1953), 135.
34 “I assumed responsibility”: Ibid., 134.
35 “I considered all of them”: Letter from Josef Hartinger to August R. Lang, February 11, 1984.
6 RUMORS FROM THE WÜRM MILL WOODS
1 a Jewish merchant named Max Neumann: For details on the Max Neumann, Kindermann, and Krel cases, see James Waterman Wise, Swastika: The Nazi Terror (New York: Harrison Smith and Robert Haas, 1933), 54. For a detailed account of early Nazi atrocities, see: SA-Terror als Herrschaftssicherung: “Köpenicker Blutwoche” und öffentliche Gewalt im Nationalsozialismus, ed. Stefan Hördler (Berlin: Metropol Verlag, 2013).
2 “I could count only until the tenth stroke”: Ibid., 54–55.
3 The German Foreign Office: Ibid., 53.
4 “The Reich minister”: “Mitteilungen des Reichsministers des Auswärtigen,” in cabinet meeting of March 7, 1933, Reichskanzleiakten, vol. 1, 166.
5 “The cracking sound hit us”: Rolf Seubert, “Mein lumpiges Vierteljahr Haft …,” in Alfred Andersch “Revisited”: Werkbiographische Studien im Zeichen der Sebald-Debatte, ed. Jörg Döring and Markus Joch (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter Verlag, 2011), 70.
6 “That is fascism”: Hans-Günter Richardi, Schule der Gewalt: Die Anfänge des Konzentrationslagers Dachau 1933–1934: Ein dokumentischer Bericht (Munich: C. H. Beck Verlag, 1995), 90.
7 “If something happens to me”: Ibid.
8 “I saw three men in front of me”: Testimony of Emil Schuler, Nuremberg, March 29, 1951, StAM Stanw 34464/3.
9 the detainee had related the entire incident: Interrogation of Hans Steinbrenner, Garmisch, August 19, 1948, DaA 12.288.
10 “I received the order”: Testimony of Matthias Grel, Tutzing, November 9, 1950, StAM Stanw 33462/7.
11 A message was smuggled: “Dachau: The 1st Concentration Camp,” Holocaust Education and Archive Research Team: http://www.holocaustresearchproject.org/othercamps/dachau.html.
12 Louis Lochner of the Associated Press: Andrew Nagorski, Hitlerland: American Eyewitnesses to the Nazi Rise to Power (New York: Simon & Schuster, 2012), 124–25.
13 Edgar Mowerer of the Chicago Tribune: Ibid., 125.
14 “If there had been anything left of me”: Ibid.
15 “Permission to make the visit”: “Nazis Shoot Down Fleeing Prisoners,
” New York Times, April 23, 1933, 22. Subsequent quotes and descriptions refer to the New York Times article referenced here.
16 “Today, I would like to thank”: Letter from Cardinal Faulhaber to Hilmar Wäckerle, April 26, 1933, in Ludwig Volk, ed., Akten Kardinal Michael von Faulhabers 1917–1945, vol. 1: 1917–1934 (Mainz: Matthias Grünewald Verlag, 1975), 718.
17 “My guards consist of 120 storm troop men”: Ibid. According to Richardi, the number of SS men in Dachau on April 20, 1933, was 217. See Richardi, Schule der Gewalt, 55.
18 In a three-page report: Wintersberger’s official report, “Tötung flüchtiger Gefangener im Sammellager Dachau,” April 24, 1933, USHMM 1995 A. 104: 67–69.
19 In those same days: Seubert, “Mein lumpiges Vierteljahr Haft …,” 107.
7 THE UTILITY OF ATROCITY
1 The camp’s alarm and communication system: For a memo on the need to update the facility’s security and electrical systems, see “Präsidium der Regierung von Oberbayern an Kommando der Schutzpolizei. Betreff: Lagerwache Dachau,” Munich March 27, 1933, DaA 4118.
2 “possibilities for enemy assault”: Regulations by the Bavarian state police, “Abwehr von Angriffen,” BayHStA Lapo Kdo. Bd. 8.
3 “The first measure”: Ibid.
4 “Wäckerle … was constantly afraid of an attack”: Testimony of Emil Schuler, Nuremberg, March 29, 1951, StAM Stanw 34464/3.
5 “As the battle commences”: Gerhard Schmolze, ed., Revolution und Räterrepublik in München 1918/19 in Augenzeugenberichten (Düsseldorf: Karl Rausch Verlag, 1969), 381.
6 “We will meet again”: The speech took place on February 12, 1933. See Christopher Dillon, “We’ll Meet Again in Dachau: The Early Dachau SS and the Narrative of Civil War,” Journal of Contemporary History 45, no. 3 (2010): 544.
7 “A very energetic police captain”: Memorandum, “Präsidium der Regierung von Oberbayern an Kommando der Schutzpolizei. Betreff: Lagerwache Dachau,” Munich, March 20, 1933, DaA A-4118.
8 That same day: Rolf Seubert, “Mein lumpiges Vierteljahr Haft …,” in Alfred Andersch “Revisited”: Werkbiographische Studien im Zeichen der Sebald-Debatte, ed. Jörg Döring and Markus Joch (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter Verlag, 2011), 63.
9 Unwilling to subject the detainees: Hans-Günter Richardi, Schule der Gewalt: Die Anfänge des Konzentrationslagers Dachau 1933–1934: Ein dokumentischer Bericht (Munich: C. H. Beck Verlag, 1995), 69.
10 “The prisoners were treated decently”: Testimony of Johann Kugler, Passau, April 26, 1951, StAM Stanw 34464/3. See also Kugler deposition, Passau, February 10, 1933, StAM Stanw 34465.
11 “We worked with the soldiers”: Richardi, Schule der Gawalt, 56.
12 “the imprisonment of the detainees was unlawful”: Ibid., 52.
13 “We have not come here”: Ibid., 54.
14 “Yes, that was horrible”: Ibid.
15 “guards were to strictly refrain from assaulting prisoners”: Testimony of Hermann Weyrauther, Traunstein, March 13, 1951, StAM Stanw 34465.
16 “knock off a few Jews”: Ibid.
17 “I was walking”: Testimony of Wilhelm Brink, Munich, October 18, 1950, StAM Stanw 34462/7.
18 “The transfer is to take place”: Protocol, Munich, April 7, 1933, BayHSta Lapo Kdo. Bd. 8.
19 “For security and training”: Ibid.
20 “The first time I saw Wäckerle”: Interrogation of Hans Steinbrenner, Garmisch, August 19, 1948, DaA 12.288.
21 “When Hitler took over power”: Curriculum vitae, “Lebenslauf Hilmar Wäckerle,” May 15, 1936, DaA 38.634.
22 “I was with the party”: Ibid.
23 The transport from Fürth and Nuremberg: Seubert, “Mein lumpiges Vierteljahr Haft …,” 76.
24 “I should note in this context”: Testimony of Emil Schuler, Nuremberg, March 29, 1951, StAM Stanw 34464/3.
25 The SS men exercised: Richardi, Schule der Gewalt, 89.
26 Franck designed the camp registration system: Testimony of Otto Franck, Kaiserslautern, October 24, 1951, StAM Stanw 34464/3.
27 “an entire shift of guards”: Testimony of Emil Schuler, March 29, 1951, StAM Stanw 34464/3.
28 “They [the SS guards] did not know”: Richardi, Schule der Gewalt, 62.
29 On April 25, Wäckerle received: Dachau transport list dated April 24, 1933. International Tracing Service. Doc ID 9908504, 1.1.6.1, ITS Digital Archives.
30 “people who … served as spies within the NSDAP”: Transport list: Bayerische Politische Polizei, Munich, April 24, 1933, USHMM, Doc 9908504#1.
31 “Beimler, number 7”: Ibid.
32 “the time will come to end all anguish”: Protocol mentioning Beimler, “Bayrischer Landtag. 4. Sitzung vom 17 Juni 1932,” DaA A-1279: 82–86.
33 “The corpses were plundered”: Münchner Neueste Nachrichten, May 3, 1919. The article is based on hearsay and presents an inaccurate account of the incident. It does, however, capture the traumatic response to the Luitpold High School incident. Within right-wing circles, the event became the defining moment of the Soviet Republic of Bavaria, as suggested in the number of books on the subject, including Der Geiselmord in München: Ausführliche Darstellung der Schreckentage im Luitpold-Gymnasium (Munich: Hochschul-Verlag, 1919) and Ein Jahr bayerische Revolution im Bild (1919) by Heinrich Hoffmann, Adolf Hitler’s future photographer. Hoffmann published this “photographic report” with 130 images that included the high school, the courtyard execution site, and the prominent personalities who were shot.
34 Steinbrenner recalled that Wäckerle: Dillon, “We’ll Meet Again in Dachau,” 546.
8 STEINBRENNER UNLEASHED
1 Steinbrenner approached one man who was suffering: Testimony of Fritz Irlbeck, Marktredwitz, October 24, 1950, 34439.
2 drove his knee into the stomach: Ibid.
3 Steinbrenner headed the Schlägergruppe: “Abschrift, Landesausschuss der pol. Verfolgten in Bayern an das Bayerische Staatsministerium der Justiz. Herrn Dr. Lachenbauer: Angehörige der sogenannten Schlägergruppe in Dachau,” March 18, 1948, StAM Stanw 34464/1.
4 “After a few strokes”: Testimony of Hans Steinbrenner, Garmisch, August 19, 1948, DaA 12.288.
5 Kasimir Dittenheber, who worked: Testimony of Kasimir Dittenheber, February 15, 1950, StAM Stanw 34439.
6 “Steinbrenner placed the greatest value”: Testimony of Friedrich Schaper, Kriminalaussenstelle Coburg in Kronach, July 27, 1948, StAM Stanw 34464/3.
7 “the spiritual leader of all abuses”: Testimony of Willibald Schmitt, Munich, November 3, 1950, StAM Stanw 34464/2.
8 to Wäckerle, he was simply “Hans”: Testimony of Josef Hirsch, Munich, December 27, 1949, StAM Stanw 34439.
9 Steinbrenner set his men upon: Unless otherwise noted, the description and dialogue presented in this chapter relating to Beimler’s incarceration and treatment in the camp is taken from Beimler’s memoir first published in August 1933 in the Soviet Union in German: Im Mörderlager Dachau: Vier Wochen unter den braunen Banditen (Moscow and Leningrad: Verlagsgenossenschaft ausländischer Arbeiter in der UdSSR). The forty-seven-page book appeared in English the same year with the title Four Weeks in the Hands of Hitler’s Hell-Hounds: The Nazi Murder Camp of Dachau (New York: Modern Library). The book was reissued in 2012 and includes a biography on Beimler by Friedbert Mühldorfer: Hans Beimler, Im Mörderlager Dachau: Um eine biographische Skizze ergänzt von Friedbert Mühldorfer (Cologne: Papy Rossa Verlag, 2012).
10 Andreas Irrgang was on the same transport: Testimony of Andreas Irrgang, February 14, 1951, StAM Stanw 34464/2.
11 They entered the wire enclosure: Police sketch of the bunker by Emil Schuler included in the investigation files, Hans Steinbrenner, StAM Stanw 34439.
12 “If I wasn’t wrapping a blanket”: Interrogation of Hans Steinbrenner, Garmisch, August 19, 1948, DaA 12.288.
13 The word “Wache”: Beimler, Im Mörderlager Dachau, 45.
14 “Only after Hunglinger’s brother agreed”: Deposition of Josef Hartinger, “Abschrift vo
n Abschrift Landesgerichtsdirektor Hartinger, Betrifft Vorgänge im Konzentrationslager Dachau,” Amberg, July 13, 1949, DaA 8834.
9 THE GUMBEL REPORT
1 In 1922, Emil Gumbel: Emil J. Gumbel, Vier Jahre politischer Mord (Berlin-Fichtenau: Verlag der Neuen Gesellschaft, 1922).
2 In the town of Perlach: Ibid., 27–42.
3 “How are such things possible”: Ibid., 87.
4 the “psychological brutalization”: Ibid., 146.
5 application of the law on “protective custody”: Ibid., 90.
6 “Don’t make such a scene”: For details on the case of Max Mauer, shot on October 31, 1921, ibid., 116–18.
7 “According to the law of March 20”: Ibid., 117–18.
8 “The murderer goes free”: Ibid., 149.
9 Between 1919 and 1921: Ibid., 147.
10 “If we are to find a satisfactory”: Ibid., 92.
11 “They are making themselves culpable”: Ibid., 147.
12 His father had served: The Wittelsbach rulers first attained the title of king in 1806, when they were so named by Napoleon. For details on Hartinger’s family background, see his personnel file with the prosecutor’s office, BayHStA MJu 26792.
13 “Cannonier Josef Hartinger”: Hartinger’s personnel file, prosecutor’s file.
14 Hartinger’s “technical abilities”: Performance review of officers, 6th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment, February 23, 1918, BayHStA Abt.IV, OP 16158.
15 “The bursting of shells”: “Die grosse Schlacht in Frankreich,” in Bayrisches Feldartillerie Regiment 10, 128–64, BayHStA Abt.IV ABsw3777.
16 Bavaria’s Military Service Medal: Hartinger’s performance review, “Dienstliche Würdigung Joseph Hartingers durch den Generalstaatsanwalt des Oberlandesgerichts München und den Oberstaatsanwalt des Landgerichts München II,” June 1, 1931, personnel file, prosecutor’s office. BayHStA MJu 26797.
17 Hans Steinbrenner was just thirteen: Christopher Dillon, “We’ll Meet Again in Dachau: The Early Dachau SS and the Narrative of Civil War,” Journal of Contemporary History 45, no. 3 (2010): 546–47.