MUSIC: Hast Du Schon Berlin Bei Nacht Gesehen? by Richard Forst
Berlin, autumn 1932.
The last sunny days before winter.
The people get up, go to work, stroll along the street,
sit outside cafes, go to the cinema, or perhaps to the cabaret.
But one in three people is unemployed.
They live in tenements or shanties and they are hungry.
Street battles are a daily occurrence.
Political murders are part of everyday life.
The country is divided.
At the Reichstag elections in November,
the National Socialists, under Adolf Hitler, become the strongest party.
They and the Communists, under Ernst Thalmann,
make up the majority in the Reichstag.
A stable government cannot be formed.
In December, Kurt von Schleicher becomes Reich Chancellor
without a majority and with little backing.
In Berlin, the street battles intensify, the cracks deepen.
The new year has to bring a decision.
It is a year we know about through diaries and letters,
photographs and films.
New Year's Eve is fast approaching.
TRANSLATION: - It was a very quiet night.
Surprisingly, I had almost nothing to do.
At around ten, a former hospital clerk named Elter was admitted.
He was doubled over and complaining of severe pains
in the appendix region.
The weather was dry but quite cold. No snow.
- TRANSLATION: - The President's New Year reception proceeded
in the customary way, as it has for years.
Presidential guard drill, diplomatic corps in attendance,
public appearance of the government, speeches and responses.
- TRANSLATION: - Severe cramps,
and my little Elna had had toothaches,
so we went to bed on New Year's Day at 7pm
and spent the whole night whimpering at one another.
Today, Elna went to the dentist.
She returned home very satisfied with the meticulous treatment
and almost free from pain.
Her treatment is supposed to continue tomorrow.
- MUSIC: Die Arbeiter Von Wien
# Wir sind das Bauvolk der kommenden Welt... #
- When I was in Charlottenstrasse today at five, I heard people sing.
They were workers on their way to a Communist rally.
I saw almost only young people.
80% were under 30, marked by bitterness and frustration.
Their clothes and their emaciated faces
suggested that most of them were unemployed.
Their leader gave three cheers for the Red Front.
Every voice and every fist was raised three times in a row.
An unsettling factor is the number of political murders.
The fifth political murder since New Year's
was reported from Breslau.
Fights in Hamburg, Erfurt and Aachen were also reported.
- TRANSLATION: - My work at the hospital proceeds as follows.
In the morning, at quarter to nine, I go to the ward.
Then I go to the outpatients clinic to sign some paperwork.
I have around 25 to 40 patients to examine each day.
Sometimes it's eczema, sometimes gonorrhoea, sometimes syphilis.
At eight, I met up with Lilie.
We went to Aschinger, and then the usual.
She wanted cigarettes, ate a sausage, drank beer,
all at my expense, of course.
And yet, after I had drunk several beers, at around 11,
we still went to our old local in Steinmetzstrasse.
When I think about it, it all seems like a big mistake.
- TRANSLATION: - Trouble is brewing in Berlin.
We went to Bulowplatz. The streets were overrun by Communist rabble.
Dangerous to drive through there, but all went well.
The police made sure no-one could shoot at us from the windows.
At exactly 2pm, Hitler arrived.
Our SA marched in front of Karl-Liebknecht-Haus.
A splendid sight.
Terrible loss of face for the Communists.
Bulowplatz is ours.
- I ask myself whether the Nazis could be satisfied.
Their 15,000 men were chased away to the four winds
without the protection of 16,000 policemen
of armoured vehicles and machine guns.
At Alexanderplatz, the streets were blocked by counter-demonstrators.
It was pure luck that the day didn't end in a bloodbath.
Two people were killed, over 60 were injured.
- TRANSLATION: - Our barometer by the window
was showing -18 degrees today.
How cold must it be outside?
I hope Elna's little nose didn't freeze
when she was waiting at the tram stop.
God will protect my brave little girl.
- We went to 132 Ackerstrasse.
The huge building included a number of narrow back yards
and was five storeys high.
In the second back yard, we went up the stairs to one of the apartments.
I looked at the walls.
There was hardly a centimetre that wasn't cracked or punctured.
The walls were damp or rancid.
Even the woodwork of the windows was mouldy
and was swollen from the dampness.
- TRANSLATION: - Dr Hess presented a patient with suspected tuberculosis.
He is 52 years old, has lost a great deal of weight recently,
night sweats and coughing up blood.
The X-ray showed a lung tumour, probably cancerous.
At 8:30pm, I met Lilie at Aschinger.
She had a glass of beer in front of her, had already eaten,
and was smoking her sixth cigarette.
Our conversation was dull.
She was angry that I didn't pay for her.
We parted very coolly.
- TRANSLATION: - Meal with Hitler. Very political.
Hitler remarkable, as ever.
We went to see the film The Rebel again.
I am awestruck once more. What a great film.
- MAN CALLS OUT
MAN REPLIES
- In the film's climax, French soldiers invade Tyrol.
Farmers throw huge piles of rocks and wood on them.
Bang, bang, crash.
A portion of the audience wildly cheered
as the French were massacred.
There was a big rush in front of the UFA-Palast.
The UFA, like so many other publishers and newspapers,
belongs to Alfred Hugenberg,
the leader of the German National People's Party.
- The Hugenberg party still hoped to form a government with Hitler,
but the price seemed to be high.
Many people are plotting against Schleicher.
- TRANSLATION: - A reception with the French ambassador, Francois-Poncet.
Jostling crowds.
Schleicher's imminent fall was the topic on everyone's lips.
It's an orgy of backroom politics.
- In the evening, Tempo published a sensational story.
A new government will be formed with Hitler, Von Papen and Hugenberg.
I called friends to hear their opinion.
One said the Tempo was just being sensationalist
and that I shouldn't pay them any attention.
- TRANSLATION: - Schleicher has been toppled.
I'm overcome with waves of nausea
at the thought of those notorious jackasses and chancers
being back in government.
- Something was brewing.
Hugenberg spoke out for a Cabinet with Hitler.
What does that mean?
- TRANSLATION: - The annual press ball in the evening.
Lots of beautiful, elegant women.
- TRANSLATION: - I had to attend the press ball
on behalf of my newspaper. Who flirted with whom?
Who held forth? Who accompanied whom?
Who sat with whom?
That's what the readers want to know the next morning.
- TRANSLATION: - It was the strangest atmosphere I've ever experienced.
Everyone sensed what was in the air.
No-one wanted to believe it was true.
The government box, which at these events is usually full of ministers,
state secretaries, diplomats, was empty.
- TRANSLATION: - It has got much warmer. Only -1 today.
Light snowfall.
At the moment, we have a serious flu epidemic.
The hospital is overcrowded.
Internal medicine has borrowed wards from us and the surgical department.
They don't know where to put all their patients.
- TRANSLATION: - Little Elna came home with a fever yesterday.
She has been coughing and spluttering for weeks.
All that miserable waiting around at tram stops
and the sudden change in weather
have affected the poor girl terribly.
- TRANSLATION: - The Social Democrats and the Iron Front
held a demonstration in the Lustgarten.
More than 100,000 people, countless red flags.
In front of the palace, a large red banner - "Berlin stays red".
The Social Democrat MP Kunstler held a speech.
I didn't see any Communists, although they had intended
to demonstrate there, too.
A great seething crowd.
- TRANSLATION: - It seems Papen or Hitler will form a Cabinet.
A slight bout of the flu, which I'm fighting with alcohol and sleep.
Germany, what will become of you?
- UNTRANSLATED
TRANSLATION: - The newspaper seller on the corner
has the afternoon edition torn from his hands.
The headline accompanies me the short distance home,
up two flights of stairs, and lies before me on the table.
Adolf Hitler is Reich Chancellor.
- CHANTING
CHEERING
TRANSLATION: - The Cabinet has been hastily put together.
Hitler is there with Dr Frick and Goering.
But Hugenberg, Papen and Defence Minister Blomberg
are present to keep him in check.
So it is neither a National Socialist
nor a revolutionary government, although it bears Hitler's name.
It's not a Third Reich, barely even a two-and-a-half Reich.
- TRANSLATION: - Carnival Atmosphere.
SA and SS troops in uniformed Stahlhelm patrol the streets.
Spectators throng the pavements.
In and around the Hotel Kaiserhof was one big party.
The whole square was full of gawkers.
- TRANSLATION: - At the old Reich Chancellery, behind closed windows,
standing erect like a statue hewn from marble,
was Reich President Von Hindenburg.
He looked magnificent.
Two buildings down, Adolf Hitler greeted the cheering masses
with the fascist salute.
It was an uplifting sight.
The whole of Berlin on its feet.
Everyone inflamed by nationalist fervour.
Our fatherland.
- TRANSLATION: - Images and gestures that no photographer captures.
Men and women who avert their eyes when the brown uniforms pass by.
Who hurry home and disappear indoors.
Or those who find it hard to conceal their fury,
their powerlessness, their pain or their fear.
A young girl has tears pouring down her face.
Bystanders move away.
- After the torchlight procession, two people were killed.
SA Sturmfuhrer Maikowski and a police officer.
- TRANSLATION: - Thousands of Siemens workers travel to the factory
for the early shift.
The railway carriage smells of sweat and cold smoke.
People sit bleary-eyed on the seats.
Some of them hang their heads.
We thrust fliers into everybody's hand.
No-one argues.
No-one seems to get het up.
They take the fliers from us wordlessly.
Some people read them, most put them straight in their pocket.
- TRANSLATION: - Hitler heads a government
that we can and must fight. But after all,
it is a constitutionally legitimate government.
If we organise a general strike now, the government
will do everything it can to make us incapable of action.
We tried to stop the fascists coming to power
and now we have to drive them out of power.
- TRANSLATION: - The streets are flooded with brown SA uniforms.
Countless civilians wear a swastika badge on their lapel
or have at least donned a brown shirt.
- TRANSLATION: - My patients speak of nothing else.
Many of them are filled with joy.
Many of them look worried.
They agree on one thing only.
Everything will be different now.
I hear how they believe in him,
or want to believe in him.
Ready to serve him.
- TRANSLATION: - The Reichstag has been dissolved.
New elections are to take place
on the 5th of March.
The government has banned the Communist demonstration this Friday
and the Social Democratic Party demonstration
in the Lustgarten on Sunday.
- TRANSLATION: - Commanding generals and station commanders
have been summoned to Berlin to meet Hitler in person.
- TRANSLATION: - I was introduced to him before dinner.
Afterwards, in a speech, he outlined his approach.
- TRANSLATION: - The sole aim of general policy -
regaining political power,
exterminating Marxism root and branch,
tightest authoritarian state leadership,
eliminating the cancer that is democracy...
..fighting for new export opportunities and, better still,
perhaps, the conquest of new living space in the East
and its merciless Germanisation.
- TRANSLATION: - No political goals were declared
that might give cause for concern.
- The emergency ordinance was issued today.
It contains drastic regulations for political gatherings
and demonstrations and restrictions for the press.
- TRANSLATION: - Press bans everywhere.
Very careful use of language.
We must once again learn to read between the lines.
National Socialists are occupying all the government posts.
- TRANSLATION: - Hitler is filling all positions of power
with his own people.
The interior ministries, the police,
schools, universities, the radio.
- TRANSLATION: - Adolf Hitler took his first steps
on the diplomatic stage.
Everybody was watching him.
The former Corporal appeared rather uncomfortable in his new role.
He kept reaching for the place where his uniform belt would have been.
He crumpled his handkerchief and seemed struck with stage fright.
- BELLS PEAL
- The state funeral for the Nazi gangster Maikowski.
Maikowski murdered a Communist in December.
In the night of the 31st of January, he and a policeman were shot.
The police officer was an alleged supporter of the left.
- TRANSLATION: - At 11:45am, I was finally able to push my way
through the crowd and into the cathedral,
which was filled to capacity.
At the front, by the altar, the two coffins lay on biers.
Yes, may the Lord in all his mercy bring these two faithful souls
home to Him.
Through the night, into the light, through struggle to freedom.
- TRANSLATION: - Social Democratic Party Chairman Wels explained
that he had convened the meeting with trade union representatives
in order to discuss what final defensive measures might be taken.
He said that factory workers were constantly asking
when they should lay down their tools.
The idea of a united front with the Communist Party
was a popular topic, he said.
Arrests and press bans were increasing.
Trade union leader Leipart posed the question
of what our goals in case of a general strike would be.
Those workers who are still employed
would certainly have to fear losing what might well be their last job.
- TRANSLATION: - Yesterday morning, I told the doctor
that Elna's condition had worsened.
He prescribed a new medicine.
I was given something to help with my cough
because my home remedies have achieved nothing.
Elna has a fever again today.
- TRANSLATION: - There wasn't much to do on the ward today.
I only examined four patients in total.
I left at six and met Trude.
We went to the Metro-Palast on the Chausseestrasse.
and watched the film F.P.1 Doesn't Answer, starring Hans Albers.
- # Flieger, gruss mir die Sonne
# Gruss mir die Sterne und gruss mir den Mond
# Dein Leben, das ist das Schweben
# Durch die Ferne die keiner bewohnt
# Schneller und immer schneller
# Dreht der Propeller Wie es mir grade gefallt
# Piloten ist nichts verboten
# Un' mit Vollgas dusen sie um die Welt
# Such dir die schonste Sternenschnuppe aus
# Und bring sie deinem Madel mit nach Haus
# Flieger, gruss mir die Sonne
# Gruss mir die Sterne und gruss mir den Mond... #
GUNFIRE
TRANSLATION: - The film was mediocre.
I can't understand why such a big fuss has been made of it.
- I try to go to Hitler's mass meetings.
It started at eight, but when I arrived at six
the roads to the hall were already blocked.
- CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
RAUCOUS CHEERS
TRANSLATION: - I was able to get a ticket.
My seat wasn't far from the speaker's platform.
Suddenly, everyone stood up.
Hitler appeared through a door at the back of the hall.
- CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
CHEERING SUBSIDES
- As he began to speak, there was silence.
I don't know at what point it happened,
but the audience became electrified.
Thousands of people leap out of their seats,
raising their arms towards the Fuhrer.
They're laughing, crying, or simply gawping.
I look at the woman next to me.
Fat beads of sweat are trickling down her face.
The atmosphere in the hall is one of malicious glee.
- APPLAUSE
APPLAUSE SUBSIDES
SHOUTING AND CLAPPING
- Followed by his staff, Hitler makes his way towards the exit.
The men look drained. The women have dark rings around their eyes.
I hurry away.
- TRANSLATION: - The rally, which Goebbels claims
20 to 30 million Germans listened to on the radio,
was doubtless a great success for Hitler.
What a successful instrument of propaganda the radio has become
and how little use have Hitler's opponents made of it to date.
- TRANSLATION: - My dear child, the market is dominated by influenza
and "Heil Hitler".
The flu is bad but, strangely, I haven't caught it.
Business is slow. All of our customers are laid low.
Hitler's appointment came as a shock.
Yesterday, Theo told me that we had received
no new printing orders all week.
But otherwise things are calm.
- TRANSLATION: - When I examine my patients, I notice more and more
of them are wearing swastikas under their clothing.
For the first time, one of my patients
spoke about Jews in a derogatory manner.
- TRANSLATION: - Elna is much better. On Friday, I informed the doctor.
On Saturday, we got the sick note.
Today, I took Elna outside for the first time.
- TRANSLATION: - I made my rounds in the morning at around 9:30am.
At ten, I went to church, where the pastor gave a good sermon.
In the evening, Friedl called. She says she wants to see me again.
So, in a way, I now have three girls - Trude, Friedl and Lilie.
But I definitely like Trude best.
- TRANSLATION: - Goering is cracking down.
One governor after the other is being toppled.
Admiral Levetzow has been named Chief of Police for Berlin.
Lutze is Police Chief in Hanover and Schepmann in Dortmund.
- The SA was equipped with the newest model of an automatic pistol
and the police is now instructed by Goering to shoot first
and ask questions later.
- TRANSLATION: - Any police officer who uses a firearm
will be protected by me regardless of the consequences.
Officers should always remember that failure to take action
weighs heavier than mistakes made when taking action.
- TRANSLATION: - Ossietzky was supposed to give a speech
at a League of German Writers meeting.
Erich Muhsam rushed to our table, where the speaker sat,
and spread out the evening paper,
which had just appeared with Goering's "shoot first" decree.
Any noise from outside startled us as we were expecting
the nationalists' shooting spree to begin.
Ossietzky was not a good orator.
He held tight to the table, head bowed, barely lifting his voice.
There was nothing of the people's champion about him.
He didn't seem capable of rousing anybody to action.
- TRANSLATION: - My parents rented
their first real apartment in Bayerische Strasse
and furnished it according to their taste.
Very modern, with black Bauhaus furniture.
Those elegant chairs made of steel tubes.
- TRANSLATION: - My dear child, the flu has found its way to us after all.
Edith and Marta have been in bed four days. Just imagine.
On Sunday, I ate at your brother Werner's house.
He takes a serious view of the political situation
and thinks it will lead to his ruin.
But if he were still in the Communist Party,
it would be even worse for him.
Despite those dark topics, I very much enjoyed being there.
And the stuffed pigeons were exquisite.
For the time being, Jews have nothing to fear.
There are hardly any in the civil service
and new laws can't be introduced that quickly.
- TRANSLATION: - Office, Berlin, work.
Still not enough money. Our propaganda work is faltering.
I watched the Fuhrer's Sportpalast speech.
It was a triumph.
It will be crucial for our propaganda campaign.
- APPLAUSE
TRANSLATION: - I received a telegram from Goering
that read roughly as follows.
"Invitation to an important meeting in the palais
"of the Reichstag President."
I felt obliged to attend, and upon arrival I found
40 to 50 representatives of business and industry.
- TRANSLATION: - Hitler arrived with Dr Wagner
and greeted every attendee with a handshake.
In Hitler's opinion, the 6 to 8 million Communist voters in Germany
are proof of how dangerous the situation is.
He says only the NSDAP can save the country
from the Communist threat.
He expressed his commitment to private property
and the right of inheritance.
- TRANSLATION: - After Hitler left the room, Dr Schacht proposed
setting up an election fund of, as far as I remember,
3 million Reichsmarks.
- TRANSLATION: - Hitler is continuing his election campaign.
Newsreels show Hitler in Cologne,
Hamburg, Stuttgart, Nuremberg, Munich,
Breslau and Koenigsberg.
He travels in his own private aeroplane,
his head protected from the wind and cold by a leather cap.
- TRANSLATION: - Several meetings I attended have been attacked
and many of those present had to be taken away with serious injuries.
In Hindenburg, a comrade narrowly escaped
being beaten to death.
I had a similar experience in Langenbielau.
One of my companions was struck down.
A lot of people were injured in Breslau.
I would request that meetings no longer take place
with myself in attendance.
- TRANSLATION: - My manservant Friedrich says he must leave me.
His father, a Nazi and old civil servant in Pankow,
has commanded him to do so because unpleasant things
are expected to happen in my house soon.
The boy was white as chalk.
Wieland Herzfelde told me that, according to reliable sources,
the Nazis are planning a fake assassination attempt on Hitler
as the signal to start a bloodbath.
His information came from the SA in Dortmund
and from a wiretapped conversation between Hitler himself and Rohm.
- TRANSLATION: - I took Peter to the zoo.
It was a relief to watch the elegant wading birds
like flamingos and cranes, whose gorgeous colours waft over one
and are more beautiful than anything I know.
What a delight it would be to lie in the sun,
in the place these birds call home.
- TRANSLATION: - It seems likely that the SA will occupy Berlin.
Heinrich Mann has departed for the Riviera.
Thomas Mann is in Paris.
Alfred Kerr is in Prague.
They have no desire to be accosted by barbarous Nazis
or possibly even killed.
- TRANSLATION: - Almost every day, letters arrived for Muhsam
containing death threats,
or he'd get telephone calls predicting his imminent demise.
He wanted to leave early on the 28th.
His suitcase was packed and everything was ready.
- ALARM RINGS
TRANSLATION: - The planned assassination attempt
took place today - not on Hitler, but on the Reichstag building.
- TRANSLATION: - Fire in four places. Fire brigade sounded the alarm.
Assembly chamber in flames. Telephone connections lost.
- TRANSLATION: - The whole building was on fire.
Following the thick firemen's houses,
we made our way to the lobby.
Evidence of arson was found in four separate places.
There is no doubt that the Communists
are trying to seize power using arson and terror tactics.
Communist deputies have been arrested
and the SA has been alerted.
- TRANSLATION: - They have arrested some poor soul,
allegedly a Dutch communist called Marinus van der Lubbe,
and charged him with arson.
They say he ignited flammable material
at more than 30 sites around the building.
- TRANSLATION: - I wanted the workers to revolt against the political order.
I wanted them to see this as the signal for a united rebellion.
- TRANSLATION: - Carl came home.
My first question was, "What are we going to do now?"
"First, let's go to bed," he said.
I repeated, "Carl, you have to flee."
Carl shook his head. "No, I'll wait another three days."
- TRANSLATION: - At five o'clock, when we were still sleeping,
two detective superintendents from the Berlin Police
came and arrested Erich Muhsam
In parting, he said to me, "My dear Zenzl, things are coming to a head.
"I think it will be even worse this time."
Then he left, as calm as ever.
- TRANSLATION: - Carl went to the bathroom and washed
while I quickly brewed coffee and made him a sandwich.
His last words to me were, "Chin up. I'll be back soon."
I went to the window, my feet like lead.
A private car was waiting at the corner.
Three men climbed inside with Carl in the middle.
Then the car shot off like an arrow.
- TRANSLATION: - Since morning, the government has been arresting
Communist MPs, lawyers, writers.
They include Egon Erwin Kisch, Erich Muhsam,
Ludwig Renn, Carl von Ossietzky.
Torgler, the Communist chairman, handed himself over to the police.
It is said that he was seen with the arsonist.
- TRANSLATION: - A person was presented to me
who I was told was the arsonist Van der Lubbe.
I declare that I have never before seen this person
and that I do not know him.
- TRANSLATION: - The tram is densely packed.
Most of the people hide their faces behind their newspaper.
I look over someone's shoulder.
The president has issued a decree.
Death penalty for treason, arson or attacks on the government.
Restrictions on personal freedom.
No privacy of postal, telegraphic and telephonic communications,
house searches at any time of the day or night.
- TRANSLATION: - Goering has had hundreds if not thousands
of people in Germany arrested.
Nobody that I have spoken to believes
it was a Communist arson attack.
- TRANSLATION: - Full scale panic.
The Communist Party leader, Thalmann, was arrested
in Charlottenburg today.
- TRANSLATION: - My beloved Maudie,
since yesterday evening, I have been in Spandau Prison.
You will already have heard that I am being held in protective custody.
It's possible that this is just a temporary measure.
I'm currently not allowed to receive visitors.
- The Nazis waged the election campaign in a very impressive way.
The huge Nazi posters that littered the cities and the countryside.
The many brown uniforms.
The frequent parades of the Brown Army,
the mass meetings and the daily broadcasts of election speeches
on the radio have already given the impression
that there is only one big party in Germany.
- TRANSLATION: - There is a fear of pogroms,
but I don't think things will go that far.
Nonetheless, the tension is hard to bear.
I would like 5th of March to be over.
- TRANSLATION: - God knows what terrible things lie ahead for us
in the coming days and weeks.
We beg for God's mercy.
Berlin - 1st of March, 1933.
Adolf Hitler has been Reich Chancellor for one month.
He leads a cabinet of national socialists, monarchists,
nationalist dreamers and militarists.
Their shared goal is the end of the Weimar Republic,
the elimination of democracy.
They purge the ministries and civil service,
occupy the police and government offices.
Ban newspapers and bring the press and radio under their control.
Thousands of Social Democrats and communists vanish into jails
and ad hoc torture chambers.
The Catholic Centre Party and liberals are harassed.
Demonstrations are banned,
meetings broken up.
Violence and propaganda rule the streets.
But there is still an opposition and an election is coming up.
On the 5th of March, Hitler hopes that the people
will confirm his position.
This is the Republic's last chance.
- The first warm springlike day.
The weather is wonderful.
I had to queue for about a quarter of an hour at the polling station.
No Social Democrats or communists at the door.
The porter had hung out Swastika flags.
- After we voted, we went to see the Reichstag building.
Its dome has lost almost all its windows.
On weekdays, there are tours of the fire damaged building.
- Voter turnout was remarkable.
The radio reports 90%.
Erich, his wife and their visitors are sitting in front of it
listening to the results.
- We were sitting in a pub to listen
to the election results.
Some SA men held their revolvers to our chests.
They forced us to go into their Sturm pub.
Once inside, they called us communist pigs
and we were brutally beaten.
Then we were taken to the SA headquarters on Hedemannstrasse.
Shouting, "Heil, Hitler,"
they forced us to kneel down and recite the Lord's Prayer
and then to sing the Nazi Party anthem.
Anyone who didn't immediately obey was beaten unconscious.
We had to take off all our clothes.
During the interrogation, they kept whipping us.
- I'm on duty today.
We had two admissions - both of them communists who were delivered
to the hospital by National Socialists after being given
a good beating.
There's no sympathy for them here.
- A crippling fear and faint heartedness
is infiltrating the labour movement.
Friends of mine have openly admitted that they fear for their lives
and that of their wives and children.
- The National Socialists election victory is massive.
I've included the final result here.
- In coalition with the People's Party,
the Nazis apparently have a majority of around 51%.
- There was an interesting map with the results
in the Berliner Tageblatt.
The Nazis have the fewest supporters in the far south of the country.
They also didn't do well in Westphalia, Cologne,
Koblenz and Dusseldorf.
Their greatest victory, the east of the country -
East Prussia, Pomerania and Silesia,
but also in Schleswig and Hanover.
- The Reichstag election campaign has already been paid off.
Not only did we not lose any money,
we ended up with a tremendous surplus.
The shell of my future ministry is just being finished.
It will have five large departments
covering film, theatre, press and radio.
- On Tauentzienstrasse, the same hustle and bustle as ever,
except for the people collecting money in tins
with swastikas on them.
I go there often to meet up with my gang of gossips
around Wittenbergplatz, and we sit on the Silver Terrace in KaDeWe
and bemoan the state of the world.
I'm aware that we're still doing just fine, so long as we're able
to sit there undisturbed drinking coffee.
- The street vendor is doing a roaring trade in swastika insignia.
Little boys in particular are buying them
and attaching them to their clothes.
In the afternoon, I left for Paris via Zweibrucken.
- Dr Joseph Goebbels has been named
Minister of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda.
Hitler has thus bestowed tremendous power upon him.
- The National Socialists have decided that us Jews are to be excluded
from the judiciary.
I have no doubt they will carry through with their plans,
but in these times it's hard to do anything new.
I shall put off going abroad until the last moment.
It's no small thing to leave this country behind
which one loves in spite of it all.
The culture, the language, the mentality -
these are all things you won't find anywhere else.
- I had still been hoping that I would be able to return to Berlin soon.
But today I received a letter from Roland and Marjorie
which put an end to those hopes.
He said Gortz visited him and asked him to tell me
that an SA Sturmfuhrer informed him that something
was being planned for me.
They were considering requesting protective custody for me
if I went back to Germany.
- Dearest Maud, I have not written much
as I don't have anything in particular to report.
One day is very much like the other.
- At around one o'clock in the morning,
there was a loud ringing and knocking at the door.
My husband opened up.
Six to eight men in SA uniform entered.
They were all young people who'd been to school with my children.
One of them ordered me to get dressed.
They drove me to the SA barracks.
The Demuth ... is in the front part of the building.
We drove into the courtyard and I was told to get out.
When my name was called, the Sturmfuhrer who was present said,
"Ah, Jankowski, that fat old cow."
I had to take off my coat and lie on the table.
They pushed up my skirt and tugged down my drawers.
I was struck across the bottom 20 times.
We each received four rounds of 20 strokes.
- The patient claims to have been apprehended by SA Sturmgruppe 27
on the 17th of March. He was beaten with rubber truncheons
and shoulder straps.
He has not defecated or urinated since his imprisonment.
Since he was complaining of a severe headache, chest pains, as well as
a strong but painful urge to relieve his bladder,
he was brought here tonight.
- BELLS TOLL
Potsdam Day - a big military display.
Ceremony for the reopening of the Reichstag.
- We stopped outside the Peter and Paul Church in Potsdam.
There was panic on the streets. The police cordon broke.
People shouted abusive remarks - "Down with the Centre Party."
- I'm sitting close to Hindenburg
and note his tears welling up in his eyes.
Everyone gets up from their seats
to give the venerable old Field Marshal a standing ovation
as he shakes hands with the young Chancellor.
- It was very smart of Hitler to bow to tradition, and it was very clever
to haul the old president out to Potsdam
and to mobilise the jubilant masses.
- The Government plans an enabling act and wants us to present it
to the Reichstag as soon as possible.
It will practically override the Constitution, the fundamental
rights, and requires a two-thirds majority in the Parliament.
This is only possible with the help of the Centre Party.
- Not much to report today.
Wonderful weather at the moment, with sunshine every day.
I'd really like to get the car back on the road.
- Before the Reichstag assembly, the square in front of
the Kroll Opera House was one dark mass of people.
We were greeted with jubilant chants of, "We want the Enabling Act."
We ran the gauntlet past young fellows with swastikas
on their breast who shouted insults like, "Centrist pigs,"
"Marxist swine."
- In the debating chamber, we were immediately surrounded
by armed SS men.
We didn't know how or whether we would be able to leave the room.
Many of us had already been arrested.
Sollmann was lying half-dead in hospital.
- Hitler holds a long inaugural address.
His speech is carefully calculated to win over the Catholics.
- During the speech, Goering joins in the applause. Every now and then,
he uses opera glasses and scrutinises the ranks.
The Centre Party and the Social Democrats gave
a defeated impression. The latter were visibly terrorised.
- Dr Wirth of the Centre Party comes to speak to us, declaring bitterly
that, for his faction, it's just a matter of whether or not they will
personally hand Hitler the rope that will be used to hang them.
- When the meeting resumes, parliamentarian Wels demands
to be heard in the name of the Social Democrats.
His tone almost suggests he wants
to be excused for speaking against the act, rather like
a child who's been beaten and fears there's more to come.
But under the circumstances, his speech is truly honourable,
full of dignity and courage.
APPLAUSE
- When Wels has finished,
the Fuhrer steps up to the podium and gives him his answer.
- CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
- After that, Prelate Kaas speaks
meekly and deferentially in the name of the Centre Party.
- The Centre and even the State Party vote for the Enabling Act.
Only the Social Democrats vote against it.
Now we really are the rulers of the nation.
- The term "idiotic" is not enough to describe the decision
to vote in favour of the act. I already knew that I would never
be able to erase that "Yes" from my biography.
- I take a stroll through the streets. It's quite warm.
The sun is still shining on the rows of windows.
On Tauentzien Street, the pedestrians walk
tightly packed together. The women wear springtime dresses.
Among the cafe-goers are many SS officers.
Behind the shop windows are signs.
"German business." "German wares." "True German craftsmanship."
- In the Cabinet meeting, Hugenberg thanks the Fuhrer for the acumen
and stringency of his policies. The hostile propaganda abroad rankles.
The many Jews that have emigrated
from Germany are inciting hatred
against us around the world.
- Goering harshly insulted the foreign press representatives in a vehement
tone, which they will have to get used to.
Selected journalists were later led to the communist leaders,
Thaelmann and Torgler, as well as to the publishers of the communist
Red Flag and World Stage.
- Thaelmann didn't allow his photograph to be taken
and remained silent.
When he was asked if he had complaints about the food
or his treatment, he shook his head.
Carl von Ossietzky politely bowed
and introduced himself to every visitor.
He said there were no charges pressed against him and he also
had no significant complaints.
He seemed to view his situation in a relaxed way.
- The thirteenth anniversary of Daddy's death.
We visited his grave and decorated it with daffodils.
It looked pretty. The snow had nicely preserved
Daddy's wreath and twigs from Memorial Sunday.
Opposite him, where there were still graves back in the autumn,
is now a tree nursery.
- In the evening, I went out with Trude. First, I had
some dinner at Aschinger, then we went to a little pub
on Schonhauser Allee. From there to Alexanderplatz,
where I had a few pints.
Afterwards, we came back to my place.
It was a night of passion followed by a beautiful spring day.
Trude stayed with me till 5pm, then we went out to dinner.
It was such gorgeous weather that we decided to take a walk.
After that, we listened to La Traviata on the radio.
It's my favourite Verdi opera. The music is so soft and soothing.
- Taking into account the national upheavals in Germany, the board
has decided in principle that the contracts of Jewish
colleagues and staff should be revoked, where possible.
There is general agreement that the contract with Charell
as director and screenwriter
must immediately be revoked.
Further, it was decided
to end the contract with Erich Pommer.
The board has decided
to end its relationship with Robert Liebmann.
The question of the dismissal of Jewish office workers
will be deferred for the time being.
- We will only be able to fight against this incitement from abroad
if we can assert pressure on its initiators,
that is, the Jews who live in Germany.
We must ensure the large-scale boycott of all Jewish businesses.
- The Jews are horrified, but they're not the only ones.
The boycott is set to start on Saturday, the 1st of April.
- Things are calm here in Berlin, there's no denying it.
No shops have been plundered as yet.
None of us has seen anyone harassing or verbally abusing Jews
on the streets or on public transport.
So we'll just wait and see for now.
The placards are stuck to shop windows. Big letters - "Jew."
People walk the streets, keen to see
which shops are German and which are Jewish.
The Nazis are out agitating.
- CHANTING: - Deutsche, wehrt euch! Kauft nicht bei Juden! Juden raus!
- A patient called and said she couldn't come today.
I said that it would be best if she never came again.
People are a cowardly lot. But I've always known that.
- Dear children, the boycott day yesterday was entirely calm
and without incident. Lots of shops didn't even open up.
The rest of them quickly closed. Otherwise, we're all well.
Yesterday evening, we did something to cheer ourselves up.
It was Auntie Rosa's birthday, and we celebrated with family gossip,
bread rolls, meringue pie and lots of amusing anecdotes.
- I can now say to you that the American people today realise
that these stories are untrue and without foundation.
- APPLAUSE
Dearest Maudy, please make a request to the police for permission
to speak to me. Things are still tolerable for me here.
Of course, I am very worried. There is no point
writing about it at length. I embrace you fondly. Your Carl.
- Transported by train from Schlesischer Bahnhof to Sonnenburg.
Arrival, and so on. Night with Ossietzky and Ditten.
- I arrived in Sonnenburg at around eleven o'clock in the morning.
The political prisoners were being kept in the old jail that
had been abandoned due to disrepair. The warders were all SA men.
I had to wait for around an hour.
Muhsam was in a terrible state.
I could hardly conceal my horror from him.
He was sitting on a chair without his spectacles.
They had been smashed. His teeth had been knocked out.
The visit lasted only 16 minutes, and we were under constant
supervision from an SA Sturmfuhrer.
When we parted, Erich said to me, "Remember one thing, Zenzl -
"I will certainly never behave like a coward."
- I met the Fuhrer on the Obersalzberg
to discuss the open questions.
We will make the 1st of May a Day of National Labour, a sublime
demonstration of the will of the German people.
On the 2nd of May, we will occupy all trade union offices, bringing
them into line, too.
- These days, what people are really interested in
are your political convictions. In the evening, we played cards.
In the next few days, I'll probably register as an SA physician.
I would very much like to become one.
- Today is the 44th birthday of Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler.
He doesn't have glorious Kaiser weather, like Wilhelm I and II had.
It's been raining since Easter, and it's cold, three degrees today,
so we had to heat the place.
Hitler's favourite flower is the edelweiss.
His NSDAP comrades are selling them in his honour.
- The birthday celebrations for Hitler on the radio got rather annoying.
The new director is clearly getting to work.
- The measures to exclude Jews from the civil service,
the courts, notary offices and the medical profession
are proceeding apace. Persecution against them continues.
- The situation in the hospitals is appalling.
They have hauled eminent surgeons out of theatre
in the middle of operations and have simply forbidden them
from re-entering the hospital.
People I know have left the country in a mad rush
because they are "politically suspect".
- I received a small suitcase with documents and letters,
a letter from Gortz. He says, "My manservant Friedrich
"has stolen from me and betrayed me to the Nazis."
Sometimes I think it's all a bad dream and I'll suddenly wake up.
The past few days have been awful.
And yet somehow life goes on. I work, speak with people, read,
but I'm always aware of a dull pain, throbbing like a sombre bassline.
- Werner has been arrested, as has his wife, Emi,
to our unspeakable horror.
Why? What for? No idea.
They were taken away by police officers early in the morning
at half past five. Emi arranged with their eldest daughter
that she should go away immediately. Little Renate is with us.
So that's how it is. I simply can't make sense of it.
On Sunday evening, my siblings came over, and we just sat here
as if we were in a house of mourning.
- I received a letter from the Charlottenburg administration.
"We request you relinquish your position
"as senior physician of the women's department and clinic."
It's over. I've been sacked. It's over.
My poor women. Who will be there for them now?
For five years I've headed this department, helped it grow,
made it well known.
And now? Over. Over.
I have to keep repeating it. I can barely believe it.
It's over.
- In the afternoon, I took a drive with SA Sturmfuhrer Schmidt,
SA Officer Schutz and Trude. We set up camp in the park with a bottle.
The two men practised with their guns.
After I'd got pretty drunk on the cognac, we went to the Sturm pub.
The SA men then simply took my car to go and raid communist hideouts.
We picked up a few people, including a Jew
and a very nice-looking Jewess, 18 to 20 years old.
The poor girl sat next to me in the back of the car.
First they gave her a good thrashing
and then Schutz and Schmidt committed indecencies against her.
- I dedicate my first entries to God and to my dear little Eleanor,
who begins her three-week holiday on the 1st of May,
the Day of National Labour.
The newspapers suggest that the May Day celebrations
will be quite a show,
in particular, the huge fireworks display.
I hope everything goes well.
- We're holding a dress rehearsal for the rally in the Lustgarten
and on Tempelhof Field. As far as is humanly possible,
everything will run smoothly and precisely.
It will be a mass event,
the likes of which the world has never seen before.
- Doubtless anyone who does not participate in these events
will face severe repercussions.
Trade union members are therefore being advised
to attend the public events.
- It is pleasantly warm.
A light breeze has banished the mugginess of yesterday.
Since early morning, marching music has been blaring from a loudspeaker
in the teacher's house.
- In the morning, the children of Berlin gather in the Lustgarten.
Wherever one looks, on Unter den Linden, across the whole Lustgarten,
children, children, children.
I speak to them from deep within my heart.
It is good to talk to children if one understands their souls.
- Neither of us were in the throng. We kept to the sides.
We only saw the schoolchildren marching along Unter den Linden,
coming back from the Lustgarten.
But we did see Dr Goebbels driving past.
- At the airfield, we welcomed the delegations of workers
from the entire Reich who had arrived in Berlin by aeroplane.
They were invited to have lunch with the Fuhrer.
- All afternoon, workers, office staff, civil servants
marched to Tempelhof Field in columns.
The trade unions and the Marxists marched with them.
The factories forced them to go, checking their names against lists.
Anyone who refused ran the risk of losing their job.
- Nazi representatives checked whether everyone was present.
Lots of people absconded along the way. Some went to buy cigarettes,
others suddenly developed a weak bladder.
Yet more workers disappeared on the Tempelhof Field.
Many who stayed grumbled because they had to
stand around for hours in the dust and heat.
- The VIPS and officials were standing on a large platform.
The arrival of the Reich Chancellor hardly made an impression, at least
as viewed from the platform. I didn't even notice Mr Hitler's
presence until he was standing ten metres away from me.
- HE SHOUTS
- The Reich Chancellor spoke for a little over an hour
without making that much of an impression.
When the high point of the festival came, the masses were too tired.
- On the morning of May 2nd, I called the trade union headquarters
but got no response.
I then tried the metalworkers' union.
The phone rang, but there was no answer.
I then tried the main union building, and the same thing there.
15 minutes later, I was standing
outside the trade union headquarters.
It was surrounded on three sides by Nazi military.
The staff and administrative documents
were being loaded onto police trucks.
- We were forced to board a truck, which took us to Parochialstrasse.
We were detained there and subjected to a barrage of defamatory comments.
For hours, members of the public poured into the building to gawp
at us and make their Nazi comments.
"Have you seen that pig Leipart?
"He's sitting over there, the filthy pig."
- Among the 50 detainees are such prominent trade unionists
as Leipart, Grassmann and former Labour Minister Wissell.
- Erne and I went to the zoo.
Everything has been very nicely redesigned.
We particularly enjoyed the smaller animals...
..but also Roland, the elephant seal, who this time was sunning
himself on the rocks in all his vast magnificence.
- I went to buy an SA uniform with Trude.
It costs around 60 Reichsmarks.
This afternoon, I also got my NSDAP membership card,
at long last. That cost eight Reichsmarks.
I got a Parabellum pistol from Schmidt, 7.65-calibre.
In total, I've spent more than 90 Reichsmarks today.
- The Library Committee has planned an auto-da-fe for the 10th of May.
Several hundred books from around 20 authors are to be burned
on the square in front of the State Theatre.
The authors include Heinrich Mann, Feuchtwanger, Glaser,
Stefan and Arnold Zweig.
Mainly Jews.
- From our publishing house,
Sholem Asche, Doblin,
Baer-Hoffmann, Schnitzler.
Blacklists and whitelists. The book stores have them, too.
Where will it end?
Berlin, 1933.
In January, the National Socialists under Adolf Hitler
come to power, along with the German National People's Party
under Alfred Hugenberg.
In February, the Reichstag building goes up in flames
in an arson attack allegedly by communists.
There is no proof, but preparations are under way for a trial.
Members of the Communist Party are arrested.
Social Democrat and Catholic Centre Party followers
are threatened and persecuted.
Jews are barred from certain professions.
The streets are dominated by swastika flags
and military-style marches.
The police and civil service are being purged.
The press, radio, film and theatre are censored.
Books are blacklisted and about to be burned.
TRANSLATION: - Since the afternoon,
open trucks loaded with books have been bringing in
whatever could be found in municipal libraries
and private collections across the city.
Students are waving flags and singing Nazi songs together.
- The police were patrolling
the cordoned-off square.
In the middle was a pyre.
On a specially erected platform were spotlights,
film cameras and microphones.
The roofs and windows of the surrounding buildings
were full of spectators.
The mood was a cheerful one.
It is, after all, springtime.
Students surrounded the pile of wood
and threw their flaming torches onto it.
The music continued to play.
Then 20 students stepped forward.
Each had a book in his hand,
and as they threw it into the flames,
they each shouted out the same slogan.
The white pages of the books opened up and fluttered
around like birds, illuminated by the flames.
A great sadness seized my heart.
I grieved for the books as dying objects.
I grieved for the people
that was bringing this shame down upon itself.
I was ashamed to be witnessing this ignominy
as a gawping foreigner.
Gradually, the fire burnt out.
The fire brigade helped extinguish the flames with water
and the ashes turned to mud.
- On duty at the state hospital.
First, a police prisoner with a seizure.
Probable renal bleeding of the left kidney.
In the women's outpatient clinic
was a woman who had supposedly collapsed.
In the evening, Truda came to see me.
Sweet and kind as ever.
But a change has taken place in her.
She's now constantly pushing for us to get engaged.
She's rather forward and presumptuous.
I don't know what's got into the girl.
- The Germans are celebrating Mother's Day.
This year, it is intended as a tribute
to families with many children.
The National Socialist Movement foresees no other
task for women than to be mothers.
The party wants German women to have long hair
and refrain from powdering their faces,
painting their lips, and smoking in bars and restaurants.
- At a conference for state education ministers in Berlin on the 9th May,
Reich Minister of the Interior Dr Frick,
outlined the basic principles for educating youth in the Third Reich.
"Racial hygiene must," he said,
"be an integral part of the curriculum.
"The mixing of German blood with that of other races,
"in particular with Jews and coloured races,
"must be avoided at all costs."
- My dear children
Werner and Emmy are still in police custody.
Neither of them has even been interrogated yet,
so there seems to be nothing we can do.
I go to the police headquarters every three days,
but have still not received permission to talk to them.
Neither of them has done anything wrong.
And if they are locking Werner up because he is Jewish
and because he used to be politically active,
that is outrageous enough.
But what has his wife done?
Surely, no-one can have any interest in destroying our family.
- Ossietzky walked towards us
across the empty courtyard Sambor concentration camp.
His arms were hanging stiffly from his shoulders, as if lifeless.
His face was unscathed,
but his expression was heart rendering.
During our brief conversation,
it remained rigid and deathly serious.
His response to the hesitant question, "How are things?"
was an almost soundless "Tolerable. For the moment".
- My dearest Maudie,
thank you very much for your card, which I was very happy to receive.
I am relieved to learn that our daughter has come to terms
with the difficult circumstances.
Next Sunday is Pentecost.
You will be alone together.
I'm with you both in my thoughts.
I remain, as ever, your Carl.
- In the evening, SA Mann Brand
at the Ufa-Palast Cinema.
Grand Premiere. Hitler there, too.
There's too much talking in the film.
It must be edited down.
- Sturm evening.
First, we all got together in the Sturm pub, and then we marched
to the music halls, carrying the flag in front of us.
The night revolved around singing and explanations of the
08 pistol and 98 rifle.
It ended at 11.30.
Truda and I went onto Zimmermann's.
We were together until three in the morning.
It was already getting light outside.
- The Social Democratic Party
has been banned throughout the Reich.
In Bavaria, members of Parliament from the Bavarian People's Party
have been arrested.
Persecution of Centre Party members across southern Germany.
Numerous Social Democrat MPs and functionaries
have been arrested.
- On Wednesday, the 21st of June, our house was searched
and occupied by the SA.
The search was conducted by 20 to 30 SA men.
The SA men immediately positioned themselves in front
of the telephone so that nobody could call for help.
They pushed my husband down the stairs,
kicked him and threatened him at gunpoint.
- I was taken to the SA-Sturm pub
in Elizabeth-Strasse.
We were received with jeering and the first blows.
We were then forced to walk up the wooden stairs to the hayloft,
accompanied by kicks and blows.
- One after another, we each received 30 or 40 blows
with rubber truncheons, steel rods
and other objects.
In between, the SA men punched us with their fists.
Some of us dropped to the floor unconscious.
- My brother-in-law, Anton Schmalz,
who they also came to arrest,
resisted and fired several shots at his attackers,
hitting four of the SA men.
He turned himself in at the police station.
- At the police station,
a shot was fired from within a group of SA men,
which seriously injured Anton Schmalz.
Schmalz's father hung himself,
doubtless fearing the consequences of his son's crime.
The washing line used in the suicide had been cut with a knife.
A bloody jacket was lying in the kitchen.
According to the SA report,
the dead man had caused his own injuries in a fit of raving madness.
An SA man, Paul Scherer, observed a sack floating in the Dahme.
It was pulled to the river bank.
Inside it was the contorted corpse of a man.
There were many injuries to his upper body.
The corpse is believed to be that of
Social Democrat MP Johannes Stelling,
formerly state minister of Mecklenburg-West Pomerania.
He had been reported missing.
He had allegedly been taken away by SA men for questioning
early in the morning.
- In spite of all the political upheavals,
we're blessed by God.
How rich is the harvest He bestows upon us?
Fruit is ripening all around us,
delighting our palate.
- I've been buying almost a pound of strawberries every day.
The German National Front has dissolved itself.
All its members have joined the NSDAP.
Reich Minister Hugenberg has resigned.
- No-one sheds a tear.
Hugenberg resigns once and for all.
The boss is very good to me.
I'm getting Hugenberg's official residence.
Fantastic.
- My surgery was open to the public for the last time.
I put a brave face on it.
My flat looks like a garden in full bloom.
My farewell bouquets.
It's like experiencing my own funeral.
My assistant is beside herself with sorrow.
I've closed my patients' register for the last time.
- Werner and Emmy have now been released
from so-called protective custody and placed in investigative custody.
Werner thinks they could be there for months.
He's been questioned only once and not at all thoroughly.
I don't know whether Emmy has been questioned at all.
It's not certain whether they'll be charged with anything.
- My little Erna has been invited
to the flag consecration
of the National Socialist Factory Cell Organisation.
Although she isn't a member,
she wants to go along with her colleague.
She left the house dressed up very nicely.
I certainly don't begrudge the girl this nice change of scene.
- I'm pleased. At home with Magda.
I give her the keys to our new home.
She's very happy.
The furniture isn't right.
- The Propaganda Ministry has shone its light
on the new Inspector General for German Roadways, Fritz Todt.
Todt has been given the task of constructing
tens of thousands of kilometres of roads and motorways.
My little Erna didn't really enjoy the party.
She sat quietly at a table and watched the proceedings.
The rooms were unbearably muggy.
Otherwise, the revolution is boldly progressing.
- Van Patten in Rome.
He has negotiated a concordat with the Vatican.
Checkmate for the Centre Party.
- Until recently, the Reich Chancellor would not have thought
it possible that the Vatican would be ready to commit
the bishops to our state.
It would undoubtedly represent
wholehearted recognition of the current regime.
- There's general agreement here
that the situation for the Jews will get worse by autumn.
We are convinced that one profession after the next will be denied to us.
Civil servants have been strictly forbidden to buy goods from Jews
and all Christian raw materials suppliers
have been forbidden to sell to Jews.
Mr Goebbels has asserted on the radio
that he will not rest until the last Jew has gone.
But where to? Where to?
- My husband has also had to leave the hospital.
I know how much he misses his work there.
It hurts me more than my own loss.
Patients are coming to me every day, asking where they should go.
I advise them as best I can.
I give them medicine from my own medicine chest.
But I can't write sick notes for them.
And they want these all the time so that they won't have to go
to meetings or after-work gatherings.
But I'm not in a position to help them.
- I visited our family burial plot.
Two heavy bronze chains have been stolen from it.
The marble gravestones have been smeared with swastikas.
- Yesterday, an SA man repeatedly rang the doorbell
wanting me to buy a pamphlet from him called,
"The Goals And Purpose Of National Socialism - The 25 Points.
"What Does Our Fuhrer Want?"
The man was very pushy, and I couldn't get rid of him.
I had to buy one.
- On August 1st, I begin work as a police medical assessor
in Recklinghausen. Hurrah, hurrah.
Poor Truda was very upset and sad when she heard about it.
- Lots of meetings.
Discussions with the boss in the afternoon.
Power is in our hands. We dictate the pace.
- The Reich Government has passed the following law.
First, the National Socialist German Workers' Party
is the only political party in Germany.
Second, maintaining any other political party,
or founding any new political party is punishable with prison
of up to three years,
or with jail from six months to three years.
- Dearest Maudie, I hope you're well.
I have nothing to report.
I'm well.
Please send me three stamps for 12 pfennigs each.
Say hello to our baby.
- Ossietzky was sick.
The camp commanders wouldn't allow him to be examined.
He received a postcard from his daughter in England
that suggested she was happy not to be in Germany any more.
As a result, Ossietzky was taken to the guardhouse
and brutally beaten by the squadron leader
for bringing his daughter up badly.
- Today, I was on duty in the hospital for the last time.
Now I just have to say my goodbyes.
In the evening, at about ten,
I wanted to say farewell to Truda, but she didn't want to leave.
We spent our happiest, most passionate night together
for a long time.
In the morning, I took her to Ackerstrasse
Truda got out of the car, after giving me one last kiss.
She was sobbing, and walked away from me slowly.
I gave her one piece of advice.
"Don't throw yourself at men who are not worthy of you."
- My staff are hardworking and meticulous.
We can be very satisfied with them.
All the departments are working magnificently.
Broadcasting has been purged.
- The Social Democrat leaders, Ebert and Heinemann,
and the leading radio functionaries, Director General Flesch,
Alfred Braun and Dr Magnus
were taken to Oranienburg concentration camp.
They were forced to take their clothes off in front of a crowd
of rowdy SA men.
The six men then had their heads shaved bare,
although they left Ebert with a circle of hair
in order to make him look especially ridiculous.
- Opened the radio exhibition. A grand, befitting ceremony.
I visited the exhibition.
The technological developments are astonishing.
Tried out new radio equipment.
- When Erna came home yesterday at lunchtime,
she brought very sad news.
39 members of staff are losing their jobs as of the 1st October.
Of course, the mood was awful.
She was therefore all the more excited about the mystery moonlit
boat trip that her office organised.
The presence of every staff member was checked on the way
there and the way back.
One-and-a-half hours before departure, we found
all the seats already taken.
Anna's superior got folding chairs for us.
We went upriver.
Suddenly, the lights of an idyllically situated inn appeared.
The night proceeded without incident,
with coffee, beer and dancing.
And I even ventured a waltz with my little Erna.
But it's hard to get her moving around in a circle.
She doesn't really like to dance because she is rather ungainly.
- To Nuremberg. Visited Luitpoldhain, the hall, the Zeppelinfeld.
Everything is built on a grand scale, but the organisation
doesn't seem to be working properly.
Raving women want to hear the Fuhrer speak.
Vast crowds in the city, impossible to get through.
I flee to my hotel and rewrite my speech.
I tone down the content of the Jewish question
for foreign policy reasons.
Party Congress opened.
Hess spoke well.
All very impressive.
- Henry Mann spoke of the conversation he had
had with the Chancellor.
Hitler is a fanatic on the Jewish problem.
He has no conception of international relations.
He considers himself a German messiah.
- The official films of this year's Nuremberg Party Rally will be
made by Leni Riefenstahl.
They say she has won Hitler's favour.
- The celebratory sounds of Nuremberg have faded away.
The SA members in Erna's office have been talking
about their experiences.
Every participant had to pay for the trip themselves.
Food was provided, as was accommodation on beds of straw.
Almost all of them returned home dead tired and with aching limbs
from all the endless standing still or marching.
- We have had our second death here in Oranienburg,
a 31-year-old worker called Sens from Zerbst.
I can bear witness that this athletically strong, healthy worker
was beaten to death by Sturmbannfuhrer Krueger
and two other SA men with three rubber truncheons.
- On September 8th, my husband was moved to Oranienburg
concentration camp.
- The Reichstag fire trial has begun.
If you didn't know anything about it, you'd think that a few idiots
had decided to play with fire for recognition
or God knows what other motive.
Nobody with any sense, whatever their opinion of
the Communist Party, could possibly believe that those men would do
anything that insane.
- I accused the defendants of jointly, A, undertaking to change
the constitution of the German Reich through violent force,
and, B, deliberately setting the Reichstag building on fire.
- Torgler looked ghastly,
a greeny-grey prison pallor on his face.
He was tense, scared, a nervous wreck.
The Bulgarians looked wiry, tough, indifferent.
Van der Lubbe was one of the most awful sights I have ever witnessed
in a human being.
He sat there motionless, his head and hands hanging down
between his knees, either in a trance or doped.
He seemed to be slobbering at the mouth.
- Dr Todt explained that construction work was to begin on two motorways.
Each would be 100km long.
The Reich Chancellor expressed that the section from
Frankfurt Am Main to Heidelberg must be completed quickly.
The Reichswehr, he said, was also gradually beginning to understand
the importance of the motorways.
- Sturmbannfuhrer Krueger from Trebbin felt particularly big and strong
when visitors came and he had us parade in front of them.
Like a puffed-up animal trainer from a minor travelling circus,
he would stalk around the camp, summoning all the prominent
prisoners and presenting them to the visitors.
- Muhsam was punched in the kidneys.
They kicked him, pulled his beard and his hair, and forced him to
lap up dirty mopping water.
Covered in blood, exhausted and worn down,
Muhsam was made to run up and down four flights of stairs five times.
With all their might, they punched him, kicked him
and beat him with brooms.
- I had a telephone call telling me that Germany was withdrawing
from the Geneva Disarmament Conference and
the League of Nations.
A risky game.
- I went today at 12 o'clock sharp to see Chancellor Hitler.
I went up broad stairways, guarded at every turn by Nazi soldiers
with arms raised in fascist salute.
Adolf Hitler appeared in a simple workaday suit.
My impression was that he's very confident and itching for conflict.
- The mood among us Jews in Germany is terribly gloomy.
Now that the country has left the League of Nations,
there is a fear that they won't restrain themselves at all any more.
- Referendum and Reichstag elections on 12th of November.
Hitler is always in need of new propaganda and wants the people
to deliver him a new, purely National Socialist Reichstag.
- We watched the film Hitlerjunge Quex
at the Ufa Cinema.
- TRUMPET PLAYS ON FILM SOUNDTRACK
- A splendid film, produced with great diplomatic finesse.
- HE SINGS THE INTERNATIONALE
- In the intervals, little Hitler Youth boys collected money
for winter relief.
- Frequent feelings of despair, exhaustion, emptiness.
At least the Reichstag arson trial has taken a surprising turn
Goering took the stand.
Huge, paunchy,
his stomach protruding, his face sagging.
Pompous, and yet a little nervous.
His voice was uncontrolled, his gestures melodramatic.
Dimitrov interrupted him several times and he flew into a rage.
- HE SHOUTS:
- Dimitrov, with deadly sarcasm, was beginning to reveal so much
that Goering shouted for him to stop.
- Erich and Edith visited Werner and Emmy, and they've written to me
that there's been no progress.
Soon they will have been in jail for seven months.
Emmy is stick-thin.
The Jewish partners left their company.
It's a tax office that has been brought under government control.
Of course, we will lose the printing contract.
We've been printing their tax reports for years.
I am very worried about what will happen when one customer after
the other vanishes in the maelstrom and Theo is left
with nothing but a pile of rubble from our once-thriving business.
- Our 10th wedding anniversary.
Our table is decorated with soft pink chrysanthemums,
as it was in the old days.
"Here's to the next ten years,"
says my husband, and I feel my heart tremble.
They have taken away my calm certainty,
the peace I felt in my own home.
They have tried to debase me.
They have taken my work, what I loved most, from me.
- This morning mist had settled over the woods and fields.
At lunchtime in Spandau, I took the opportunity of listening to
Hitler's speech in a small cafe.
- Hitler was going to give a speech in the Siemens factory.
A crowd was standing outside a radio shop.
I joined them.
A big loudspeaker had been mounted above the door.
- The broadcast began with the clattering of machines,
the chugging of a locomotive, the noise of chains and hammers.
After a while, the Fuhrer's approach was announced by the sound
of people shouting, "Heil!"
That moment had an overwhelming, unprecedented drama.
Then came a husky bass voice,
as if his throat was sore from schnapps.
Unsure, faltering,
sometimes raising his voice
to a frightened screech before levelling off again.
Gasping for breath, wheezing.
A terrible mix of fury, pleading, triumph,
imploration and fanaticism.
All in all, utterly repellent.
It's absurd, gruesome and raging all at once.
I couldn't take it any more and left the cafe.
The streets were almost empty.
On some corners, or above entrances where there were loudspeakers,
groups of people huddled together.
The expression on their faces was not one of enthusiasm,
but a kind of dull gravity, like an intimation of danger.
- Election Sunday.
The polling station is in a pub. Long queues outside.
The election committee members sit at tables,
the men wearing National Socialist insignia.
Behind the curtain, the people make their crosses.
Two metres away are two SA men.
- The Consul in Stuttgart reports that, from 4pm to 6pm,
uniformed National Socialists called at the homes of non-voters,
basically forcing them to go and vote.
The same was reported by the Consul in Breslau.
- I've attached a page from the afternoon newspaper
with the final election results.
No need for me to comment.
- Voter turnout of more than 90%.
Around 10% dared to vote against.
- The self-assured direction of film actress Leni Riefenstahl
has produced Victory Of Faith, a document of our times.
The images of the Fuhrer
being greeted by Germany's youth are staggering -
the centrepiece and culmination of the film.
- The suspense over the outcome of the Reichstag trial
has reached fever pitch.
People are reading reports about the trial
in foreign newspapers.
In the cafes, they are passed from hand to hand.
- It seems barely possible that the court can convict Torgler
and the Bulgarians of complicity in the arson attack.
- CHOIR SINGS "STILLE NACHT, HEILIGE NACHT"
- My dear Maudie,
I have enough underclothing and warm things.
Don't send me any more.
Just a few things to eat every now and again.
And more often, some tobacco.
All the best for the new year, my child.
May it see us all together again soon.
I embrace you, your Carl.
- Following international protests,
Carl von Ossietzky was released from prison in 1936
and awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
Two years later, isolated from the outside world,
he died from the after-effects of his imprisonment and torture.
He was 48 years old.
Erich Muhsam was murdered
in Oranienburg concentration camp in 1934. He was 56 years old.
Clara Brause died in 1936 at the age of 63.
What became of her daughter Erna is unknown.
Willi Lindenborn joins the Wehrmacht in 1936.
He becomes a staff surgeon and fights in the Second World War.
His last diary entry is from 1975.
Emmy Scholem is released from jail in 1934
and able to flee to England with her two children.
Werner Scholem is murdered
in Buchenwald concentration camp in 1940.
Betty Scholem flees to Australia in 1939 and dies there in 1946.
Berlin was planned to become the great metropolis, Germania,
capital of the Third Reich, enduring for 1,000 years.
After just 12 years, the city has been reduced to rubble.