History of Sorts

For Hitler to accomplish his goals, he needed the support of men who were equally as evil as he was. His most willing henchman was Joseph Göbbels.

Paul Joseph Göbbels was born on October 29, 1897, in Rheydt, Germany, an industrial city in the Rhineland. Because of a club foot that he acquired during a childhood bout with osteomyelitis, a swelling of the bone marrow, the young Goebbels was exempted from service in the German army during World War I (1914-18). Instead, he attended a series of German universities, where he studied literature and philosophy, among other subjects, and earned a Ph.D. in German philology from Heidelberg University.

He joined the Nazi Party in 1924 and worked with Gregor Strasser in its northern branch. He was appointed Gauleiter of Berlin in 1926, where he began to take an interest in the use of propaganda to promote the party and its programme. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Goebbels’ Propaganda Ministry quickly gained and exerted control over the news media, arts, and information in Nazi Germany.

On December 13, 1942, Göbbels wrote the following in his journal.
“The question of Jewish persecution in Europe is being given top news priority by the English and the Americans…. At the bottom, however, I believe both the English and the Americans are happy that we are exterminating the Jewish riff-raff. But the Jews will go on and on and turn the heat on the British-American press. We won’t even discuss this theme publicly—but instead, I give orders to start an atrocity campaign against the English for their treatment of Colonials.

Efforts are underway to declare Rome an open city so that it won’t be bombarded. The Pope is studying the question of air raids on Italian cities and seems to be exerting pressure on the English to spare at least certain districts. The declarations issued by the Vatican on this question are extremely clever and cannot but win favour for the Pope, at least in Italy. But the Italians are willing to accept any help offered to them in this painful situation.

The Italians are extremely lax in the treatment of Jews. They protect the Italian Jews both in Tunis and in occupied France and won’t permit them to be drafted for work or compelled to wear the Star of David. This shows once again that Fascism does not really dare to get down to fundamentals, but is very superficial regarding most important problems. The Jewish question is causing us a lot of trouble. Everywhere, even among our allies, the Jews have friends to help them, which is proof that they are still playing an important role even in the Axis camp. All the more are they shorn of power within Germany itself.”

Sources

Joseph Goebbels’ Diaries: Excerpts, 1942-43 – Part 2 of 2

https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/goebbels-complains-of-italians-treatment-of-jews