Evening star., 1948-04-04
Goebbels Predicted Allied Disunity
On Rocks of Soviet Intransigeance|
Hitler Propagandist
Saw Moscow Score
in Diplomacy
By John G. Henry


The diaries Of Dr.. Paul Josepl
Goebbels, Minister Of Propaganda
for the Nazi government, were foun,
In Berlin after the fall Of Hitler
Germany. Ignored by the Russians
the original papers fell finally int.
American hands. After some month
Of neglect, they were translated an.
are to be published In book form IL
May. Louis p. Lochner, former heat
Of the Associated Press Bureau IL
Berlin, did the translation and
editing for the book manuscript
The North American Newspapel
Alliance has the distributing syndi
cate rights and provided to The Sta
the material for this article.
In accordance with an agreement
between the present owners of tn,
manuscript, Doubleday u Co., Inc.
and the United States Department
of Justice, the following statement
by the Alien Property Custodian Il
made:
"The Once Of Alien Property
has granted permission to pub
lish . translation Of selections
from the manuscript purporting
to be the 1923 diary of Paul
Joseph Goebbels. No representa-
tive of the interested agencies of
the United States Government
has read the original manuscript
or the translation Of excerpts
therefrom. The Department Of
State desires, as q matter of
policy, to encourage widespread
publication Of documents such as
this purports to be, of significance
In the field Of foreign policy, and
has therefore not objected to the
publication. The United States
Government, however, neither
warrants nor disclaims the au-
thenticity Of the manuscript upon
which this publication is based,
and neither approves nor dis
approves of the translation, Sc
lection Of material, annexation,
or other editorial comment con-
tanned herein. 1t Is proposed
that the manuscript will be made
available to all those who are
interested in studying 1t or In
translating all or part Of It,"
Cover Two Years
AS noted above, the diaries al
found cover only portions of 194s
and 1943 and there are stable gaps
even In these two years. They were
however, important years in the
course of the war. The United
States had entered the conflict
about six weeks before the first in
stallment. The German armies had
met with their first major reverse In
the halting Of their drive on Mos
COW. Hitler already had demon
positive doubt and distrust
in his military advisers and was de-
voting more and more Of his own
time to directing the conduct Of the
war. Meanwhile, Goebbels, q who
his Fuehrer, was becoming
increasingly influential in directing
the civil and political life of the
Reich.
Much Of what Is revealed In the
evil mans writings to himself al
ready has been disclosed in one way
or another. He considered and de-
scribed the United States as a Ma
ton Of liars. He displayed occa-
sional begrudging respect for the
British, particularly at their skill in
the field of propaganda. When the
Axis fortunes Of war began to wane
he quoted Hitler as believing there
would be greater chance Of making
a deal" with the British than
with the Russians although he did
not disclose any overt effort to
make such q deal. He was con-
temptuous Of Franco, bitter about
the italian collapse and disillu-
stoned as to the strength and char
acter of Mussolini. He acquired a
terrified respect for British and
air power.
Goebbels credited the Japanese
with keeping Germany in the war
through his diaries, but by
the time he reached his last discov-
cred entry, December o, 1s43, he had
obviously lost faith In eventual VIC
tory by any or all of the Axis ma
tions. BY that time, too, he had
drawn . clear picture Of disunity
and distrust among the hierarchy Of
the National Socialist government.
As Of today's international pic
ture probably no portion OF the
writings have greater in
terest than his occasional commen-
tary on Soviet Russia, particularly
the relationship as he saw 1t be-
tween the Soviets and the western
Allies.
Foreign Ministers Meet
In October. 1943, Secretary of
State Hull and British Foreign Min
lister Eden went to Moscow for a
conference with Foreign Minister
Molotov. The meeting preceded the
Cairo and Teheran Conferences, the
latter being the first to bring to-
gether the late President Roosevelt,
Prime Minister Stain and Prime
Minister Churchill.
Under date of November 1, 1943,
Goebbels wrote:
The Moscow Conference Is about