David’s Reviews > The Goebbels Diaries 1942-1943 > Status Update

Now in November 1943, Goebbels is realizing that war is lost, but still has great faith in Hitler. Similar to Schellenberg, whose memoirs I just read, Goebbels holds great hopes that Germany will be able to strike a separate peace with either the Western allies or the USSR and then continue the war against the other. No real reason for hoping that, but hope they did.

Goebbels envies the Russian commies for having gotten rid of churches. Sez it helps with total ideological indoctrination. Just found second obvious chronological error in the notes. Must be typos becuz so clearly wrong!

This clown is a laff a minute. Amazingly impressed with himself.

Goebbels says the measures to deal with the Jews in occupied Poland are too "barbaric" to discuss in his diary. So it's OK to DO them but not OK to write about! He also complains about increased impoliteness and coarse language in Berlin and plans a propaganda campaign to improve both.

Interesting contrast with Ciano's diaries -- Goebbels full of it, Ciano realistic

If anyone doubts the Nazis were crazy, this should remove those doubts.

The editor/translator's note throughout the text are quite useful. Interesting to speculate how those notes might change in a new edition, but, coming just a couple years after the war, they're pretty good.

Finally through the introductory material and into the diaries.