Читаем Soldaten полностью

BORN: Back then, I think it was near CHARKOV, Standartenführer Krumm (Kumm?) received the oak cluster, and Krüger, I think. In any case it was two or three people, and a Hauptsturmführer. At the award ceremony, the Führer must have asked something special. In any case, these three men fell silent and looked at each other. The Führer noticed that something wasn’t right. They received orders to report to him the following day for a discussion. They spent no less than three hours with the Führer and laid everything out of the table, with total honesty.

HELLDORF: That’s what the Führer is lacking.

BORN: It’s said one of them gave him a real shock.

HELLDORF: The Führer is fully isolated. He exists on what three or four people tell us. He depends on them and they… well, I don’t want to use any hard words but…

BORN: Who are the three people.

HELLDORF: It’s BORMANN, one of the worst figures there is among us. Then, on the military side of things there’s KEITEL, and politically… in the same company is GOEBBELS.

BORN: Strangely, until now, it’s always been the case that the REICHSFÜHRER [HIMMLER] is permanently with him.

HELLDORF: The REICHSFÜHRER is half to blame.

BORN: Consciously or not, the Führer has never been in agreement with all these Jewish actions. I know that for a fact. A lot of the time no one told him what was going on and instead… did it on their own authority. The Führer isn’t as terribly extreme and terribly sharp as he’s depicted.⁵¹⁵

Even a high-ranking officer like Field Marshal Erhard Milch put forth a variation of this conspiracy theory. In May 1945, he proposed:

In another example, a POW regretted that the constant manipulation of Hitler unjustly diminished his historical significance. But even more lamentable was the fact that the misinformation of the Führer had led to things for which the German military was now going to be held responsible. Major General Reiter articulated this fear: