With Hitler To The End by Moorhouse Roger & Linge Heinz

Author:Moorhouse, Roger & Linge, Heinz [Moorhouse, Roger]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing
Published: 2009-09-01T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 12

Resolving the Polish Question: September 1939

DURING THE WAR HITLER was little more than a warlord, strategist and soldier. He isolated himself from ‘the world’ beyond policymaking and ignored those matters that until then he had considered his principal preoccupation. He imposed upon himself exaggerated and superfluous obligations and acted as though he were supposed to lead a more modest and blameless life than anybody else. He eschewed the film shows with his intimate circle, the hours with gramophone records, the picnics and other travels cross-country in which he had previously delighted. That he largely withdrew himself from affairs of government was another serious consequence of the war. Whereas up to 1939 he had been constantly involved in all kinds of governmental problems, it was now piecemeal, case to case, and when time allowed that he heard what his ministers, the Reichsleiters, Gauleiters, governor-generals and commissioner-generals had to report on their activities, successes and failures.

The abandonment of the joint discussions between ministers and Gauleiters during the war deprived government of the concerted line of action necessary in many cases. The politicians and civil servants at the highest levels who had responsibility for events discovered later what their opposite numbers had done, which often resulted in their both being beset by problems particularly in those cases where they had made mutually conflicting decisions. Communal decision-making was a thing of the past. Without Bormann there would certainly have been chaos. That despite all these deficiencies Hitler remained the lord of the land and knew almost everything everywhere was one of the reasons why politicians, civil servants and numerous military men were inclined to believe him a genius. If Hitler deliberately cultivated this style of government and leadership to create such an outcome I have no idea. He did say once or twice: ‘What would you all do if I were not there?’ but that might not necessarily have been in the same context. So far as I could judge the military knew in principle what would have to be done without Hitler, but it would have been chaotic for the civilian population. Bormann had the Party and its leaders in the palm of his hand, but if Hitler no longer existed Bormann, a person whose name was virtually unknown amongst the general population, would have been totally powerless.

It is not for me to attempt judgement on the achievements of the German generals during the war. I could enter the situation conference at any time without being announced if I wanted to see and hear what was going on, but I only did this when I had reason to. Moreover I did not have the factual material to assess the measures imposed, the justification for them and the way they fitted into the overall picture in any particular theatre of war. What is certain, however, is that a great deal of the so-called ‘history’ that the German generals were pleased to present to the world after 1945 did not happen in the way they sought to describe.

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