Messages from the Reich

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The secret internal political situation reports of the security service of the Reichsführer SS in the Nazi state during the Second World War were overwritten with reports from the Reich . Between the start of the war in 1939 and July 1944, he collected reports from the German population in order to make them accessible to a small group of high-ranking Nazi functionaries and officials.

In addition to these regular sentiment reports, the “Annual Management Report for 1938” and “Reports on the Domestic Political Situation” from 1939, as well as later “SD Reports on Domestic Issues”, which were prepared for various agencies up to March 1945, were named “Reports from the empire ”. The aim of the reports should be "instead of a public criticism, to put the government in a position to get to know and take into account the views existing or emerging among the people." The content of the opinion reports are "not the result of serious opinion research, but a reflection on the given propaganda line ”.

Emergence

The Gestapo reports that were forwarded to Hermann Göring from 1933 to 1936 can be regarded as the forerunners of the “Reports from the Reich” . In 1937 the responsibilities of the security service and the secret state police were demarcated to prevent duplication of work. The Gestapo was given responsibility for treason and hostile activities by emigrants and Marxists . The security service should monitor the areas of science and education, racial studies and public health , film and radio, party and state, constitution and administration, freemasonry and abroad. The SD should only deal with churches, sects, Judaism , the economy and the press on fundamental issues, while the Gestapo should follow up on individual cases.

information gathering

SD leaders worked full-time in 13 main sections to gather information from confidants; They also sought the opinion of administrative officials, judges, teachers, doctors and scientists on technical issues. In the Koblenz section, for example, 15 full-time SD employees, 40 shop stewards and 24 specialists collected information. Observers also went on KdF trips. The aim was to select the informants in such a way that the findings could be regarded as representative of the mood of the population. Apparently, however, academics were overrepresented.

From 1938 the SD main office - later transformed into Amt III of the Reich Security Main Office under Otto Ohlendorf - received monthly reports from the 13 main sections and summarized them in monthly reports, and for 1938 in an annual report. At the beginning of the war, the "reports on the domestic political situation" - from December 8, 1939 with the title "Reports from the Reich" - were submitted two to three times a week, for which the main sections had to submit reports daily.

Scope and content

By the end of May 1943, 387 “Reports from the Reich” had appeared. They comprised an average of 18 to 20 pages and initially contained five sections: general mood and situation , opponents , cultural areas , law and administration, and economy . In 1940, a section on folklore and public health was added.

Often additional reports on specific questions were added, for example about the “barter and surreptitious trade”, the “mood of the Polish civil workers” or the “organization of the daily press”.

From June 1943 the "SD reports on domestic issues" followed, 229 of which have been preserved. Each of these reports received information on one or more bullet points, which were now identified by different colored papers.

Recipients

The number of copies and the precise group of recipients of the reports are not known. The files show that at least Heinrich Himmler , Reinhard Heydrich , Ernst Kaltenbrunner , Martin Bormann , Hans Heinrich Lammers as well as the Reich Ministries of Finance , Justice and the Treasurer of the NSDAP were among the recipients. Joseph Goebbels and Alfred Rosenberg mention the "reports from the Reich" several times in their diary entries. All eighteen Reich leaders of the NSDAP have probably received the reports. Line ministries and high officials probably only received extracts from it.

According to Ohlendorf, Adolf Hitler is said to have read only some of the most recent reports.

Discontinuation of reporting

On April 27, 1944 Heinrich Himmler complained that the SD wanted to assess the political and ideological attitude of senior officials. Robert Ley and Martin Bormann forbade the functionaries of the DAF and NSDAP to do any further work in 1944. In July 1944 Martin Bormann and Joseph Goebbels obtained the discontinuation of the reports, which they described as the "mouthpiece of defeatism ". Heinz Boberach judges:

"With that the regular briefing of the leadership about the mood and the reaction of the people to political and military events had come to an end, because the relevant men did not want to hear the truth."

Up until the end of the war there were only reports on individual questions that had been addressed to certain management bodies and which had apparently been requested by them themselves.

Informative value of the sources

The reports are not a representative survey ; such a thing would also not be possible under the conditions of a totalitarian dictatorship . It remains unclear to what extent a comment overheard in public reflects the true opinion or whether it had already been carefully self- censored. In addition, a “certain coloring” in the compilation of the reports cannot be ruled out: it is only in exceptional cases that it is possible to understand how the wealth of material in the individual information was processed, and what was left out or weighted more heavily. A comparison shows that the source material was "often slightly defused". It becomes clear that “certain information from the local authorities was deliberately left out or suppressed, while the authors of the nationwide reports emphasized other aspects. This shows the tendency of the reports and shows how the process of information gathering depended in many ways on the viewpoint and bias of the reporter. "

It is suspected that in some cases, such as long-distance weddings or exceptions to the marking with the Jewish star, influence should be exercised by strongly emphasizing certain arguments as an alleged "popular opinion". Despite these restrictions, the SD reports, which are summarized as "reports from the Reich", are probably the most critical and realistic sources of the mood of the population during this period. A detailed investigation of the source value of the reports from the Reich is still pending.

The reports show that the propaganda in the press and radio was by no means always believed by the population as Goebbels imagined. Newsreels were considered far more reliable; a Hitler speech could influence the mood to a great extent.

There was little sign of enthusiasm for the war in the population; the desire for peace was widespread. Confidence of victory prevailed only in a few periods in the summer months of 1940, 1941 and 1942. The population was surprisingly well informed about state secrets, such as the date for the start of the Russian campaign , the V weapons and the mass shooting of Poles and Jews.

See also

literature

  • Reports from the Reich 1938 - 1945. The secret situation reports of the security service of the SS , ed. by Heinz Boberach, Vol. 1 - 17, Herrsching 1984, ISBN 3-88199-158-1 / extensive introduction to Volume 1.
  • Messages from the Reich. Selection. Edited by Heinz Boberach. dtv 477 Munich 1968.
  • Heinz Boberach: Surveillance and mood reports as sources for the attitude of the German population to the persecution of the Jews, In: Ursula Büttner : The Germans and the persecution of Jews in the Third Reich. Revised New edition Frankfurt / M. 2003, ISBN 3-596-15896-6 .

Web links

Evidence

  1. ^ Quote from Otto Ohlendorf based on: Messages from the Reich 1938–1945…, Vol. 1, Herrsching 1984, ISBN 3-88199-158-1 , p. 11.
  2. ↑ Hans Mommsen : The Holocaust and the Germans. In: Zeitschrift für Geschichtswwissenschaft 56 (2008), p. 846.
  3. ↑ Reports from the Reich - selection . Edited by Heinz Boberach, dtv 477, Munich 1968, pp. 7–30; Reports from the Reich 1938–1945. The secret situation reports of the security service of the SS , ed. by Heinz Boberach, Vol. 1–17, Herrsching 1984, ISBN 3-88199-158-1 (= introduction to Volume 1, pp. 11–40).
  4. ↑ Reports from the Reich - selection. P. 30.
  5. ↑ Reports from the Reich - selection. P. 29.
  6. ↑ Reports from the Reich - selection. P. 29.
  7. ^ Reports from the Reich 1938 - 1945 ..., Vol. 1, p. 24.
  8. ↑ David Bankier: What did the Germans know about the Holocaust? P. 64 In: Beate Kosmala, Claudia Schoppmann (Ed.): Survival in the underground. Berlin 2002, ISBN 3-932482-86-7 .
  9. ↑ Otto Dov Kulka / Eberhard Jäckel: The Jews in the secret Nazi mood reports 1933-1945. Düsseldorf 2004, ISBN 3-77001-616-5 , p. 16.
  10. ^ Rainer Eckert: Gestapo reports - depictions of reality or pure speculation? In: Gerhard Paul, Klaus-Michael Mallmann: The Gestapo. Myth and Reality . Darmstadt 2003, ISBN 3-89678-482-X , pp. 200-215.
  11. ^ Reports from the Reich 1938 - 1945 ..., Vol. 1, p. 27.
  12. ^ Reports from the Reich 1938-1945 ..., Vol. 1, p. 25.