182. Domarus, 1711; Irving, Heß, 90, both resting on the post-war testimony at Nuremberg of Hildegard Fath, one of Heß’s secretaries: Eidesstattliche Erklärung, undatiert, ND Beweisstück, Heß-13, IWM FO 645, Box Nr.31, Nr.3 — cit. Irving, Heß, 444, note to p.89.
183. Engel, 103–4 (11 May 1941).
184. Below, 273.
185. Hewel’s diary entry speaks of ‘great agitation (Große Erregung)’ when Pintsch delivered the letter. Ribbentrop and Göring were summoned. Hitler broke off his talks with Darían. When Göring arrived that evening and was put in the picture by Bodenschatz, he was also ‘very agitated (sehr erregt)’. Hewel also described the atmosphere of the lengthy discussion in the hall between Hitler, Ribbentrop, Göring, and Bormann as ‘very agitated (sehr erregt).’ ‘Many combinations (Viele Kombinationen)’, the diary-entry ends (IfZ, ED 100, Irving-Sammlung, Hewel-Tagebuch (entry for 11 May 1941)).
186. Martin Moll (ed.), ‘Führer-Erlasse’ 1939–1945, Stuttgart, 1997,172; Domarus, 1716; Longerich, Hitlers Stellvertreter, 149–50.
187. See Orlow, ii.334.
188. See Longerich, Hitlers Stellvertreter, 1 54ff., especially 178–9.
189. IfZ, ED 100, Hewel-Tagebuch, Irving-Sammlung, entry for 12 May 1941; Use Heß, England-Nürnberg-Spandau. Ein Schicksal in Bildern, Leoni am Starnberger See, 1952,130; Irving, HW, 246; Domarus, 1713 n.215,1714. Halder KTB, ii.414 (15 May 1941), conveys the mistaken impression that Göring and Udet had thought it probable that Heß would reach his target. According to Hewel, their initial view was that he would not; but Hitler overrode them.
190. Below, 273–4; IfZ, ED 100, Hewel-Tagebuch, Irving-Sammlung, entry for 12 May 1941: ‘Day full of agitation. Inquiries about Heß’s flight. The Führer decides on publishing. Section that it was an act of madness pushed through by Führer.’ (‘Sehr erregter Tag. Untersuchungen über Hess’s Flug. Der Führer entschließt sich zur Veröffentlichung. Passus, daß es sich um eine Wahnsinnstat handelt, wird von F[ührer] durchgesetzt.’)
191. Domarus, 1714.
192. TBJG, I/9, 309 (13 May 1941).
193. TBJG, I/9, 311 (14 May 1941).
194. Domarus, 1716.
195. TBJG, I/9, 309 (13 May 1941).
196. TBJG, I/9, 309–10 (13 May 1941). And see Below, 274. The following day — after he had seen Hitler — he wrote that it had been necessary to bring out the communiqué of 12 May and to attribute the affair to Heß’s delusions. ‘How else could it have been explained?’ he asked (TBJG, I/9, 311 (14 May 1941)).
197. TBJG, I/9, 311 (14 May 1941).
198. Kriegspropaganda 1939–1941. Geheime Ministerkonferenzen im Reichspropagandaministerium, ed. Willi A. Boelcke, Stuttgart, 1966, 728–36 (13,14,15 May 1941); Rudolf Semmler, Goebbels — the Man Next to Hitler, London, 1941, 32–3 (14 May 1941); Orlow, ii.332.
199. TBJG, I/9, 311 (14 May 1941). Heß was, in fact, officially the third man in the Reich, having been designated in September 1939 as Hitler’s successor after Göring in the event of his death (Domarus, 1709).
200. TBJG, I/9, 312–13 (14–15 May 1941).
201. Kershaw, ‘Hitler Myth’, 167.
202. GStA, MA 106671, report of the Regierungspräsident of Oberbayern, 10 June 1941: ‘… der Monat der Gerüchte’.
203. See Kershaw, ‘Hitler Myth’, 164.
204. TBJG, I/9, 313–14 (15 May 1941).
205. TBJG, I/9, 315 (16 May 1941).
206. Hans-Jochen Gamm, Der Flüsterwitz im Dritten Reich, Munich, 1972, 36; The Berlin Diaries 1940–1945 of Marie ‘Missie’ Vassiltchikov, London, 1985, 51 (18 May 1941), and 50–51 for other Heß jokes.
207. Kershaw, ‘Hitler Myth’, 1 6off., 166–7.
