Jochen von Lang - Top Nazi SS General Karl Wolff The Man Between Hitler and Himmler

Top Nazi

SS General Karl Wolff

The Man Between Hitler and Himmler

Jochen von Lang

Top Nazi

SS General Karl Wolff

The Man Between Hitler and Himmler

Enigma Books

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Published in the United States by

Enigma Books, New York

www.enigmabooks.com

No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise without the written permission of Enigma Books

Translated by

MaryBeth Friedrich

Original German title:

Der Adjutant

Karl Wolff: Der Mann zwischen Hitler und Himmler

Copyright 2013 by Enigma Books

ISBN 978-1-936274-53-6 (e-Book)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Lang, Jochen von.

[Adjutant.]

Top Nazi: the man between Hitler and Himmler / Jochen von Lang.

p. : ill. ; cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

Translated by MaryBeth FriedrichT.p. verso.

1. Wolff, Karl, 19001984. 2. NazisBiography. 3. GermanyPolitics and government19331945. 4. World War, 19391945Germany. I. Friedrich, MaryBeth. II. Title. III. Title: Adjutant.

DD247.W59 L36 2005

943.086/092 B

Table of Contents

THE DECEASED didnt want it any other way: a black pillow covered with medals and mementoes from an inglorious age. According to the obituary, retired General Karl Wolff was buried in Prien am Chiemsee in the middle of July 1984. The usual comment regarding the specific branch of the service was missing after his name. Was this because it would have touched on the most sensitive chapter of his life? The advertising agent and retired lieutenant was in the NSDAP (the Nazi party) and joined the SS in the fall of 1931. He was part of the Black Guard of German Fascism and within a decade rose to the rank of lieutenant. Then general of the SS and general of the Waffen SS, finally becoming Heinrich Himmlers right-hand man and a close confidante of Adolf Hitler. Although there are absolutely no supporting documents, people believe his statement that on April 20, 1945, shortly before the collapse of the Third Reich, he even reached the rank of general and senior general of the Waffen SS. He could not rise any higher.

From early youth, he consistently wanted to go above and beyond, and once he succeeded he credited it to the virtues the Germans had always claimed: diligence, honesty, obedience, and loyalty. Beyond that, he possessed innumerable tactical skills, the talent to persuade people, and sharp elbows. He certainly would have made his way in business, but with his love of the military, he was cut out for pseudomilitary party management. At the time of his death, many newspapers wrote that at the end, Karl Wolff was the highest ranking among Hitlers surviving followers, not counting the life prisoners at Spandau Prison, the Fhrers former deputy, Rudolf Hess.

Had he been alive, Wolff would have been flattered. In truth, he was one of the unknown giants of Hitlers Reich who worked in the shadows. Only the top five hundred in the party and state knew his name and his functions. Of course, he too wanted to be in the limelight, but there were other higher-ranking state actors nudging and shoving. He wore a uniform well decorated with tinsel, but that was common at that time. He was not an actor in public; he worked through conversations, orders and written material. Granted, he was the representative of his city in the Reichstag, but in that make-believe parliament only one player was allowed to shine. Wolffs job was to cheer him on, vote Yes, as ordered, and sing when the national anthem was played. After events the newspapers sometimes mentioned his name on the special list of honored guests as a constant escort of the Reichsfhrer SS, but he was only one of many.

At the beginning of the war, Wolff worked as Himmlers eyes and ears at the Fhrers headquarters. What he did there would not make him popular. He either performed decorative service or was busy with secret information, which Germans only found out about after the war. When he occasionally allowed himself to stray from the party line by helping those in distress, he desperately needed to remain hidden. Only on one occasion did General Wolff take the opportunity to make himself known in public to the whole world, when he and the last intact German army surrendered to the Allied forces in Italy shortly before the end of the war, thereby shortening the Second World War in the south by several days. Whatever moved him to this action shall be assessed by history. The Germans hardly noticed it, as they were busy surviving in the Reich, which at that time was almost entirely occupied by the enemy.

The surrender in the south has already been described and critically evaluated in many books. Therefore, it may no longer illustrate the life and work of General Karl Wolff. Even his death at 84 was at best an occasion for obituaries in the press. On the day of his death, this biography had already been written, except for the final chapter. With its many details, it can serve as a contribution to contemporary history. Wolff was often a witness to historical events. He discussed fragments of these stories in unpublished manuscripts or on tape, preferring scenes where he could portray himself as the center of attention. If one compares his presentations to the relevant documents the latter often prove to be embellished. Rather than making contributions to German history, he provided anecdotes. Himmler is one of the few National Socialists whom Wolff described with conflicting emotions. Hitler seems agreeable, understanding and sometimes statesmanlike and strict. Wolff himself is, and remains, the idealist in this environment, someone who always wants whats good. Since he portrays himself as someone who never thought or planned any misdeeds, he remained unscathed by the monumental crimes that were committed by those around him. If someone were to prove to him that he could not have missed knowing about these crimes and that he even played a part in them, he explained with carefully measured words why he could, and even had to, view what was happening as legal. The blue-eyed Parsifal fell very early for the sirens of power in Hitlers magic garden.

Even if he never wanted to admit it, he was also affected by the amorality of the Nazi system. His middle-class respectability disintegrated due to the sick complex whose symptoms of moral and spiritual depravity can be summed up as the Nazi Syndrome. To counter this particular illness, one must study its extreme symptoms as they appear in General Wolff. From the beginning, he was one of those in whom Hitler had placed his hopes, just as, on the other hand, the mass charmer in the brown shirt provided a message of salvation, which could only make the high school graduate, former lieutenant, bank employee, and small business entrepreneur a true believer. When the Fhrer promised he would free Germany from disgrace and want, Wolff, a member of the upper middle class, saw in Hitler the savior from the threatening problem of doing away with classes. When Hitler announced that the soldier at the front as well as the officer would once again receive special honors, Wolff saw his opportunity for personal advancement. When Germany became rich and powerful once again, Wolff would also be allotted more power and wealth. Hitlers promise that in his Reich only those with German blood should receive honors, jobs, and dignity, and that the leadership would be filled with Germans of the Nordic-Germanic race, he strengthened the blond warrior in his certainty of belonging to the nations elite.