The love letters, school papersand dramatic works of college-age Joseph Goebbels reveal a romantic young manbeginning to show signs of anti-Semitism and egotistical and controllingbehavior, according to a Connecticut auction house selling the pre-war writingsof Adolf Hitler's propaganda chief.
Alexander Historical Auctions plans to sell the collectionon Sept. 27 in Stamford, Connecticut, saying it may prove invaluable inproviding historical and psychological insights.
"It sums up the formative years of the number two manin the Third Reich, who was responsible for motivating the masses in Germany toback Hitler," Bill Panagopulos, the company's president, said. "In myopinion, it shows how this rather simple, shy and love-struck college studentreally just became radicalized."
The thousands of pages include Goebbels' collegedissertation, report cards, dozens of poems, school essays and letters fromfamily members, friends and girlfriends.
"You really get a feel for what's going on in his head,"Panagopulos said. "There's a lot of information if somebody wants to diginto the mind of this man who grew into a lunatic."
In an early sign of his ego, Goebbels would sign some ofhis materials with numerous signatures. Toward the later years of thecollection, Goebbels is starting to show anti-Semitic tendencies, Panagopulossaid. He added that the auction house has only translated about 10 percent ofthe papers and has had a tough time with Goebbels' handwriting.
The sale sparked concerns by a leader of a Holocaustsurvivors group who criticized the auction house's sale last year of thejournals written by Nazi death camp doctor Josef Mengele.
"Alexander Auction House is making a business out ofselling Nazi artifacts and memorabilia," said Menachem Rosensaft, vicepresident of the American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and TheirDescendants. "They clearly have the legal right to profit here from suchmaterials. I leave it to others to determine the morality of it all."
Rosensaft said such materials belong in an archive forhistorians to study. He expressed concerns that at an auction of the materialscould wind up in the wrong hands and be used as a shrine to the Nazi leader.
Panagopulos said museums often depend on donations made bypeople buying items at auction. He said neo-Nazis don't collect the material.
Addressing another concern of Rosensaft's, that there is acottage industry of creating fake Nazi memorabilia, Panagopulos said most ofthe Goebbels documents up for sale have been available to experts, scholars andresearchers for years and no one has questioned their authenticity. He calledtheir provenance "ironclad."
He said his own morals should not be questioned, notingthat his father's hometown in Greece was largely wiped out in an act of Germanretribution.
The collection, which spans the period from Goebbels'childhood to shortly before he joined the Nazi party in 1924, is expected tosell for more than $200,000, Panagopulos said. It includes more than 100letters written between Goebbels and Anka Stalherm, the first great love of hislife, and show his desire to control others, he said. Letters from othergirlfriends include a pair of sisters he seduced at the same time.
In a letter to his teacher after his sister died, he thankshis teacher for condolences but adds that his loss is minor compared to lossessuffered by "our fatherland."
Goebbels and his wife killed their six children withcyanide before killing themselves the day after Hitler's suicide.
Panagopulos said the sale is on behalf of a Swiss companyand would not benefit any relatives of Goebbels, but he said his auction housedoes not identify consignors. He said the company received the materials from aman who obtained them from an earlier owner who won the rights to the writingsin a 1950s court case with Goebbels' sister.
The auction house last year said it sold the journalswritten by Mengele, drawing criticism from Rosensaft who said the business wasprofiting off the sale of materials by one of the worst mass murderers inhistory. Alexander officials said the Jewish buyer wanted to remain anonymousand is building a collection for a museum.
Panagopulos said at the time his profit would be $15,000 to$20,000 and that he would make a donation to a war memorial. He said Mengele'sjournals have historical value and that many auction houses deal withNazi-related items and the buyers are reputable.