Wolff’s ménage à trois, whatever those involved felt, was kept private, as much as possible. A respectable upper class talented gentleman engulfed in the vortex of National Socialism cannot hide his private life, showing how over the years Nazi ideas and methods intruded into all areas of life. When Wolff was asked in 1978 why he got involved in this situation, he pointed out that his son, Widukind Thorsun, born at the end of 1937 in Budapest, had features found only among the Nordic race. “The children from my first marriage are excellent racially, in character and in performance. Because their father is blond and blue eyed and their mother however has brown hair and brown eyes, their appearance is not markedly Nordic, but rather a mix of both parents.” A statement in the spirit and manner of National Socialist thought and training.
What the SS general actually meant was: “I, Karl Wolff, one of the highest SS officers, would have acted irresponsibly towards the nation and state had I wasted my valuable genes in a marriage that could only produce half-breeds. Therefore, I had to procreate other children with a woman of the best Nordic traits. By committing adultery and entering into the second marriage resulting from the affair, I was only serving the Germanic Reich of the German Nation.” Whether these arguments were actually part of his innermost beliefs or whether they only served as an alibi to placate his guilty conscience we will never know.
Both in love and in his career things were looking up for Karl Wolff in the spring of 1939, and the German people felt blessed by the gods. A census revealed that they really were a nation of 80 million as Party propagandists, anticipating gain, had boasted of years before. When Hitler came to power the country was still small, but in the meantime it had grown into a giant. The Führer was always reveling in superlatives; and now the Germans were doing the same thing. Megalomania was a national illness.
Wolff’s position had grown exponentially since Himmler enlarged it to the SS main office; the chief of the personal staff became independent. He no longer had to get everything approved by Himmler and it became necessary for him to acquire more authority on his own. As
Himmler’s right-hand man he felt justified in observing the heads of other main offices. His own main office was divided into seven offices, each headed by upper echelon SS ranks, up to gruppenführer. On the other hand, they directed nine main departments, six departments and one “assigned to canine matters.” Himmler created this position on a whim; it was occupied by an SS Standartenführer, equal in rank to a regimental commander; officially he was called “Dog-Müller” because of his family name.
Several positions were essentially copies of those SS main offices headed by Wolff’s colleagues. More or less reluctantly they sent him copies of their correspondence for his acknowledgement. Therefore much more paperwork crossed his desk than he could possibly have read. Within his own office, however, he did not like written documents that the recipient could “confidently take home with him.” In delicate matters he preferred handling things orally Although many documents from his office outlasted the war, relatively few documents can be found that he wrote or signed. The signatures of Werner Grothmann, Heinrich Heckenstaller, Willy Suchanek, Otto Ullmann, and Dr. Rudolf Brandt appear more often. This worked to Wolff’s advantage after the war. He assured the denazification judges, more or less successfully, that he was basically Himmler’s chief of protocol and was only responsible for ceremonial matters.
Correct as that may have been among other things, Wolff’s duties did include preparing public appearances by the Reichsführer or taking part personally in any event that Hitler, with his pompous staging effects, turned into the mandatory rituals of the Party and the state. Wolff had plenty of opportunities during those spring and summer weeks of 1939. There was first of all the Führer’s fiftieth birthday (he no longer wanted to hear “and Reich Chancellor”). The festivities began the day before April 20, as Hitler, in the 40-meter-long Mosaic Room of the new Reich Chancellery, which had only been completed three months before, was introduced to the young lieutenants—the Untersturmführers of the SS Reserves. They had been through the tough training at the SS Junker School in Braunschweig and were being rewarded with a handshake by the Führer, who walked down the row with Himmler and Wolff. On the following morning, before 11:00 a.m., both were already standing at a grandstand built on the newly created East-West axis. To honor the birthday, soldiers of every kind of unit marched, rolled on wheels or chains, or even flew at low altitude down the avenue for four hours. This was clearly no longer a happy festivity; it was meant to be a threat to anyone opposed to any further aggressive acts. In the late afternoon both SS leaders went to the
Reich Chancellery. All Reich party leaders (including Himmler) were invited to a tea reception.
If Wolff had missed the meaning of the big military parade, then the Reichstag speech eight days later would provide the required commentary. It was very clear to the national representative from Darmstadt that harsher chords would be played in foreign policy from then on. France was told that it depended upon its good conduct as to whether or not Germany would resurrect its claims on Strasbourg and Metz; England found out about the cancellation of the Naval Treaty, which had limited the strength of the German navy; President Franklin D. Roosevelt was strongly attacked for having warned the aggressor Hitler; Poland was clearly told that the revision of its borders was unavoidable and that if Poland did not understand this peacefully, it would take place through war.
In the middle of May retired General Friedrich Count von der Schulenburg died. He had been Chief of the General Staff of an army group in World War I, and had the high rank of Obergruppenführer in the SS, but without much specific influence. Wolff at different times, but always in vain, had suggested him to the Reichsführer for special assignments, seeking through him to strengthen the white glove faction. Naturally the Reichsführer and Wolff drove to the funeral in Potsdam together on the morning of May 23. Hitler had ordered the heads of the Wehrmacht to come to his study that afternoon for “instructions regarding the situation and policy goals.” What would be said there was already known ahead of time at the Prinz-Albrecht-Strasse. Hitler announced his “decision to attack Poland at the first suitable opportunity. It’s not about Danzig,” he said. “For us, it’s about expanding our
lebensraum
to the east.”
Those who knew what was going on must have smirked when Hitler let it be announced on July 10 that this year’s Party rally at Nuremberg would take place at the beginning of September and would be called “The Party Convention for Peace.” The SS leadership knew better, and therefore in June, anticipating war, already transferred the III Sturmbann of the Death’s Head Division from its garrison in Berlin-Adlershof to Danzig. There the SS Reserves had already been declared the “Home Army,” strengthened by local volunteers and equipped with better weapons. Clearly Wolff was informed about these war preparations, as we know from the diary of Major Gerhard Engel, Hitler’s army adjutant. At the date of July 4, he noted, “Today I could put one over the SS. From Wolff, who always talks a lot,” he found out that Himmler wanted to reorganize the Danzig Reserves and equip them as a brigade. Engel thwarted this plan
with an order that he had Hitler sign. Engel triumphed: “…with that the question of the Death’s Head division in Danzig is taken care of…” His joy proved to be short lived; three months later Danzig was “brought back to the Reich,” the SS would be as powerful there as in the Reich, and the Wehrmacht would no longer have a whole lot to say in the new Reichsgau. These two opponents would know each other better by then as both were part of Hitler’s closest entourage.
Already during the last eight weeks before the outbreak of the war, the tall, smart SS Gruppenführer was often seen near his top commander. So on August 16 at Obersalzberg a really farfetched anniversary was celebrated so that Hitler could show once again how much his soldiers honored him. On August 16, 1914, a 25-year-old artist with Austrian citizenship joined the Bavarian Reserve-Infantry Regiment 16 as a war volunteer in Munich. This became a 25-year military anniversary, with a congratulatory parade, goose-stepping, and marching music.
In the early hours of the evening on August 24, Hitler returned to Berlin, signaling a constant state of alert for top political and military circles. It was no longer a question whether Poland would be attacked any time soon; the only thing not set was the date when the first shots would be fired. Even the procedures were agreed upon, suggesting to the public that the war was an unavoidable defense against mortal dangers. The preparations were already being made for an event that would create the immediate pretext for hostilities, placing all the blame on the enemy. The SD prepared a fake raid by Polish troops to be broadcast on the German radio station at Gleiwitz. It had also already been decided that Hitler would announce the state of war, justifying it during a great speech at the Reichstag. Nazi party leaders throughout the Reich were only waiting for the cue calling a meeting of all representatives to the Kroll Opera House in Berlin.
Chief of the Personal Staff of the Reichsführer SS Wolff worked and lived in the Reich capital. Along with his employer Himmler, he found out the news. They heard that Hitler had already set the start of the war for August 26 at 04.30 (4:30 a.m.). Like many other dignitaries, they made their way to the Reich Chancellery on the morning of August 25; everyone wanting to be present when Hitler gave the cue which would lock in the attack for the following morning. According to army plans, this had to happen by 15.00 (3:00 p.m.) at the latest. And two minutes after the hour those waiting saw the Führer step through his door and heard how he simply announced, “Operation White!” That was the code word for the campaign against Poland.
Wolff assumed he would already be traveling on Hitler’s special train due east the following day. As Hitler wished—he always made a point of emphasizing this—Wolff should constantly be nearby. But his assignment was obviously never more specific than that. Later he attached great value at being rated as liaison officer, but at the outbreak of the war the post didn’t even exist. Marching against the enemy were the L
eibstandarte
, under their commander, Sepp Dietrich—practically a regiment—along with the regiment
Germania
, the Standarte
Deutschland
, a newly formed artillery regiment and smaller units. All these units were incorporated into the army and on Hitler’s orders under the Supreme Commander of the Army. There was therefore no need for an individual representative at the Führer’s headquarters, as had the army, the navy, and the air force.
At Wolff’s sentencing in Munich in 1964, his role at Hitler’s headquarters was described as “Himmler’s eyes and ears.” In this area he naturally represented the armed SS units according to Himmler’s instructions. The most important thing for Himmler was that all of his units be centralized in a closed organization. Wolff’s direct connection to the Reserves was, however, rather minimal because they were under the SS High Command, which like the troops repeated that Wolff could never be their man, simply because he had not even served for a single day within their ranks. When despite this he became their first lieutenant general in 1937 he was given the rank and appropriate insignia for obvious decorative reasons. It was all tempered by the fact that his rank insignia were initially narrower and adorned with less tinsel than the Wehrmacht. This changed later on, but to the new Waffen SS he remained a desk general and a political functionary.
For Himmler, Wolff’s position at the Führer headquarters was key since the Reichsführer feared that the Führer, surrounded by high-ranking military officers, could distance himself from a Party military unit. The SA, even though stripped of their power in the Röhm affair, was represented in Hitler’s entourage by the “personal adjutant of the Führer,” Wilhelm Brückner, wearing the uniform of an SA Obergruppenführer, and a trusted comrade since the putsch days in 1923. He was something of an institution, even if his reputation was beginning to wane, as he was getting unmistakably older. Wolff was not as tall, but his intellectual ability was far superior. To fill a precarious position within Hitler’s entourage Himmler could find no one better among his men than precisely the one Führer had chosen.
Why Hitler picked Wolff is a matter of conjecture. His appearance may have played a role, along with his smooth officer’s manners, an ability
to inspire confidence that contradicted the flowery statements like “Jawohl!” and “As you order!” There was also the incident with the drum major’s baton during Mussolini’s visit in Munich, whereby Wolff showed he could react quickly. Other considerations may have also played a role for those within the SS who were thinking about who might be Himmler’s successor should anything happen to him. Would it be Heydrich or Wolff? Hitler always kept the top men in his movement insecure by making it look as if he were setting up a crown prince.
Hitler made sure that neither Wolff nor Himmler had the slightest influence over world events during the final days of August 1939 in Berlin. He didn’t even ask for their opinion. They stood around like many others in the upper party echelon at the Reich chancellery, waiting for the decision that was so crucial to their fate. War could increase their respect and power, but defeat could plunge them into ruin. No one can say what Karl Wolff felt in those afternoon hours of August 25, as he believed hostilities would begin the next day. It was said that during the Czech crisis he and Himmler belonged to the hawks but that this time they were among the doves.
Wolff expected to be ordered to attend the Reichstag meeting the next day and get his marching orders to the Führer headquarters. In the course of the evening this proved to be premature. At 7:00 p.m., ten hours before his armies were to start moving, Hitler rescinded his order to attack. He still wanted “to find out if we could get rid of the English interference,” he told Göring. But the emergency telegrams to hundreds of Reichstag deputies inside the Reich could not be stopped that evening as they boarded their sleeping cars to Berlin. Not until they arrived in the Reich capital on August 26 and registered in the hotels did they find out that they may not be needed, but should remain available until their taskmaster Martin Bormann gave them further orders.