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3) The Arab world must be a German protectorate in North Africa.

Thus, it must be noted that the negotiations resulted in a total divergence of opinions and positions. As representative of the German command Wolff categorically rejects to consider the possibility of the destruction of German armed forces and defeat in the war. In his opinion, the war with Russia will last for several more years and end with Germany’s complete victory. The basic calculation is based on the fact that, in their opinion, Russia, having lost forces and resources in the war, will be compelled to return to the talks concerning a ceasefire, but under much more severe conditions, two to three years from now.

First Deputy of the People’s Commissar

Of the Internal Affairs of the USSR

(MERKULOV)

Third negotiations: June 23, 1943

As reported by the
Los Angeles Times
and the
New York Journal American
, on May 18, 1947, “Secret Nazi Files Disclose Plan for Sneak Red Truce.” The article mentions a conference between Hitler and his naval commanders held on July 17 and 18 where the Führer stated

“…a threat by Japan that she will enter the war against Russia will help to make the latter accept the German offer of an unannounced armistice on the eastern front to be kept secret from the Anglo-Saxons. Russia would continue to accept lend-lease materials. This political goal is worth every sacrifice.”

A secret meeting between Molotov and von Ribbentrop was held in June 1943 at Kirovograd some 200 kilometers behind the German lines according to B. H. Liddell Hart in
History of the Second Word War
(New York: Putnam, 1970) p. 488. At that point the Germans were strongly encouraged by the Japanese who had always been averse to a war with Russia and by the Italians who wanted a Mediterranean strategy directed against the Anglo-American forces then threatening the mainland from Sicily.

The talks were possibly mentioned by Hitler to Mussolini during their secret conversations at the conference at Feltre, near Venice on July 19, 1943. The meetings between the two dictators were to be held originally
over a three day period however those initial plans were shelved when Hitler announced at the last minute that he would need to fly back to Germany that same afternoon. The diaries of fascist minister of education and close Mussolini confidant Carlo Alberto Biggini contain the mention of a possible participation of Molotov at the Feltre conference. (See the diaries of C.A. Biggini: Luciano Garicaldi
Mussolini e il Professore. Vita e diari di Carlo Alberto Biggini
(Milan: Mursia, 1983) page 299.)

APPENDIX II

Comparative Waffen-SS Officers’ ranks

APPENDIX III

Archives

Document Center, Berlin

Bundesarchiv Koblenz and Kornelmünster

National Archives, Washington D.C.

Ministry of War, London

Imperial War Museum, London

Public Record Office, London

Documents

Karl Wolff, Munich

Denazification Office, Hamburg-Bergedorf

International Military Tribunal, Nuremberg

Interviews Conducted by the Author

Axmann, Artur—Hitler Youth Leader

Bormann, Albert—Adjutant and brother of Martin Bormann

Dietrich, Sepp—General Waffen-SS

Dönitz, Karl—Admiral

Halder, Franz—General

Hoffmann, Heinrich, Jr.—Son of Hitler’s photographer

Kempner, Robert M. W—US Attorney

Linge, Heinz—SS

Mohnke, Wilhelm—SS

Naumann, Werner—State Secretary

Puttkamer, Karl Jesko von—Admiral

Schirach, Baldur von—Hitler Youth Leader

Schulze-Kossens, Richard—Adjutant

Schwerin von Krosigk, Lutz Graf—Minister

Skorzeny, Otto—SS

Speer, Albert—Minister

Steiner, Felix—General Waffen-SS

Strechenbach, Bruno—SS

Wenck, Walther—General

Wolff, Karl—General Waffen-SS

Zander, Wilhelm—SS

APPENDIX IV

Documents

1. Himmler asking that Karl Wolff be excused as adjutant of the governor of Bavaria because of an SS leadership issue. It is addressed to Ernst Röhm, le chief of staff of the SA, still nominally Himmler’s direct superior. After the takeover Röhm was also undersecretary in the Bavarian government.

2. Wolff’s appointment as chief of the personal staff of the Reichsführer SS H. Himmler.

3. Award of a medal to Karl Wolff. The letter carries the rubber stamp imprint for the first time: “at present at Führer headquarters.”

4. Hitler promotes Wolff to the rank of lieutenant general in May 1940 and makes the Nazi party officer the equivalent of the Wehrmacht generals.

5. Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller uses the name of the deceased Reinhard Heydrich to warn Wolff because of his contacts with a Jewish woman.

6. Wolff falls out of grace with the Reichsführer SS. Himmler forbids higher SS leaders to visit the sickbed of the chief of his personal staff.

7. Wolff’s appointment as ambassador extraordinary to the fascist government of Italy by Hitler on October 11, 1943. The head of the Reich Chancellery, secretary Hans Lammers, records the appointment.

8. Letter from Hermann Göring wherein he states that before the World War “a Jewish question did not exist at all” within his circles. In the summer of 1941, as a chairman of Hitler’s ministerial committee for the defense of Germany, Göring passed on to the SS the order for the “Final Solution of the Jewish question.”