Goebbels broadcast on 20 July 1944

[Melnyk]

Hi

Does anyone know what time Goebbels made his broadcast on 20 July 1944, confirming that Hitler had survived?

best wishes

Mike Melnyk

[GregSingh]

Are we sure Goebbels spoke on the radio on that day at all?

According to Domarus book, after talking to Hitler over the phone, Goebbels prepared a statement which was read out on the radio at 6:30pm and printed out in all newspapers the next day. It was a Deutsches Nachrichtenbüro (DNB) statement.

Hitler spoke on the radio just after midnight.

[Melnyk]

Hello

good point but we are talking about Goebbels here. Surely his ego would not have allowed anyone else to have made such an important broadcast.
Next logical question is - was the incorrect news of the successful assassination ever broadcast? and if so when?

Mike

[Helly Angel]

The first issue of the news itself was by Ah at midnight, never managed to find some Dr. Goebbels' speech that day or the next I presume that there was no such speech. Check the Magistral Website German Propaganda Archive of Professor Bytwerk which is the best of the subject and two gobbels items appear in press media, published a few days. I share the links here:

The first from July 23, 1944 about the Vengeance weapons, I thnk it was written before the bomb:

https://research.calvin.edu/german-prop ... goeb69.htm

This article is about the traitors of July 20:

https://research.calvin.edu/german-prop ... goeb50.htm

I recommend higly that website.

Best,

[WW2 Historian]

...and does a recording exist, regardless of the date/time of the broadcast?

[GregSingh]

Surely his ego would not have allowed anyone else to have made such an important broadcast.

I would think if that was Goebbels who read out 6:30pm DNB communique, it had to be mentioned in newspapers next day, eg. Dr. Geobbels spoke and said that or that, but no - Goebbels was not mentioned. Also DNB communiques like any other communiques were hardly ever read out by political leaders, just by radio announcers.

Here is the full text:

Google translated:
A bomb attack was made on the Führer today. The following members of his entourage were seriously injured: Lieutenant General Schmundt, Colonel Brandt, coworker Berger. Slight injuries were sustained by the following: Colonel General Jodl; Generals Korten, Buhle, Bodenschatz, Heusinger, and Scherff; Admirals Voss and von Puttkammer; Captain Assmann, and Lieutenant Colonel Borgmann. The Führer sustained no injuries other than some minor burns and bruises. He immediately resumed his work and, as planned, he received the Duce for a lengthy exchange of views. Shortly after the attack, the Reichsmarschall arrived at the Führer’s.

was the incorrect news of the successful assassination ever broadcast?

Who would authorize that? Not Goebbels surely. I've never heard conspirators had Deutschlandsender infiltrated...

-----
Goebbels had his weekly 15min program on the radio every Friday from 19:45 to 20:00 - Dr. Goebbels - Aufsatz
Not sure what he said on the Friday 21st of June 1944...

[Melnyk]

many thanks for such interesting replies. Ok so let me be more specific about where I am coming from.
On 20 July 1944 the 14. Galician Division (ie a Waffen-SS formation) made up of Germans and Ukrainians, was deployed at the front near Brody as part of XIII.AK> along with other regular Army units and was 5 days into combat. By that time XIII.AK had been encircled and was close to being destroyed.
I am reading the post action GERMAN accounts of the battle as recorded in the War Diaries of the units that took part.

So several GERMANS mention the assassination attempt which they say the heard about "via a special radio bulletin"

Here is a translated example of the verbatim text from the account of one of them serving with a Pioneer unit when discussing the situation on 20 July

"‘The news [of the Attentat] struck us like a bombshell. We received no orders to attack, nor any orders for any other deployment. We were also lacking reliable information regarding the status of our neighbours. My unit was separated from the Pioneer Battalion. In an army unit I tried to get a clear picture of the situation, but even here nobody knew the course of the HKL [front line] and the extent of the encirclement’

Now this can only have been after the event which occurred around 12.45 but BEFORE the evening bulletin at 18.30 that said Hitler was still alive.
These reports were written days, weeks or months after the battle and were written by German soldiers of different ranks from privates to officers.
One might lie or have a poor memory but the law of probability suggests that if half a dozen or more all say the same thing (ie that they were informed of the event), then they are telling the truth.

What I am therefore trying to establish is who broadcast such a bulletin and what is the earliest point they may have learned that the attempt was unsuccessful? One account refers to the "Sie berichten von der Goebbels Rede in Rundfunkt" but at this point I am lacking specific timings

Looking forward to reading your responses

Mike Melnyk

[Hans1906]

Complete overview/timeline of July 20, 1944: https://www.geo.de/wissen/21697-rtkl-at ... cheiterten

East Prussia, around 1:00 a.m.: The record that Hitler recorded in the "Wolf's Lair" that evening is played on the Königsberg radio station.
Full text of the recording: https://www.1000dokumente.de/index.html ... ation&l=de
The speech on the same website under "Faksimile" /Link: https://www.1000dokumente.de/dokumente/ ... hr_001.mp3

Joseph Goebbels - speech about the attempt on Adolf Hitler's life, broadcast on July 26, 1944, duration 51 minutes.
Full speech at archive.org: https://archive.org/details/19440726Jos ... tler50m55s

Hundreds of other audio documents: https://archive.org/search.php?query=su ... 45"&page=2

That as a small addition to this topic.


Hans

[VanillaNuns]

That as a small addition to this topic.

Hans

But an invaluable one. Thank you Hans for all those links. Lots of good reading there.

[Richard Anderson]

Perhaps Allied records might help? The U.S. 90th Infantry Division Artillery History recorded receiving "the report about 1900 [20 July] that an attempt had been made on Hitler and that he had only been slightly wounded."

[VanillaNuns]

The first radio broadcast to the German people was definitely at 6.30pm.

Source: Short, Neil (2013) Kill Hitler - Operation Valkyrie

[Hans1906]

VanillaNuns,

I was not aware, that the Goebbels speech is still online, very strange stuff, the demagogue Goebbels was simply terrific, his speech at that time is frightening, the little man with the brain of a genius is hard to grasp, even today.

It is more than frightening, what was possible back then, it still simply leaves me speechless.

German war propaganda always a topic for me personally, with and by Goebbels, I come to my personal limits, I have hardly any answers.


Hans