with Göring, “is for the punch to be hurled at Yugoslavia with
merciless force and for the military smash (Zerschlagung) to fol-
low like lightning.” Göring’s diary shows him galvanized into
action over the next days, recording appointments with Aus-
trian-born General Alexander Löhr (commanding Luftflotte ,
Vienna), with Franz Neuhausen, who was handling the eco-
nomic exploitation of the Balkans, and with a kaleidoscopic cast
of other generals, ambassadors, art agents, goldsmiths, air-force
lawyers, sculptors, and test pilots (one of whom, Hanna Reitsch,
he accompanied to receive her Iron Cross from Hitler on March
). The name of Professor Siebert again figures in the diary,
because Göring’s cardiovascular system was still causing alarm.
On March , three days after the Belgrade coup, Göring
attended a three-hour secret speech by Hitler to his generals in
the Chancellery’s paneled Cabinet Room. Trying to explain why
Britain was stubbornly fighting on, Hitler accused “the war-
monger Winston Churchill and the Jews around him,” and he
blamed the Italians and their “accursed military incompetence.”
But, he argued, Germany must defeat the Soviet Union first,
and he mentioned particularly the growing strength of the
Russian Air Force. According to the notes taken by the chief of
general staff, Franz Halder, Hitler expressed approval during
this speech of their plan to liquidate the Soviet political com-
missars found among Russian prisoners. Hitler explained to his
high-ranking secret audience that Barbarossa would see two
conflicting ideologies locked in mortal combat “We must
abandon the notion of soldierly camaraderie. The Communist,”
he said, “has not an ounce of comradeship in him.” He directed,
“Communists and GPU [Soviet secret police] men are criminals
and are to be dealt with as such.”
None of this gave Hermann Göring any sleepless nights.
Innocent of any feelings of guilt, he joined Emmy briefly at Bad