addressed to von Below. The major scanned their content
briefly, said simply that they were private, and made no effort to
hand them over.
The safe also contained a ten-page memorandum dictated
by Jeschonnek to his secretary, Lotte Kersten. Göring read it, his
face reddening, then exclaimed, “I forbid staff officers to write
down their personal opinions!” (The document recommended
that Göring appoint a capable deputy commander in chief.)
“Look at this,” he cried, brandishing the sheets of paper at Mei-
ster. “The man was working against me all along!”
Meister shook his head. “General Jeschonnek was loyal to
you to the very end.”
Two revealing notes were also found in the desk. One read,
“I can’t work anymore with the Reichsmarschall! Long live the
Führer!” The other cursed the glossy officers of Göring’s little
air staff. “Diesing and Brauchitsch,” it stipulated, “are not to at-
tend my funeral.”
As it happened, Kesselring was the only field marshal to
attend. Richthofen decided, on balance, not to face the
Reichsmarschall right now. Göring admitted to Ondarza that
the memorandum had shaken him. “He had no option but to
shoot himself,” he murmured. “He blamed me and the Luft-
waffe for everything.” “I am endlessly sorry,” he admitted to Pili
Körner. “How he must have struggled with himself! I never
really knew him before I read that document.”
He submitted Jeschonnek’s staff to cross-examination.
Leuchtenberg told him straight out that Jeschonnek had lost
faith in him. Göring adopted an expression of pained inno-
cence. The major reminded him of certain violent episodes
aboard Göring’s train. Infuriated, Göring pounded across the
room with clenched fists.
“Herr Reichsmarschall!” screamed the junior officer,