was trying to dispossess the unfortunate Walther, until finally,
in Bastianini’s eloquent words to Mussolini, “Göring... at our
request departed from Rome for Venice, where he is at the pre-
sent time.”
If Göring recognized this as a first-round defeat, he kept it
all from Carin. Nevertheless, the change in mood is unmistak-
able in her last letter written home from Rome:
We don’t get so much news from Germany. I expect
things are gloomy there. Hitler has gone into com-
plete seclusion and is writing his first book, “Four and
a Half Years’ Struggle against Stupidity, Lies and
Cowardice” [soon to be changed to Mein Kampf]...
Hermann, who is in command of all the armed
troops, also has his share of troubles: now that he’s not
there himself, everything has to go through other
hands.During his last days in Rome Göring drafted two important se-
cret agreements. The first was to Mussolini as prime minister,
and addressed the thorny problem of the South Tyrol the
beautiful mountain region, populated largely by Germans,
which had been turned over to Italy after the war and renamed
“Alto Adige.” In this remarkable deal, Göring and Hitler were
secretly offering to Mussolini to sell out the South Tyrol in re-
turn for an Italian loan and official recognition for the Nazi
party upon its revival. With Hitler’s written authority, Göring
offered in this first document:
. To make unmistakably clear that it [the Nazi
party] does not recognize that there is any Alto Adige
question and that it recognizes absolutely and without
hesitation the status quo, i.e., Italian possession....
The NSDAP [Nazi party] will do everything possible,