How did the Gestapo differ from the SS?

09.12.2021Heading: Finishing

The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank are preparing amendments to two laws at once, which directly relate to the interaction of banks and auditor companies. As a result, such a thing as audit secrecy may become a thing of the past. And all due to the fact that auditors will be required to transfer information about the activities of their clients to the Central Bank, the Federal Financial Markets Service and Rosstrakhnadzor, and clients will be prohibited from taking any actions to limit information. The list is wide.

True, at the end of last week, the Ministry of Finance decided to clarify the situation. So far, according to the department, it is premature to discuss amendments to the legislation. “The Central Bank came up with a corresponding initiative, the proposals are being worked out, it is too early to discuss them,” a source in the ministry said. The document, as it stands now, casts doubt on the very existence of consultants and auditors. It remains unclear how much information related to audit secrecy will be protected. And the amendments in their current form will simply turn auditors into yet another supervisory body, which, like the Central Bank, will have to identify all possible violations.

What is the essence of these amendments, about which there have been disputes for several months in a row? So, it can be any facts about the illegal operations of a bank, an investment company, which can lead to the suspension or termination of their activities. Unfair activities of the client in relation to the auditor, that is, the provision of incomplete information. Identification during the audit of any transactions that allow the auditor to refuse to sign the audit report, etc. In other words, the auditor will be required to report almost anything that may appear suspicious or illegal.

Let us recall that the pressure on the auditors began last year, when the tax authorities filed claims against PraicewaterhouseCoopers-Audit in the Yukos case. Supervisory authorities began to require the company to fully disclose information about all customers. It is clear that such a request was refused, since it is obligatory to provide information related to the category of commercial secrets only by a court decision. If the amendments are adopted, the rules of the game will change dramatically. Moreover, the auditors will lose the possibility of an agreement with the client to eliminate the identified violations without publicity, but will have the right to report to the Central Bank about any suspicious facts found in banks. Otherwise, that is, in case of failure to report, they themselves can lose their license and even be held financially and criminally liable.

Companies and banks have a lot of questions about the essence of the amendments. The main one is a list of facts that the authorities classify as suspicious. The list is long, but not precise, auditors say. The second question that audit companies ask is: would anyone want to hire a compromising collector? What bank would allow to be snitched on? Losses will primarily be borne by large audit companies, which will be the first to fall under the eye of supervisory authorities.

Clients will go to small one-day companies that sell opinions and are ready to put a seal under any financial statements for little money, auditors say. The auditor "big man" believes that the end of the banking audit in the classical definition is coming, since it will become a rather risky business.

The Ministry of Finance and the Central Bank have not yet commented on the draft amendments. Although some officials say on the sidelines that there are all kinds of risks, of course, this is not a Russian invention. This is international practice. In Europe, for example, the disclosure of audit information has long been a common practice. True, in the same Europe, a list of mandatory information that auditors must report is clearly spelled out.

Dear, firstly, this text was written by me personally over a morning cup of coffee. Secondly, I clearly explained why people who did not have membership in the SS worked in the security police system, but I will try again.
To begin with, you need to clearly understand one thing. The SS is a subsidiary structure of the NSDAP, which was created to carry out certain tasks (protection of party leaders). Membership in them was a matter of voluntary, as well as in the party and its other organizations (SA, NSKK and so on up to the National Socialist Charitable Organization) was purely voluntary. It was quite an ordinary situation when members of the SA, SS, etc. were not members of the party, party membership did not automatically arise when people joined, but affiliated organizations (this was especially characteristic from 33 to 35, when the admission of new members to the NSDAP was stopped). The most typical case is Heinrich Müller, who became a member of the party in 1939, already being the head of the criminal police of the Reich and being in the rank of SS Oberführer (moreover, the party bodies had objections about both Müller's admission to the NSDAP and his membership in the SS).
The security police (or rather, its constituent parts, the criminal and political police) was created on the basis of the already existing regional police services, and it took three years to create unified all-imperial structures. Accordingly, their employees were not members of the SS, and if they wanted to become one, they acquired membership on an individual basis. The fact that these services were then integrated with the SS was due to the fact that after the Nazis came to power, Himmler, the head of the SS, was appointed head of the political police in Munich (which existed before that and was engaged in the fight against political extremism), and then successively in all the rest. lands other than Prussia. The Gestapo did not formally submit to Himmler until 1936, because. the prime minister and minister of the interior of this land, Hermann Goering, did not want to lose control over it (the Gestapo is not it, but it, because the police, and the SS are not it, but they, detachments).
One essential property of the Nazi regime leads to confusion in the issue - managerial chaos and struggle between leaders. The fact that the entire German police force fell under Himmler's control was the initial stage of his plan - not just to mechanically unite them, but to integrate them into the SS. To do this, the order police were subordinated to the former commander of the Berlin SS Kurt Dalyuge (at that time an official of the Prussian Ministry of the Interior), and the security police - to the chief of the SD Reinhard Heydrich. But the final integration, which Himmler planned in the early 40s, was blocked by Bormann - he did not want to strengthen Himmler by transferring all security and punitive services to him under the undivided control and absorption of the SS police. The maintenance of the formal separation of the SD, the security police and the order police, if necessary, could deprive Himmler or his successor of control over the police (this actually happened at the end of April 1945 - before his death, Hitler divided Himmler's posts, making the Silesian Gauleiter K. Hanke the Reichsführer SS, and the Minister of the Interior and the head of the police - the Bavarian Gauleiter P. Gisler; however, this no longer had practical significance). Instead, a compromise solution was made - the creation of the RSHA without the merger of purely SS (SD) and police services, and it only reflected the actual situation - both the SD and the security police were already headed by one person. Because of this, membership in the SS of police officials in the service of the Gestapo and Kripo was still not mandatory. Nevertheless, Himmler sought the entry of his police subordinates into the SS organization, distributed graduates of the SS cadet schools to the security police, sent SS members who had either not previously worked in the SS system or employees of other departments to the courses of the Fuhrers of the security police or to the police school in Lichterfeld, and also moved the SD officers to the security police (like the same Schellenberg - he was transferred from the SD to the Gestapo to the post of head of the IVE department, and then back to the SD) and vice versa, therefore, over time, more and more employees in the security police were members of the SS. However, members of the criminal and political police services could wear their ranks of officials or the ranks of the order police and not be members of the SS, and this was more typical for the Kripo. It even included a women's criminal police, it was headed by Frederike Viking. In principle, she could not be a member of the SS (women were not accepted into the SS at all, the presence of women members of the SS in films is exclusively a fantasy of directors and screenwriters; the only opportunity for women to be involved in the SS was membership in the "SS retinue", it included female staff concentration camps and female support staff). So the situation in which all German policemen would be members of the SS and would be subordinate to the head of the SS on an ongoing basis, and not just because Himmler combined the posts of the Reichsführer SS and State Secretary of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then the Minister, was only a dream of the "Reichshanni", which he was prevented from carrying out by opponents in the party. In turn, despite the formal integration into the system of the main departments of the SS and the significant interpenetration of the SS and police structures into each other, the security police services remained state law enforcement agencies.

The half-decayed coffin, taken from the grave, turned out to be as light as a cardboard box. And not surprisingly, when it was opened, the coffin was empty. The remains of Heinrich Muller, the chief of the Gestapo of Nazi Germany, who, according to the official version (oh, these “official versions”!), died on May 1, 1945, were not found in the grave of the West Berlin cemetery.

What the highly experienced Müller was able to last days war to simulate their death and even burial, no doubt. And to tell about the bloody biography of the former head of the state secret police, unknown to the general reader, seems important in itself, and not least because the most plausible, if not final, version of the fate of Martin Bormann is connected precisely with Muller.

Let's start with an intermediate time point, as if in half dividing the year 1945 and the present day ...

I am rereading the yellowed clipping from Pravda dated November 17, 1967, which is stored in my file. On the left are two photographs. On one, Muller in Hitler's general uniform, on the other - like two peas in a pod like him (aged, of course) a man in handcuffs. And here is the text of the message placed on the right:

“Panama, 16. (TASS). Panamanian police have announced the arrest of a man who may be Hitler's former Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller.

Wanted for more than 20 years, Müller is accused as a war criminal of the brutal extermination of three million prisoners of war.

The head of the Panama Investigation Department, Hector Valdes, introduced the arrested man to reporters at a press conference. The detainee refused to answer any questions.

A man suspected of being a former chief of the Gestapo was arrested on November 14 in a suburb of Panama. He presented documents in the name of Francis Killard Keith, who was born in 1906 in the US state of Missouri. However, he spoke very poor English, with a strong German accent.

According to the Panamanian police, Keith-Muller moved from Venezuela to Panama in 1959 and engaged in petty trade here.

Müller's wife, who lives in Munich, identified her husband in photographs shown to her taken in 1966 in Panama. In order to fully confirm the identity of the arrested person, the Panamanian authorities sent his fingerprints to West Germany for comparison. ” There was no answer from the Federal Republic of Germany. In those 60s, the post of Federal Chancellor (!) was occupied by a man with a tainted Nazi past. This is C. G. Kissinger. The government cabinet included the Nazi war criminal T. Oberländer, the "godfather" of the West German doctrines of revenge, which are almost the dominant feature of Bonn's foreign policy.

Meanwhile, it was far from an ordinary (if such a concept is generally appropriate) Nazi criminal.

If Bormann in fascist Germany was the creator of misanthropic "theories", then the main executive and punitive body responsible for maintaining the "new order" was the Gestapo, headed by SS General Müller. Undoubtedly, he learned well the "theoretical" principles of Party Genosse Bormann. The “practical” tasks that the head of the secret police was engaged in unambiguously correspond to their spirit. His signature stands under the orders on the most inhumane crimes of fascism.

I remember visiting the former Mauthausen concentration camp. Of the 206,000 prisoners here, 110,000 perished or died of torment. Here was everything that the perverted fantasy of Muller and his satraps could come up with to the limit - a gas chamber, a crematorium, "the angle of execution in the back of the head." About the latter - especially. The chief of the Gestapo issued a directive with the eloquent title "Bullet", ordering the destruction of Soviet prisoners of war who have a "bad influence" on prisoners of concentration camps of other nationalities. To fulfill this monstrous directive, on the orders of Müller, a “bathhouse” was built in Mauthausen, at the entrance to which the back of the victim’s head was in contact with the bar and automatically caused a shot in the neck. In another instruction, Muller described in detail the process of "identifying" the right people among the prisoners of concentration camps.

The chief of the Gestapo considered himself an "expert" in psychology and personally participated in interrogations, which were distinguished by special fanaticism.

In 1944, the SS officer Erich Zielke, who served in the Gestapo as an "expert on racial issues", fell into Soviet captivity. The future Doctor of Historical Sciences, Professor A.S. Blank - then a young Soviet officer-political worker - had a chance to interrogate this "specialist". Zilke, who personally knew Muller, said that his boss suspected everyone, including employees of his bloody department, of "treason to the Fuhrer".

According to Zilke, Müller often arranged a kind of "tests": he summoned a group of Gestapo men in turn to the office and started talking with them on risky topics - about Germany's chances of winning the war, about the attitude towards the population of the occupied countries, etc. Zilke, who was sitting in the corner of the office, he had to record the reaction of those who answered and take note of those who seemed insincere to him, and then compare his conclusion with the conclusions of the boss. Muller liked to be present at interrogations with the use of sophisticated torture. In Gestapo jargon, such an interrogation was called a "conversation" using the "third degree of intimidation."

Terrible statistics left behind a secret investigation led by Muller. More than 400 thousand people were thrown into fascist concentration camps, over 300 thousand German anti-fascists lost their lives as a result of persecution and terror by the punitive authorities ...

Much says that Muller survived the collapse of Nazi Germany. He managed to escape from the commemoration of the "Third Reich".

In 1984, I asked Yulian Semyonov what his opinion was about the post-war fate of the chief hangman of the Third Reich.

I, like many West German and American journalists, the writer said, are absolutely convinced that Muller is gone. Indirect data I have now collected in Latin America indicate that he appeared there, in particular in Panama (here one of the major local politicians, connected with the CIA, had long-standing friendly contacts with the SS and SD). The most convenient way to recruit a man like Mueller to the CIA was in Panama, in the US-controlled Panama Canal zone. I managed to find traces of Müller in one small village on the banks of the Parana (and where, if not here, Bormann was seen more than once! - V.I.) - there he quite often visited the savage doctor Mengele.

The fact that it was in Latin America that the former chief of the Gestapo settled was testified by the one mentioned! Italian journalist Massimo Bones.

A similar assumption happened to be heard at a press conference organized by the USSR Foreign Ministry for Soviet and foreign journalists in connection with the Barbier case.

And one more evidence of a person who, in my opinion, deserves trust. In 1985, Viktor Aleksandrov's book Mafia SS was published in Russian translation. The son of Russian emigrants, who was taken abroad as a child after October, Aleksandrov served in the American army during the war years.

While still a military journalist, he began work on exposing the crimes of the Nazis in the press. He was present at the Nuremberg trials and after it undertook his own search for war criminals hiding from retribution. In the years " cold war» He was harassed by the notorious Un-American Activities Commissions organized by Senator McCarthy. Recently Alexandrov lived in France. (In July 1984 he died in Paris.)

The result of the search for Nazi criminals was the book: "Six million fallen (the life of Adolf Eimann)" - 1960, "Black Front" - 1969 and "Mafia SS". In the last, the author, who called himself a “Nazi hunter”, proves that the defeated fascism has not been completely destroyed, that the “Nazi infection” has not lost its danger, and the surviving SS men constitute a genuine mafia operating in the Western world.

Alexandrov comes to the firm conclusion that both Bormann and Müller have left Europe. “In Latin America,” the author writes, “they met their own kind in spirit and crimes - Barbier, Rauff, Mengele and others.”

In general, it turns out that the figure of Heinrich Müller is directly related to our story about the former Reichsleiter.

I must admit that even after the "Christmas find" in West Berlin, which seemed to put the final point in the story with the Reichsleiter, something implicitly prevented me from closing the "Bormann case" for myself forever. Confused, in particular, the haste with which the investigation was carried out, testifying to the intention to bury as soon as possible - literally and figuratively - Hitler's deputy in the Nazi party. It is no coincidence that the same "Daily Express" shortly after these events pointedly dropped: "This is Bormann's eternal indulgence ..."

Reflecting again and again on the collected materials, I always came across one interesting circumstance. As soon as any serious and conclusive evidence appeared in favor of the fact that Bormann managed to get out of the capital of the agonizing Reich on that May night of 1945, authoritative denials were instantly born, and even unveiled warnings against further investigation and publication.

Take, for example, the detailed and highly plausible materials collected by the journalists of the West German magazine Quick. There was a report in the press that a group of magazine reporters had succeeded in finding Bormann in Latin America. Moreover, the journalists prepared a series of articles about Bormann's post-war activities, the scale of his operations in Latin America, close ties with German industrialists and financiers, and Bonn politicians. The articles never saw the light of day. The publishers of Quick were warned that the publication would be contrary to the "national interests" of the FRG and would result in the closure of the magazine and possibly the imprisonment of the publishers and reporters. The warning came from the secret services of West Germany.

With all the skepticism, serious doubts about the death of Bormann left the research of Ladislav Farago, which is described in detail above. Later, a refutation appeared, showing the prudence of those who did not want the truth to surface. It turned out that during the collection period, Farago was given a number of false documents and photographs. After the publication of the article, the forgery was proven, which, of course, compromised all other sources, and the author himself. Here is a curious detail of the mechanism of this action. The photograph, slipped by L. Farago, actually depicted a certain Argentine teacher. Heinrich Müller, the former head of the Gestapo, organized the transfer of this fake to a journalist. It was he who sent his agent to the New York Times bureau in Buenos Aires, "brought" correspondents to this school and "proved" that the entire story of the journalist was "falsification." It was a clever and masterful move by an experienced disinformer. The discovery of two skeletons in West Berlin, according to Paul Manning, was also the work of Bormann and Muller, who sought to finally get rid of public attention forever.

I note in passing that L. Farago, right up to his death, also categorically stated that the "action" on Invalidenstrasse was inspired by Muller on a direct order. Bormann. He resolutely defended this idea in his book about Bormann - "What happened next."

Now about the book by Paul Manning, which actually prompted me to return to the case of the former Reichsleiter. Together with him, I share the opinion that Bormann managed to escape safely from besieged Berlin on the night of May 1-2, 1945. The American journalist managed to find Bormann's assistant, who told how he hid him for 10 days after his escape, and then worked for him in South America, where Bormann got in 1947 with the help of intelligence services and the US State Department, who found a safe haven not only for the Reichsleiter, but and many other Nazis, on whose conscience the death of millions and millions of people.

In the same way, with the direct help of ODESSA, Muller himself got across the ocean, where he became a prominent, albeit secret, figure in the financial empire created by Bormann. The head of the Gestapo, according to an American journalist, was directly involved in the export of valuables from Germany. With their help, dozens of shell corporations were created in countries such as Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, Argentina. Part of these funds in subsequent years was transferred to finance neo-fascist organizations in West Germany and a number of other countries. This information is very similar to other revelations of a similar kind concerning the post-war activities of conspiratorial organizations of former SS men.

However, the bulk of the funds in the period from 1936 to the spring of 1945 went to "reliable people" in Latin America.

Gold and currency, as we know, were exported in different ways. Some of the treasures were transferred to the accounts of German banks in Argentina. In parallel with this, the secret operation "Tierra del Fuego" was carried out, during which valuables were transported to Patagonia in submarines.

In the bulletin of international information of the Novosti press agency in 1984, it was indicated that in the last two years of the war between Europe and Argentina, a kind of "underwater tunnel" was installed, along which Hitler's submarines cruised. Reliably we are talking about at least three ships. Even the numbers of two of them are known: U-977 and U-530. You can name the names of all three captains: Schafer, Wermuth, Niebuhr.

Thus, there are serious arguments in favor of the fact that the basis of the financial empire was the valuables, timely and secretly transported by Bormann and his team, in which the former head of the state secret police, Heinrich Müller, occupied a key position.

Bormann's money and treasures contributed to the formation and strengthening of Latin American and international neo-fascism. I came to this conclusion by analyzing the mechanism of the "black international" - a kind of general staff and coordinating center of post-war Nazism, which I wrote about in my book "The Brown Web" published in 1985...

As for Paul Manning, this veteran American journalist came into direct contact with Bormann's people in Latin America, who promised to arrange a meeting with the former Reichsleiter. There are reasons to believe Manning.

Referring to conversations with people from the current environment of the Nazi criminal, the author writes that Bormann does not consider himself a war criminal at all, but, on the contrary, believes that he is a German patriot and that he wants to die as a hero, and not as an exile.

"The Conspiracy of Silence" - this is how Manning first called his book. Everything seemed to be going well: there were many hunters at once for its publication. The book was taken for publication, says P. Manning, several publishers, but each time they returned it. The manuscript was once returned by a book firm with close ties to West German publishing companies. Another time, the author learned, the manuscript was rejected on the direct "advice" (read - instructions) of Washington. Contracts were canceled without any explanation. And even in cases where it meant paying a penalty. As if they themselves had entered into a conspiracy, one after another, US book publishers, which had previously paid no attention to Paul Manning's research, flatly abandoned the Conspiracy of Silence. Manning's many years of work both in Germany and in England, where he also unsuccessfully tried to find a publisher, got into the "black list".

In the end, the book, as I said, nevertheless came out. There was a small publishing house that decided to publish it. Those American newspapers that reviewed it placed the highest and most flattering reviews. For example, the book review West Coast Review of Books gave the book the highest rating, declaring that it "opens the reader's eyes." And the Atlantic City Press wrote: “... The whole truth about the last days of the Second World War has not yet been told. Manning's book raises many questions, including how many high-ranking Nazis still live in luxury around the world, including America."

But these are all provincial newspapers. The Whales, as TASS correspondent in Washington Oleg Polyakovsky notes, surrounded the book with the same conspiracy of silence as the major publishing houses. It didn't make the bestseller lists. Its existence must be well known in the offices of the US State Department, Langley, the Pentagon, in the offices of transnational corporations that use Nazi capital and have entangled the whole world with their tentacles. To the general readership of the United States, and not only the United States, but the entire West, it is unknown and inaccessible.

Phone calls were heard at Manning's apartment: anonymous callers threatened the author with death. The journalist and his family were under round-the-clock surveillance by unidentified persons. And when the book was finally printed, many bookstores, out of sheer fear, refused to display it in their windows. Manning himself, a man of great experience and far from timid, was forced to change apartments, and to this day his number does not appear in any telephone directory.

And one more curious detail. Bormann's people, writes P. Manning, got the book still in manuscript and introduced the chief to it. Borman, noting that the author had collected "detailed material", gave his review: "The book is good. But it won't bring fame or money." And indeed: P. Manning did not earn either fame or money on his perseverance.

What are the reasons for the exclusion zone created around the Bormann theme? It appears that there are several.

To begin with, only living criminals are vitally interested in their incognito and the secret of their whereabouts. At the same time, let us not forget that Bormann, like a number of other bosses of the fascist Reich, has been under a death sentence throughout the post-war years. Here is the first reason why Bormann destroyed most of the documents and materials even before the end of the war (Nazi party membership card, service archive, medical card, etc.).

Numerous “facts” of Bormann’s appearance speak of the desire to keep a secret at all costs, sometimes nearby, sometimes on the other side of the earth. And what about the successful discrediting of materials collected by Farago? And the weird stuff around Manning's manuscript? It looks like a well-oiled falsification mechanism is at work here.

It cannot be ruled out that Bormann (or Müller) "scattered" the Reichsleiter's doubles. And not only, as we say, in defeated Germany, but also later in other parts of the world. The circumstances of the discovery and "burial" of the remains in West Berlin reinforce the assumption that high-class specialists from the apparatus of Heinrich Müller are involved in this case.

In a word, Bormann turned out to have many personal motives for "disappearing", as well as ways to carry out his plans.

But taking this into account, let's try to figure out who else, what political and other circles have been and are still making Bormann a figure of silence?

Here, for example, is by no means a simple matter with Nazi submarines “floating” to the surface on our way in the footsteps of the disappeared Reichsleiter.

It is reliably known that after the signing of the act of unconditional surrender of Germany, 17 German submarines disappeared without a trace. Even assuming that some of them were sunk, and several were blown up by mines in recent days, it is hard to believe that not the slightest trace of any of the seventeen (except for the three mentioned) ships remains.

As soon as there is a message or even a rumor about the discovery of a submarine, someone imposes a taboo on any publication. So it was, for example, with a submarine found in the early 80s by a group of divers in the Skagerrak Strait, sunk by an English bomber at the very end of the war. Newspapers claimed that there was a large consignment of gold and boxes of secret documents on board. But then interest in lifting the boat suddenly “disappeared”. I still don't know why...

In one of the outlying districts of West Berlin - Dahlem, a modest building lurks among slender pines and sprawling lindens. It is distinguished neither by the originality of architecture, nor by the antiquity of its walls. It is striking only that it looks like a concentration camp wire fence in several rows. On the other side of it, hands behind his back, feet shoulder-width apart, stands an American soldier. Somewhere on the side of the gate, you can also see a sign with the inscription in English: “Documentation Center”.

Here is what Komsomolskaya Pravda told about the "center" and the contents of this huge safe at the end of 1984.

The Dahlem district itself traces its “pedigree” from the SS town built in the 30s. According to the plan of the architects from above, it was supposed to look like a huge swastika. A little away from Dahlem, in the building of the current "Documentation Center" during the "Third Reich", one of Muller's divisions, the Gestapo's eavesdropping and interception service, built a hornet's nest. And in order not to attract prying eyes, they built a multi-storey dungeon.

In the cellars of a house on the outskirts of Dahlem, under the vigilant eye of electronic watchmen, there are complete lists of members of the fascist party, biographical data on 500,000 SS men. (Let me remind you in this connection that Bormann held the highest rank in the SS, Obergruppenführer.) These materials were captured in 1945 by the American army in southern Germany and later transported to Dahlem.

Access to the archive has a very limited circle of people, mostly Americans. For forty years, the materials stored in the Documentation Center have, of course, not been published anywhere. Not for the first year, “official” negotiations have been going on between representatives of the American administration and the Bonn government on the transfer of documents from the archive to the Federal Republic of Germany, capable of shedding light on many dark pages of Nazi history.

Endless delays with the transfer of the archive and plans for its destruction are quite understandable. Why, after all, facts from the Nazi past, both major criminals (Bormann, for example), and other current West German politicians, can become public.

The perpetrators of the massacres, who escaped retribution, as well as their influential patrons, are diligently trying to prevent the disclosure of the names, past cases and the current whereabouts of Nazi war criminals. Their "work" became especially noticeable during the preparation of the trial of Barbier.

It is not strange that many points in the Barbier case were kept "outside" the process. In this regard, we can also consider the conspiracy of silence around the "hero" of our investigation. Secrets of this kind are not just kept.

If we take Paul Manning's completely acceptable point of view regarding the involvement in Bormann's escape of the faithful servants of His Majesty the capital - the CIA and the State Department, their role in pandering to Nazi criminals, then we can draw a very definite conclusion.

Here it is: the political system that preserved the Nazi world, American corporations and their South American "daughters", whose assets are invested with valuables stolen from the peoples, are not interested in people learning the truth about the fate of the fascist criminal Bormann, nor about those who helped him avoid fair retribution.

Moreover. Here the desire of Bormann and the monopolies (plus the secret services) to keep the "secret of May 2" completely coincides. And this mutual aspiration dictates the need to support the "default figure" in every possible way, consciously turning the flesh into a ghost.

True, at the end of last week, the Ministry of Finance decided to clarify the situation. So far, according to the department, it is premature to discuss amendments to the legislation. "The Central Bank came up with a corresponding initiative, the proposals are being worked out, it's too early to discuss them," a source in the ministry said. The document, as it stands now, casts doubt on the very existence of consultants and auditors. It remains unclear how much information related to audit secrecy will be protected. And the amendments in their current form will simply turn auditors into yet another supervisory body, which, like the Central Bank, will have to identify all possible violations.

What is the essence of these amendments, about which there have been disputes for several months in a row? So, it can be any facts about the illegal operations of a bank, an investment company, which can lead to the suspension or termination of their activities. Unfair activities of the client in relation to the auditor, that is, the provision of incomplete information. Identification during the audit of any transactions that allow the auditor to refuse to sign the audit report, etc. In other words, the auditor will be required to report virtually anything that may appear suspicious or illegal...

But something else may turn out to be worse than reporting violations to the Central Bank. These developments can also be used by the tax service. The Federal Tax Service of Russia has already made attempts to destroy audit secrecy. So far she hasn't succeeded. After the adoption of the amendments, the work will be put on a legal and broad footing.

Protocol of interrogation of the former SS Brigadeführer Walter Schellenberg - I (autumn of forty-fifth)

Question.- Tell us about your foreign business trips, starting with the year one thousand nine hundred and thirty-seven. Who accompanied you? Names, surnames, ranks of employees? What tasks did you give them?

Answer.- Tasks were imputed to them by Heydrich. At that time I was not yet the chief of the sixth directorate, I myself was forced to carry out those orders of Heydrich that did not contradict my understanding of the honor and dignity of a German.

Question. Have you ever refused to obey Heydrich?

Answer. For obvious reasons, I couldn't do it. I did, however, take steps to nullify his assignments... I remember in 1939...

Question. You deviate from the question asked of you.

Answer.- On March 11, 1938, on the day of the Anschluss, I received Himmler's order to fly with him to Ostmark...

Question.- Where?

Answer.- Ostmark. So after the Anschluss was called Austria. We flew in a large transport plane. Himmler sat leaning against the door, talking about the future of this country, then moved on to his favorite subject of Scandinavian runes; I noticed some extraneous annoying noise and noticed that the lock that locked the door had opened. At any moment, Himmler could fall out... I grabbed him by the lapels, pulled him towards me, he angrily shouted something, and I saw fright on his face... I explained to him what was the matter... Since then, he he was always very kind to me ... This is what explains the fact that he trusted me, although I allowed myself to object to him. He did not tolerate this from anyone, only from me ...

Question. Have you ever objected to him in writing?

Answer. It was impossible under those conditions. The objection to the leader was excluded in the Reich system.

Question.– What did you do in Austria?

Answer.“I took over the archives of the Austrian secret service. Since her boss, Colonel Ronge, expressed a desire to work for us, the operation went quickly and in an orderly manner. I did not find any interesting documents from him, except perhaps for materials related to the decryption of the codes of a number of foreign embassies. Then Himmler instructed me to organize security measures in connection with the arrival of Hitler in Vienna. I must say in all honesty that I have never seen such an enthusiastic crowd cheering the Fuhrer.

Question.- How many people did you put in prison before that?

Answer.“Kaltenbrunner and Müller did that. I have always been involved in foreign policy issues.

Question.- But at the time of Hitler's passage through the city, you were responsible for his safety, and not Kaltenbrunner or Müller. On your orders, three people were arrested - on the bridge over the Danube, to which Hitler's cortege was approaching.

Answer.- You have incorrect information. I never gave orders for anyone's arrest. I was in the central bureau of the police, where the map was marked - meter by meter - following the motorcade ... We received information every minute from the tracking posts located along the streets chosen for the passage of Hitler. Twenty minutes before the Fuhrer was due to be on the bridge, I received a message that the Austrian SS had arrested three suspicious individuals who were supposed to blow up the bridge, which was mined that night ... So their arrest was not carried out by my order ... I knew that the Fuhrer did not like it when the routes of his passages changed, this would put me in an extremely disadvantageous position, so I went to the bridge, managed to see if there was a fickford cord anywhere, made sure that the supports were not mined, but just in case, I drove ten meters in front of Hitler's car. After that, I returned to the central police bureau...

Question.– What is the fate of the three arrested Austrians?

Answer. Muller flew in the same night. He was doing this sort of thing. He, not me.

Question. Were those people tortured?

Answer.- I repeat, I never delved into the essence of Muller's work.

Question.– But you admit the possibility of torture?

Answer.– Müller is a sadist... He could use torture, although they were prohibited by the charter of the Ministry of the Interior.

Question.“What about the Gestapo charter?”

Answer.- Too.

Question.– How long did you work in Vienna?

Answer.- In May, I was sent to Italy, because Hitler flew there to pay a visit to Mussolini and, thus, put an end to the fabrications of the Western press about the disagreements that arose between the Duce and the Fuhrer in connection with the Anschluss of Austria.

Question.“Were you sent to Rome alone?”

Answer.- No ... With Muller.

Question. What did Mueller do?

Answer.- He was engaged in all the current work, checking routes, identifying unreliable persons who lived on the streets where Hitler was supposed to pass. I established political contacts with Mussolini's secret service.

Question. Who was with you during this trip?

Answer.- Sturmbannführer Storch and Major Hausner.

Question.- During this visit, the Italian police carried out more than six thousand preventive arrests ... The wives and children of people of leftist convictions were thrown into prisons. Who was the initiator of this inhuman action?

Answer.- Muller. I brought with me eighty of the most talented political intelligence officers who were in contact with the Italian border and passport authorities. I also sent five hundred of the best Romance linguists to Rome as tourists. They were organized in threes, each was charged with the duty of completely specific task: making acquaintances with the Duce secret police officers, making contacts with women of the world who, by their position, have access to information, as well as constantly monitoring everything suspicious in houses and on the streets, which can make it difficult to conduct a friendly visit from the Fuhrer. Mussolini's main goal at that time was to demonstrate to Hitler the unity of a nation devoted to the ideals of fascism. He succeeded in this to the full, because Hitler first of all paid attention to how the crowds behaved on the streets, he was a man of feeling, considered himself possessing the gift of providence. The only incident was not our fault, and it cost the resignation of my trusted informant, the protocol officer of the Führer von Bülow-Schwandte's headquarters; the fact is that Hitler changed into an evening suit, for immediately after receiving the honorary parade in Naples, he, along with the king, was supposed to go to the opera. However, the king was military uniform. Hitler dismissed von Bülow-Schwandte immediately after this parade, sending him as an ambassador to Belgium, which was a great loss for me.

Question. What does "trusted informant" mean? Did you have the right to recruit agents in Hitler's inner circle?

Answer.- This is not about the agency, which is meant in the usual sense of the word. Of course, it would be madness to recruit a man from the Fuhrer's entourage, it would cost me my head. But von Bülow-Schwandte was a man from a good family, with an excellent education, which means he had something to fear ...

Question.- I did not understand you ... Explain what you mean?

Answer.- The fact is that he was a well-educated person, his father adhered to the old traditions, a true aristocrat ... Therefore, in the family circle, no, no, yes, there were talks about the terrible thing that Hitler carried with him. The next morning after such conversations, fear began to corrode people downright. Rumors about the Gestapo as an omniscient organization, spread primarily by Heydrich, did their job. Many of this kind of aristocrats did everything to enlist friendship with people of my profession ... By doing this, they, as it were, received an indulgence to atone for secret sins. This is the only way I can explain that von Bülow-Schwandte shared with me much of what happened behind the closed doors of the Imperial Chancellery. There was a tacit agreement between us: he provides me with information that will help me navigate what is happening in Hitler's office, and I provide protection for the von Bülow family in my department. However, it was not even necessary to agree on this, the terms of the deal were understood by themselves. In the conditions of that time, it was not Hitler and Himmler who decided a lot, but their entourage ... It was it that could take a person out of the blow, or could bring him under a crushing blow ... The Fuhrer was a rather quick-witted person ... After a few weeks after an outburst of anger, Himmler - if I had time to prepare him for a conversation - easily sought from the Fuhrer what was beneficial to me and my cause ... This, by the way, happened later with von Bülow ... Himmler asked Hitler for permission to use the experience of von Bülow on protocol issues in our representation in London ... Hitler only laughed: "He will force our ambassador to appear at the reception of the king in a tracksuit" ...

Question.“Does this mean that von Bülow was on espionage missions in London?”

Answer.- I wouldn't put the question that way. What does "spy" mission mean? Of course, he gave me the most interesting information related to the balance of power in your office, especially on the eve of the arrival of Sir Winston. Von Bülow had an extensive circle of acquaintances in London, his information was such that corresponded to reality, did not wishful thinking, did not follow the program of the Fuhrer, expressed by him the day before. The horror of totalitarianism lay in the fact that diplomats and our service had to sometimes go against the obvious only because it was pleasing to the doctrine formulated by Hitler. However, it was my unit that won the right to tell Himmler the truth, regardless of the Fuhrer's point of view.

Question.- With which of the English did von Bülow communicate the most - in terms of obtaining confidential information?

Answer.– It is difficult for me to answer this question. I must get acquainted with the documents that I sent to Himmler. Naturally, von Bülow did not write anything to me, I did not dare to humiliate a person of his level by the work of an ordinary informant. However, if you give me the opportunity to look at my reports of that time, I will be able to recall those names that sometimes had to be hidden by a pseudonym. For example, Freddie Crouse, whom we brought to Sir Winston's family through Jacqueline de Brogli, worked under the pseudonym "Nephew", and we called Jacqueline herself "Pretty Woman" ...

Question. We will talk about this node another time. For now, continue to testify about your work abroad, about contacts, liaisons, residents.

Answer.- The operation in Venlo was the most difficult...

Question. Tell me more about this operation.

Answer.- Heydrich summoned me to his office and said that our people in Holland - already after there was formally a war between Germany and England - contact with the British secret service. He handed me a folder with top secret documents and offered to study it to such an extent that the next morning I would make proposals for the development of the operation for the near future. The bottom line was that our agent F-479...

Question.- His last name?

Answer. I only knew him by his number.

Question.– How serious was the level of this agent?

Answer.– The highest level... He was a political exile, lived in Holland from the moment Hitler came to power, and then began to cooperate with us... It was he who established contact with the British secret service...

Question.- On whose orders?

Answer. I think it was his initiative. Unlike Himmler and Heydrich, I always encouraged the initiative of secret agents, believing that it would be more expedient for my employees to join the operation after all the preparatory work had been done ... He made it clear to the British secret service that in Germany there was a general opposition in the Wehrmacht . This intrigued London, your people began to wonder if there were people among the opposition who could organize a putsch against Hitler ... Just after the agent was asked such a question, Heydrich offered me to lead the operation.

Question.- You do not admit the idea that the idea of the generals' opposition came up with Heydrich himself?

Answer. I don't have such facts.

Question.- What is the fate of agent F-479?

Answer.- I do not know.

Question.- Who recruited him?

Answer.- I do not know.

Question.- Continue.

Answer.“I told Heydrich that I intended to meet with the British Secret Service myself in Holland. He approved my plan. I received documents in the name of the captain of the transport department of the general staff of Shemel. To do this, the real Captain Shemel was sent on an inspection trip to Poland, and I began to study all the materials collected on him. I spent the day learning how to wear the monocle that the captain used all the time. This turned out not to be a very difficult task, as I had poor vision, especially in my right eye. In Dusseldorf, in our safe house, I got used to the image of Shemel, and also composed the legend of the opposition generals' group. On October 20, 1939, I received a cipher telegram from our agent that the meeting was to take place tomorrow, at the frontier Zutphen, in Holland. At night, Heydrich called: "I give you complete freedom of hands during negotiations with the British." I was accompanied by one of my employees, who kept F-479 in touch, a fully qualified specialist, but very absent-minded, which almost cost us our lives. We left twenty per...

Question.- What is the name of your employee?

Answer. Looks like Krause.

Question.- Don't remember exactly?

Answer. - I had thousands of employees ... I think Krause ... So, we arrived in Zutphen, there was a big black Buick waiting for me, in which sat a man who introduced himself as Captain Best from British intelligence. He invited me into his car, my employee followed; Best turned out to be an excellent, inviting interlocutor, especially since he was a violinist, I have been playing music since childhood, so we very soon established quite friendly contact. He didn't talk about the case until we met with Major Stevens and Lieutenant Coppens. I informed them that I did indeed represent an opposition group led by a prominent general whose name, for obvious reasons, I cannot reveal. Our goal is to remove Hitler. My task is to find out the position of Britain: will London maintain contact with the new government, controlled by the Wehrmacht General Staff? If so, then I am ready to immediately sit down at the negotiating table, which is necessary to work out the terms of a peace treaty between Germany and Britain after the Fuhrer is eliminated. Best and Stevens replied that His Majesty's Government welcomed the desire of the military group to eliminate Hitler and that we could count on assistance from London in our work. However, it would be advisable to discuss the details of the agreement between Berlin and London, which will follow after the overthrow of Hitler, in the presence of one of the leaders of the opposition. "Can you arrange a border crossing for one of your leaders?" I replied that I would do my best to do so. Then the British proposed to hold the next meeting at their headquarters, in The Hague, on the thirtieth of October, promising to acquaint us with the detailed proposals not only of the English Foreign Office and Downing Street ... I returned to Berlin, and Heydrich repeated that he was giving me complete freedom of action both in the legend of the operation, and in the selection of candidates for "participation" in the "conspiracy of the generals." I settled in the mansion of my friend Professor de Criny, director of the psychiatric department of the Charite hospital; those were beautiful days of silence and rest; one day, while walking with the professor, I thought that he could well play the role of one of the "opposition generals", because he was a colonel in the medical service, was born in Austria, in Graz, which gave credibility to his hostility to Hitler, who occupied his country . De Criny agreed to my proposal, I filled him in on the details of the plan, and we went to Düsseldorf, to my safe house, to prepare for a meeting with British intelligence and rehearse possible aspects of the upcoming negotiations. We stayed in Dusseldorf for two days and left for Holland. Arriving at the meeting place with Stevens and Best, we were detained by the Dutch police, brought to the station, subjected to the most thorough search, we almost failed, but miraculously avoided this thanks to chance ...

Question. Why did you have to fail?

Answer.“Because when preparing the operation, I paid maximum attention to Professor de Criny, considering my employee to be a fully qualified intelligence officer, but when the search began and we were forced to open our briefcases, to my horror I saw my man’s package of aspirin with the stamp “SS General Sanitary Directorate.” Luckily, my bag had already been searched, I seized the moment while de Criny was being searched, and ate this package.

Question.- Did you sweat a lot?

Answer(Laughter of the interrogated).

Answer.“After an hour, Stevens and Best came and said they had confused the road. They took us directly from the police to Best's house, where his charming wife, a wonderful artist, the daughter of General Rees, arranged a dinner. The conversation was friendly, the table was lovely (I have never tasted such amazing oysters anywhere), the atmosphere was conducive to frankness. True, our agent F-479, also invited to dinner, was very nervous, and it seemed to me that this was noticeable to everyone sitting at the table. De Criny behaved perfectly, he attracted everyone's attention, his Austrian gloss and charm affected, the hostess was delighted with the "old gentleman". Nevertheless, I felt Best's constant scrutiny on me; when I went to the toilet, he silently followed me and asked: “Do you always wear a monocle or sometimes?” The next day we were invited to the safe house of the British secret service, which worked in Holland under the cover of the company "Handels Diinst Feer Continent" at Niuwe Whitleg, fifteen. There we discussed all the main positions.

Question.– Which ones exactly?

Answer.- After the generals “overthrow” Hitler, we declare peace with the Western powers, give independence to Poland, Austria and Czechoslovakia, return to the gold standard system in the economy, but for our part we ask you to consider in a positive way the issue of transferring its colonies to Germany, torn away as a result of the Treaty of Versailles. "This is necessary because," we stressed, "the Germans are keenly discussing the issue of living space, and instead of annexing Hitler, it would be advisable to support our regime by returning the lost overseas lands to the Germans." Best and Stevens agreed with our point of view, proposing to consider the possibility of declaring "mandatory territories". Major Stevens contacted London by telephone and informed us that this issue would be finally resolved during our negotiations with Lord Halifax, from the Imperial Foreign Office ... We received the code for the British Secret Service radio station and the special number "O-N-4 » in The Hague. It was agreed that I, together with the leader of the opposition, would come to Holland next week and fly to London to meet with Lord Halifax and other members of the Cabinet. Back in the Reich, I was constantly in contact with the British, their radio worked flawlessly, however, despite my constant requests to continue the work, Heydrich was silent, never connecting with me by phone. On the 6th of November I went again, at my own peril, to Holland to meet with the British, telling them that discussions were going on among the leadership of the opposition about the conditions for peace negotiations with London. The British, in order to “push” our “oppositionists”, noticed that if the war continues and there is a real threat of a German invasion, there should be no illusions in Berlin: “Even if the Island is occupied, we will move to Canada and begin to continue the war against Nazis to the end.

Question.- Who exactly told you this phrase?

Answer. I can't remember right now who said those words.

Question. Are you deliberately avoiding giving precise answers?

Answer.– I just try to be extremely accurate in my testimony.

Question.- Under what circumstances did this game with London, conceived, in your words, by Heydrich, changed?

Answer.“That's exactly what I'm going for. I was very nervous, because Heydrich broke off contact with me, and kept calling his bureau, fearing to lose contact with the British secret service. In reconnaissance, any delay is suspicious, the combination must be worked quickly ...

Question.- Is this your point of view? Or was that the way SD worked?

Answer. This is my point of view and my method. Unfortunately, my method was not properly understood in SD. Even Heydrich was afraid to make independent decisions, he always tried to enlist the support of Himmler, and he, in turn, did nothing without discussing the matter with the Fuhrer, who was very fond of intelligence work. Therefore, we were wasting precious time and losing the initiative. The Fuhrer did not receive Himmler as often as it seems, he then devoted a lot of time to studying Speer's architectural projects, followed what was happening in the cinema, carefully observed literature and painting, carefully prepared notes of his speeches to the nation .. Therefore, the solution of the issue the game against Stevens and Best was delayed, the Fuhrer's final approval was still not there, but I - at my own peril and risk - found a major manufacturer who agreed to go with me to Holland as the head of the "opposition", and began rehearsals with him .. .

Question.- What is the name of this person?

Answer.- This is a completely respected gentleman who was not a member of the party and was not a member of the SD ...

Question. Was he your agent?

Answer.- We did not attract such a level of people to agents. He was my volunteer assistant.

Question. So he supported Hitler's regime?

Answer.“Then everyone supported Hitler’s regime.

Question. What is the name of this industrialist?

Answer.- Doctor Westrick.

Question.– Is this the doctor Westrick who visited the USA as a European representative of ITT?

Answer.- Not. His relative.

Question. Was Vestrik from ITT your agent?

Answer.- In the sense that you put the question, it wasn't. He carried out personal assignments for Himmler and Ribbentrop.

Question.- Whose orders did he carry out more often?

Answer.“Most often he worked for Ribbentrop.

Question.- Continue.

Answer.- On the ninth of November, I took a sleeping pill - due to nervous tension caused by Heydrich's strange silence, insomnia broke out - and fell asleep very early, at ten o'clock. At midnight I was awakened by a phone call. I did not understand who was calling at such a time, and angrily asked why the hell they were waking me up and who dared to do this. A polite voice dryly replied that “Reichsführer Himmler dared to do this ... I’m calling you from Hitler’s train, we just learned about the assassination attempt on the Fuhrer in the Burgerbräu beer cellar, many veterans of the movement were killed and wounded. Clearly this is the work of the British Secret Service. You must stop your game with Best and Stevens, and instead must steal them both. It's clear?" - "Clearly, but..." - "No "buts"! Himmler snapped. “This is an order from the Fuehrer that is non-negotiable.” Two days later, Best and Stevens were abducted in Venlo, near the border, where I agreed to wait for them in a cafe; our cars knocked down the border barrier, and Muller's men dragged Stevens and Best out of the Buick; Lieutenant Coppens, who turned out to be an employee of the Dutch General Staff, was killed during a shootout ...

Question. Who planned the kidnapping?

Answer.“I was following Himmler's orders.

Question.- Do you think that the assassination attempt on Hitler in the "Bürgerbroe" was deliberately set up by Heydrich or someone else from the SD?

Answer.– This question occupied me for many months... However, I still cannot give a definite answer...

Question.- Did you participate in the investigation of the assassination attempt?

Answer.- Yes.

Question.- State it.

Answer.- Three days after the capture of Best and Stevens, I arrived in Berlin and reported to Himmler the circumstances related to the negotiations that I had with the British secret service in Holland ...

Question.- Himmler asked you if Best and Stevens proposed to kill Hitler?

Answer.- I don't remember exactly... In any case, in my report addressed to him, I did not touch on this issue.

Question.“But do you admit the possibility of Himmler’s interest of this kind?”

Answer.- I admit it. However, I must state with all certainty: even then I insisted that Best and Stevens were not connected with the attempt on the Fuhrer's life.

Question.- Did you admit the possibility that other employees of the Intelligence Service were preparing the assassination attempt?

Answer.“Personally, I have never expressed such an opinion.

Question.“Not in conversations, not in written reports?”

Answer.- In conversations, I may have said something similar, but only to save Best and Stevens, since Hitler directly told Himmler that it was the British who were preparing the assassination attempt, and Best and Stevens were the direct organizers of it.

Question.“Hitler said this after you kidnapped Best and Stevens?”

Answer.“They were kidnapped by the SS shock brigade. I cannot be called the author of the operation, I did not take a direct part in it, the order came from Himmler.

Question.“It's not about your degree of guilt, Schellenberg. You're right to be so careful. I will ease your situation: we are interested in the main thing - was Hitler the initiator of this whole adventure, did he conceive it in advance, did Heydrich, on his instructions, let the F-479 agent to our people in Holland in order to organize a performance with an “assassination attempt” after that on his life?

Answer.- I do not rule out such a possibility, because when Himmler brought me to the Reich Chancellery and Hitler handed the Iron Crosses of the first class to the participants in the operation, he directly said that it was necessary to make an open trial, inviting the press from all over the world, at which Best and Stevens would talk about how they were preparing an attempt on his life, following the instructions of Sir Winston Churchill. It seems to me that this would allow Hitler to organize propaganda on the Island in such a way that the British would understand: as soon as Churchill was removed from the government, as soon as an "honest politician who rejects terror and dictate" comes to his place, he, Hitler, is ready to sit down with London for peace table. At the same time, Hitler constantly said that Otto Strasser was the brother of his former friend, one of the founders of the NSDAP, Gregor, who was shot on charges of treason and spying for the enemies of the nation (which, of course, was nonsense, a completely understandable struggle for power, jealousy for Strasser, who enjoyed influence among the "old fighters"), was precisely the man who, having managed to escape from the Reich, worked hand in hand with the British secret service ... When, after a few days, a certain Esler was detained, trying to cross the border in the Basel region, Hitler called Himmler and said that it was this man who, on the instructions of the British, was preparing an explosion in the Burgerbroe, the chain is obvious: from London - through The Hague - to Munich; headquarters of terror in the house of Best and Stevens, gunner - Otto Strasser, performer - Esler. Hitler ordered to apply to Esler the highest degree intimidation and obtain "truthful testimony". Hitler constantly hurried Himmler and Heydrich, and they shifted the responsibility for the investigation to me, and Heydrich recommended that I go to the Gestapo chief Müller and try to work out a common line with him. I came to the Gruppenfuehrer's office, he looked very tired, it was clear that he had not slept all night. “The interrogations go on without interruption,” he said, “Best and Stevens deny their participation in the assassination attempt, Esler is talking some kind of nonsense, he is from a breed of fanatics, says that for a year he has dreamed of tearing the Fuhrer to shreds.” I remarked that I thought it was a mistake to try to organize a spectacle in which a version of the "English conspiracy" against Hitler, led by Best and Stevens, would be played. “These people,” I said, “as far as I could understand them during our meetings, will not become extras in the tragicomedy of the court, they will not say what our“ playwrights ”will write to them. Müller replied in the sense that they would say everything that was written for them, “I can do it, interrogations with intimidation, drugs, psychiatrists, hypnosis, all this is in my hands, but Esler is one of the fanatics, he is a lunatic, he can get carried away during the process, out of the four best hypnotists only one was able to calm him down, and even then only for half an hour. If the process were closed, it would be possible to announce breaks more often, we would work with him at this time, but the Fuhrer wants an open performance. It's risky." I said that I intended to talk about it with Hitler. Müller just chuckled: Himmler and Heydrich did not succeed, try it, I'll just say thank you, now is the case when our interests converge."

On the same day I was received by Hitler and reported my thoughts to him. He was angry, but restrained himself, and when he invited everyone to dinner, he said to Himmler: “Your Schellenberg does not believe in what exactly his Best and Stevens led Esler." Himmler replied that he knew about this, that it had not yet been possible to obtain evidence of a direct connection between Best and Stevens with Esler, apparently, the British kept in touch with him through Otto Strasser's Black Front, since Esler nevertheless admitted that he had contacted with two strangers who gave him explosives ... "We can," Himmler concluded, "prove only that the bomb was made for Esler and abroad." Hitler was silent for a long time, and then turned to Heydrich: “I demand that they all speak. Use whatever you want, but they have to say what I want to hear, which is the truth. However, after three months, he switched to another idea, and I breathed a sigh of relief ...

Question.– What was the idea?

Answer. More precisely, there were two of them. The first is the kidnapping of the Duke of Windsor, and the second is the murder or kidnapping of Otto Strasser.

Question. We will return to these questions during the next interrogation. So far, I have a number of clarifying remarks. Are you familiar with the speech that the Fuhrer delivered in a beer hall in Munich half an hour before the assassination attempt?

Answer.- If my memory serves me, he said in this short speech that the Reich was on the verge of a long bloody war, a war of life and death, and the new four-year plan, which he instructed Goering to develop, would make Germany a military camp.

Question. Were you surprised by the tone of this speech?

Answer.- Surprised.

Question.– Explain why?

Answer.- Because the two months that have passed since the end of the war against Poland were marked by a propaganda campaign conducted in the press and on the radio by Reich Minister Goebbels ... The point was that the Fuhrer had prepared peace proposals to the West, an agreement with London was about to be signed , which will draw a line under the war and the era of German prosperity will come. The Fuhrer's speech in Munich sounded like an unexpected dissonance to everything that was printed in our newspapers.

Question.- Do you think this speech was a surprise for Himmler and Goebbels?

Answer.- I can’t say anything about Goebbels, but Himmler - all the while the investigation into the circumstances of the assassination was underway - was in a depressed state ... Sometimes it even seemed to me that he was frightened by something.

Question.- What exactly?

Answer.- I find it difficult to answer.

Question.- Well, then I will formulate the same question differently. Who approved the candidates invited to the traditional meeting of veterans with the Fuhrer in the Munich "Bürgerbroe"?

Answer.- I am not familiar with this issue, but it seems to me that the invitations were approved by Hitler's office, and only then the lists were transferred to the head of the Fuhrer's security department.

Question.- What is his surname?

Answer.- Jumped out of memory ... I'll tell you later ...

Question. Did he obey Himmler?

Answer.– Formally, yes.

Question.– And in fact?

Answer. Actually, Hitler. And to a certain extent, Hess and Bormann.

Question.- Who distributed the places in the "Burgerbroe"?

Answer.- Head of the Fuhrer's security.

Question.- How do you explain the fact that people who were very close - in the past - to Rem and Strasser were seated in the front rows? How to explain the fact that it was precisely those veterans who died from the explosion who were under the supervision of Mueller's special service, who listened in on their telephone conversations and read through the correspondence? How can you explain, finally, the fact that this time the Fuhrer made such a short speech and did not stay, as usual, in the basement, but immediately got on the train and left Munich. We did a study: it was an unprecedentedly short speech, neither before nor since he had ever made such a short speech ...

Answer.- Do you believe that the assassination attempt was organized by Hitler himself?

Question. We are interested in your opinion on this matter.

Answer.“Himmler told me that when the Fuehrer learned of the bombing that raised the podium he was standing on to the ceiling, killed nine and mutilated forty veterans of the movement, he almost cried, saying: “As always, Providence saves me, for the nation needs me!” Why did the Fuhrer need to organize this kind of performance? To gain popularity? But he was already extremely popular at that time among the people. Why else?

Question.- To put an end to the dreams of peace. Do you allow this? You remember that the press of that time promised peace to the Germans... Maybe Hitler wanted to prove that the British, who are preparing an assassination attempt on him, must be destroyed and for this it is necessary to make any sacrifices? Perhaps you and your work on Best and Stevens, which began shortly before the assassination attempt, were links in his plan?