‘Goebbels: A Biography,’ by Peter Longerich
By JAMES J. SHEEHANMay 28, 2015
戈培尔日记记录他的毁灭之路
阅读JAMES J. SHEEHAN2015年05月28日
约瑟夫·戈培尔
Universal History Archive/Getty Images
The historical landscape is littered with the wreckage
of regimes, many of them defeated after long and bloody struggles, but there is
nothing in modern European history quite like the destructive fury with which
Hitler’s Thousand-Year Reich came to an end. Long after any hope of victory had
been extinguished, the government’s supporters kept on fighting, killing not
only their enemies, both real and imagined, but also many of their fellow
countrymen whose commitment to the cause seemed to waver. And finally they
began to kill themselves. Among the scores of Germans who committed suicide in
Nazi Germany’s final hours were Dr. Joseph Goebbels, minister of propaganda
and, since July 1944, “Reich Plenipotentiary for Total War,” and his wife,
Magda. Before ending their own lives, they murdered their six children, five
girls and a boy; the oldest, Helga, was 12, the youngest, Heide, 4.
歷史畫卷上總是淩亂地點綴著政權的殘骸，其中不少都是經歷了漫長血腥的鬥爭方才覆滅，但在現代歐洲的歷史上，卻罕有哪個政權像希特勒的“千年帝國”那樣，伴隨著破壞性的狂暴走向終點。在勝利的希望徹底湮滅之前，這個政府的支持者們曾經不懈鬥爭，致力於消滅真正的敵人與假想敵，就連對這一事業有所動搖的同胞也要殺死。直到最後，他們開始自殺。在納粹德國覆敗之前的最後幾個小時裏，有大量德國人走向自殺之路，其中也包括約瑟夫·戈培爾博士(Dr.
Joseph Goebbels)，他是納粹的宣傳部長，從1944年7月開始還擔任“總體戰動員委員會全權總監”，妻子瑪格塔(Magda)隨他一起自殺。兩人結束生命之前殺死了他們的五個女兒與一個兒子，最年長的希爾加(Helga)12歲，最小的海德(Heide)4歲。
Goebbels’s path to his death in the bunker below the
ruins of Hitler’s Chancellery began in 1924, when he became a founding member
of a chapter of the National Socialist Workers Party in his hometown, Rheydt, a
small city in the Rhineland , not far from Düsseldorf.
That year Goebbels turned 27 years old, without past accomplishments or future
prospects: unmarried, unemployed and still living at home, he was the author of
an unpublished doctoral dissertation on a deservedly obscure German writer and
a few unfinished works of autobiographical fiction.
戈培爾的人生就這樣止於希特勒總理府之下的元首地堡，這條死亡之路始於他的家鄉，萊茵區杜塞爾多夫附近的小城雷特；1924年，他在這裏成為了國家社會工人党的創始人之一。那年戈培爾27歲，尚未取得任何成就，也看不到未來有什麼希望，他沒有妻子、沒有工作，和父母住在一起，寫過一份沒出版的博士論文，內容是關於一位元沒什麼才華也不怎麼有名的德國作家，還寫了幾部沒完成的自傳體小說。
The National Socialists, a small, isolated and deeply
divided group on the radical fringe of German right-wing politics, turned out
to be the perfect instrument through which Goebbels could achieve the
historical destiny that, despite all evidence to the contrary, he firmly
believed was to be his. Among this crowd of misfits and fanatics, Goebbels’s
talents were impressive. Energetic, relatively efficient, unencumbered by an
excess of political ideas but remarkably adept at expressing the movement’s
hatreds and frustrations, he quickly acquired ever greater responsibility.
國家社會黨是個孤立的、極度分裂的小黨派，在德國右翼政治陣營中處於最激進的邊緣，它卻成了戈培爾完成歷史使命的完美工具，儘管所有證據一開始都指向相反的方向，他卻堅定地相信這一使命要由自己來完成。在一大群不合時宜者與狂熱黨徒之中，戈培爾的才能猶如鶴立雞群。他精明強幹，不受任何政治理念束縛，卻極為擅長表達出這個運動中的憎恨與挫折感，很快便擔負起了更大的責任。
Goebbels’s big break came in 1926, when he was sent to
take over the faltering Nazi operation in Berlin Weimar Republic
1926年，戈培爾的重大突破來了，他被派去柏林，接管納粹黨搖搖欲墜的運營工作。他在德國首都擔任納粹地方長官的政績並不像他自己經常描述的那樣成功，不過他確實建立起了行之有效的政治組織，管理國內的分支，並吸引了人數雖少但卻非常忠誠的擁躉。部分是由於他的管理技巧與雄辯之才，納粹黨挺過了魏瑪共和國的短暫穩定期，在大蕭條所帶來的政治與社會動盪之中居於有利地位。
#admits that “even after a careful perusal of his
extensive writings, the reader remains unclear as to what Joseph Goebbels’s
political agenda was and what political maxims he was advocating.”
戈培爾到底信仰什麼？傳統上人們經常把他描述成一個持懷疑論的機會主義者，若干納粹德國歷史重要著作的作者及倫敦大學猶太大屠殺研究中心創始人彼得·朗格裏希(Peter Longerich)卻並不這樣認為。但他承認，「一個讀者就算細心讀過他的大量作品，也很難搞清約瑟夫·戈培爾的政治議題究竟是什麼，他宣揚的政治準則到底是什麼。」
On only two matters did Goebbels’s commitment remain consistent and passionate. One was the so-called “Jewish question.” From the start of his political career until the very end, Goebbels viewed Jews, both at home and abroad, as the source ofGermany
戈培爾一生只持續而熱烈地忠於兩件事。其一就是他所謂的「猶太問題」。戈培爾視國內外的猶太人為德國災難的源泉，這一觀點貫穿他政治生涯的始終。他毫不猶豫地支持政府實施最激進的種族政策，最終從迫害發展為大屠殺。「針對猶太人實施了一項裁決，雖然野蠻但卻完全值得，」1942年3月，他寫道。「在這些事上絕不能多愁善感。」
The second, no less powerful and persistent of Goebbels’s political commitments was his loyalty to Hitler. He was a narcissist, Longerich argues, who needed to be admired by everyone he met, but he was especially and obsessively addicted to Hitler’s admiration, which he would do anything to retain. He was the only one of Hitler’s closest associates who remained with him until the end, finally affirming his fealty with his own, and his family’s, death.
第二件事同樣強大而持久，那便是戈培爾對希特拉的忠誠。朗格裏希說，戈培爾極度自戀，需要身邊所有人讚美他，但他卻特別執迷於希特拉的讚美，願意做任何事來換取希特拉的肯定。他是希特拉所有心腹之中唯一一個直到最後還追隨在元首身邊的人，最終用自己和全家人的生命證實了他的忠誠。
From Goebbels’s endlessly elaborate descriptions of his meetings with the Führer, we can see — as Goebbels himself often could not — just how skillfully Hitler manipulated him, deftly deploying his talents, exploiting his weaknesses, nurturing his loyalty by feeding but never fully satisfying his insatiable appetite for approval. Hitler saw to it that, like everyone in his inner circle, Goebbels had to share power with others: Although formally in charge of propaganda, he was never given complete control over the party’s publishing business or its press agency and was constantly frustrated by the Foreign Office’s attempts to influence opinion overseas. Hitler’s own authority was based on his role as the final arbiter of the disputes that constantly erupted among his ambitious and aggressive courtiers.
戈培爾事無巨細地描述自己與元首的會面，我們從中可以看到（他自己通常看不到這一點）希特拉如何巧妙地操縱著他、嫻熟地駕馭著他的才能、利用著他的軟弱，也培育著他的忠誠，提供他最渴望的讚美與認可，但又不讓他徹底滿足。希特拉明白，戈培爾和他內部小圈子裡的所有人一樣，必須與他人分享權力。儘管掌握著宣傳大權，但戈培爾從未徹底掌握納粹黨的印刷事業和出版機構，還經常為外交部試圖影響對外發言的事而煩惱。希特拉的手下個個野心勃勃，充滿侵略性，所以經常爆發糾紛，希特拉的權威就建立在他的終極仲裁者角色之上。
Goebbels’s great advantage in the contentious world of Nazi politics was his personal connection to the Führer. Longerich describes in considerable detail Hitler’s close relationship with the entire Goebbels family, and especially with Magda, to whom he seems to have felt a powerful emotional, although apparently not erotic, attachment. In 1938, when Magda complained about her husband’s affair with the Czech actress Lida Baarova, Hitler intervened and insisted on a reconciliation. Faced with the choice between the charms of the lovely Baarova and his loyalty to the Führer, Goebbels does not seem to have hesitated a minute. (“And now,” he confided to his diary, “a new life is beginning. A hard, tough life, dedicated to nothing but duty. My youth is over.”) Despite Longerich’s best efforts, however, the psychodynamics of this odd ménage à trois remain obscure. As is so often the case in histories of Nazi Germany, the Hitler of this account seems at once centrally important and ultimately elusive.
在這個充滿爭鬥的納粹政治世界裡，戈培爾最大的優勢就是他和元首的私人關係。朗格裏希詳細地描述了希特拉與戈培爾全家的親密關係，特別是戈培爾的妻子瑪格塔，希特拉和她感情特別好，不過似乎完全與情慾無關。1938年，瑪格塔抱怨她的丈夫與捷克女演員莉妲·巴羅瓦(Lida Baarova)有染。希特拉介入其中，力主兩人和好。在巴羅瓦的魅力與對領袖的忠誠之間，戈培爾毫不猶豫地選擇了後者。「現在，」他在日記中坦白，「新生活開始了。一種艱苦的生活，完全奉獻給責任。我的青春結束了。」儘管朗格裏希非常努力，這種奇異的三角關係還是曖昧不清。在這件事情中，希特拉所扮演的角色似乎無比重要，但又非常難以捉摸，這種情況在關於納粹德國的史學著作中經常發生。
Longerich offers a vast amount of information about Goebbels’s place in the public and private world of the Nazi elite, his work as the regime’s chief propagandist and his efforts to rally the nation amid wartime disasters and in the face of impending defeat. Although he was always at the center of events, Goebbels was never as important as he wanted to be. Again and again, his power was limited by the fact that while Hitler counted on his skill as a propagandist, he had no confidence in his political judgment or tactical instincts. When we read Goebbels’s unfailingly banal comments on people and events, we can understand why he was rarely consulted about important decisions. Of Mussolini, for example, we learn from his diary: “He’s short. But a huge head. . . . Is like a friend to me right away. ‘Il dottore.’ We hit it off immediately.”
朗格裏希大量描述了戈培爾在納粹精英世界中公開與私下的生活、他作為這個政權最主要的宣傳者的工作，以及他在戰爭災難乃至納粹面臨覆滅時為把這個國家團結起來所做的努力。儘管戈培爾經常處於事件的中心，但他從來未能像自己所希望的那樣重要。他的權力一次又一次受到限制，因為希特拉只把他當做喉舌而已，並不信任他的政治判斷與戰術..
戈培爾到底信仰什麼？傳統上人們經常把他描述成一個持懷疑論的機會主義者，若干納粹德國歷史重要著作的作者及倫敦大學猶太大屠殺研究中心創始人彼得·朗格裏希(Peter Longerich)卻並不這樣認為。但他承認，「一個讀者就算細心讀過他的大量作品，也很難搞清約瑟夫·戈培爾的政治議題究竟是什麼，他宣揚的政治準則到底是什麼。」
On only two matters did Goebbels’s commitment remain consistent and passionate. One was the so-called “Jewish question.” From the start of his political career until the very end, Goebbels viewed Jews, both at home and abroad, as the source of
戈培爾一生只持續而熱烈地忠於兩件事。其一就是他所謂的「猶太問題」。戈培爾視國內外的猶太人為德國災難的源泉，這一觀點貫穿他政治生涯的始終。他毫不猶豫地支持政府實施最激進的種族政策，最終從迫害發展為大屠殺。「針對猶太人實施了一項裁決，雖然野蠻但卻完全值得，」1942年3月，他寫道。「在這些事上絕不能多愁善感。」
The second, no less powerful and persistent of Goebbels’s political commitments was his loyalty to Hitler. He was a narcissist, Longerich argues, who needed to be admired by everyone he met, but he was especially and obsessively addicted to Hitler’s admiration, which he would do anything to retain. He was the only one of Hitler’s closest associates who remained with him until the end, finally affirming his fealty with his own, and his family’s, death.
第二件事同樣強大而持久，那便是戈培爾對希特拉的忠誠。朗格裏希說，戈培爾極度自戀，需要身邊所有人讚美他，但他卻特別執迷於希特拉的讚美，願意做任何事來換取希特拉的肯定。他是希特拉所有心腹之中唯一一個直到最後還追隨在元首身邊的人，最終用自己和全家人的生命證實了他的忠誠。
From Goebbels’s endlessly elaborate descriptions of his meetings with the Führer, we can see — as Goebbels himself often could not — just how skillfully Hitler manipulated him, deftly deploying his talents, exploiting his weaknesses, nurturing his loyalty by feeding but never fully satisfying his insatiable appetite for approval. Hitler saw to it that, like everyone in his inner circle, Goebbels had to share power with others: Although formally in charge of propaganda, he was never given complete control over the party’s publishing business or its press agency and was constantly frustrated by the Foreign Office’s attempts to influence opinion overseas. Hitler’s own authority was based on his role as the final arbiter of the disputes that constantly erupted among his ambitious and aggressive courtiers.
戈培爾事無巨細地描述自己與元首的會面，我們從中可以看到（他自己通常看不到這一點）希特拉如何巧妙地操縱著他、嫻熟地駕馭著他的才能、利用著他的軟弱，也培育著他的忠誠，提供他最渴望的讚美與認可，但又不讓他徹底滿足。希特拉明白，戈培爾和他內部小圈子裡的所有人一樣，必須與他人分享權力。儘管掌握著宣傳大權，但戈培爾從未徹底掌握納粹黨的印刷事業和出版機構，還經常為外交部試圖影響對外發言的事而煩惱。希特拉的手下個個野心勃勃，充滿侵略性，所以經常爆發糾紛，希特拉的權威就建立在他的終極仲裁者角色之上。
Goebbels’s great advantage in the contentious world of Nazi politics was his personal connection to the Führer. Longerich describes in considerable detail Hitler’s close relationship with the entire Goebbels family, and especially with Magda, to whom he seems to have felt a powerful emotional, although apparently not erotic, attachment. In 1938, when Magda complained about her husband’s affair with the Czech actress Lida Baarova, Hitler intervened and insisted on a reconciliation. Faced with the choice between the charms of the lovely Baarova and his loyalty to the Führer, Goebbels does not seem to have hesitated a minute. (“And now,” he confided to his diary, “a new life is beginning. A hard, tough life, dedicated to nothing but duty. My youth is over.”) Despite Longerich’s best efforts, however, the psychodynamics of this odd ménage à trois remain obscure. As is so often the case in histories of Nazi Germany, the Hitler of this account seems at once centrally important and ultimately elusive.
在這個充滿爭鬥的納粹政治世界裡，戈培爾最大的優勢就是他和元首的私人關係。朗格裏希詳細地描述了希特拉與戈培爾全家的親密關係，特別是戈培爾的妻子瑪格塔，希特拉和她感情特別好，不過似乎完全與情慾無關。1938年，瑪格塔抱怨她的丈夫與捷克女演員莉妲·巴羅瓦(Lida Baarova)有染。希特拉介入其中，力主兩人和好。在巴羅瓦的魅力與對領袖的忠誠之間，戈培爾毫不猶豫地選擇了後者。「現在，」他在日記中坦白，「新生活開始了。一種艱苦的生活，完全奉獻給責任。我的青春結束了。」儘管朗格裏希非常努力，這種奇異的三角關係還是曖昧不清。在這件事情中，希特拉所扮演的角色似乎無比重要，但又非常難以捉摸，這種情況在關於納粹德國的史學著作中經常發生。
Longerich offers a vast amount of information about Goebbels’s place in the public and private world of the Nazi elite, his work as the regime’s chief propagandist and his efforts to rally the nation amid wartime disasters and in the face of impending defeat. Although he was always at the center of events, Goebbels was never as important as he wanted to be. Again and again, his power was limited by the fact that while Hitler counted on his skill as a propagandist, he had no confidence in his political judgment or tactical instincts. When we read Goebbels’s unfailingly banal comments on people and events, we can understand why he was rarely consulted about important decisions. Of Mussolini, for example, we learn from his diary: “He’s short. But a huge head. . . . Is like a friend to me right away. ‘Il dottore.’ We hit it off immediately.”
朗格裏希大量描述了戈培爾在納粹精英世界中公開與私下的生活、他作為這個政權最主要的宣傳者的工作，以及他在戰爭災難乃至納粹面臨覆滅時為把這個國家團結起來所做的努力。儘管戈培爾經常處於事件的中心，但他從來未能像自己所希望的那樣重要。他的權力一次又一次受到限制，因為希特拉只把他當做喉舌而已，並不信任他的政治判斷與戰術..
Longerich offers a vast amount of information about Goebbels’s place in
the public and private world of the Nazi elite, his work as the regime’s chief
propagandist and his efforts to rally the nation amid wartime disasters and in
the face of impending defeat. Although he was always at the center of events, Goebbels
was never as important as he wanted to be. Again and again, his power was
limited by the fact that while Hitler counted on his skill as a propagandist, he
had no confidence in his political judgment or tactical instincts. When we read
Goebbels’s unfailingly banal comments on people and events, we can understand
why he was rarely consulted about important decisions. Of Mussolini, for
example, we learn from his diary: “He’s short. But a huge head. . . . Is like a friend
to me right away. ‘Il dottore.’ We hit it off immediately.”
朗格裏希大量描述了戈培爾在納粹精英世界中公開與私下的生活、他作為這個政權最主要的宣傳者的工作，以及他在戰爭災難乃至納粹面臨覆滅時為把這個國家團結起來所做的努力。儘管戈培爾經常處於事件的中心，但他從來未能像自己所希望的那樣重要。他的權力一次又一次受到限制，因為希特勒只把他當做喉舌而已，並不信任他的政治判斷與戰術才能。讀著戈培爾對人物與事件千篇一律的平庸描述，我們不難理解希特勒為什麼從不就重大決策諮詢他的意見。比如說，關於墨索里尼，戈培爾在日記中寫道：“他很矮，但是頭很大……我一下子就把他當成了朋友。‘博士。’我們一拍即合。”
“Goebbels: A Biography,” in a fluent translation of the German
version published in 2010, is likely to remain the definitive account of the
man’s life. No other scholar has so successfully mastered the enormous mass of
material he left behind. One special feature of this biography is Longerich’s
skill in analyzing the diary that Goebbels kept virtually every day from 1923
until almost three weeks before his death in 1945. A full copy was discovered
in Moscow
《戈培爾傳》(Goebbels: A Biography)於2010年出版，現在自德語翻譯而來，譯本流暢可讀，似乎是關於戈培爾生平最準確的描述。沒有其他任何學者可以像朗格裏希這樣成功駕馭戈培爾留下來的海量素材。這本傳記的重要特色就是朗格裏希對戈培爾日記的精彩分析。戈培爾從1923年到1945年死前三個星期，幾乎每天都記日記，1992年，它們在莫斯科被發現，目前出版為32卷本。這些素材極為豐富，但也問題多多，把其中的事實部分與幻想部分區分開來需要極大的努力，足以令人欽佩。花費那樣多的時間去研究約瑟夫·戈培爾這樣一個極度自戀的人，一定非常令人生厭。正如朗格裏希向我們悉心呈現出來的那樣，世界對於戈培爾來說如同一面鏡子，他經常對之細細端詳，眼中看到的別無其他，只有他自己一人的形象。
James J. Sheehan is an emeritus professor of history at Stanford University
GOEBBELS: A Biography
By Peter Longerich
Translated by Alan Bance, Jeremy Noakes and Lesley Sharpe
Illustrated. 964 pp. Random House. $40.
Copyright © 2013 The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.
詹姆斯·J·希恩(James J. Sheehan)是斯坦福大學歷史系榮譽教授。
《戈培爾傳》
彼得·朗格裏希著
艾倫·邦斯(Alan Bance)、傑瑞米·諾克斯(Jeremy Noakes)與萊斯利·沙普(Lesley Sharpe)譯
有插圖。964頁。蘭登書屋出版社。40美元。
翻譯：董楠
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