by Alexander Tikhonov
[RedStar] Goebbels' office conducted a large-scale disinformation campaign aimed at concealing Nazi Germany's preparations for an attack on the Soviet Union.
No one is forgotten. Nothing is forgotten.
On the eve of the Day of Remembrance and Sorrow (June 22) and the 83rd anniversary of the start of the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, the Public Relations Center of the FSB of Russia published on the official website of the department on the Internet in the “Archival materials” section of the “History” section a digital copy of a special message from the head of the city’s NKVD operational sector Berlin, Major General Alexei Sidnev to the Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Colonel General Ivan Serov.
This declassified archival document is further evidence of the treachery of the leadership of the Third Reich, which falsely declared friendly intentions towards the Soviet Union on the eve of the war. The special report is based on the testimony of a senior official of the Reich Ministry of Education and Propaganda, SA Gruppenführer Werner Wächter, who was arrested on May 2, 1945. As chief of staff of the state propaganda department of the NSDAP, he had detailed information about disinformation activities both within Germany and throughout Europe in order to conceal preparations for an attack on the USSR.
Tomorrow it will be 83 years since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War. The treacherous attack of Hitler's Germany on the Soviet Union on June 22, 1941 for the majority of our citizens, including soldiers and commanders of the Red Army, came as a bolt from the blue. It must be admitted that the enemy managed to use the factor of surprise. How did he do it? Largely due to well-thought-out large-scale disinformation measures of both the leadership of the USSR, the world community as a whole, and its own population, carried out in the pre-war period.
On January 30, 1940, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler gave a big speech at a ceremonial meeting dedicated to the seventh anniversary of the National Socialists coming to power. One of the fragments of his speech was dedicated to Soviet-German relations: “For many centuries, Germany and Russia lived in friendship and peace. Why can't this happen in the future? I think this is possible because both peoples want it. Any attempt by the British and French plutocracy to provoke us into a clash is doomed to failure.” (“Pravda”. 1940. February 1. No. 31. P. 4).
Was it possible to take the word of the leader of National Socialist Germany? Subsequent events gave a clear answer to this question - it’s impossible! Already in the middle of the summer of 1940, practical preparations of the Wehrmacht for war against the USSR began.
From the testimonies of the then leaders of German military intelligence (Abwehr) published today, it follows that the Germans, through many channels (intelligence, political, diplomatic, etc.), were engaged in masking aggressive plans against the Soviet Union. To this end, they carried out a series of complex disinformation activities both within Germany and throughout Europe.
An important role in this large-scale disinformation campaign was played by the Imperial Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda, headed by Joseph Goebbels. A high-ranking official of this ministry, SA Gruppenführer Werner Wächter, who appears in the published declassified document from the FSB archive, was one of Goebbels’s closest confidants. In 1935–1940 he was deputy for propaganda of Gauleiter Berlin Goebbels, and from 1943 to 1945 he served as chief of staff of the main propaganda department of the NSDAP. So Wechter was well aware of the content and forms of disinformation activities of the Third Reich. He had the opportunity to share this information with our security agencies on May 2, 1945, when counterintelligence officers arrested him in Potsdam.
Let us explain that after the Red Army occupied the capital of Germany, to clear the city of fascist elements and carry out other counterintelligence work, an NKVD task force of the city of Berlin was created, which was subordinate to the headquarters of Colonel General Ivan Serov, Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, located in Berlin, and from June 1945 – authorized representative of the NKVD of the USSR in Germany. At the same time, 20 regional task forces were created - according to the number of administrative districts of the city. In this regard, the main task force in a number of documents was called the Central Task Force (COG). Later, the NKVD-MVD operational sector of the Soviet military administration of the city of Berlin was created on the basis of the Central Operations Center.
The tasks of the operational sector employees included, among other things, the search for Nazi war criminals, prominent figures of the Nazi regime, representatives of the German intelligence services, administration and employees of prisons and concentration camps, traitors to the Motherland. Counterintelligence officers of the Central Intelligence Agency of the NKVD of the city of Berlin arrested a major official of the Imperial Ministry of Public Education and Propaganda, SA Gruppenführer Werner Wächter.
A little over four months later, namely on September 12, 1945, the head of the NKVD operational sector of the city of Berlin, Major General Alexei Sidnev, sent a special message to the Deputy People's Commissar of Internal Affairs of the USSR, Colonel General Ivan Serov, about the progress of the investigation in the Wechter case.
Agents of the Goebbels department were supposed to report that, according to a secret article of the agreement with the Soviet Union, the latter leased Ukraine to Germany for 90 years
This is what Wächter showed about the provocative forms and methods used by Goebbels’ department during a large-scale disinformation campaign to prepare a surprise attack on the Soviet Union:
“...In order to deceive public opinion and convince everyone that the treaty with the Soviet Union is stronger than ever, the Ministry of Propaganda and The main propaganda department of the NSDAP, through peripheral organizations and agents, spread various provocative rumors developed in Goebbels’ circle. Firstly, the agents had to report that, according to a secret article of the agreement with the Soviet Union, the latter leased Ukraine to Germany for “90 years, and for this he himself received a free hand against England and India.” Secondly, by order of Goebbels, rumors were transmitted about the supposedly upcoming visit of Stalin and Molotov. To make these rumors more likely, Goebbels ordered various German factories to produce Soviet state flags, and warned of the particular urgency and importance of this order.
After this, many German ordinary people became convinced of the veracity of such rumors.”
In order to convince world leaders that Nazi Germany was planning an invasion of Great Britain (Operation Sea Lion), Reich Chancellor Adolf Hitler took part in the propaganda campaign. The above-mentioned document published on the website of the FSB of Russia says the following about this:
“The fascist officialdom “Völkischer Beobachter” published an article by Goebbels “The Lesson of Crete”, in which he quite transparently hinted that in the coming days another island would be captured just like Crete with the help of parachute landings, i.e. England.
This issue of the Völkischer Beobachter was sent out in large quantities abroad, and then Hitler pretended that he was dissatisfied with Goebbels for revealing important state plans. The entire circulation of the newspaper was ordered to be confiscated, no matter where it was located. These events caused particular unrest abroad and convinced many foreign politicians that the real military plans had really been revealed and that Germany was going to fight not in the east, but in the west, and at that time preparations for war with the Soviet Union were almost completely completed.”
The main propagandists of the Third Reich ended badly.
Goebbels, as you know, went to another world of his own free will.
On September 20, 1946, by the verdict of the Military Tribunal of the Soviet Military Administration of the Province of Brandenburg, Werner Wächter was sentenced to capital punishment on charges of committing crimes under Part 1 of the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the USSR of April 19, 1943. On November 20 of the same year the sentence was carried out. And on October 18, 2002, according to the conclusion of the Main Military Prosecutor's Office of the Russian Federation, this prominent propagandist of the Third Reich was declared “not subject to rehabilitation.”