Paul Karel: biography, personal life, books and articles

2024 Author: Leah Sherlock | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 05:25

One of the most influential press secretaries of the Third Reich Paul Schmidt became a chronicler after the war and wrote a series of books "Eastern Front". The works of the German diplomat, although they caused conflicting opinions, were a success and were reprinted several times. One way or another, but the opinion of a person whose activities have been associated with the Social Democratic Party for several decades is interesting to many.

To the East

"Hitler Goes East" is the first volume in the Eastern Front series of books. Paul Karel from the very first lines tries to explain the war with the Soviet Union as a necessary and correct step against Bolshevism. The author wonders if the German Wehrmacht was just a "fighting force" of the army, can their actions be called "cruel and fanatical"?

Paul Karel's book "Hitler Goes East" was published in 1963, at the height of the Cold War, which contributed to its popularity. This workimmediately drew mixed reviews. But the opinion of the man who fought "on the other side" was interesting to everyone. This work is based on documents, memoirs of German generals, soldiers, officers, it contains many photographs from Karel's personal album.

The book was reprinted 8 times with a total circulation of about 500,000 copies, was translated into all European languages, but in the USSR it was available only to specialists, although it is not a scientific document on the history of the Second World War.

Barbarossa

Paul Karel began working on the Eastern Front cycle at a time when many archives were classified and inaccessible to researchers, and Wehrmacht documents were being studied by the Allies. Describing those events, the author took many interviews with eyewitnesses, relied on diary entries, excerpts from documents and books about the war. Of course, the events of those terrible years are displayed from the point of view of Nazi soldiers and officers, but the author managed to reflect all their tragedy.

One gets the impression that he felt the doom of Hitler's adventure. In order to make his work more objective, the author used the evidence and works of Soviet historians in it, but he failed to create a truly objective work. It alternates between true, realistic events of that war and stereotypes created by the Nazis themselves: "communist fanatics", "Mongolian divisions" and much more.

Paul Karel sees the reason for the defeat not in the heroism of the people who opposed Nazism, but in bad roads, severe frosts, in flawedHitler's plans and the "shortage of the last battalion". Therefore, military operations are presented to the reader not in the sequence accepted by Soviet historians, but in the vision of the war from the opposite side - this determines the structure of the book.

On the other side

Biographies of Soviet military and statesmen, geographical and statistical data differ from Soviet data, but still you should not be critical of them, but you should take into account the time the book was written, the views of the author and eyewitnesses of the events, whose testimonies he cites.

Actually, Paul Karel himself writes in the preface that he faces a difficult task - not only to convey the events of the war, which was lost and known in history as a criminal act of aggression, but also to draw a complete picture of what is happening, to tell about the circumstances Hitler's Barbarossa campaign.

Imposed War

In the first part of this "Hitler Goes East" series, Paul Karel analyzes the events from June 1941 to January 1943. He does not always adhere to the opinion of Soviet authors, but some of the revelations made by him are quite interesting. For example, he admits that the capture of many officers of the Red Army in the first weeks of the campaign played a bad joke on Hitler.

Flattered by the first victories, he continued to set overwhelming tasks for the German army even when there were not enough forces and means for this. He scattered resources in many directions and goals, and he did not have enough strength for a decisive success. There is something more behind the words of the author -it turns out that this war was imposed on Hitler and the Wehrmacht, as they were saving Europe from the Bolsheviks.

Those who took part in hostilities behaved decently, with dignity and heroically. Massacres are not discussed in the work of Paul Karel. As follows from his book, most officers carried out the orders of their commanders without thinking about what consequences these orders carried. In the actions of the Nazi army there was only heroism and patriotism, but there were no massacres and crimes.

Scorched Earth

The first volume ends with the battle of Stalingrad, when the victorious offensive of the Nazi troops began. The second book begins with their defeat - the Battle of Kursk. Here the author also shows the war from the point of view of the Nazi soldiers and officers. New weapons, skill and determination were brought to bear in this decisive battle. The Führer had everything at stake and hoped that Operation Citadel would turn things around. The book ends with the retreat of the German troops and expulsion from the borders of the USSR.

The books are written rather in the spirit of diary entries and contain various situations. But, despite the fact that the events are scattered, they are easy to read. It is no coincidence that they are popular: a living language, many details from the daily routine of German soldiers. Of course, the author's works can by no means serve as a source for studying the history of the Second World War, but, as readers write, for those who are interested in the events of those distant years, Karel's works will be interesting.

About the author

Paul Schmidt was born in November 1911 in the small town of Kelbra. He grew up in the house of his grandfather, a we althy shoemaker, received a good education - he graduated from the University of Kiel, where he studied psychology, philosophy, and economics. He joined the NSDAP while still a high school student in 1931 and headed the anti-Semitic committee. Paul actively participated in the activities of the organization and since 1935 held various positions in the Students' Union, was one of the ideological inspirers of the burning of "non-Aryan" books.

In 1936 he received his doctorate and was considered an expert in propaganda. In 1938 he joined the SS and got a job in the press service of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he headed the department until 1940. A 28-year-old guy, he was already an SS Obersturmbannführer, which corresponds to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the Wehrmacht. Schmidt's department was responsible for reporting in the domestic and foreign press, influencing foreign policy. According to the historian W. Benz, it was Schmidt who invented the "language rules" and was the most significant member of the press of the Third Reich.

Paul Karel was rapidly moving up the career ladder. In 1940, he became an "envoy of the 1st class" in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in 1941 - the secretary of the minister. His functions included organizing press conferences at the Foreign Ministry. Under his leadership, the propaganda magazine "Signal" was published, and in 1945 more than 200 employees worked in his department. His influence in the propaganda system only competed with the first press secretary of A. Hitler, Otto Dietrich.

After the war

In May 1945, Paulwas arrested and spent two years behind bars awaiting trial. He participated in the Nuremberg trials as a witness against O. Dietrich. Schmidt was due to comment on his proposals for the deportation of Hungarian Jews in May 1944. Schmidt's documents and correspondence about the "Jewish Action in Budapest" were presented in court, where he gave advice on how to justify the deportation and murder of Jews.

To prevent their opponents from shouting about "hunting for people", it is necessary to present everything as if it was forced measures, and not persecution on national grounds. Explosives, plans for subversive activities and raids on police officers were found in Jewish clubs and synagogues. As an excuse in court, Schmidt said that he was only a "representative of the press" and his signature should have been on this document.

The case against Schmidt was dismissed due to lack of sufficient evidence to charge. His recommendations were not implemented in 1944, and the note is not considered an official document. The investigation regarded these actions as a "failed assassination attempt." The judicial action against him was suspended, and Schmidt was released. The investigation was conducted from 1965 to 1971.

Writing career

After his release, Schmidt moved to Shessel. The career of an official or a diplomat was out of the question. Schmidt took up journalism and published under various pseudonyms articles about the war in many publications. In his works, the author relied on the anti-Bolshevism of the Third Reich, which played into his hands during the Cold War. FROM50s writing for Kristall magazine, one of the publications led to a big scandal.

In Kristall, under the pseudonym "Paul Carell", the chapters of his book from the series "Eastern Front" - "Scorched Earth" were published. Paul Karel wrote in the 1970s under the name Vocator for the newspapers Welt and Zeit. In the magazine "Der Spiegel" he actually became an adviser to the head on security issues. From 1958 to 1979, Springer regularly published his articles on the subject of the Russian campaign, about how it really was.

Works by P. Schmidt

Karel's name became widely known after the release of books about World War II:

• in 1960 the book "They are coming!" about allied forces in Normandy;
• in 1963 "Hitler Goes East" was published;
• Desert Fox and Scorched Earth were published in 1964;
• in 1980 Die Gefangenen's book about the fate of German prisoners of war in the USSR;
• in 1983, the illustrated book "Russian War" was published;
• in 1992 - "Stalingrad".

In 1992, Paul Karel said that after the Battle of Stalingrad, the outcome of the war was not a foregone conclusion. The mistakes of A. Hitler led to the defeat of Germany, while outstanding strategists served in the Wehrmacht. Toward the end of his life, Schmidt denied Nazi crimes against the civilian population, saying that an attack on the Soviet Union was a preemptive strike against an attack by the Red Army. In 2009, the use of Schmidt's texts was banned in all educational institutions and military units.

Paul Karel died in June 1997years in Rottach-Egern in Bavaria.