“I thought it was for me,” Himmler blurted.
“The Foreign Minister thought that making copies of the document was unwise,” von Löwzer said.
“Yes,” Himmler said, signifying nothing.
“I am under the Foreign Minister’s orders to show it as soon as possible to the others who have an interest,” von Löwzer said.
“Bormann, for example?”
Von Löwzer nodded.
“Bormann hasn’t seen this yet?” Himmler asked.
“You are the first to see it, Herr Reichsführer-SS,” von Löwzer said. “Except, of course, for the Foreign Minister.”
And yourself, of course. I’m going to have to find out about you.
But that’s interesting. Von Ribbentrop sent the message to me first.
“And your next stop is where?” Himmler asked casually.
“Reichsleiter Bormann, Herr Reichsführer-SS, and then Admiral Canaris. Then I will go to Wolfsschanze, to see Generalfeldmarschall Keitel and Admiral Dönitz.”
Generalfeldmarschall Keitel, chief of the German army, and Admiral Dönitz were with Hitler at his secret headquarters. As were Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring and Propaganda Minister Josef Goebbels.
Obviously, von Löwzer knows a good deal. The location of the Führer, and of those officials with him, is known to only a few wholly trustworthy people.
But does that mean von Löwzer knows everything about Operation Phoenix?
“Then I had best not keep you,” Himmler said.
He picked up the message from Buenos Aires and read it through again carefully before handing it to von Löwzer.
“You will be good enough to tell the Herr Foreign Minister that I understand the gravity of the problem and am at his disposal to discuss it?”
“Of course, Herr Reichsführer-SS,” von Löwzer said, rendered the Nazi salute, and walked out of Himmler’s office.
Himmler waited three minutes—long enough for von Löwzer to have certainly left the outer office—and then pressed the lever on his interoffice communications device and ordered Frau Hassler to summon Oberführer von Deitzberg.
“The Reichsführer-SS requests your presence immediately, Herr Oberführer,” Frau Hassler’s voice announced metallically through the intercom device on von Deitzberg’s desk.
Von Deitzberg had been sitting slumped in his high-backed chair with his feet resting on an open drawer. He put his feet on the floor, leaned across his desk, pressed the TALK lever, and very politely said, “Thank you very much, Frau Hassler.”
He slumped back into his chair and smiled at his deputy, SS-Sturmbannführer Erich Raschner. “Raschner, I believe the Reichsführer has just seen the telex from Warsaw,” he said.
The telex had been laid on his desk by a Signals Oberscharführer, the SS rank equivalent to technical sergeant, at 1120. As Adjutant to the Reichsführer-SS, von Deitzberg was charged with the administration of all correspondence—mail, teletype, or radio—that would come to Himmler’s personal attention. That is to say, von Deitzburg was the gatekeeper for a good portion of the information flow to the Reichsführer-SS. He determined what was important enough for Himmler to see, what he himself could deal with, or what he could pass farther down the chain of command for action.
Next, he determined when the Reichsführer-SS actually saw the correspondence that in von Deitzberg’s view merited his attention. Very rare pieces would be important enough for von Deitzberg to personally carry to Himmler himself. Immediately below that priority were messages that he would leave with Frau Hassler for delivery to Himmler the moment he was free. Below that priority were several categories: Some correspondence was stamped IMMEDIATE ATTENTION and placed in the box on his desk reserved for the Reichsführer-SS; some was stamped IMPORTANT and then placed in the box; and some, finally, was simply placed in the Himmler box without a stamp.
At least once an hour, a Signals messenger (always an SS noncommissioned officer) would make deliveries to von Deitzberg’s In box and pick up the contents of the Out box. The Reichsführer-SS’s correspondence would be immediately passed on to Frau Hassier, who would sort it (IMMEDIATE ATTENTION material on top, IMPORTANT below that, and unstamped on the bottom), and then place it on Himmler’s desk at the first opportunity.
Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler’s time was, of course, very valuable. Oberführer von Deitzberg was a splendid manager—with the result that he was gatekeeper not only of Himmler’s correspondence but of his appointments. He was the final arbiter of who got to see the Reichsführer-SS, when, and for how long.
Even senior government officials, like Deputy Foreign Minister von Löwzer, had to pass through von Deitzberg’s “gates.” When someone senior appeared unannounced to meet with Himmler, the SS officer on duty in the lobby of the building would pass the official into the elevator, then immediately telephone von Deitzberg. If von Deitzberg decided that the Reichsführer-SS had no time for the official, von Deitzberg would head him off in the corridor and explain that he was so very sorry, but the Reichsführer-SS had just left, and could he be of some help?
Today, von Deitzberg had decided that von Löwzer could be passed into the office of the Reichsführer. Whatever von Löwzer’s business, asking him about it, and then checking with Himmler about that, would be more trouble than simply passing von Löwzer in. Thus von Deitzberg was not aware of the reason for von Löwzer’s visit with the Reichsführer.
As for the teletype message from Warsaw announcing the Jewish insurrection, ordinarily, on receiving a message of that importance, von Deitzberg would have immediately carried it to Himmler and handed it to him personally. But today the Reichsführer had been lunching with his wife at the Hotel Adlon and hadn’t been expected back until at least 2:30.