Martin Sommerfeldt

Martin Sommerfeldt, the son of the court chaplain Eggert Sommerfeldt, was born in Glücksburg, Germany, on 5th February, 1899. After attending school in Flensburg he joined the German Army and served during the First World War.

Sommerfeldt held right-wing views and participated in the Kapp Putsch. He also worked as a journalist, and wrote a biography of Hermann Göring. According to Charles R. Bambach, the book, Hermann Göring (1933) "offered a heroic-mythological account of Göring's warriorly exploits". The book went through fourteen different editions in two years. (1)

A member of the Nazi Party he was appointed as Göring's press chief. His duty was to "carry out the regular briefing of the foreign press representatives, hosted by the State Press Department." (2)

Martin Sommerfeldt: Hermann Göring's Press Chief

On 28th February, 1933, the Reichstag building caught fire. It was reported at ten o'clock when a Berlin resident telephoned the police and said: "The dome of the Reichstag building is burning in brilliant flames." The Berlin Fire Department arrived minutes later and although the main structure was fireproof, the wood-paneled halls and rooms were already burning. (3)

Sommerfeldt took the information to Göring. He claimed that he seemed calm, and he thought that "although he was shocked by the arson he did not consider it very important." (4) However, Göring, did go to see what was happening. Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels arrived soon after. So also did Rudolf Diels: "Shortly after my arrival in the burning Reichstag, the National Socialist elite had arrived. On a balcony jutting out of the chamber, Hitler and his trusty followers were assembled." Göring told him: "This is the beginning of the Communist Revolt, they will start their attack now! Not a moment must be lost. There will be no mercy now. Anyone who stands in our way will be cut down. The German people will not tolerate leniency. Every communist official will be shot where he is found. Everybody in league with the Communists must be arrested. There will also no longer be leniency for social democrats." (5)

Hitler gave orders that all leaders of the German Communist Party (KPD) should "be hanged that very night." Paul von Hindenburg vetoed this decision but did agree that Hitler should take "dictatorial powers". Orders were given for all KPD members of the Reichstag to be arrested. This included Ernst Torgler, the chairman of the KPD. Göring commented that "the record of Communist crimes was already so long and their offence so atrocious that I was in any case resolved to use all the powers at my disposal in order ruthlessly to wipe out this plague". (6)

Reichstag Fire

Hermann Göring asked Sommerfeldt to find out as much as he could about the Reichstag Fire. He discovered that Marinus van der Lubbe had been arrested in the building: "I learned that the fire was discovered at 9 p.m. by a civilian who notified the nearest policeman. The latter alerted a police patrol, the police-station alerted the fire brigade, etc. The policeman saw a man tugging wildly at a curtain over one of the large panes in the lobby, and fired a shot at him. When the police entered the building, they found burning firelighters everywhere, which suggested arson. They managed to collect about a hundredweight of this material, and arrested a man who seemed to be running berserk in the corridors. The man was carrying firelighters on his person." (7)

Göring refused to accept the report and was convinced that members of the German Communist Party (KPD) were responsible. Adolf Hitler gave orders that all leaders of the KPD should "be hanged that very night." Paul von Hindenburg vetoed this decision but did agree that Hitler should take "dictatorial powers". Orders were given for all KPD members of the Reichstag to be arrested. This included Ernst Torgler, the chairman of the KPD. Göring commented that "the record of Communist crimes was already so long and their offence so atrocious that I was in any case resolved to use all the powers at my disposal in order ruthlessly to wipe out this plague". (8)

Göring asked Sommerfeldt: "Why mention a single man (Marinus van der Lubbe)? There were ten or even twenty men! Don't you understand what's been happening? The whole thing was a signal for a Communist uprising!" Sommerfeldt disagreed: "I do not think so, Minister. No one has mentioned anything of the sort, not even Diels, whom I saw in the Reichstag. He merely thought that the Communists might have been responsible. I must insist, Minister, that my report is based on the official findings of the fire brigade and the police."

Martin Sommerfeldt later claimed that Göring told him he would write his own report: "Göring started dictating to his secretary without once stopping, but glancing at a piece of paper now and then. He gave it out as an established fact that the Reichstag fire had been intended as a signal for a Communist campaign of bloodshed and arson. He ordered the police to take all Communist officials into protective custody and to confiscate all Marxist newspapers. Göring multiplied my own figures by ten, with a side-long glance in my direction." (9)

By talking to senior figures in the Nazi Party, Sommerfeldt became convinced that Joseph Goebbels was one responsible for the Reichstag Fire. This came initially from a conversation with Ernst Röhm: "I dropped a gentle hint that the Reichstag fire trial had led to personal differences between Göring and myself, and Röhm asked in surprise: "What on earth did Göring have to do with the whole business?" He then went on to claim that the "devil Goebbels was responsible". (10)

"From the night of the fire to this day, I have been convinced that the Reichstag was set on fire neither by the communists nor Herman Göring, but that the fire was the piece de resistance of Dr. Goebbels's election campaign, and that it was started by an handful of Storm Troopers all of whom were shot afterwards by SS commandoes in the vicinity of Berlin. There was talk of ten men, and of the Gestapo investigating the crime." Sommerfeldt also got information from Karl Ernst and Rudolf Diels on the fire: "This was reported to me on the one hand by Ernst, the Chief of the Berlin Stormtroopers, who was filled with poisonous hatred of Goebbels, and also by the police chief Dr. Diels who gave me exact details about the crime and the identification of the 10 victims." (11)

Sommerfeldt added that this showed that all the Nazi leaders thought one another "capable of any piece of villainy". He was also aware that some people thought that because he was close to Göring, he was also part of the conspiracy: "This very fact was enough to stamp me an incendiary as well. It is understandable, therefore, why this stupid charge suggested to me that the accusations against the others might be just as false." (12)

In May 1934 Martin Sommerfeldt was dismissed by Göring. After the war he published I Was There (1949) and gave interviews on his work with the Nazi government. (13)

Martin Sommerfeldt died on 10th April, 1969.

Primary Sources

(1) Martin Sommerfeldt, I Was There (1949)

I learned that the fire was discovered at 9 p.m. by a civilian who notified the nearest policeman. The latter alerted a police patrol, the police-station alerted the fire brigade, etc. The policeman saw a man tugging wildly at a curtain over one of the large panes in the lobby, and fired a shot at him. When the police entered the building, they found burning firelighters everywhere, which suggested arson. They managed to collect about a hundredweight of this material, and arrested a man who seemed to be running berserk in the corridors. The man was carrying firelighters on his person.

(2) Fritz Tobias, The Reichstag Fire: Legend and Truth (1963)

Göring, for his part, could not understand how anyone could produce that kind of insipid report after Hitler's prophetic outburst in the Reichstag. Rather than convince his stubborn press attaché, he seized a blue pencil and, shouting: "This is sheer rubbish," again, he went on: "One hundredweight of incendiary material? No, ten or even a hundred." And he added two noughts to my modest one.

Now Sommerfeldt, too, became annoyed: "This is quite impossible, Minister! No one can possibly believe that a single man could have carried that load..."

Göring snapped back: "Nothing is impossible. Why mention a single man? There were ten or even twenty men! Don't you understand what's been happening? The whole thing was a signal for a Communist uprising!"

If he thought that would floor Sommerfeldt at last, Goring was quite wrong: "I do not think so, Minister. No one has mentioned anything of the sort, not even Diels, whom I saw in the Reichstag. He merely thought that the Communists might have been responsible. I must insist, Minister, that my report is based on the official findings of the fire brigade and the police."

Göring remained speechless for a moment, and then he flung his giant blue pencil furiously on to the desk. "I shall dictate the report myself to Fraulein Grundtmann. You can insist all you want."

Göring started dictating to his secretary without once stopping, but glancing at a piece of paper now and then. He gave it out as an established fact that the Reichstag fire had been intended as a signal for a Communist campaign of bloodshed and arson. He ordered the police to take all Communist officials into protective custody and to confiscate all Marxist newspapers. Goring multiplied my own figures by ten, with a side-long glance in my direction.

The additional nine culprits thus introduced became an integral part of the Reichstag fire "mystery", and even Göring forgot its real origins. His ten criminals were welcomed by the Communists, who quickly turned them into Nazis.

(3) Martin Sommerfeldt, letter to Richard Woolf (18th January, 1956)

From the night of the fire to this day, I have been convinced that the Reichstag was set on fire neither by the communists nor Herman Göring, but that the fire was the piece de resistance of Dr. Goebbels's election campaign, and that it was started by an handful of Storm Troopers all of whom were shot afterwards by SS commandoes in the vicinity of Berlin. There was talk of ten men, and of the Gestapo investigating the crime. This was reported to me on the one hand by Ernst, the Chief of the Berlin Stormtroopers, who was filled with poisonous hatred of Goebbels, and also by the police chief Dr. Diels who gave me exact details about the crime and the identification of the 10 victims.