Tapping Hitler's Generals

The smouldering conflicts at Trent Park continued into the subsequent months.[144] Crüwell protested at Thoma’s glee over German defeats[145] while Thoma took Arnim and Crüwell ever less seriously. They were like the three monkeys: ‘Hear no evil, see no evil, speak no evil’.[146] On 12 September 1943 Thoma observed to Oberst Rudolf Buhse that he regretted ‘every bomb, every scrap of material and every human life that is still being wasted in this senseless war. The only gain that the war will bring us is the end of ten years of gangster rule’ (Document 14). ‘For that reason I am seen by others as a criminal,’ he said, adding that one ‘should put Adolf Hitler in a padded cell.’ He was clear, of course, that his open rejection of Nazism and his firm belief in the defeat of Germany was not shared by many of his prisoner colleagues who, as a rule, expressed their criticisms in a more moderate manner. Officers like Crüwell and Meixner were firmly convinced that Germany would win the war if it succeeded in fighting off the invasion. (Paul Meixner, diary, 31 March and 18 April 1944)

‘One can only wonder,’ Thoma wrote in his diary on 17 February 1944, that

the majority still expect a miracle and feel slighted whenever one offers a sober and unfavourable judgement of the situation. They take it as a personal insult and feel as if struck a blow on the head. What type of blow to the head will it be when the war ends? The lack of civilian courage, which is rarer than bravery, is responsible for the concern shown by anti-Nazis. I laugh about it and give everybody my opinion about the bitter end. My opinion is completely opposite to that of Goebbels who every week is more stupid and insolent about it in his articles in Das Reich: people do not seem to notice how stupid he thinks we all are.[147]

^{Inmates of Trent Park, November 1943: (standing, left to right) Reimann, Neuffer, Krause, Köhncke, Wolters: (seated, left to right) von Broich, von Sponeck, von Liebenstein, Bassenge}

Despite all differences of opinion the Trent Park community remained intact in some respects. At Christmas 1943 all prisoners sat together for an excellent dinner with plum pudding and red wine before re-uniting in their small groups to spend Christmas Night in silent contemplation.[148]

Even on Hitler’s birthday on 20 April 1944 no such scene as feared by Crüwell eventually occurred. He expected that Thoma would not raise his glass to toast the Führer and was anxious to have acting-SGO Bassenge ejected from the officer corps in case he deliberately avoided making any preparations for the special day. The ‘defeatists’ abstained from making trouble, however. A toast to the Führer was proposed–to Crüwell’s disgust in British beer–after which Arnim made a short speech to the generals in the valets’ dining room.[149]

Crüwell’s situation at Trent Park became intolerable after he failed to unseat Bassenge as acting-SGO and was not approached to nominate the Head Valet, appointed for all kinds of important organisational tasks. Besides his political tussles, Crüwell found captivity in itself an especially heavy burden. In June 1942 he wrote in his diary, a few days after his capture:

I am completely cut off from the great struggle of our Fatherland. For me there was nothing more honourable and fine than to fight and work for our final victory. I always feared that my health would not hold out and now it has turned out completely differently […] My military career with its rich prospects was very abruptly broken off on 29 May 1942. It is very harsh.[150]