Goering blamed Goebbles for the events of Kristallnacht, but he simply could have been trying to shift the blame from himself, as at the time he was on trial for his life, and if found guilty of involvement towards the events of Kristallnacht, he was to be hung. He could have been telling the truth, but because of the position he was in, we have to treat it suspiciously. Nethertheless, both sources A and B back up this idea of Goebbles being responsible for Kristallnacht, which Goering is saying is true. Throughout the whole of the source, Goering is trying to distance himself from the events of the Holocaust, and is explaining that he and nothing to do with it.
We cannot be certain of the reliability of the source as it was written in 1945 during Goering’s trail for war crimes at Nuremberg. This was a long time after the events of Kristallnacht. This means that he could have forgot his conversation with Hitler, and could have just made it up to distance himself from the Nazis so he was not punished at the trials.
Source I is Frau Troost’s account of a conversation with Hitler shortly after Kristallnacht. She did not give her account until 1971, when she was in an interview with a historian. She claims that she was with Hitler at the time because her husband was one of Hitler’s favourite architects.
A major concern that we can see right away is that Frau Troost did not give her account of the conversation with Hitler until 1971. This is 33 years after the events of Kristallnacht. This means that it would be very unlikely that she could have remembered the conversation accurately. She might have remembered the conversation though as it would have been a special occasion for her, and she does use specific quotes like “elephants in china shop”. She could have simply made the whole thing up just because she wanted the fame and fortune from the interviewer, as people wanted to know about the life of Hitler and would pay for it. Also she would have been seen as an important person as she had met Hitler. Overall, we cannot be certain how reliable the source is.
Source I tells us that Hitler was annoyed with the events of kristallnacht because they destroyed German property as well as his plans with the French. This implies that Hitler was not behind Kristallnacht.
I feel in relation to source H, source I does go some way in saying that Goerings account is true. Both sources agree that Hitler was unhappy about the events of kristallnacht. We know this as in source H it says “he agreed that such events should not be allowed to take place”, “he” being Hitler, and in source I were it states “the people responsible have destroyed everything for me”. These quotes both show that Hitler was unhappy, even angry about the events of kristallnacht. In source I there is no mentioning of Goering though, and also source I does not say that Goebbles was responsible for the attacks. It does not name the person responsible in source I, only implies that it was not Hitler.
