SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: You remember making a statement in Moscow on this point? Let me read it to you.
RAEDER: To whom, please?
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: In Moscow to the Russians.
“At the beginning of the year 1938 I had experiences of a personal nature, which although they did not concern the Navy directly caused me to lose confidence, not only in Göring but also in the sincerity of the Führer. The situation in which Field Marshal Von Blomberg found himself as a result of his unfortunate marriage made his position as a Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces impossible. I came to the belated conclusion that Göring was making every effort to obtain the post of Commander-in-Chief of the Wehrmacht in place of Blomberg.
“He favored the marriage because it made Blomberg ineligible for this post, while Blomberg believed—and even stated repeatedly—that such a marriage was possible under the present system. Göring had already had him shadowed in the past, as I learned from later remarks.”
Didn’t you say that?
RAEDER: In Moscow, immediately after the collapse, I made a note of the causes of the collapse as seen in the light of my own experience. I wrote this document under the conditions there—where I was treated very chivalrously—and I had no hesitation in informing the highest general of the Commissariat of the Interior of this when I was asked what I was doing there.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: All I want to know is, is that true, what you said?
RAEDER: Yes. I wrote these notes, and it is also true that it occurred to me afterwards that Göring might have favored the marriage. I believe that he himself told me that here. He had assisted Blomberg in such a way that, I think, he did not know what the true state of affairs was or how serious the matter was.
SIR DAVID MAXWELL-FYFE: But you see, your view at that time was that Göring was encouraging the marriage because he knew that it would put Blomberg off the map as Commander-in-Chief because he, Göring, wanted the position. Was that the view that you held last summer?