(The following is a new entry at NS Bibliophiole. See: http://nsbibliophile.blogspot.com.)

Dr. Joseph Goebbels (1897-1945) was a prolific author, but to date only two of his books have been translated into English. Additionally, there is a booklet and three collections of selections or excerpts from his diaries. The lack of English-language translations of Goebbel's books is not because the books themselves are poorly written, uninteresting or unimportant. Quite the contrary: they are brilliantly written, extremely interesting, and of superlative historical importance. Rather, they have not been translated because they are so awful, but because they are too good!

Here is what has appeared so far:



Michael: A Novel translated by Joachim Neugroschel. Amok Press, NY, 1987. Original title: Michael: Ein deutschen Schicksal in Tagebuchblaettern (Michael: A German Destiny in Diary Pages). Written in 1923 but not published until 1929. Of minor interest overall, but a major point has been overlooked by reviewers: Michael reveals that Goebbels had read and was influenced by Thus Spoke Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche.
The "Nazi-Sozi": Questions & Answers for National-Socialists, Landpost Press, Valley Forge, Pennsylvania, 1992. Booklet; German original published 1931. Goebbels' German title is, Der Nazi-Sozi: Fragen und Anworten fuer den Nationalsozialisten; those who maintain that the German National-Socialists themselves never used the term "Nazi" should reconsider their position!
My Part in Germany's Fight translated by Dr. Kurt Fiedler, 1938. First published by Goebbels in German as Vom Kaiserhof zum Reichskanzlei (1935). This book contains selections from his diary from the fateful period Jan. 1, 1932, through May 1, 1933. There are many English editions of this translation available. Most recently, a deluxe paperbck edition has been published with the title From Kaiserhof to Reichchancellery.
The Goebbels Diaries: 1939-1941, translated and edited by Fred Taylor, Hamish Hamilton Ltd., Great Britain, 1982. Diary excerpts from Jan. 1, 1939 through July 8, 1941.
The Goebbels Diaries: 1942-1943, translated and edited by Louis P. Lochner, Doubleday & Company, Garden City, 1948. Diary excerpts from Jan. 21, 1943 through Dec. 9, 1943. Heavily edited and interspersed with hostile, derogatory commentary by the editor.
The Final Entries 1945: The Diaries of Joseph Goebbels, translator not listed, G. Putnam and Sons, New York, 1978. Diary entries with minimal editing, from Feb. 27 through April 9, 1945.

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There is a continuing discussion among historians--NS, Revionist and mainstream alike--as to the authenticity and reliability of the transcripts of Adolf Hitler's private conversations published variously as Hitler's Table Talk and Hitler's Secret Conversations. These transcripts are not verbatim record's of Hitler's words, but rather paraphrases of them, compiled by different secretaries under the direction of Martin Bormann. Some believe that Bormann unduly influenced the content of the transcripts, to further his own career and/or ideological agenda. Others believe that the secretaries sometimes got things wrong.

The excerpts from the Goebbels's diaries edited and translated by Loius Lochner, listed above, provide a useful tool in deciding how reliable the Table Talks are. Goebbels was present during some of these conversations, and entered his own version of them in his diary. Thus, one can compare and contrast Goebbels' account of a given conversation with the record of the same conversation as transcribed under Bormann's direction.

For example, see Hitler's discussion of vegetarianism at midday on April 25, 1942. A record of his remarks are included both in the Table Talks and in the Goebbels' diary entry for that day.

This can be done with many other entries are well.

There is a continuing discussion among historians--NS, Revionist and mainstream alike--as to the authenticity and reliability of the transcripts of Adolf Hitler's private conversations published variously as Hitler's Table Talk and Hitler's Secret Conversations. These transcripts are not verbatim record's of Hitler's words, but rather paraphrases of them, compiled by different secretaries under the direction of Martin Bormann. Some believe that Bormann unduly influenced the content of the transcripts, to further his own career and/or ideological agenda. Others believe that the secretaries sometimes got things wrong.

Well the anti-Christian stuff has largely been chalked up to Genoud now by my reading, but the jury is still out on the rest of it as far as I know. I'd opine that using the 'Table Talk' (et al) should be done extremely sparingly (i.e. only in support of points that can be reliably sourced elsewhere) given the inherent unreliability of the text.

They aren't nearly as bad as 'Zweites Buch' (which is blatantly fraudulent [hence why people tend to politely ignore it]) mind you, but that hasn't stopped people referring to it as if it actually the unpublished sequel to 'Mein Kampf'.

The Goebbels Diaries by contrast are one of the premier and most reliable sources that the historian of the Third Reich has precisely because they have been heavily checked and cross-referenced to events being found to be remarkably candid and accurate.

Interestingly I've not come across any English translations as of yet of Goebbels lesser-known works (written in his student and pre-NSDAP years) like 'Blood Seed', 'Judas Iscariot' and 'The Wanderer'. Also there are no English translations that I am aware of Goebbels' later collected editions of articles from the Kampfzeit-era 'Der Angriff' or the first/second editions of the 'Book of Isidor' (aimed at Berlin's jewish vice police president Weiss and a runaway success), which is a shame.

Well the anti-Christian stuff has largely been chalked up to Genoud now by my reading, but the jury is still out on the rest of it as far as I know. I'd opine that using the 'Table Talk' (et al) should be done extremely sparingly (i.e. only in support of points that can be reliably sourced elsewhere) given the inherent unreliability of the text.

[...]

The Goebbels Diaries by contrast are one of the premier and most reliable sources that the historian of the Third Reich has precisely because they have been heavily checked and cross-referenced to events being found to be remarkably candid and accurate.

Regarding the Table Talks and the Goebbels Diaries: Ideally, a German-speaking scholar should cross-reference the complete and unedited German-language edition of Goebbels' Diaries with the German-language edition of the Table Talks. One could also seek out the diaries of other people who were present (adjutants, generals, secretaries, etc.), and see if they also report conversations that appear in the Table Talks. Eventually, a multi-dimensional, multi-perspective reconstruction of many (probably not all) of the Table Talk entries could be made, giving us further insight into Hitler's thinking--not just what he thought, but how he thought as well.

But that is a task for a German comrade or comrades to pursue. In the meantime, we can use the existing English-language translations of the Diaries and the Table Talks to best effect.

From the tiny bit of research I have been able to do on this project, it appears that the transcribers of the Table Talks were primarily (but not solely) interested in portraying the human side of Hitler, and much of what they report is anecdotal. Dr. Goebbels, on the other hand, seems more interested in the intellectual structure of Hitler's thought.