Max Hoffman

Of poison gas one had died but once . . .

WPT, 13 Sept 05

Russia from the America Embassy April, 1916 — November 1918
by David R. Francis, 1921

Still more convincing evidence, perhaps, of Lenin's employment as the agent of Germany was afforded in a newspaper interview with General . . . Hoffmann, Chief of Staff of the Eastern Army of Germany, which appeared in the newspapers of December 24th, 1920. General Hoffmann was quoted as saying:

"As Chief of Staff of the East Army during the war, I directed the propaganda against the Russian Army. The General Staff naturally made use of every possible means to break through the Russian front. One of these means was poisoned gas, another was Lenin. The Imperial regime dispatched Lenin to Russia from the Swiss frontier. With our consent Lenin and his friends disorganized the Russian army. Von Kuehlmann (former German Secretary for Foreign Affairs,), Count Czernin (Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister), and I then closed the Brest-Litovsk Treaty so that we could throw our army against the West front. While at Brest we were convinced that the Bolsheviks could not hold power more than three weeks.

"On my word of honor as a German general, in spite of the valuable service Trotzky and Lenin rendered, we neither knew nor foresaw the danger to humanity from the consequences of this journey of Bolsheviks to Russia."

( pages 221- 222 )

New York : Charles Scribner's Sons, 1921.

From  LENIN RED DICTATOR by George Vernadsky, 1931

. . . Platten presented at the German Embassy in Berne a rough outline made by Lenin of the proposed organization of the passage of the Russian exiles through Germany subject to Platten�s own personal responsibility. The days later the conditions submitted by Platten were confirmed by the German Government of course with the agreement of the German General Staff. General Hoffmann notes the name of the Reichstag deputy Erzberger as the intermediary in these conversations.² Scheidemann, the leader of the German Social Democratic party who later became Chancellor of the German Republic, affirms that Lenin�s journey through Germany was organized by Parvus.³

The motives animating the German Government and the German General Staff were obvious, and may be judged by the brief comments that have been made by General Ludendorff and General Hoffman.

Ludendorff says ; "In having sent Lenin to Russia, our Government took upon itself a special responsibility. From the military point of view is journey was justified ; Russia had to fall."⁴

General Hoffmann writes thus : "Just as I launch grenades at the enemy trenches, just as I release poison gases against them, so as an enemy I have the right to make use of the means of propaganda against the opposed force."⁵

To afford Lenin and his comrades an opportunity of passage to Russia was in the nature of introducing disease germs into the organism of the Russian state. . . .

 

---

      2.  General Max Hoffmann,  Der Krieg der versäumten Gelegenheiten (München: Verlag für Kulturpolitik, 1924), p. 174
      3.  Philipp Scheidemann,  Memoiren eines Sozialdemocrate (Dresden : Carl Reissner, 1928), I, 427 (�. . . die Reise Lenins . . . ein Arrangement Dr. Helphands gewesen ist . . ..�).
      4.  Erich Ludendorff,  Meine Kriegserinnerungen (Sechste, unveränderte Auflage, Berlin: Ernst Siegfred Miller und Sohn Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1920), p 407.
      5.  Hoffman,  Der Krieg der versäumten Gelegenheiten, p. 174.

( pages 149 - 155 ; notes on p. 333 )

New Haven : Yale ; London : Oxford, 1931.

New Haven, London, 1931, p. .

From The Crucifixion of Liberty, Alexander Kerensky 1934

�The game with Lenin is worth the candle!�. . . Indeed, as Ludendorff said in his memoirs, Lenin�s journey �was justified from the military point of view : the fall of Russia was a necessity.� In another place, in a separate article for a military journal, the Militär Wochenblatt, Ludendorff wrote that—

In sending Lenin, the Chancellor promised us more rapid development of the Russian revolution and an increase in the desire for peace which was already noticeable in the Russian army and navy. Headquarters considered that in this way the defenses of the enemy would be weakened. No one at Headquarters knew who gave the Chancellor the idea of sending Lenin. As a matter of fact the Chancellor himself scarcely knew his name ; but nevertheless events proved that our acceptance of the Chancellor�s proposal was justified.

As for Max Hoffmann, the German General who in the summer of 1917 directed the operations on the Russian Front—he has frankly put Lenin in one category with poison gas bombs. General Hoffman wrote :

In fighting Russia we, the Germans, had an unquestionable right to try to increase the disturbances created in the army and in the country by the revolution ; just as I bombarded the enemy trenches with shells, just as I poisoned the enemy with gas, so I had the right, being his foe, to use against his troops the weapon of propaganda.

New York : John Day, 1934, pp. 331 - 332.

Hoffmann, Max, 1869-1927. Title Der Krieg der versäumten Gelegenheiten ; vereinigt mit Gedanken über 1914 ; Tannenberg, wie es wirklich war ; die Frühjahrsoffensive 1918 / von Max Hoffmann. Publisher Leipzig : Hase & Koehler, [1939], c1929. Description 254 p. : maps ; 23 cm. Language German Note Seven folded maps in pocket. Includes index.

Hoffman, Max, 1869-1927. Title Die Aufzeichnungen des generalmajors. Publisher Berlin, Verlag f�r Kulturpolitik, 1929. Description 2 v. illus. (plan) fold. maps. 23 cm. Language German

Hoffmann, Max, 1869-1927. Title Der Krieg der vers�umten Gelegenheiten. Publisher Leipzig, Hase & Koehler [1929, repr., 1939] Description 254 p. 7 fold. maps. (in pocket) Language German

Hoffmann, Max, 1869-1927. Title War diaries and other papers ... Publisher London, M. Secker [1929] Description 2 v. fronts. (ports.) fold. maps. 23 cm. Language English Uniform Title [ Aufzeichnungen des generalmajors Max Hoffmann. English.]

Hoffman, Max, 1869-1927. Title Die Aufzeichnungen des generalmajors. Publisher Berlin, Verlag f�r Kulturpolitik, 1929. Description 2 v. illus. (plan) fold. maps. 23 cm. Language German

Hoffmann, Max, 1869-1927. Title Die aufzeichnungen des general-majors Publisher Berlin, Verlag f�r kulturpolitik, 1928. Description 2 v. illus. (plan) fold. maps. 23 cm. Language German

Hoffmann, Max, 1869-1927. Title Tannenberg wie es wirklich war; mit zwei originalkarten. Publisher Berlin, Verlag fur̈ kulturpolitik, 1926. Description 94 p. fold. maps. 24 cm. Language German Note General Max Hoffmann. "Erstes tausend." Subject Tannenberg, Battle of, St�bark, Poland, 1914.

Hoffman, Max, 1869-1927. Title An allen Enden Moskau; das Problem des Bolschewismus in seinen jüngsten Auswirkungen / General Hoffmann. Publisher Berlin : Verlag für Kulturpolitik, 1925. Description 77 p. Language German [ Note At head of title: General Hoffmann. (New YOrk Public Library) ]

Hoffmann, Max, 1869-1927. Title The war of lost opportunities, by General von Hoffmann... Publisher New York : International Publishers, 1925. Description 4 p. L., 246 p. 23 cm. Language English Note Translated from the German by A. E. Chamot. "Printed in Great Britain."

Hoffman, Max, 1869-1927. Title The war of lost opportunities, by General von Hoffman. Publisher London, K. Paul, French, Trubner & co., ltd., 1924. Description 4 p.l., 246 p. 22 cm. Language English Note "Translated from the German by A. E. Chamot."

Hoffmann, Max, 1869-1927. Title Der Krieg der versäumten Gelegenheiten. Publisher München : Verlag für Kulturpolitik, 1923. Description 232 p. 4 fold. maps. 23 l/2cm. Language German Subject World War, 1914-1918 -- Campaigns.