In 1939, ahead of the campaign in Poland, Reinhard Heydrich, who was an active and outstanding pilot in Luftwaffe, turned to Udet and asked him for fighter jets for reconnaissance missions. Udet agreed, and in return received a police car number and a blue flashing headlight for his fast car.
In the summer of 1941, in the midst of the invasion of the Soviet Union, discussions were held at the Ministry of Aviation to locate the culprits in the poor supply of aircraft to the Luftwaffe. Erhard Milch, Udet's bitter rival, publicly accused him of this, and won Goering support. Udet threatened his friends with suicide as a result of these accusations, and appointing of Milch to be in charge of him.
The worried Goering, who was also the founder of the Gestapo, turned to Heydrich and asked him to spy on Udet. Heydrich concluded, from letters he had discovered, that Udet might flee to Sweden. He forbade Udet to fly himself. Udet tried to soften the decree by inviting Heydrich on a joint hunting trip, which lasted several days, but the ban remained. At the end of August 1941, Udet was hospitalized, under Goering's instruction, due to exhaustion and alcoholism. This was after a lengthy conversation with Goering at his estate, in which he sought to resign but was refused.
His confrontation in the last period of his life was in the face of the failures of the Lopwafa, and in the face of the betrayals of his loved ones in him. Before he committed suicide he wrote down who were to blame for ending his life: Goering the Iron Man, his lover, and Erhard Milch. Udet committed suicide, by shooting a gun, on November 17, 1941. He said, before joining the Nazis, that for the sake of aviation he was willing to team up with the devil himself.
Using the method of myths and archetypes in the context of Ernest Udet is very effective. It allows to connect different narratives, such as cinema, war, aviation, hero, propaganda, artist, leader, cult of personality, popular culture, and more. Mythology allows for a comprehensive characterization of the Nazi regime.
The cult of personality of the leader, and other propaganda heroes, was one of the salient features of the fascist regimes. One of the early multidisciplinary stars was Ernest Udet, the idol of the masses who was in the spotlight throughout the period between the two world wars. He was: a pilot from his youth, a war hero, a stunt pilot, a cartoonist, a playboy, a media star, a film actor, an advertising brand, a propaganda character, a character to identify with, and an immortal. Udet turned his life into a kind of absolute work of art. His private and public life could not be separated. Udet's actions lost to the importance of his image in public. Fiction and reality began to mix. In this way, many public impressions about him have been strengthened again and again.
Udet as an icon shows how far the magic of flight can go. He was aware of the influence of his name. Advertising companies have been sponsored for various products. The Nazis made good use of it in their propaganda service. Whether a Nazi believer or not, he has rallied to their service. In the media in Germany and abroad, his name was carried as one of them. He did not do this to be rewarded on flights or for advertising purposes, but flourished in a very senior military career. His suicide was disguised as an accident by the regime, because otherwise the image blow would have been too great. His funeral was one of the most glorious. It was an unforgettable Hollywood-style production, with the Fuhrer saluting his body in the Burial Hall of the Heroes of the People, and the Reichsmarshal in a long eulogy, after which he marched behind the coffin with a large honor guard.
Udet's death could have brought an end to his popularity. Very few heroes continue to live in the memories of people beyond their deaths. But the play about him became a blockbuster about the mythological battle between the archetypal characters of the general and the devil. His character in the play is not Nazi. At worst he is a careerist. The mixture of imagination and reality made him a tragic hero after his death. The Fighter pilots from World War I are immortalized after him in many aviation films made after World War II.
Karl Zuckermeier, a Jew who converted to Christianity, was one of the most famous playwriters and screenwriters in Germany between the two world wars. He was also a good friend of Ernest Udet, from the time of their military service, until his escape from Germany after the rise of the Nazi regime. Zuckermeier learned about the suicide during the war, while living in the United States. He decided to write a play about the man, under the title "The Devil's General". The play took the stage in Germany in 1947, was a great success, and was performed thousands of times. In 1955 a successful film based on the play was also produced.
The film is in black and white, very stylish, and based on quick dialogues. The character of Udet is played by the tall and handsome actor Kurt Jorgens. The film ostensibly depicts the last days of Udet's life, General Haras in the movie. At the beginning Haras is a very popular general, and the potential leader of Germany. Senior SS officials Seek to connect with him to create a dominant power center, and a beautiful young woman seeks his friendship. He himself is aware of his power.
The first half of the film takes place entirely in a lavish party in is lavish apartment, where Haras hosts his friends, but the SS. Listens using hidden microphones. The guests are beautiful, the atmosphere is great, and the event also forges romantic relationships. The presence of his patron the Reichsmarshal is covert but powerful, because Haras is called to telephones from him. In the back room, Haras helps a couple of Jewish acquaintances to escape. An SS general, an outwardly kind man, comes to visit. He raises the question of the number of airplanes that recently crashed following unknown technical malfunctions. The subject is the responsibility of Haras, and the general invites him to join Himmler to solve the problem by joint forces. Haras rudely refuses. This is where the chain of events that leads to its end begins.
Haras is imprisoned for many days in order to scare him. After his release he discovers that Germany has meanwhile declared war on the United States, and realizes that this is the beginning of the apocalyptic end. His loyalty prevents him from escaping, and he tries to solve the mystery of the crashes. He travels to the military base to check it out for himself. The SS Are following him. He takes off for a test flight together with the engineer in charge. Seconds before a crash, the engineer turns a handle stuck in the cockpit, and so Haras realizes that he is the man responsible for the accidents. After they land the engineer tells that he caused them in order to try to get Germany back on track. Haras, for whom this is the chance to purify his name, nevertheless decides not to do so. When the SS general Comes in and asks him, for the last time, to join the new order in the great and new homeland which is under construction, Haras tells him that the initials of the word "Father Land" are satanic: war, terrorism, and concentration camps. He then takes off again alone, and dives and crashes to his death.
The richness and dynamism of the play and movie created reactions in the audience, which can be compared to those evoked by the first fighter pilots. The simplistic myth continued to exist in the audience, and even brought on other important layers: the pilot became a general, who is the perfect incarnation of the warrior hero archetype. He also became the archetypal Scarifying Savior. Haras is embodied as an archetypal guide, with a truth that is revealed in an internal moral decision and not in the external reality. The play evokes a nostalgic sense of Germanism, masculinity and heroism. It also casts doubt on the question of the legality of moral resistance, which is contrary to the ideal of national identity.
Zuckermeier understood the negative impact of the play on the public, and warned about it, but the pilot myth overcame it. The original figure of the devil, or his demonic powers, do not appear. The characters and their actions are all human. Haras maintains a dialogue with Satan's messenger. The apostle, who is a central character in the plot, is the general sent by Himmler, with a kindly appearance, his purpose is to recruit Haras into their ranks. He does so in a friendly manner until the last minute.
A subtle mention of the Holocaust is found in a scene in which two elderly Jews commit suicide at the train station, but the real act of Satan, according to the narrative that develops throughout the plot, is actually the sabotager of the planes, who also caused Haras' son-in-law to die. Haras confronts the terrorist engineer, in a way that makes viewers think he is the devil.
The Devil and the General are an incarnation of the archetypal duo "The Magician" and "The Superhero". They highlight the Gordian knot between myth and aviation. The suicide of Haras highlights the moral dilemma involved, thus broadening the horizons of the discussion of Nazism.
