Erhard Milch Diaries and Transcripts, 1933–1946 (Irving File 59)

Expanded transcripts spanning over a thousand pages, representing one of the fullest surviving sets of Milch’s diary material.

Content and Structure

• Diaries and notebooks (1921–1945): Detailed daily notes of official duties, meetings with Hitler, Göring, Udet, and other Luftwaffe staff; production and armament decisions; Luftwaffe campaigns in Poland, France, and Russia.
• Administrative and industrial records: Extended coverage of aviation industry relations (BMW, Heinkel, Junkers), budgets, and procurement.
• Postwar imprisonment (1945–1946): Reflections, interrogation notes, and correspondence during Nuremberg and Landsberg confinement.
• Supplementary documents: Biographical and genealogical notes, memoranda, and contextual annotations inserted by Irving.

The much greater extent (1,026 pages) suggests this set is comprehensive.

Disclaimer

This document contains transcripts of the personal diaries, notes, and related records of Erhard Milch (1892–1972), Field Marshal of the German Luftwaffe. The material reflects the views, language, and perspectives of its original author and compilers, and may include offensive, discriminatory, or historically sensitive content.

The transcripts were prepared and microfilmed based on access to Milch’s original notebooks. As such, they represent a secondary transcription rather than the original handwritten diaries, and may contain errors, omissions, or interpretative insertions. Users are advised to verify all quotations against the originals where possible.

This file is provided for research, educational, and historical purposes only. The presence of this material in an archive does not imply endorsement of the views expressed within.

Condition Note

This file is a digitised copy of typewritten transcripts originally prepared and microfilmed in the 1960s–1970s. Overall legibility is good to very good: the typed text is clear and consistent across the majority of pages, with minimal distortion.

As with most microfilm-derived documents, there are occasional flaws: light fading on some pages, uneven contrast, and minor blurring around margins or characters. A small number of pages exhibit smudging, misalignment, or partial shadowing, but the content remains fully readable.

There are no major losses of text, and the document is suitable for scholarly research, citation, and digital reproduction. Users should, however, be aware that these are secondary transcripts rather than original manuscripts, and minor transcriptional or editorial errors may be present.

Sample-Erhard Milch Diaries and Transcripts, 1933–1946 (Irving File DJ59)