Editing Joseph Goebbels (section)

==Early life, education, and relationships==
Paul Joseph Goebbels was born on 29 October 1897 in [[Rheydt]], an industrial town south of [[Mönchengladbach]] near [[Düsseldorf]], Germany.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=5}} Both of his parents were [[Roman Catholics]] with modest family backgrounds.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=5}} His father, Fritz, was a German factory clerk; his mother, Katharina Maria (''née'' Odenhausen), was born to [[Dutch people|Dutch]] and German parents in a Dutch village close to the border with Germany.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=2, 299}}{{sfn|Reuth|1994|p=6}} Goebbels had five siblings: Konrad (1893–1949), Hans (1895–1947), Maria (1896–1896), Elisabeth (1901–1915) and Maria (1910–1949),{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=5}} who married the German filmmaker [[Max W. Kimmich]] in 1938.{{sfn|Hull|1969|p=149}} In 1932 Goebbels commissioned the publication of a pamphlet of his family tree to refute the rumours that his maternal grandmother was of Jewish ancestry.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=299}}

During childhood Goebbels experienced ill health, which included a long bout of inflammation of the lungs. He had a [[clubfoot|deformed right foot]], which turned inwards due to a [[congenital disorder]]. It was thicker and shorter than his left foot.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=5}} Just prior to starting grammar school he underwent an operation, which failed to correct the problem.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=6}} Goebbels wore a metal brace and a special shoe because of his shortened leg and walked with a limp. He was rejected for military service in [[World War I]] because of this deformity.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=14}}

[[File:Goebbels 1916.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Goebbels in 1916]]
{{Joseph Goebbels series}}
Goebbels was educated at a ''[[gymnasium (school)|Gymnasium]]'', where he completed his ''[[Abitur]]'' (university entrance examination) in 1917.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=7}} He was the top student of his class and was given the traditional honour of speaking at the awards ceremony.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=10}} His parents initially hoped that he would become a Catholic priest, which Goebbels seriously considered.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=6}} He studied literature and history at the universities of [[University of Bonn|Bonn]], [[University of Würzburg|Würzburg]], [[University of Freiburg|Freiburg]] and [[Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich|Munich]],{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|pp=10–11, 14}} aided by a scholarship from the Albertus Magnus Society.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|pp=6–7}} By this time Goebbels had begun to distance himself from the church.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=14}}

Historians, including [[Richard J. Evans]] and [[Roger Manvell]], speculate that Goebbels' lifelong pursuit of women may have been in compensation for his physical disability.{{sfn|Evans|2003|p=204}}{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=164}} At Freiburg he met and fell in love with Anka Stalherm, who was three years his senior.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=12, 13}} She went on to Würzburg to continue studying, as did Goebbels.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=14}} By 1920 the relationship with Anka was over; the break-up filled Goebbels with thoughts of suicide.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=20, 21}}{{efn|name=letters}} In 1921 he wrote a semi-autobiographical novel, ''[[Michael (novel)|Michael]]'', a three-part work of which only Parts I and III have survived.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=16}} Goebbels felt he was writing his "own story".{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=16}} Antisemitic content and material about a charismatic leader may have been added by Goebbels shortly before the book was published in 1929 by [[Eher-Verlag]], the publishing house of the [[Nazi Party]] (National Socialist German Workers' Party; NSDAP).{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|pp=19, 26}}

At the [[University of Heidelberg]] Goebbels wrote his [[doctoral thesis]] on [[Wilhelm von Schütz]], a minor 19th-century romantic dramatist.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=17}} He had hoped to write his thesis under the supervision of [[Friedrich Gundolf]], a literary historian. It did not seem to bother Goebbels that Gundolf was Jewish. As he was no longer teaching, Gundolf directed Goebbels to associate professor [[Max Freiherr von Waldberg]]. Waldberg, who was also Jewish, recommended Goebbels write his thesis on Wilhelm von Schütz. After submitting the thesis and passing his oral examination, Goebbels received his PhD on 21 April 1922.{{sfn|Reuth|1994|pp=17 ill., 27–33, 36, 42, 48 ill., 52–55}}{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=21, 22}} By 1940 he had written 14 books.{{sfn|Gunther|1940|p=66}}

Goebbels returned home and worked as a private tutor. He also found work as a journalist and was published in the local newspaper. His writing during that time reflected his growing [[antisemitism]] and dislike for modern culture. In the summer of 1922 he met and began a love affair with Else Janke, a schoolteacher.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=22–25}} After she revealed to him that she was half-Jewish, Goebbels stated the "enchantment [was] ruined."{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=24}} Nevertheless he continued to see her on and off until 1927.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=72, 88}}

He continued for several years to try to become a published author.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|pp=32–33}} His [[Goebbels Diaries|diaries]], which he began in 1923 and continued for the rest of his life, provided an outlet for his desire to write.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=3}} The lack of income from his literary works – he wrote two plays in 1923, neither of which sold{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=32}} – forced him to take employment as a caller on the stock exchange and as a bank clerk in [[Cologne]], a job he detested.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2010|p=33}}{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=25–26}} He was dismissed from the bank in August 1923 and returned to Rheydt.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=27}} During this period he read avidly and was influenced by the works of [[Oswald Spengler]], [[Fyodor Dostoyevsky]] and [[Houston Stewart Chamberlain]], the British-born German writer whose book ''[[The Foundations of the Nineteenth Century]]'' (1899) was one of the standard works of the [[far-right politics|extreme right]] in Germany.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=24–26}} He also began to study the [[social question]] and read the works of [[Karl Marx]], [[Friedrich Engels]], [[Rosa Luxemburg]], [[August Bebel]] and [[Gustav Noske]].{{sfn|Reuth|1994|p=28}}{{sfn|Longerich|2015|p=43}} According to German historian [[Peter Longerich]], Goebbels's diary entries from late 1923 to early 1924 reflected the writings of a man who was isolated, preoccupied with "religious-philosophical" issues and lacked a sense of direction. Diary entries from mid-December 1923 onwards show Goebbels was moving towards the ''[[Völkisch movement|Völkisch]]'' nationalist movement.{{sfn|Longerich|2015|pp=28, 33, 34}}