The pages shown are from Lehmann’s typed manuscript in which she offers an account of her meeting with Goering. The corrections may be by Frances Holden.
For a different version, you can read what Lehmann’s biographer, Dr. Kater wrote for this The Raul Hilberg Memorial Lecture The University of Vermont November 10, 2007; Feigning Opposition to the Third Reich: The Case of Singer Lotte Lehmann; Michael H. Kater York University, Toronto
In any case you need to know that the meeting took place on 20 April 1934. Dr. Holger Heine writes: “She refers to Emmy Goering by her maiden name (Sonnemann). Emma married Goering in April 1935. Emma enjoyed some celebrity as an actress in film and on stage, using
Goering, lioness, Sonnemann
her maiden name, so Lehmann may simply remember her as Sonnemann because of this. Related, Goering advanced Sonnemann’s career in a similar way as in his proposal to Lehmann.” Dr. Heine adds: “It is historically accurate that Goering kept a lioness (actually 6 or 7 in succession) near his living quarters until 1940 or so.” Below, you’ll find a newspaper account of the result of the meeting.
The “director” is Heinz Tietjen, the director (not conductor) of the Prussian State Opera, who in Lehmann’s account is never mentioned by name. Here is an Austrian newspaper’s account of the result of that meeting:
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Lehmann ms page 1
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Lehmann ms page 2
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Lehmann ms page 3
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Lehmann ms page 4
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Lehmann ms page 5
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Lehmann ms page 6
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Lehmann ms page 7
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Lehmann ms page 8
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Lehmann ms page 9
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Lehmann ms page 10
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Lehmann ms page 11
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Lehmann ms page 12
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Lehmann ms page 13
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Lehmann ms page 14
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Lehmann ms page 15
“A rebuff for Goering. ‘Manchester Guardian’ of the 9th of this month reports that Lotte Lehmann has announced she will never sing in Germany again. This decision is an answer to the demand of Goering that she must live in Berlin if she wants to keep the title Kammersängerin. She declared she would not let General Goering or anyone else dictate to her in her private affairs.”