When the Russians overran Berlin in 1945 they went through the German official archives with more vigour than discrimination. Some material was shipped to Russia, some was destroyed and the rest was scattered and trampled. The pages of Goebbel's diary were found in the ministry courtyard, having narrowly escaped burning. An amateur junk dealer salvaged the official binders which had contained the diary and dumped seven thousand sheets of edge-singed paper made up into in random bundles. The pages were not numbered and to get the diary in order was a Herculean task. Here is not only the diary, but other odd documents of Goebbel's life: receipts, drafts of speeches, expense accounts, lists of charity donations and letters.