Editing Ernst Hanfstaengl (section)

===Fall from power===
As the [[Nazi Party]] consolidated its power, several disputes arose between Hanfstaengl and Germany's [[Reich Ministry of Public Enlightenment and Propaganda|Propaganda Minister]], [[Joseph Goebbels]]. In 1933, Hanfstaengl was removed from Hitler's staff. He and Helene divorced in 1936. Hanfstaengl fell completely out of Hitler's favour after he was denounced by [[Unity Mitford]], a close friend of both the Hanfstaengls and Hitler.

In 1937, Hanfstaengl received orders to parachute into an area held by the [[Nationalist faction (Spanish Civil War)|nationalist]] side of the [[Spanish Civil War]], to assist in negotiations. While on board the plane he feared a plot on his life and learned more details from the pilot about the mission, who eventually admitted he had been ordered to drop Hanfstaengl over [[Republican faction (Spanish Civil War)|Republican]]-held territory, which would have meant almost certain death. The pilot eventually landed on a small airfield near [[Leipzig]] after claiming an engine malfunction following a brief talk with Hanfstaengl, which allowed him to escape.

That version of the story was related by [[Albert Speer]] in his memoirs, who said that the "mission" to Spain was an elaborate practical joke, concocted by Hitler and Goebbels, designed to punish Hanfstaengl after he had displeased the [[Führer]] by making "adverse comments about the fighting spirit of the German soldiers in combat" during the Spanish Civil War. Hanfstaengl was issued sealed orders which were not to be opened until his plane was in flight, which specified that he was to be dropped in "Red Spanish territory" to work as an agent for [[Francisco Franco]]. The plane, according to Speer, was merely circling over Germany containing an increasingly disconcerted Hanfstaengl, with false location reports being given to convey the impression that the plane was drawing ever closer to Spain. After the joke had played itself out, the pilot declared he had to make an emergency landing and landed safely at [[Leipzig-Altenburg Airport|Leipzig Airport]].<ref>[[Albert Speer]], ''[[Inside the Third Reich]]'', (Sphere Books, 1971), Chpt.9, pp. 188-9.</ref> Hanfstaengl was so alarmed by the event that he defected soon afterward.

In a late 1960s interview at his home in [[Schwabing]] in [[Munich]], Hanfstaengl said that he was convinced he was to be tossed out of the plane and parachute over northern Germany.{{citation needed|date=September 2011}}