Goering, Hermann

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{{Infobox Military Person
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{{epname|Goering, Hermann}}
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|name=Hermann Göring
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{{Infobox Officeholder
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|lived=January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946
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|name               = Hermann Wilhelm Göring
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|placeofbirth=Marienbad, near [[Rosenheim]], [[Bavaria]]
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|image              = Hermann Goering - Nuremberg2.jpg
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|placeofdeath=[[Nuremberg]]
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|imagesize          = 
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|image=[[Image:Goring 2.gif]]
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|smallimage          =
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|caption= [[Image:Flag_of_Germany_1933.svg|30px]]
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|caption            =
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|nickname=
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|order              = [[Reichstag (institution)|President of the Reichstag]]
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|allegiance=[[Nazi Germany]]
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|term_start          = 1932
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|serviceyears=1912-1945
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|term_end            = 1945
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|branch=[[Luftstreitkräfte]]/[[Luftwaffe]]
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|president          = [[Paul von Hindenburg]]<br/>[[Adolf Hitler]]
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|rank=[[Reichsmarschall]]
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|chancellor          = [[Heinrich Brüning]]<br/>[[Franz von Papen]]<br/>[[Kurt von Schleicher]]<br/>[[Adolf Hitler]]
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|commands=World War I: Jagdstaffel 27, [[Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War 1)|Jagdgeschwader 1]]<br/> World War II: [[Luftwaffe]]
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|predecessor        = [[Paul Löbe]]
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|unit=World War I: Jagdstaffel 5, Jagdstaffel 7, Jagdstaffel 26
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|successor          = none
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|battles=
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|order2              = [[Minister President of Prussia|Minister President of the Free State of Prussia]]
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|awards=[[Pour le Mérite]], [[Grand Cross of the Iron Cross]]
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|term_start2        = April 10, 1933
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|laterwork=
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|term_end2          = April 24, 1945
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|governor2          = [[Adolf Hitler]]<br/>Himself<br/><small>(Reichsstatthalter)</small>
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|predecessor2        = [[Franz von Papen]]
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|successor2          = Prussia abolished
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|order3              = [[Reichsstatthalter|Reichsstatthalter of Prussia]]
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|term_start3        = 1935
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|term_end3          = 1945
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|primeminister3      = Himself
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|predecessor3        = [[Adolf Hitler]]
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|successor3          = Prussia abolished
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|order4              = [[Members of Hitler's cabinet|Reich Minister of Aviation]]
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|term_start4        = April 1933
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|term_end4          = April 1945
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|president4          = [[Paul von Hindenburg]]<br/>[[Adolf Hitler]]
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|chancellor4        = [[Adolf Hitler]]
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|predecessor4        = Position established
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|successor4          = N/A
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|order5              = [[Members of Hitler's cabinet|Reich Minister of Forestry]]
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|term_start5        = July 1934
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|term_end5          = April 1945
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|president5          = [[Paul von Hindenburg]]<br/>[[Adolf Hitler]]
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|chancellor5        = [[Adolf Hitler]]
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|predecessor5        = Position established
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|successor5          = N/A
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|order6              = [[Members of Hitler's cabinet|Reich Minister of Economics]]
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|term_start6        = November 1937
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|term_end6          = January 1938
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|president6          = [[Adolf Hitler]]
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|chancellor6        = [[Adolf Hitler]]
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|predecessor6        = [[Hjalmar Schacht]]
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|successor6          = [[Walther Funk]]
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|birth_date          = January 12, 1893
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|birth_place        = [[Rosenheim]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria]], [[German Empire]]
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|death_date          = October 15, 1946 (aged 53)
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|death_place        = [[Nuremberg]], [[Germany]]
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|constituency        =
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|party              = [[NSDAP]]
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|spouse              = Karin von Kantznow (1923–1931, deceased)<br />[[Emmy Sonnemann]] (1935–1946)
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|children            = 4
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|profession          =
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|education          =
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|religion            =
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|signature          =
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|footnotes          =  
 
}}
 
}}
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'''Hermann Wilhelm Göring''' ({{Audio|De-HermannWGoering.ogg|<small>listen</small>}}) (also '''Goering''' in [[English language|English]]) (January 12, 1893 &ndash; October 15, 1946) was a [[Germany|German]] [[politician]] and [[military]] leader, a leading member of the [[Nazi Party]], second in command of the [[Third Reich]], and commander of the [[Luftwaffe]]. He was tried for [[war crimes]] and [[crimes against humanity]] at the [[Nuremberg Trials]] in 1945-1946 and sentenced to death by hanging; however, he escaped the hangman's noose around two hours before his scheduled execution by way of [[potassium cyanide]]. Last commander of [[Manfred von Richthofen]]'s famous air squadron, Göring was a war hero of [[World War I]] and for continuous courage in action was awarded the coveted [[Pour le Mérite]].
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'''Hermann Wilhelm Göring''' (also spelled '''Goering''') (January 12, 1893{{ndash}} October 15, 1946) was a [[Germany|German]] [[politician]], [[military]] leader and a leading member of the [[Nazi Party]]. Among many offices, he was Hitler's designated successor and commander of the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' (German Air Force). He was a veteran of the [[World War I|First World War]] with [[List of World War I flying aces by number of victories|twenty-two confirmed kills]] as a fighter pilot, and recipient of the coveted ''[[Pour le Mérite]]'' ("The Blue Max"). He was the last commander of [[Manfred von Richthofen]]'s famous [[Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War 1)|''Jagdgeschwader 1'' air squadron]] ([[Red Baron]]).  
  
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Goering was one of the central figures in the [[Nazism|Nazi regime]] that was responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed in the twentieth century, including but not limited to the [[Holocaust]].
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Following the end of the [[World War II|Second World War]], Göring was convicted of [[war crime]]s and [[crimes against humanity]] at the [[Nuremberg Trials]]. He was sentenced to death by [[hanging]], but committed [[suicide]] the night before he was due to be hanged.
  
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==Family background and relatives ==
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== Family background and relatives ==
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Göring was born in the Marienbad [[sanatorium]], near [[Rosenheim]], [[Bavaria]]. His father [[Heinrich Ernst Göring]] (October 31, 1839 &ndash; December 7, 1913) was a former cavalry officer and member of the German consular service who had among his patrician ancestors [[Eberle]]/[[Eberlin]], a [[Swiss-German]] family of high bourgeoisie who were originally Jewish financiers who converted to Christianity  in the 15th century and had huge progeny in German speaking countries. Göring was a relative of such  Eberle/Eberlin descendant  as a German aviation pioneer Count [[Ferdinand von Zeppelin]]; German  romantic nationalist  [[Hermann Grimm]] (1828-1901) an author of concept of the German hero as a mover of history, the Nazis claimed him as one of their ideological forerunners; the industrialist family [[Merck]], the owners  of pharmaceutical giant Merck;  one of the world major Catholic writers and poets of the 20th century German Baroness [[Gertrud von LeFort]] whose works were largely inspired by her revulsion against Nazism; Swiss diplomat, historian and President of [[International Red Cross]] [[Carl J. Burckhardt]]). In an ironic coincident of history, among Göring's relatives throughout Eberle/Eberlin line was a great Swiss scholar of art and culture, and a major political and social thinker [[Jacob Burckhardt]] (1818-1897), an opponent of nationalism and militarism, who rejected German claims of cultural and intellectual superiority, and predicted  a cataclysmic 20th century, in which violent demagogues, whom he called "terrible simplifiers," would play central roles. (See,  Wolfgang Paul, "Wer war Hermann Goring. Biographie," Esslingen: Bechtle Verlag, 1983, p. 33.) Göring's mother Franziska "Fanny" Tiefenbrunn (1859-July 15, 1923) came from [[Bavarian]] peasant family. The marriage of a gentleman to a woman from lower class (1885) occurred only because Heinrich Ernst Göring was a widower. Göring was one of five children, his brothers were [[Albert Göring]] and Karl Ernst Göring, his sisters were Olga Therese Sophia and Paula Elisabeth Rosa Göring, the last of whom were from his father's first marriage.<ref>Erich Brandenburg "Die Nachkommen Karls des Grossen" originally published in 1935</ref> While anti-Semitism became rampant in Germany of that time, his parents were not anti-Semitic.
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Göring was born at the sanatorium ''Marienbad'' in [[Rosenheim]], [[Kingdom of Bavaria|Bavaria]]. His father [[Heinrich Ernst Göring]] (October 31, 1839{{ndash}} December 7, 1913) had been the first Governor-General of the German protectorate of South West Africa (modern day [[Namibia]])<ref>Maxine Block and E. Mary Trow. ''Current Biography: Who's News and Why 1941.'' (New York: H.W. Wilson, 1971), 327-330 </ref> having formerly served as a cavalry officer and member of the German consular service. Göring had among his patrilineal ancestors [[Eberle]]/[[Eberlin]], a [[Swiss Germans|Swiss-German]] family of high [[bourgeoisie]].
  
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==Early life/[[Ritter]] von Epenstein==
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Göring was a relative of such Eberle/Eberlin descendants as the German aviation pioneer Count [[Ferdinand von Zeppelin]]; German romantic nationalist [[Hermann Grimm]] (1828–1901), an author of the concept of the German hero as a mover of history, whom the Nazis claimed as one of their ideological forerunners; the industrialist family [[Merck family|Merck]], the owners of the pharmaceutical giant [[Merck KGaA|Merck]]; one of the world's major Catholic writers and poets of the 20th century German Baroness [[Gertrud von LeFort]], whose works were largely inspired by her revulsion against Nazism; and Swiss diplomat, historian and President of [[International Red Cross]], [[Carl J. Burckhardt]].
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Göring later claimed his given name was chosen to honor the [[Arminius]] who defeated the legions of Rome at [[Teutoburg Forest]].  However the name was far more likely chosen to honor his godfather, a Christian of Jewish descent<ref>Roger Manvell & Heinrich Fraenkel, ''Goering'', Greenhill Books, London UK, 2005, p 24</ref> born Hermann Epenstein.  Epenstein, whose father was an army surgeon in Berlin, became a very wealthy physician and businessman and a major if not paternal influence on Göring's childhood.  Much of Hermann's very early childhood, including a lengthy separation from his parents when his father took diplomatic posts in Africa and in Haiti (climates ruled too brutal for a young European child), was spent with governesses and with distant relatives.  However, upon Heinrich Göring's retirement ca. 1898 his large family, supported solely on Heinrich's modest civil service pension, became for financially practical reasons the houseguests of their longtime friend and Göring's probable namesake, a man whose minor title (acquired through service and donation to the Crown) made him now known as Hermann, [[Ritter]] von Epenstein.
 
  
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As with many social climbers and [[nouveau riche]] businessmen of the time, [[Ritter]] von Epenstein sought the trappings of German aristocracy as well as the titles. He acquired these in part through the purchase of two largely dilapidated castles, Burg Veldenstein in Bavaria and Schloss Mauterndorf near Salzburg, Austria, whose very expensive restorations were ongoing by the time of Hermann Göring's birth. Both castles were to be residences to the Göring family, their official "caretakers" until 1913, and both were to be tremendous influences on Göring's childhood and fascination with the military and romanticized notions of history.  Both castles were also ultimately to be his property.
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In an historical coincidence, Göring was related via the Eberle/Eberlin line to [[Jacob Burckhardt]] (1818–1897), a great Swiss scholar of art and culture who was a major political and social thinker as well an opponent of [[nationalism]] and militarism, who rejected German claims of cultural and intellectual superiority and predicted a cataclysmic 20th century in which violent demagogues, whom he called "terrible simplifiers," would play central roles.<ref>Wolfgang Paul. ''Wer War Hermann Goring: Biographie.'' (Bechtle, City 1983. ISBN 3762804273), 33 </ref>
  
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According to respected biographers of both Hermann Göring and his younger brother [[Albert Göring]], soon after the family took residence in his castles von Epenstein began an adulterous relationship with Frau Göring<ref>ibid, p 23</ref> that may in fact have resulted in Albert's birth. (Albert's physical resemblance to von Epenstein was noted even during his childhood and is even evident to the casual observer in photographs).  Whatever the nature of von Epenstein's relationship with his mother, the young Hermann Göring enjoyed a particularly close relationship with his godfather. Göring was unaware of von Epenstein's Jewish ancestry and birth until as a child at a prestigious Austrian boarding school (where his tuition was paid by von Epenstein) he wrote an essay in praise of his godfather and was mocked by the school's anti-Semitic headmaster for professing such admiration for a Jew.{{Fact|date=April 2007}} Göring initially denied the allegation but when confronted with proof in the ''"Semi-Gotha"''<ref>ibid, p. 24</ref>, a book of German heraldry (Ritter von Epenstein had purchased his minor title and castles with wealth garnered from speculation and trade and was thus included in a less than complimentary reference work on German speaking nobility), Göring to his youthful credit remained steadfast in his devotion to his family's friend and patron, so adamantly so that he was expelled from the school.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}  The action seems to have tightened the already considerable bond between godfather and godson.{{Fact|date=April 2007}}
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Göring's mother Franziska "Fanny" Tiefenbrunn (1859 - July 15, 1923) came from a [[Bavaria]]n peasant family. The marriage of a gentleman to a woman from lower class (1885) occurred only because [[Heinrich Ernst Göring]] was a widower. Hermann Göring was one of five children; his brothers were [[Albert Göring]] and [[Karl Ernst Göring]], and his sisters were [[Olga Therese Sophia Goring]] and [[Paula Elisabeth Rosa Göring]], the last of whom were from his father's first marriage.<ref>Erich Brandenburg. ''Die Nachkommen Karls Des Grossen.'' (Neustadt/Aisch: Degener, 1995. ISBN 3768651029)</ref> While [[anti-Semitism]] became rampant in Germany of that time, his parents were not anti-Semitic.
  
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Relations between the Göring family and von Epenstein became far more formal during Göring's adolescence (causing Mosley and other biographers to speculate that perhaps the theorized affair ended naturally or that the elderly Heinrich discovered he was a cuckold and threatened its exposure). By the time of Heinrich Göring's death the family no longer lived in a residence supplied by or seemed to have much contact at all with von Epenstein (though the family's comfortable circumstances indicate the [[Ritter]] may have given them some financial support). Late in his life Ritter von Epenstein wed a singer, Lily, who was half his age, bequeathing her his estate in his will but requesting that she in turn bequeath the castles at Mauterndorf and Veldenstein to his godson Hermann upon her own death.
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Hermann Göring had an older brother [[Karl Goring]], who migrated to the [[United States]]. Karl's son, [[Werner G. Göring]], became a Captain in the [[Army Air Force]] and piloted [[B-17 Flying Fortress|B-17s]] on bombing missions over Europe. Göring's younger brother [[Albert Göring]] was opposed to the Nazi regime, and helped [[Jews]] and other dissidents in Germany during the Nazi era. He is said to have forged his brother Hermann's signature on transit papers to enable escapes, among other acts.
  
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==World War I==
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==Early life and Ritter von Epenstein==
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[[Image:Sanke535Goring.jpg|thumb|right|WWI: Göring in cockpit of his [[Albatros D.III]]]]
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Göring later claimed his given name was chosen to honor the [[Arminius]] who defeated the legions of Rome at [[Teutoburg Forest]]. However the name was possibly to honor his godfather, a Christian of Jewish descent<ref>Roger Manvell. ''Goering.'' (London: Greenhill Books, 2006. ISBN 1853676128), 24 </ref> born Hermann Epenstein. Epenstein, whose father was an army surgeon in Berlin, became a wealthy physician and businessman and a major if not paternal influence on Göring's childhood. Much of Hermann's very early childhood, including a lengthy separation from his parents when his father took diplomatic posts in Africa and in Haiti (climates ruled too brutal for a young European child), was spent with governesses and with distant relatives. However, upon Heinrich Göring's retirement ca. 1898 his large family, supported solely on Heinrich's civil service pension, became for financially practical reasons the houseguests of their longtime friend and Göring's probable namesake, a man whose minor title (acquired through service and donation to the Crown) made him now known as Hermann, [[Ritter]] von Epenstein.
  
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Göring was sent to boarding school at [[Ansbach]], [[Franconia]] and then attended the cadet institutes at Karlsruhe and the military college at Lichterfelde. Göring was commissioned in the Prussian army on 22 June 1912 in the Prinz Wilhelm Regiment, the 112th Infantry, the headquarters of which were at [[Mulhouse]].
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[[Ritter]] von Epenstein purchased two largely dilapidated castles, Burg [[Veldenstein]] in Bavaria and Schloss [[Mauterndorf]] near [[Salzburg]], [[Austria]], whose very expensive restorations were ongoing by the time of Hermann Göring's birth. Both castles were to be residences to the Göring family, their official "caretakers" until 1913. Both castles were also ultimately to be his property. In 1914 he tried to commit suicide; however, he was found by his mother,and was sent to the hospital. He survived after cutting his wrist and was soon sent back home. In 1915 he joined the army and fought in the [[Battle of the Somme]].  
  
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During the first year of [[World War I]] Göring served with an infantry regiment in the Vosges region before he was hospitalized with rheumatism resulting from the damp of trench warfare.  While recovering, Göring's friend [[Bruno Loerzer]] convinced him to seek a transfer to the Luftstreitkräfte. Göring's application to transfer was immediately turned down. However later that year Göring flew as Loerzer's observer. Göring had run the risk of arranging his own transfer and was sentenced by a military tribunal to three weeks' confinement to barracks as a result. The sentence was never carried out: by the time it was imposed Göring's association with Loerzer had been regularised when they had become attached as a team to the 25th Field Air Detachment of Crown Prince Friedrich Wilhem's Fifth Army - "though it seems that they had to steal a plane in order to qualify."<ref>ibid, p. 29</ref> The team flew reconnaissance and bombing missions for which The Crown Prince invested both Göring and Loerzer with the Iron Cross, first class. Göring become a ''Jagdflieger'' or [[Fighter aircraft|fighter]] pilot in October 1915.<ref>ibid, p. 30</ref>
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According to some biographers of both Hermann Göring and his younger brother Albert Göring, soon after the family took residence in his castles, von Epenstein began an adulterous relationship with Frau Göring<ref>Manvell, 2006, 23</ref> and may in fact have been Albert's father. (Albert's physical resemblance to von Epenstein was noted even during his childhood and is evident in photographs.) Whatever the nature of von Epenstein's relationship with his mother, the young Hermann Göring enjoyed a close relationship with his godfather. Göring was unaware of von Epenstein's Jewish ancestry and birth until, as a child at a prestigious Austrian boarding school (where his tuition was paid by von Epenstein), he wrote an essay in praise of his godfather and was mocked by the school's anti-Semitic headmaster for professing such admiration for a Jew. Göring initially denied the allegation, but when confronted with proof in the ''"Semi-Gotha",''<ref>Manvell, 2006, 24 </ref> a book of German heraldry (Ritter von Epenstein had purchased his minor title and castles with wealth garnered from speculation and trade and was thus included in a less than complimentary reference work on German speaking nobility), Göring, to his youthful credit, remained steadfast in his devotion to his family's friend and patron so adamantly that he was expelled from the school. The action seems to have tightened the already considerable bond between godfather and godson.
  
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On completing his pilot's training course he was posted to ''Jagdstaffel'' 5 in October 1915. He was soon shot down and spent most of 1916 recovering from his injuries. On his return in February 1917 he joined ''Jagdstaffel'' 26, before being given his first command Jasta 27, in May 1917. Serving with ''Jastas'' 7, 5, 26 and 27, he claimed 21 air victories, being awarded in addition to the Iron Cross, the Zaehring Lion with swords, the Karl Friedrich Order and the Hohenzollern Medal with swords, third class, prior to his final award (despite never having shot down the required 25 enemy planes) in May 1918 of the coveted [[Pour le Mérite]].<ref>ibid, p. 32 and p. 403</ref> On 7 July 1918, after the death of Wilhelm Reinhard, the successor of  Rittmeister [[Manfred von Richthofen]] (''The Red Baron''), he was made commander of ''Jagdgeschwader Freiherr von Richthofen'', [[Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War 1)|Jagdgeschwader 1]].  
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Relations between the Göring family and von Epenstein became far more formal during Göring's adolescence (causing Mosley and other biographers to speculate that perhaps the theorized affair ended naturally or that the elderly Heinrich discovered he was a cuckold and threatened its exposure). By the time of Heinrich Göring's death, the family no longer lived in a residence supplied by or seemed to have much contact at all with von Epenstein (though the family's comfortable circumstances indicate the Ritter may have continued to support them financially). Late in his life, Ritter von Epenstein wed a singer, Lily, who was half his age, bequeathing her his estate in his will, but requesting that she in turn bequeath the castles at Mauterndorf and Veldenstein to his godson Hermann upon her own death.
  
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In June 1917, after a lengthy dogfight, Göring shot down a novice [[Australian]] pilot named [[Frank Slee]]. The battle is recounted flamboyantly in ''The Rise and Fall of Hermann Goering''. Göring landed and met the Australian, and presented Slee with his [[Iron Cross]]. Years after, Slee gave Göring's Iron Cross to a friend, who later died on the beaches of [[Normandy]] on [[D-Day]].{{Fact|date=February 2007}}  Also during the war Göring had through his generous treatment made a friend of his prisoner of war Captain [[Frank Beaumont]], a [[Royal Flying Corps]] pilot.  "It was part of Goering's creed to admire a good enemy, and he did his best to keep Captain Beaumont from being taken over by the Army."<ref>ibid, p. 37</ref>
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==First World War==
  
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Göring finished the war with 22 kills.
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Göring was sent to boarding school at [[Ansbach]], [[Franconia]] and then attended the cadet institutes at [[Karlsruhe]] and the military college at [[Berlin Lichterfelde]]. Göring was commissioned in the [[Kingdom of Prussia|Prussian]] army on 22 June 1912 in the Prinz Wilhelm Regiment (112th Infantry), headquartered at [[Mulhouse]] as part of the [[29th Division (German Empire)|29th Division]] of the Imperial German Army.
  
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Because of his arrogance<ref>ibid, p. 403</ref> Göring's appointment as commander of [[Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War 1)|Jagdgeschwader 1]] had not been well received and although after demobilization Göring and his officers spent most of their time during the first weeks of November 1918 in the Stiftskeller, the best restaurant and drinking place in [[Aschaffenburg]],<ref>ibid, p. 36</ref> he was the only veteran of Jagdgeschwader 1 never to have been invited to post-war reunions.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
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During the first year of [[World War I]], Göring served with an infantry regiment in the [[Vosges]] region. He was hospitalized with [[Rheumatism]] resulting from the damp of trench warfare. While he was recovering, his friend [[Bruno Loerzer]] convinced him to transfer to the ''[[Luftstreitkräfte]].'' Göring's application to transfer was immediately turned down. But later that year Göring flew as Loerzer's observer in ''Feldflieger Ableilung'' (FFA) 25; Göring had arranged his own transfer. He was detected and sentenced to three weeks' confinement to barracks. The sentence was never carried out: by the time it was imposed Göring's association with Loerzer had been regularized. They were assigned as a team to the 25th Field Air Detachment of the [[William, German Crown Prince|Crown Prince]]'s Fifth Army–"though it seems that they had to steal a plane in order to qualify."<ref> Manvell, 2006, 29 </ref> They flew reconnaissance and bombing missions for which the Crown Prince invested both Göring and Loerzer with the [[Iron Cross]], first class.  
  
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Genuinely surprised (at least by his own account) at Germany's defeat in the First World War, Göring felt personally violated at the surrender, the Kaiser's abdication, the humiliating terms and the treachery of the post-war German politicians who had "goaded the people [to uprising] [and] who [had] stabbed our glorious Army in the back [thinking] of nothing but of attaining power and of enriching themselves at the expense of the people."<ref>Erich Gritzbach, ''Hermann Goering: The Man and His Work'', the official biography edited by Göring himself (who later himself claimed the lion's share of the royalties for his efforts, according to Manvell and Fraenkel, p. 402)</ref> Ordered to convey the planes in his squadron and surrender them to the Allies in December 1918, Göring and other pilots in his unit intentionally grounded the planes as violently as possible in order to cause as much damage as possible upon landing while still enabling them to live, an endeavor inspired by the [[scuttling]] of ships. Typical for the political climate of the day, he was not arrested or even officially reprimanded for his action.
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On completing his pilot's training course he was posted back to ''Feldflieger Ableilung'' (FFA) 2 in October 1915. Göring had already claimed two air victories as an Observer (one unconfirmed). He gained another flying a Fokker EIII single-seater scout in March 1916. In October 1916 he was posted to ''Jagdstaffel'' 5, but was wounded in action in November. In February 1917 he joined ''Jagdstaffel'' 26. He now scored steadily until in May 1917 he got his first command, ''Jasta'' 27. Serving with ''Jastas'' 5, 26 and 27, he claimed 21 air victories. Besides the Iron Cross, he was awarded the [[Zaehring Lion]] with swords, the [[Karl Friedrich Order]] and the [[House Order of Hohenzollern]] with swords, third class, and finally in May 1918 (despite not having the required 25 air victories) the coveted [[Pour le Mérite]].<ref> Manvell, 2006, 32, 403 </ref> On July 7, 1918, after the death of Wilhelm Reinhard, the successor of ''The Red Baron,'' he was made commander of ''Jagdgeschwader Freiherr von Richthofen'', [[Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War 1)|''Jagdgeschwader'' 1]].  
  
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==Post World War I==
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In June 1917, after a lengthy dogfight, Göring shot down an [[Australian]] pilot named [[Frank Slee]]. The battle is recounted in ''The Rise and Fall of Hermann Goering.'' Göring landed and met the Australian, and presented Slee with his Iron Cross. Years after, Slee gave Göring's [[Iron Cross]] to a friend, who later died on the beaches of [[Normandy]] on [[D-Day]]. Also during the war Göring had through his generous treatment made a friend of his prisoner of war Captain [[Frank Beaumont]], a [[Royal Flying Corps]] pilot. "It was part of Goering's creed to admire a good enemy, and he did his best to keep Captain Beaumont from being taken over by the Army."<ref> Manvell, 2006, 37 </ref>
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He remained in flying after the war, worked briefly at [[Fokker]], tried "[[barnstorming]]," and in 1920 he joined [[Svenska Lufttrafik]]. He was also listed on the officer rolls of the [[Reichswehr]], the post-World War I peacetime army of Germany, and by 1933 had risen to the rank of ''Generalmajor''. He was made a ''Generalleutnant'' in 1935 and then a General in the [[Luftwaffe]] (German air force) upon its founding later that year.
 
  
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== Married life==
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Göring finished the war with [[List of World War I flying aces by number of victories|twenty-two confirmed kills]].  
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On 21 February 1920, while in Sweden, he met [[Carin Göring|Carin von Kantzow]] (''née'' Freiin von Fock, 1888–1931), who had been married for ten years and was mother of a son, Thomas von Kantzow (born 1913). Carin divorced her estranged husband, Niels Gustav von Kantzow, in December 1922 and married Göring on January 3, 1923 in [[Stockholm]].  Niels von Kantzow behaved generously providing a financial settlement which enabled Carin and  Göring to set up their first home together in Germany: a hunting lodge at Hochkreuth in the Bavarian Alps, near Bayrischzell, some 50 miles from Munich.  Both Carin and Göring were ardent nationalists.  Carin died on October 17, 1931, aged 42, of consumption (tuberculosis).
 
  
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During the early 1930s Göring was often in the company of actress [[Emmy Sonnemann]] (born 1893) from Hamburg. He proposed to her in Weimar in February 1935. The wedding took place on 10 April 1935 in [[Berlin]] and was celebrated like the marriage of an emperor. Together they had a daughter, Edda Göring (born 2 June 1938) who was then thought to be named after [[Edda Mussolini|Countess Edda Ciano]], eldest child of [[Benito Mussolini]]. Actually, Edda was named after a friend of her mother.<ref>
+
Because of his arrogance<ref>Manvell, 2006, 403 </ref> Göring's appointment as commander of [[Jagdgeschwader 1 (World War 1)|''Jagdgeschwader'' 1]] had not been well received. Though after demobilization Göring and his officers spent most of their time during the first weeks of November 1918 in the ''Stiftskeller,'' the best restaurant and drinking place in [[Aschaffenburg]],<ref>Manvell, 2006, 36 </ref> he was the only veteran of ''Jagdgeschwader 1'' never invited to post-war reunions.
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[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,771660,00.html ''Time'' magazine: "Lady of the Axis"] published 24 July 1939.</ref>
 
  
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In 1933 Göring started construction of [[Carinhall]] (named in memory of his wife) on his estate northwest of [[Berlin]].
+
Göring was genuinely surprised (at least by his own account) at Germany's defeat in the First World War. He felt personally violated by the surrender, the [[Kaiser]]'s abdication, the humiliating terms, and the supposed treachery of the post-war German politicians who had "goaded the people [to uprising] [and] who [had] stabbed our glorious Army in the back [thinking] of nothing but of attaining power and of enriching themselves at the expense of the people."<ref>Erich Gritzbach. ''Hermann Goering: The Man and His Work.'' (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1939) oclc 58964284 . ''Hermann Goering: The Man and His Work'' was the official biography edited by Göring himself. He later claimed the lion's share of the royalties for his efforts, according to  Manvell, 2006, 402</ref> Ordered to surrender the planes of his squadron to the Allies in December 1918, Göring and his fellow pilots intentionally wrecked the planes on landing. This endeavour paralleled the [[scuttling]] of surrendered ships. Typical for the political climate of the day, he was not arrested or even officially reprimanded for his action.
  
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==Exile and Addiction==
+
==Postwar==
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<!-- Image with unknown copyright status removed: [[Image:SAGoring.jpg|right|thumb|175px|Hermann Göring as the SA Commander in 1923 wearing his [[Pour le Mérite]]]] —>
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He remained in flying after the war, worked briefly at [[Fokker]], tried "[[barnstorming]]," and in 1920 he joined ''Svenska Lufttrafik.'' He was also listed on the officer rolls of the [[Reichswehr]], the post-World War I peacetime army of Germany, and by 1933 had risen to the rank of ''Generalmajor.'' He was made a ''Generalleutnant'' in 1935 and then a General in the ''[[Luftwaffe]]'' upon its founding later that year.
  
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Göring joined the [[Nazi Party]] in 1922 and initially took over the [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] leadership as the ''[[Oberste SA-Führer|Oberster SA-Führer]]''. After stepping down as SA Commander, he was appointed an ''SA-[[Gruppenführer]]'' (Lieutenant General) (and held this rank on the SA rolls until 1945).  [[Hitler]] later recalled his early association with Göring thus:
+
Göring as a veteran pilot was often hired to fly businessmen and others on private aircraft. On a winter's day in 1920 Count [[Eric von Rosen]], a widely-known and intrepid explorer, arrived at an aerodrome in [[Sweden]] and requested a flight to his estate at [[Rockelstad]] near [[Sparreholm]].<ref>February 21, 1920</ref> It was a short journey by air and as it was snowing it seemed a flight would be the quick way home. The count relished the challenge of flying through snow if a brave enough pilot could be found. With only one or two hours of daylight left, Göring readily agreed to make the journey. After take-off they got lost as the aircraft pitched and plunged over trees and valleys; the count was violently airsick. They finally touched down on the frozen Lake [[Båven]] near [[Rockelstad Castle]]. It was too late for Göring to go back that day so he accepted the count and countess's invitation to stay overnight at the castle.<ref>Manvell, 2006, 40</ref>
  
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<blockquote>"I liked him.  I made him the head of my S.A.  He is the only one of its heads that ran the S.A. properly.  I gave him a disheveled rabble.   In a very short time he had organised a division of 11,000 men."<ref>Hitler's Table Talk, London, Weidenfeld and Nicolson, 1953, p. 168</ref></blockquote>
+
The medieval castle, with its suits of armor, paintings, hunting relics and exploration trophies was suited to romance. It may have been here that Göring first saw the [[swastika]] emblem, a family badge which was set in the chimney piece around the roaring fire.<ref>The swastika was a badge which the count and some friends had adopted at school and it became a family emblem, see  Manvell, 2006, 40-41</ref>  
  
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At this time Carin, who liked [[Hitler]], often played hostess at home to meetings of leading Nazis including her husband, Hitler, [[Rudolph Hess]], [[Alfred Rosenberg]] and [[Ernst Roehm]].  Despite Göring's organisational abilities in the S.A., the storm troopers' march headed by Hitler, Göring, Hess, veteran General [[Ludendorff]] and [[Julius Streicher]] on 9 November 1923 during the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in [[Munich]] ended in failure and surrender when confronted by the police not far from the Bavarian War Ministry, at the time occupied by [[Roehm]]'s men, which had been the marchers' objective.  Hitler and Göring were both hurt in the melee, the latter sustaining a serious bullet wound to the groin.  Carin, herself unwell with pneumonia, arranged for Göring to be spirited away to Austria; Göring was in no fit state to travel and the journeys he had to endure may well have aggravated his condition although they did avoid his arrest.  Göring was x-rayed and operated in hospital at Innsbruck; Carin wrote to her mother from Göring's bedside on 8 December 1923 describing the terrible pain Göring was in: "... in spite of being dosed with morphine every day, his pain stays just as bad as ever."<ref>Wilamowitz-Moellendorff, Fanny von.  ''Carin Göring''.  Berlin: Verlag von Martin Warneck, 1936, quoted by Manvell and Fraenkel in ''Goering'', p. 58</ref>   This was the beginning of his morphine addiction.  Meanwhile in Munich the authorities declared Göring a  wanted man.
+
This was also the first time Göring saw his future wife. A great staircase led down into the hall opposite the fireplace. As Göring looked up he saw a woman coming down the staircase as if toward him. The count introduced his sister-in-law Baroness [[Carin Göring|Karin von Kantzow]] (''née'' Freiin von Fock, 1888–1931) to the 27-year-old Göring.<ref> Manvell, 2006, 41</ref>
  
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The Görings, acutely short of funds and reliant on the goodwill of [[Nazi]] sympathisers abroad, moved from [[Austria]] to [[Venice]] then in May 1924 to [[Rome]] via [[Florence]] and [[Siena]]. Göring met [[Mussolini]] in Rome.   Mussolini expressed some interest in  meeting Hitler, by then in gaol, on his release.<ref>Manvell and Fraenkel, p. 60</ref>    Personal problems, however, continued to multiply.  Göring's mother had died in 1923; by 1925 it was Carin's mother who was ill and the Görings with difficulty raised the money for a journey in Spring 1925 to [[Sweden]] via Austria, [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Poland]] and the [[Free City of Danzig]].   Göring had become a violent morphine addict and Carin's family were shocked by his deterioration when they saw him.  Carin, herself suffering from epilepsy, had to let the doctors and the police take full charge of Göring who was certified a dangerous drug addict and placed in the violent ward of Langbro asylum on 1 September 1925.  Biographer Richard Manvell interviewed a psychiatrist in [[Stockholm]] who had seen Göring at a private clinic before being placed in Langbro: Göring was very violent and had to be placed in a strait-jacket but he was not insane.<ref>ibid, p. 404</ref>  
+
Carin was a tall, maternal, unhappy, sentimental woman five years Göring's senior, estranged from her husband and in delicate health. Göring was immediately smitten with her. Carin's eldest sister and biographer claimed that it was love at first sight. Carin was carefully looked after by her parents as well as by Count and Countess von Rosen. She was also married and had an eight year old son Thomas to whom she was devoted. No romance other than one of [[courtly love]] was possible at this point.<ref>Manvell, 2006, 41</ref>
  
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The 1925 reports revealed Göring to be weak of character, an hysteric, an unstable personality, sentimental yet callous, violent when afraid and as a person who deployed bravado to hide a basic lack of moral courage.
+
==First marriage==
 +
Carin divorced her estranged husband, Niels Gustav von Kantzow, in December 1922. She married Göring on 3 January 1923 in [[Stockholm]]. Von Kantzow behaved generously. He provided a financial settlement which enabled Carin and Göring to set up their first home together in Germany. It was a hunting lodge at Hochkreuth in the Bavarian Alps, near Bayrischzell, some 50 miles from [[Munich]].
  
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<blockquote>"Like many men capable of great acts of physical courage which verge quite often on desperation, he lacked the finer kind of courage in the conduct of his life which was needed when serious difficulties overcame him."<ref>Butler, Ewan and Young, Gordon.  ''Marshall without Glory''.  London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1951, pp. 84-87, referred to by Manvell and Fraenkel, p. 62</ref></blockquote>
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==Early Nazi==
  
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At the time of Göring's detention all doctors' reports in [[Sweden]] were in the public domain: a doctor's report on Carin and Göring was used in evidence by Neils von Kantzow to show that neither Carin nor Göring could be regarded as fit to look after Carin's son with von Kantzow and so von Kantzow defeated her suit in 1925 for custody of the child;  when Göring was finally able to return to [[Germany]], after the autumn 1927 political amnesty declared by the newly elected President von [[Hindenburg]], Göring's political opponents including [[Communists]] used the reports against him but with mixed results.
+
Göring joined the [[Nazi Party]] in 1922 and took over the [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] leadership as the ''[[Oberste SA-Führer]].'' After stepping down as SA Commander, he was appointed an ''SA-[[Gruppenführer]]'' (Lieutenant General) and held this rank on the SA rolls until 1945. Hitler later recalled his early association with Göring thus:
  
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==Political career==
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<blockquote>
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Having been a member of the [[Reichstag (institution)|''Reichstag'']] since 1928, he became the parliament's [[president]] from 1932 to 1933, and was one of the key figures in the process of ''[[Gleichschaltung]]'' that established the Nazi [[dictatorship]]. For example, in 1933 he banned all [[Roman Catholic]] newspapers in Germany, despite the support the [[Centre Party (Germany)|Centre Party]] had given to Hitler's chancellorship.<ref>[http://www.brainyhistory.com/events/1933/february_19_1933_91764.html February, 19, 1933]</ref> In the regime's early years, he served as minister in various key positions at both the ''Reich'' level and in [[Prussia]], being responsible for the economy as well as the build-up of the German military in preparation for the war. Among other positions, in 1935 he was appointed ''Reichsluftfahrtminister'', head of the Luftwaffe. In 1938, he became the first Luftwaffe [[Field Marshal]] (''Generalfeldmarschall'') and by a decree on 19 June 1940, [[Hitler]] appointed Göring his formal successor and promoted him to the rank of [[Reichsmarschall]], the highest military rank of the Greater German Reich. Reichsmarschall was a special rank intended for Göring and which made him senior to all Army and Air Force Field Marshals.
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I liked him. I made him the head of my S.A. He is the only one of its heads that ran the S.A. properly. I gave him a disheveled rabble. In a very short time he had organized a division of 11,000 men.<ref>Adolf Hitler. ''Hitler's Table Talk, 1941–1944.'' (Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0192851802), 168</ref>
 +
</blockquote>
  
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Goering also "collected" several other offices like ''Reichsforst- und Jägermeister'' (Chief of forests and hunting of the Reich), for which he received high wages.
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At this time Carin, who liked Hitler, often played hostess to meetings of leading Nazis including her husband, Hitler, [[Rudolf Hess|Hess]], [[Alfred Rosenberg|Rosenberg]] and [[Ernst Roehm|Röhm]].
  
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The [[Reichstag Fire]], according to the [[Nuremberg Trials|Nuremberg]] testimony of General [[Franz Halder]], was the handiwork of Göring, not of '[[Communist]] instigators.' "At a luncheon on the birthday of Hitler in 1942..." Halder testifies, "[Göring said]...The only one who really knows about the Reichstag is I, because I set it on fire!" "With that," said Halder, "he slapped his thigh with the flat of his hand." Göring in his own Nuremberg testimony denied this story. It remains unclear whether or not Göring was responsible for the fire.
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Göring was with Hitler in the [[Beer Hall Putsch]] in Munich on 9 November 1923. He marched beside Hitler at the head of the SA. When the Bavarian police broke up the march with gunfire, Göring was seriously wounded in the groin.
  
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The following is a transcript excerpt from the Nuremburg Trials:
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==Addiction and exile==
 +
Stricken with [[pneumonia]], Carin arranged for Göring to be spirited away to Austria. Göring was in no fit state to travel and the journey may have aggravated his condition, although he did avoid arrest. Göring was x-rayed and operated on in the hospital at [[Innsbruck]]. Carin wrote to her mother from Göring's bedside on December 8, 1923 describing the terrible pain Göring was in: "… in spite of being dosed with [[morphine]] every day, his pain stays just as bad as ever."<ref>Quoted in Manvell, 2006, 58</ref> This was the beginning of his morphine [[addiction]]. Meanwhile in Munich the authorities declared Göring a wanted man.
  
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<blockquote>GOERING: This conversation did not take place and I request that I be confronted with Herr Halder. First of all I want to
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The Görings, acutely short of funds and reliant on the goodwill of Nazi sympathizers abroad, moved from [[Austria]] to [[Venice]] then in May 1924 to [[Rome]] via [[Florence]] and [[Siena]]. Göring met [[Benito Mussolini]] in Rome. Mussolini expressed some interest in meeting Hitler, by then in prison, upon his release.<ref>Manvell, 2006, 60</ref> Personal problems, however, continued to multiply. Göring's mother had died in 1923. By 1925 it was Carin's mother who was ill. The Görings with difficulty raised the money for a journey in spring 1925 to Sweden via Austria, [[Czechoslovakia]], [[Poland]] and the [[Free City of Danzig]]. Göring had become a violent morphine addict and Carin's family were shocked by his deterioration when they saw him. Carin, herself an [[Epilepsy|epileptic]], had to let the doctors and police take full charge of Göring. He was certified a dangerous drug addict and placed in the violent ward of Långbro asylum on 1 September 1925.<ref> Manvell, 2006, 404</ref>  
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emphasize that what is written here is utter nonsense. It says, "The only one who really knows the Reichstag is I." The Reichstag
 
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was known to every representative in the Reichstag. The fire took place only in the general assembly room, and many hundreds
 
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or thousands of people knew this room as well as I did. A statement of this type is utter nonsense. How Herr Halder came to
 
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make that statement I do not know. Apparently that bad memory, which also let him down in military matters, is the only
 
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explanation.
 
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<br/>
 
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MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You know who Halder is?
 
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<br/>
 
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GOERING: Only too well.
 
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<br/>
 
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GOERING: That accusation that I had set fire to the Reichstag came from a certain foreign press. That could not bother me
 
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because it was not consistent with the facts. I had no reason or motive for setting fire to the Reichstag. From the artistic point of  
 
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view I did not at all regret that the assembly chamber was burned- I hoped to build a better one. But I did regret very much
 
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that I was forced to find a new meeting place for the Reichstag and, not being able to find one, I had to give up my Kroll Opera
 
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House, that is, the second State Opera House, for that purpose. The opera seemed to me much more important than the
 
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Reichstag.
 
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<br/>
 
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MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: Have you ever boasted of burning the Reichstag building, even by way of joking?
 
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<br/>
 
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GOERING: No. I made a joke, if that is the one you are referring to, when I said that, after this, I should be competing with
 
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Nero and that probably people would soon be saying that, dressed in a red toga and holding a lyre in my hand, I looked on at
 
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the fire and played while the Reichstag was burning. That was the joke. But the fact was that I almost perished in the flames,
 
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which would have been very unfortunate for the German people, but very fortunate for their enemies.
 
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<br/>
 
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MR. JUSTICE JACKSON: You never stated then that you burned the Reichstag?
 
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<br/>
 
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GOERING: No. I know that Herr Rauschning said in the book which he wrote, and which has often been referred to here, that
 
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I had discussed this with him. I saw Herr Rauschning only twice in my life and only for a short time on each occasion. If I had
 
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set fire to the Reichstag, I would presumably have let that be known only to my closest circle of confidants, if at all. I would not
 
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have told it to a man whom I did not know and whose appearance I could not describe at all today. That is an absolute
 
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distortion of the truth.</blockquote>
 
  
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The famous quotation, "When I hear the word culture, I reach for my [[Browning Hi-Power|Browning]]"<!-- There's a pun here: Browning weapon vs. Browning poetry.—> is frequently attributed to Göring during the inter-war period. Whether or not he actually used this phrase, it did not originate with him. The line comes from Nazi [[playwright]] [[Hanns Johst]]'s play ''Schlageter'', "Wenn ich [[Kultur]] höre ... entsichere ich meinen Browning," "Whenever I hear of culture... I release the safety-catch of my Browning!" (Act 1, Scene 1). Nor was Göring the only Nazi official to use this phrase: [[Rudolf Hess]] used it as well, and it was a popular cliché in Germany, often in the form: "Wenn ich "Kultur" höre, nehme ich meine Pistole."
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The 1925 [[psychiatrist]]'s reports claimed Göring to be weak of character, a [[hysteria|hysteric]] and unstable [[personality]], sentimental yet callous, violent when afraid and a person who deployed bravado to hide a basic lack of [[moral courage]]. "Like many men capable of great acts of physical courage which verge quite often on desperation, he lacked the finer kind of courage in the conduct of his life which was needed when serious difficulties overcame him."<ref>Ewan Butler. ''Marshall Without Glory.'' (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1951), 84-87. oclc 1246848. See also  Manvell, 2006, 62</ref>
  
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After [[Hjalmar Schacht]] was removed as minister for the Economy, Göring effectively took over, becoming Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan in 1936 to better facilitate German rearmament; the vast steel plant ''Reichswerke Hermann Göring'' was named after him. This gave him great influence with Hitler (who placed a high value on rearmament). He never seemed to accept the [[Hitler Myth]] quite as much as [[Goebbels]] and [[Himmler]] did, but remained loyal nevertheless.
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At the time of Göring's detention all doctors' reports in Sweden were in the public domain. In 1925, Carin sued for custody of her son. Niels von Kantzow, her ex-husband, used a doctor's report on Carin and Göring as evidence to show that neither of them was fit to look after the boy, and so von Kantzow kept custody. The reports were also used by political opponents in Germany.
  
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The Aryanisation of Jewish Firms allowed Göring to buy them for almost nothing and he amassed himself a personal fotune. He was known for his extravagant tastes and garish clothing. [[Hans Rudel]], the top [[Stuka]] pilot of the war, recalls in his war memoirs meeting Göring twice dressed in outlandish costumes: first a medieval hunting costume, practicing archery with his doctor, and second dressed in a russet [[toga]] fastened with a golden clasp, smoking an abnormally large pipe.  As a highly decorated [[First World War]] hero and commander, Göring was a key connection between the former corporal Hitler and the traditional military elite.  Göring, who had been married first to a [[Sweden|Swedish]] baroness, built a vast [[Prussia]]n estate, [[Carinhall]], named after her. To avoid it falling into enemy hands, Göring had Carinhall blown up on April 20 1945, immediately before attending Hitler's last birthday party. He exulted in [[aristocracy|aristocratic]] trappings, and after the Nazis conquered much of Europe, collected [[Nazi Plunder|artworks looted from numerous museums]], even some within Germany itself. Handsome and athletic in his youth, Göring sustained a painful injury during the [[Beer Hall Putsch]], leaving him dependent on [[narcotic]] [[painkillers]], particularly [[morphine]]. This addiction contributed to his later [[obesity]] and decline.  He would finally be cured of his addiction toward the end of his life during his imprisonment at Nuremberg.
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== Politics and Nazi electoral victory ==
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Göring returned to Germany in autumn 1927, after the newly elected President [[Paul von Hindenburg|von Hindenburg]] declared [[amnesty]] for participants in the 1923 Putsch. Göring resumed his political work for Hitler. He became the 'salon Nazi', the Party's representative in upper class circles. Göring was elected to the [[Reichstag|''Reichstag'']] in 1928. In 1932, he was elected President of the ''Reichstag,'' which he remained until 1945.
  
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==World War II==
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His wife Carin died on October 17, 1931, aged 42, of [[tuberculosis]].
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[[Image:Hitler & Goring on the map.gif|left|thumb|160px|Hitler and Göring studying the map]]
 
  
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Göring was skeptical and averse to the path of war. He believed Germany was not prepared to embark on a new conflict and, in particular, he believed that Germany's air force, the [[Luftwaffe]], whose leadership was entrusted to his own hands, wasn't yet prepared to beat the [[RAF]]. However, once [[World War II]] started, Göring was determined to win at any cost.
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Hitler became [[Reichskanzler|Chancellor]] on January 30, 1933, striking a deal with the conservative intriguer [[Franz von Papen]]. Only two other Nazis were included in the cabinet. One was Göring, who was named [[minister without portfolio]]. It was understood, however, that he would be named minister of aviation once Germany built up an air force. At Hitler's insistence, Göring also was appointed [[interior minister]] of [[Free State of Prussia|Prussia]] under Papen, who doubled as [[Vice Chancellor of Germany|Vice Chancellor of the Reich]] and minister-president of Prussia. (Prussia at this time, though a constituent state of Germany, included over half of the country.)
  
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Initially, decisive German victories followed quickly one after the other, Göring's modern Luftwaffe destroyed the Polish Air Force within two days and after the invasion of France, Hitler awarded Göring the [[Grand Cross of the Iron Cross]] for his successful leadership. Göring's political and military careers were at their peak.
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Although his appointment as Prussian interior minister was little noticed at the time, it made Göring commander of the largest [[police]] force in Germany. He moved quickly to Nazify the police and use them against the [[Social Democratic Party of Germany|Social Democrats]] and [[Communist Party of Germany|Communists]]. On February 22, Göring ordered the police to recruit "auxiliaries" from the Nazi party militia, and to cease all opposition to the street violence of the SA. New elections were scheduled for March 5, and Göring's police minions harassed and suppressed political opponents and rivals of the Nazis. He also detached the political and intelligence departments from the Prussian police and reorganized them as the [[Gestapo]], a [[secret police]] force.
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[[Image:1942G03701.jpg|right|thumb|120px|Propaganda leaflet dropped by RAF Bomber Command over Germany in 1942. The leaflet comically shows Göring and his supposed reaction to the successes of the Luftwaffe under his leadership and its later failure to defend Germany against retaliatory [[Royal Air Force|RAF]] bombing of German cities]]
 
  
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The Luftwaffe's failure to gain control of the skies during the [[Battle of Britain]] marked Hitler's first defeat and put a stain on Göring's reputation. After that campaign he lost much of his influence in the Nazi hierarchy and faded briefly from the military scene, enjoying the pleasures of life as a wealthy and powerful man. His reputation for extravagance made him particularly unpopular as ordinary Germans began to suffer deprivation.
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On February 28, 1933, the Reichstag building was gutted by fire. The [[Reichstag fire]] was [[arson]], and the Nazis blamed the Communists. Göring himself met Hitler at the fire scene, and denounced it as "a Communist outrage," the first act in a planned uprising. Hitler agreed. The next day, the [[Reichstag Fire Decree]] suspended civil liberties.
  
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If Göring was skeptical about war on the western front, he was absolutely certain that a new campaign against Russia was doomed to be disastrous. After trying, completely in vain, to convince Hitler to give up [[operation Barbarossa]], he embraced the campaign against Russia as a chance to redeem credit from the disastrous British attack. As he had foreseen, the war against the Soviet Union turned out to be Germany's most ignominious defeat. Göring's contribution, as the head of the Luftwaffe, did not match his outlandish promises, and, as a result, negatively affected his relationship with Hitler.
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Göring ordered the complete suppression of the Communist party. Most German states banned party meetings and publications, but in [[Prussia]], Göring's police summarily arrested 25,000 Communists and other leftists, including the entire Party leadership, save those that escaped abroad. Hundreds of other prominent anti-Nazis were also rounded up. Göring told the Prussian police that "…all other restraints on police action imposed by Reich and state law are abolished…."
  
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Göring also sponsored a ground combat unit, the eponymous [[Hermann Göring Division]], an elite unit which fought on various fronts with success. His other units on the eastern front were not so successful. At the Oder front, he had 2 [[Fallschirmjäger]] (airborne) divisions, which were partially composed of Luftwaffe's officers without any ground combat experience. He's known to have said in one of the Hassleben's planning meetings: "When my both airborne divisions attack, the entire Red Army can be thrown to hell." When the Red Army attacked, Göring's [[9th Parachute Division (Germany)]] collapsed first.
+
On March 5, the Nazi-DNVP coalition won a narrow majority in the election; on March 23, the Reichstag passed the [[Enabling Act of 1933|Enabling Act]], which effectively gave Hitler dictatorial powers. As part of the anti-Communist campaign, in the first executions in the [[Third Reich]], Göring declined to commute the August 1933 death sentences passed against [[Bruno Tesch (antifascist)|Bruno Tesch]] and three other Communists for their alleged role in the deaths of two SA members and 16 others in the [[Altona, Hamburg|Altona]] Bloody Sunday ''(Altonaer Blutsonntag)'' riot, an [[Sturmabteilung|SA]] march on July 17, 1932.<ref>[http://www.asfpg.de/english/4763/17330.html asfpg Altonaer Stiftung für philosophische Grundlagenforschung] Retrieved October 18, 2008.</ref><ref> [[Time Magazine|TIME]], 1933-08-14, [http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,745905-2,00.html Back to the Axe!]. ''TIME''. accessdate 2008-08-14}</ref>.
  
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He was also [[Commander-in-Chief]] of ''[[Forschungsamt]]'' ("[[FA]]"), the Nazi underground monitoring services for telephone and radio communications. This was connected to [[SS]], [[SD]] and [[Abwehr]] intelligence services.
+
==Second marriage==
 +
During the early 1930s Göring was often in the company of [[Emmy Sonnemann]] (1893–1973), an actress from Hamburg. He proposed to her in Weimar in February 1935. The wedding took place on April 10, 1935 in Berlin and was celebrated like the marriage of an emperor. They had a daughter, Edda Göring (born June 2, 1938) who was then thought to be named after [[Edda Mussolini|Countess Edda Ciano]], eldest child of [[Benito Mussolini]]. Actually, Edda was named after a friend of her mother.<ref>
 +
[http://www.time.com/time/magazine/printout/0,8816,771660,00.html ''TIME'' magazine: "Lady of the Axis"], published 24 July 1939. Retrieved October 18, 2008.</ref>
  
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Göring was also placed in charge of exploiting the vast industrial resources captured during the war, particularly in the Soviet Union. This proved to be an almost total disaster and little of the available potential was effectively harnessed for the service of the German military machine. However, Göring was notorious for his role as one of the [[Nazi plunder]]ers of [[art]] and other valuables from occupied Europe.
+
==Nazi potentate==
 +
Göring was one of the key figures in the process of "forcible coordination" ''([[Gleichschaltung]])'' that established the Nazi [[dictatorship]]. For example, in 1933, Göring promulgated the ban on all [[Roman Catholic]] newspapers in [[Germany]] as a means of removing not only resistance to National Socialism but also to deprive the population of alternative forms of association and means of political communication.
  
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Göring was the highest figure in the Nazi Hierarchy who had authorized on paper<ref>[http://www.arikah.net/commons/en/2/2c/Carta_G%C3%B6ring.JPG Göring's letter in German]</ref> the "[[final solution]] of the Jewish Question," when he issued a memo to [[Schutzstaffel|SS]] Obergruppenführer [[Reinhard Heydrich]] to organize the practical details, (which culminated in the [[Wannsee Conference]]). He wrote, "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question." It is almost certain however that Hitler issued a verbal order to Göring in late 1941 to this effect.{{Fact|date=February 2007}}
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[[Image:Uniform von H Goering.jpg|thumb|right|Uniform is on display at the [[Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr]]]]
  
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Near the end of the war, as the [[Red Army]] closed in around the German capital on April 23 1945, Göring sent a telegram from [[Berchtesgaden]] to Berlin in which he proposed to assume leadership of the ''Reich'' as Hitler's designated successor. Hitler considered this disloyalty and high treason, especially because Göring mentioned a time limit after which he would consider Hitler incapacitated. Hitler had Göring placed under arrest by [[Bernhard Frank]] on April 25 and in his [[Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler|political testament]] Hitler dismissed Göring from all his sundry offices and expelled him from the party
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In the Nazi regime's early years, Göring served as minister in various key positions at both the ''Reich'' (German national) level and other levels as required. In the state of Prussia, Göring was responsible for the economy as well as re-armament.  
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Two days before ending his own life Hitler sent orders to Frank to execute Göring, his wife and their young daughter (Hitler's own goddaughter).  A combination of Göring's considerable charm, Frank's confusion and terror at the last days of the war and perhaps common decency where the death of an innocent German child was concerned led to Frank's rejection of the order. Instead the Görings and their captors moved together, with little formality and no semblance of a captives and captors relationship, to the same Schloß Mauterndorf where Göring had spent much of his childhood and which he had inherited (along with Burg Veldenstein) from his godfather's widow upon her death in 1937.  (Göring had arranged for preferential treatment for the woman after his rise to power, a consideration that guaranteed her immunity from the confiscation and arrest that may have been her fate as the widow of a wealthy Jew.)
 
  
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Ironically, during World War II, Herman Göring's nephew, Capt. [[Werner G. Goering]], piloted [[B-17 Flying Fortress]]es on 48 bombing missions against occupied Europe. Born and raised in Salt Lake City, the young Göring spoke fluent German. After an extensive background check, he was assigned to the 303rd Bombardment Group — ''Hell's Angeles'' — of the 8th Air Force, based at Molesworth, England. This fact was kept secret by the Army Air Force during the time that young Göring flew missions against Nazi Germany. However, the AAF still assigned him a "uniquely qualified" co-pilot — First Lt. Jack P. Rencher. Rencher was given orders to shoot him if he ever tried to land in Germany. According to Rencher, however, the only time young Göring wasn't eager to rain destruction on Nazi Germany was when he had to bomb Cologne, where his grandmother lived. "He was neat, clean, a sharp dresser and in every sense military minded," Rencher said. "While I served with him he and I got along well together and I believe made an excellent team. I know of no one I would rather serve as co-pilot with."
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His police forces included the [[Gestapo]], which he converted into a political spy force. But in 1934 Hitler transferred the Gestapo to [[Heinrich Himmler|Himmler]]'s SS. Göring retained Special Police Battalion ''Wecke,'' which he converted to a paramilitary unit attached to the ''[[Landespolizei]]'' (State Police), ''Landespolizeigruppe General Göring''. This formation participated in the [[Night of the Long Knives]], when the SA leaders were purged. Göring was head of the ''Forschungsamt'' (FA), which secretly monitored telephone and radio communications, The FA was connected to the [[Schutzstaffel|SS]], the [[Sicherheitsdienst|SD]], and [[Abwehr]] intelligence services.
  
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Equally ironically, his younger brother [[Albert Göring]] was notable for helping [[Jews]] and [[dissidents]] survive in Germany during the war.
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After [[Hjalmar Schacht]] was removed as Minister of Economics, Göring effectively took over. In 1936, he became Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan for German rearmament. The vast steel plant ''Reichswerke Hermann Göring'' was named after him. He gained great influence with Hitler (who placed a high value on rearmament). He never seemed to accept the [[Hitler Myth]] quite as much as Goebbels and Himmler did, but remained loyal nevertheless.
  
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==Capture, trial and death==
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In 1938, Göring forced out the War Minister, Field Marshal [[Werner von Blomberg|von Blomberg]], and the Army commander, General [[Werner von Fritsch|von Fritsch]]. They had welcomed Hitler's accession in 1933, but then annoyed him by criticizing his plans for expansionist wars. Göring, who had been best man at Blomberg's recent wedding to a 26-year-old typist, discovered that the young woman was a former prostitute, and blackmailed him into resigning. Fritsch was accused of homosexual activity, and though completely innocent, resigned in shock and disgust. He was later exonerated by a "court of honor" presided over by Göring.
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<!-- Unsourced image removed: [[Image:Goering_in_Nuremberg.jpg|right|300px|thumb|Göring at Nuremberg]] —>
 
  
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[[image:Nuremberg_Trials._Defendants_in_their_dock;_Goering,_Hess,_von_Ribbentrop,_and_Keitel_in_front_row.gif|left|thumb|250px|Göring  (first row, far left) at the Nuremberg Trials.]]
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Also in 1938, Göring played a key role in the ''[[Anschluss]]'' (annexation) of [[Austria]]. At the height of the crisis, Göring spoke on the telephone to Austrian Chancellor [[Kurt Schuschnigg|Schuschnigg]]. Göring announced Germany's intent to march into Austria, and threatened war and the destruction of Austria if there was any resistance. Schuschnigg collapsed, and the German army marched into Austria without resistance.
  
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Göring surrendered on May 9, 1945 in [[Bavaria]]. He was the third highest ranking Nazi official brought before the [[Nuremberg Trials]], behind Reich President (former Admiral) [[Karl Dönitz]] and former [[Deputy Führer]] [[Rudolf Hess]]. Göring's last days were spent with [[Gustave Gilbert]], a Jewish German-speaking intelligence officer and [[psychologist]] who was granted free access by the Allies to all the prisoners held in the Nuremberg jail. Gilbert classified Göring as having an [[Intelligence quotient|IQ]] of 138, the same as he ascribed to Karl Dönitz. He kept a journal of his observations of the proceedings and his conversations with the prisoners, which he later published in the book ''[[Nuremberg Diary]]''. The following quotation was a part of a conversation Gilbert held with a dejected Göring in his cell on the evening of 18 April 1946, as the trials were halted for a three-day [[Easter]] recess.
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==Göring and Foreign Policy==
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The German diplomatic historian [[Klaus Hildebrand]] in his study of German foreign policy in the Nazi era noted that besides for Hitler’s foreign policprogramme that there existed three other rival foreigprogramses held by fractions in the Nazi Party, whom Hildebrand dubbed the agrarians, the revolutionary socialists and the Wilhelmine Imperialists<ref>Klaus Hildebrand. ''The Foreign Policy of the Third Reich.'' (London: Batsford, 1973), 14-21</ref>. Göring was certainly an ardent Nazi and utterly loyal to Hitler. But his preferences in foreign policy were different. Göring was the most prominent of the "Wilhelmine Imperialist" group in the Nazi regime. This group wanted to restore the German frontiers of 1914, regain the pre-1914 overseas empire, and make [[Eastern Europe]] Germany's exclusive sphere of influence. This was a much more limited set of goals than Hitler's dream of ''[[Lebensraum]]'' seized in merciless racial wars. By contrast, Göring and the "Wilhelmine Imperialist" fraction were more guided by traditional [[Power politics|''Machtpolitik'']] in their foreign policy conceptions.<ref>Hildebrand, 1973, 14-15</ref>.
  
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<blockquote>"Sweating in his cell in the evening, Göring was defensive and deflated and not very happy over the turn the trial was taking. He said that he had no control over the actions or the defense of the others, and that he had never been [[anti-Semitic]] himself, had not believed these atrocities, and that several [[Jews]] had offered to testify in his behalf."</blockquote>
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Furthermore, the "Wilhelmine Imperialists" expected to achieved their goals within the established international order. While not rejecting war as an option, they preferred diplomacy, and sought political domination in eastern Europe rather than the military conquests envisioned by Hitler. And they rejected Hitler's mystical vision of war as a necessary ordeal for the nation, and of perpetual war as desirable. Göring himself feared that a major war might interfere with his luxurious lifestyle.
  
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Despite claims that he was not [[anti-Semitic]], while in the prison yard at Nuremberg, after hearing a remark about Jewish survivors in Hungary, [[Albert Speer]] reported overhearing Göring say, "So, there are still some there?  I thought we had knocked off all of them. Somebody slipped up again."<ref>[[Albert Speer|Speer, Albert]]: ''[[Inside the Third Reich]]'', The Macmillan Company, 1970, p. 605. ISBN 0684829495</ref>
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Göring's advocacy of this policy led to his temporary exclusion by Hitler for a time in 1938-39 from foreign policy decisions. Göring'unwillingnessss to offer a major challenge to Hitler prevented him from offering any serious resistance to Hitler's policies, and the "Wilhelmine Imperialists" had no real influence.<ref>Hildebrand, 1973, 14-21 </ref><ref>D. C. Watt. ''How War Came.'' (London: Heinemann, 1989), 619</ref><ref>Ian Kershaw. ''Hitler: Nemesis.'' (New York: W. W. Norton, 2000), 95, 123</ref>
  
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[[Image:Goersuicide.jpg|right|thumb|Göring dressed for display, along with the other war criminals, after committing suicide by cyanide.]]
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==Complicity in the Holocaust==
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[[Image:Carta Göring.JPG|thumb|right|270px|Göring's letter to [[Reinhard Heydrich]] ordering him to arrange ''"für eine Gesamtlösung der Judenfrage im deutschen Einflußgebiet in Europa''" - for a [[final solution]] of the Jewish Question in the German sphere of influence in Europe.]]
  
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Though he defended himself vigorously, he was sentenced to death by hanging. The judgment stated that:<ref>[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/Goering_judgment.htm]</ref>
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Göring was the highest figure in the Nazi hierarchy to issue written orders for the "[[final solution]] of the Jewish Question," when he issued a memo to [[Reinhard Heydrich|Heydrich]] to organize the practical details. This resulted in the [[Wannsee Conference]]. Göring wrote, "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question." It is almost certain however that Hitler issued an oral order to Göring in late 1941 to this effect.
  
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<blockquote>"There is nothing to be said in mitigation. For Goering was often, indeed almost always, the moving force, second only to his leader. He was the leading war aggressor, both as political and as military leader; he was the director of the slave labour programme and the creator of the oppressive programme against the Jews and other races, at home and abroad. All of these crimes he has frankly admitted. On some specific cases there may be conflict of testimony, but in terms of the broad outline, his own admissions are more than sufficiently wide to be conclusive of his guilt. His guilt is unique in its enormity. The record discloses no excuses for this man."</blockquote>
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==Head of the Luftwaffe==
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When the Nazis took power, Göring was Minister of Civil Air Transport, which was a screen for the build-up of German war aviation, prohibited by the [[Treaty of Versailles]]. When Hitler repudiated Versailles, in 1935, the ''Luftwaffe'' was unveiled, with Göring as Minister and ''Oberbefehlshaber'' (Supreme Commander). In 1938, he became the first ''[[Generalfeldmarschall]]'' (Field Marshal) of the ''Luftwaffe'' this promotion also made him the highest ranking officer in Germany. Göring directed the rapid creation of this new branch of service. Within a few years, Germany produced large numbers of the world's most advanced military aircraft.
  
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Göring dispatched an appeal in which he said he would accept the court's death penalty if they allowed him to be shot as a soldier instead of hanged as a common criminal, but the court members refused to allow him this honor. Defying the sentence imposed by his captors, he committed [[suicide]] with a [[potassium cyanide]] capsule the night before he was supposed to be [[hanging|hanged]]. Where Göring obtained the cyanide, and how he had managed to hide it during his entire imprisonment at Nuremberg, remains unknown. In the 1950s, [[Erich von dem Bach-Zalewski]] claimed that he had given Göring the cyanide shortly before Göring's death. However, this claim is usually dismissed. Later theories speculate that Göring befriended U.S. Army Lieutenant [[Jack G. "Tex" Wheelis]], who was stationed at the Nuremberg Trials and helped Göring obtain cyanide which had likely been hidden among Göring's personal effects when they were confiscated by the Army.<ref> [[Telford Taylor|Taylor, Telford]], ''The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials'' (New York: Knopf, 1992). </ref> In 2005, former Army private [[Herbert Lee Stivers]] claimed he gave Göring "medicine" hidden inside a gift fountain pen from a German woman the private had met and flirted with. Stivers served in the [[U.S. 1st Infantry Division]]'s 26th Regiment, who formed the honour guard for the Nuremberg Trials. Stivers claims to have been unaware of what the "medicine" he delivered actually was until after Göring's death. After his suicide, Hermann Göring was [[cremated]] and his ashes were scattered in the [[Conwentzbach]] in Munich, which runs into the [[Isar]] river.
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In 1936, Göring at Hitler's direction sent several hundred aircraft along with several thousand air and ground crew, to assist the Nationalists in the [[Spanish Civil War]] this became known as the [[Condor Legion]].
  
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==The personal standards of Hermann Göring==
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By 1939 the ''Luftwaffe'' was the most advanced and one of the most powerful air forces in the world. On 9 August 1939, Göring boasted "The [[Ruhr Area|Ruhr]] will not be subjected to a single bomb. If an enemy bomber reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Hermann Göring: you can call me Meier!" ("I want to be called Meier if …." is a German idiom to express that something is impossible. Meier (in several spelling variants) is the second most common surname in Germany.) By the end of the war, Berlin's [[air raid siren]]s were bitterly known to the city's residents as "Meier's trumpets," or "Meier's hunting horns."
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When Göring had been promoted to the unique rank of "Reichsmarschall" on July 19 1940, he at once decided to choose a personal standard for himself. The design in the centre of the left side displayed a German eagle embroidered in gold-yellow thread and clutching in its talons a gold swastika standing on its point. Set behind the swastika was a pair of crossed marshal's batons. The right side displayed in the centre a large black Iron Cross. It was the unique "Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes" that was bestowed on him by Hitler. Set in each of the four sections of the field was a gold-yellow Luftwaffe eagle and swastika. The basic field was light blue on both sides, which indicated that he was also the Commander-In-Chief of the German Air Force. In February 1941 he made up his mind to modify the whole design in order to look more "fashionable." The standard was used for all purposes and was carried by a personal standard-bearer.
 
  
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<gallery>
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==Göring's private army==
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Image:Hermann Göring1 (Vorderseite).jpg|1. pattern (right side)
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Unusually, the ''Luftwaffe'' also included its own ground troops, which became Göring's private army. German ''[[Fallschirmjäger]]'' (parachute and glider) troops were organized as part of the ''Luftwaffe,'' not as part of the Army. These formations eventually grew to over 30 divisions, which almost never operated as airborne troops. About half were "field divisions," that is, plain infantry.
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Image:Hermann Göring1 (Rückseite).jpg|1. pattern (left side)
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Image:Hermann Göring2 (Vorderseite).jpg|2. pattern (right side)
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There was even a [[Fallschirm-Panzer Division 1 Hermann Göring]], which had originally been the special police battalion mentioned above. Many of these divisions were led by officers with little or no training for ground combat, and performed badly as a result. In 1945, two [[Fallschirmjäger]] divisions were deployed on the [[Oder]] front. Göring said at a staff meeting "When both my airborne divisions attack, the entire Red Army can be thrown to hell." But when the Red Army attacked, Göring's [[9th Parachute Division (Germany)|9th Parachute Division]] collapsed.
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Image:Hermann Göring2 (Rückseite).jpg|2. pattern (left side)
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Image:Musee-de-lArmee-IMG 1056.jpg|Standard, on display at the ''Musée de la Guerre'' in the [[Invalides]]
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==Second World War==
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</gallery>
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[[Image:Göering weapon and baton.jpg|thumb|right|Göring's Reichsmarschall baton]]
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Göring was skeptical of Hitler's war plans. He believed Germany was not prepared for a new conflict and, in particular, that his ''Luftwaffe'' was not yet ready to beat the British [[Royal Air Force]] (RAF). His personal luxuries might be endangered, too. So he made contacts through various diplomats and emissaries to avoid war.
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However, once Hitler decided on war, Göring supported him completely. On 1 September 1939, the first day of the war, Hitler spoke to the [[Reichstag (institution)|Reichstag]] at the [[Kroll Opera House]]. In this speech he designated Göring as his successor "if anything should befall me."
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Initially, decisive German victories followed quickly one after the other. The ''Luftwaffe'' destroyed the Polish Air Force within two weeks. The ''Fallschirmjäger'' seized key airfields in [[Norway]] and captured [[Fort Eben-Emael]] in Belgium. German air-to-ground attacks served as the "flying artillery" of the [[panzer]] troops in the ''blitzkrieg'' of France. "Leave it to my ''Luftwaffe''" became Göring's perpetual gloat.
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After the defeat of France, Hitler awarded Göring the [[Grand Cross of the Iron Cross]] for his successful leadership. By a decree on 19 July 1940, Hitler promoted Göring to the rank of ''[[Reichsmarschall]]'' (Marshal of Germany), the highest military rank of the Greater German Reich. ''Reichsmarschall'' was a special rank for Göring, which made him senior to all other Army and ''Luftwaffe'' Field Marshals.
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Göring's political and military careers were at their peak. Göring had already received the [[Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross]] on 30 September 1939 as Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe.<ref>Walther-Peer Fellgiebel. ''Die Trager Des Ritterkreuzes Des Eisernen Kreuzes, 1939–1945.'' (Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas, 1986. ISBN 3790902845)</ref>
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Göring promised Hitler that the ''Luftwaffe'' would quickly destroy the RAF, or break British morale with devastating air raids. He personally directed the first attacks on Britain from his private luxury train. But the ''Luftwaffe'' failed to gain control of the skies in the [[Battle of Britain]]. This was Hitler's first defeat. And Britain withstood the worst the ''Luftwaffe'' could do for the eight months of "[[the Blitz]]."
  
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==Quotations==
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However, the damage inflicted on British cities largely maintained Göring's prestige. The ''Luftwaffe'' destroyed [[Belgrade#World War II|Belgrade]] in April 1941, and ''Fallschirmjäger'' captured [[Crete]] from the British army in May 1941.
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{{wikiquote}}
 
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Göring spoke about war and extreme nationalism during the Nuremberg trials in an interview with Gustave Gilbert, a Jewish German-speaking intelligence officer and psychologist who was granted free access by the Allies to all the prisoners held in the Nuremberg jail:
 
  
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<blockquote>''Naturally the common people don't want war; neither in Russia, nor in England, nor in America, nor in Germany. That is understood. But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine policy, and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along, whether it is a democracy, or a fascist dictatorship, or a parliament, or a communist dictatorship. ...Voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is to tell them they are being attacked, and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same in any country.''</blockquote>
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===The eastern front===
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If Göring was skeptical about war against Britain and France, he was absolutely certain that a new campaign against the [[Soviet Union]] was doomed to defeat. After trying, completely in vain, to convince Hitler to give up [[Operation Barbarossa]], he embraced the campaign. Hitler still relied on him completely. On June 29, Hitler composed a special 'testament', which was kept secret till the end of the war. This formally designated Göring as "my deputy in all my offices" if Hitler was unable to function, and his successor if he died. Ironically, Göring did not know the contents of this testament, which was marked "To be opened only by the Reichsmarschall," until after leaving Berlin in April 1945 for Berchtesgaden, where it had been kept.
  
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On August 9, 1939, two days after meeting with British businessmen, assuring them "on his word of honour" that he would do everything in his power to avert war, Göring boasted "The Ruhr will not be subjected to a single bomb. If an enemy bomber reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Hermann Göring: you can call me Meier!"  ("Meier" [Meierei = dairy-farm] is a common German Jewish surname)  By the end of the war, Berlin's [[air raid siren]]s were bitterly known to the city's residents as "Meier's trumpets," or "Meier's hunting horns."
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The ''Luftwaffe'' shared in the initial victories in the east, destroying thousands of Soviet aircraft. But as Soviet resistance grew and the weather turned bad, the ''Luftwaffe'' became overstretched and exhausted.
  
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==In film==
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Göring by this time had lost interest in administering the ''Luftwaffe.'' That duty was left to incompetent favorites such as [[Ernst Udet|Udet]] and [[Hans Jeschonnek|Jeschonnek]]. Aircraft production lagged. Yet Göring persisted in outlandish promises. When the Soviets surrounded a German army in [[Battle of Stalingrad|Stalingrad]] in 1942, Göring encouraged Hitler to fight for the city rather than retreat. He asserted that the ''Luftwaffe'' would deliver 500 tons per day of supplies to the trapped force. In fact no more than 100 tons were ever delivered in a day, and usually much less. While Göring's men struggled to fly in the savage Russian winter, Göring had his usual lavish birthday party.
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{{Commons|Hermann Wilhelm Göring}}
 
  
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*He has been portrayed by:
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Göring was in charge of exploiting the vast industrial resources captured during the war, particularly in the [[Soviet Union]]. This proved to be an almost total failure, and little of the available potential was effectively harnessed for the service of the German military machine.
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**[[Jan Werich]] - [[1949 in film|1949]], ''[[Padeniye Berlina]]'' (both parts)
 
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**[[Hein Reiss]] - [[1969 in film|1969]], ''[[Battle of Britain (film)|Battle of Britain]]''.
 
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**[[Glenn Shadix]] - 1969, ''[[The Empty Mirror]]''.
 
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**[[Barry Primus]] - [[1971 in film|1971]], ''[[Von Richthofen and Brown]]''.
 
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**[[David King]] - [[1981 in film|1981]] [[The Bunker (1981 film)|The Bunker]] ([[television movie]]). 
 
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**[[Volker Spengler]] - [[1996 in film|1996]], ''[[The Ogre (film)|The Ogre]]'', directed by [[Volker Schlöndorff]], also starring [[John Malkovich]].
 
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**[[Brian Cox]] - [[2000 in film|2000]], ''[[Nuremberg (film)|Nuremberg]]'' ([[television movie]]), also starring [[Alec Baldwin]] and [[Jill Hennessy]].
 
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**[[Chris Larkin]] - [[2003 in film|2003]], ''[[Hitler: The Rise of Evil|Hitler: The rise of evil]]'' (television movie).
 
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**[[Mathias Gnädinger]] - [[2004 in film|2004]], ''[[Der Untergang]]''.
 
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**[[Hannes Hellmann]] - [[2006 in film|2006]], ''Nuremberg: Goering's Last Stand''.
 
  
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There has been talk about making a Göring [[biopic]] over the years, but there has been no major production, casting, scriptwriting, etc. [[Warren Beatty]] was interested in doing a Göring movie for years, but he signed on to play [[Dick Tracy]].  Many rumours suggest that [[Martin Scorsese]] and [[Robert De Niro]] planned for several years to do a film with De Niro in the titular role with Scorsese directing, but nothing concrete came out of those planning years.
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===The bomber war===
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As early as 1940, British aircraft raided targets in Germany, debunking Göring's assurance that the Reich would never be attacked. By 1942, the bombers were coming by hundreds and thousands. Entire cities such as Cologne and Hamburg were devastated. The ''Luftwaffe'' responded with night fighters and anti-aircraft guns. Göring was still nominally in charge, but in practice he had little to do with operations.
  
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Footage of Göring has been included in many films, notably in the [[1935 in film|1935]] ''[[Triumph of the Will]]'' by [[Leni Riefenstahl]]. See his page at [[Internet Movie Database|IMDb]] [http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0351425/].
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Göring's prestige, reputation, and influence with Hitler all declined, especially after the Stalingrad debacle. Hitler could not publicly repudiate him without embarrassment, but contact between them largely stopped. Göring withdrew from the military and political scene to enjoy the pleasures of life as a wealthy and powerful man. His reputation for extravagance made him particularly unpopular as ordinary Germans began to suffer deprivation.
  
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==In fiction==
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===The end of the war===
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In [[Frederic Raphael]]'s ''[[The Glittering Prizes]]'' Adam Morris' roommate Donald Donaldson tells the group of friends that his uncle once went hunting with Goering, and that the uncle actually liked him.
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In 1945, Göring fled the Berlin area with trainloads of treasures for the Nazi alpine resort in [[Berchtesgaden]]. He was presented with Hitler's testament, which he read for the first time. On 23 April, as Soviet troops closed in around Berlin, Göring sent a radiogram to Hitler, suggesting that the testament should now come into force. He added that if he did not hear back from Hitler by 10 PM, he would assume Hitler was incapacitated, and would assume leadership of the Reich.
  
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In [[Philip José Farmer]]'s ''[[Riverworld]]'', a [[reincarnation|reincarnated]] Göring becomes a [[missionary]] for the Church of the Second Chance, which was a pacifist religion.
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Hitler was enraged by this proposal, which [[Martin Bormann|Bormann]] portrayed as an attempted [[coup d'état]]. On April 25, Hitler ordered the SS to arrest Göring. On April 26, Hitler dismissed Göring as commander of the ''Luftwaffe.'' In his [[Last will and testament of Adolf Hitler|last will and testament]], Hitler dismissed Göring from all his offices and expelled him from the Nazi Party. On April 28, Hitler ordered the SS to [[execution|execute]] Göring, his wife, and their daughter (Hitler's own goddaughter). But this order was ignored.  
  
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[[Philip K. Dick]]'s 1962 [[science fiction]] [[Alternate history (fiction)|alternate history]] novel ''[[The Man in the High Castle]]'' mentions Göring, who, by 1962 is aging, morbidly obese, and the subject of much [[rumor]] and speculation regarding his indulgent lifestyle (which is seen by some as akin to that of a corrupt [[Roman emperors|Roman emperor]]). He resides in his large estate within the [[Alps]]. Göring also appears as a character in Dick's 1964 novel ''[[The Simulacra]]'', which is set in a fictional America of the late 21st century. A [[Time travel|time machine]] is used to pluck Göring out of 1944 and deposit him in the novel's "present" (his and our future).
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Instead, the Görings and their SS captors moved together, to the same ''Schloß Mauterndorf'' where Göring had spent much of his childhood and which he had inherited (along with Burg Veldenstein) from his godfather's widow in 1937. (Göring had arranged for preferential treatment for the woman, and protected her from confiscation and arrest as the widow of a wealthy Jew.)
  
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[[Neal Stephenson]]'s 1999 novel ''[[Cryptonomicon]]'' includes a florid portrait of the Reichsmarschall.
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==Capture, trial, and death==
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[[Image:Nuremberg-1-.jpg|left|thumb|250px|Göring (first row, far left) at the Nuremberg Trials.]]
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Göring surrendered on May 9, 1945 in [[Bavaria]]. He was the third-highest-ranking Nazi official tried at [[Nuremberg Trials|Nuremberg]], behind Reich President (former Admiral) [[Karl Dönitz]] and former Deputy Führer [[Hess]]. Göring's last days were spent with Captain [[Gustave Gilbert]], a German-speaking American intelligence officer and [[psychologist]] (and a Jew), who had access to all the prisoners held in the Nuremberg jail. Gilbert classified Göring as having an [[Intelligence quotient|IQ]] of 138, the same as Dönitz. Gilbert kept a journal which he later published as ''[[Nuremberg Diary]].'' Here he describes Göring on the evening of April 18, 1946, as the trials were halted for a three-day [[Easter]] recess.
  
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Göring, along with [[Adolf Hitler]], was an early foe of [[Captain America]].
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<blockquote>
 +
Sweating in his cell in the evening, Göring was defensive and deflated and not very happy over the turn the trial was taking. He said that he had no control over the actions or the defensee of the others, and that he had never been anti-Semitic himself, had not believed these atrocities, and that several Jews had offered to testify on his behalf.<ref>G. Gilbert. ''Nuremberg Diary.'' (New York: Da Capo Press, 1995. ISBN 0306806614), 278</ref>
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</blockquote>
  
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Göring is represented by the character ''Emmanuel Giri'' in ''[[The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui]]'' by [[Bertolt Brecht]]. The play is a parody of the rise of Hitler, largely written in exile (1941), with various scenes added afterwards. It has been translated into English by [[Ralph Manheim]] and published by [[Methuen & Co. Ltd.|Methuen]] modern plays.
+
Despite claims that he was not [[anti-Semitic]], while in the prison yard at Nuremberg, after hearing a remark about Jewish survivors in Hungary, [[Albert Speer]] reported overhearing Göring say, ''"So, there are still some there? I thought we had knocked off all of them. Somebody slipped up again."''<ref>Albert Speer. ''Inside the Third Reich.'' (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0684829495), 605</ref> Despite his claims of non-involvement, he was confronted with orders he had signed for the murder of Jews and prisoners of war.
  
−
More humorously, the character of "General Hering" stands in for Göring in [[Charlie Chaplin]]'s 1940 film ''[[The Great Dictator]]''.
+
Though he defended himself vigorously, and actually appeared to be winning the trial early on (partly by building popularity with the audience by making jokes and finding holes in the prosecution's case) he was sentenced to death by hanging. The judgment stated that:<ref>[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/Goering_judgment.htm Judgment of International Military Tribunal on Hermann Goering] Retrieved October 18, 2008.</ref>
  
−
In the [[BBC]] sci-fi comedy ''[[Red Dwarf]]'', Göring is denounced on multiple occasions.
+
<blockquote>
 +
There is nothing to be said in mitigation. For Goering was often, indeed almost always, the moving force, second only to his leader. He was the leading war aggressor, both as political and as military leader; he was the director of the slave labour program and the creator of the oppressive program against the Jews and other races, at home and abroad. All of these crimes he has frankly admitted. On some specific cases there may be conflict of testimony, but in terms of the broad outline, his own admissions are more than sufficiently wide to be conclusive of his guilt. His guilt is unique in its enormity. The record discloses no excuses for this man.<ref>[http://www.ess.uwe.ac.uk/genocide/Goering_judgment.htm Judgment of International Military Tribunal on Hermann Goering] Retrieved October 18, 2008.</ref>
 +
</blockquote>
  
−
In ''[[The Winds of War]]'', the pre-war half of [[Herman Wouk]]'s pair of epic World War Two [[historical novels]], the main character, a naval attaché in 1939 Berlin, attends a party at Göring's Carinhall palace and translates during a meeting between a secret American envoy, Göring, [[Ribbentrop]] and [[Hitler]]. Göring is described as grotesquely obese and dressed in ludicrous jewels and finery. Hitler is also described playing with Göring's young daughter before the meeting.
+
Göring made an appeal, offering to accept the court's [[death sentence]] if he were shot as a soldier instead of hanged as a common criminal, but the court refused.
  
−
In the Bugs Bunny cartoon "[[Herr Meets Hare]]," Hermann Goring was depicted as a hunter trying to kill Bugs Bunny. Bugs tricks him by dressing up as Adolf Hitler in one scene.
+
Defying the sentence imposed by his captors, he committed [[suicide]] with a [[potassium cyanide]] capsule the night before he was to be hanged. Where Göring obtained the cyanide, and how he concealed it during his entire imprisonment at Nuremberg, remains unknown. It has been claimed that Göring befriended U.S. Army Lieutenant [[Jack G. "Tex" Wheelis]], who was stationed at the Nuremberg Trials and helped Göring obtain cyanide which had been hidden among Göring's personal effects when they were confiscated by the Army.<ref>Telford Taylor. ''The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials.'' (New York: Knopf, 1992. ISBN 0394583558)</ref> In 2005, former U.S. Army Private Herbert Lee Stivers claimed he gave Göring "medicine" hidden inside a gift fountain pen from a German woman the private had met and flirted with. Stivers served in the [[1st Infantry Division (United States)|1st Infantry Division]]'s 26th Regiment, who formed the honor guard for the Nuremberg Trials. Stivers claims to have been unaware of what the "medicine" he delivered actually was until after Göring's death. Regardless of his suicide, his dead body was hanged.
  
−
The [[Daily Show]] in one sketch stated that the Republicans defeat in the 2006 Congressional elections was due to a number of Congressional scandals, including one GOP Congressmen actually having been discovered to be Hermann Göring.
+
After his death, the bodies of Göring and the other executed Nazi leaders were [[Cremation|cremated]] in the crematorium of the [[Dachau]] [[concentration camp]], which had been re-lit exclusively for them. His ashes were scattered in the [[Conwentzbach]] in [[Munich]], which runs into the [[Isar]] river.
  
−
In the [[Donald Duck]] cartoon [[Der Fuehrer's Face]], Göring is marching with other Nazi figures in a procession at the beginning of the episode, who intrude Donald Duck in his sleep.
+
==Legacy==
 +
Hermann Goering's legacy cannot be separated from the legacy of [[Adolf Hitler]] and [[Nazism]], which includes the [[Holocaust]] and millions of other casualties. He was able to use his position to benefit himself. The confiscation of Jewish property gave Göring great opportunities to amass a personal fortune. Some properties he seized himself, or acquired for a nominal price. In other cases, he collected fat bribes for allowing others to grab Jewish property. He also took kickbacks from industrialists for favorable decisions as Four Year Plan director.
  
−
In [[A Matter of Honor]] by [[Jeffrey Archer]], Hermann Göring's suicide is the cause of Adam Scott's father's downfall, as he was guarding Göring at the time. He is also the one who left the Czar's Icon to Scott.
+
Göring was also noted for his patronage of music, especially [[opera]]. He entertained frequently and lavishly. Most infamously, he [[Nazi Plunder|collected art]], looting from numerous museums (some in Germany itself), stealing from Jewish collectors, or buying for a song in occupied countries.
  
−
==Books about Göring==
+
When Göring was promoted to the unique rank of ''Reichsmarschall,'' he designed an elaborate personal flag for himself. The design included a German eagle, swastika, and crossed marshal's batons on one side, and on the other ''Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes'' ("Grand Cross of the Iron Cross") between four Luftwaffe eagles. He had the flag carried by a personal standard-bearer at all public occasions.
−
*{{cite book
 
−
| last = Frischauer
 
−
| first = Willi
 
−
| year = 1951
 
−
| title = The Rise and Fall of Hermann Goering
 
−
| publisher = Ballantine Books
 
−
}}
 
−
* [http://www.third-reich-books.com/x-567-hermann-goering-germany-reborn.htm Excerpt from ''Germany Reborn'', by Hermann Göring, 1934]
 
−
*{{cite book
 
−
| last = Leffland
 
−
| first = Ella
 
−
| year = 1990
 
−
| title = The Knight, Death and the Devil
 
−
| publisher = Morrow
 
−
| location = New York
 
−
| id = ISBN 0688058361
 
−
}}
 
  
−
* {{cite book| title=Göring, a biography| year=1989| isbn=0-688-06606-2| last=Irving| first=David| authorlink=David Irving| publisher=William Morrow| location=New York}}
+
<gallery>
 +
Image:Musee-de-lArmee-IMG 1056.jpg|Standard, on display at the ''Musée de la Guerre'' in the [[Invalides]]
 +
</gallery>
  
−
*{{cite book
+
==Notes==
−
| last = Manvell
+
<references/>
−
| first = Roger
 
−
| coauthors = Heinrich Fraenkel
 
−
| year = 2005
 
−
| title = Goering
 
−
| publisher = Greenhill Books
 
−
| location = London UK
 
−
| isbn = 1853676128
 
−
}}
 
−
*{{cite book
 
−
| last = Maser
 
−
| first = Werner
 
−
| year = 2000
 
−
| title = Hitlers janusköpfiger Paladin: die politische Biographie
 
−
| location = Berlin
 
−
| id = ISBN 38-6124-509-4
 
−
}}
 
−
*{{cite book
 
−
| last = Mosley
 
−
| first = Leonard
 
−
| year = 1974
 
−
| title = The Reich Marshal: A Biography of Hermann Goering
 
−
| publisher = Dell
 
−
| location = New York
 
−
}}
 
−
*{{cite book
 
−
| last = Overy
 
−
| first = Richard J.
 
−
| year = 1984
 
−
| title = Goering: The Iron Man
 
−
| publisher = Routledge
 
−
| location = London
 
−
}}
 
  
 
==References==
 
==References==
−
{{reflist}}
+
 
−
*[[Joachim Fest|Fest, Joachim]]: ''Inside Hitler's Bunker'', Farrar, Straus, and Giroux, 2002 ISBN 0374135770
+
{{Commons|Hermann Wilhelm Göring}}
−
*[[Gustave Gilbert|Gilbert, Gustave]]: "[[Nuremberg Diary]]," originally published: New York: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1947, p. 278-279. ISBN 0306806614
+
{{wikiquote}}
−
*Norman Franks, Frank Bailey, Russell Guest: "Above the Lines- A complete record of the fighter aces of the German Air service 1914-18," page 117.
+
 
 +
*Block, Maxine and E. Mary Trow (1971). ''Current Biography: Who's News and Why 1941.'' New York: H.W. Wilson.  OCLC 16655369
 +
*Brandenburg, Erich (1995). ''Die Nachkommen Karls Des Grossen.'' Neustadt/Aisch: Degener. ISBN 3768651029. 
 +
*Butler, Ewan (1951). ''Marshall Without Glory.'' London: Hodder & Stoughton, 84-87. OCLC 1246848. 
 +
*Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (1986). ''Die Trager Des Ritterkreuzes Des Eisernen Kreuzes, 1939–1945.'' Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3790902845. 
 +
*Fest, Joachim (2004). ''Inside Hitler's Bunker.'' New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. ISBN 0374135770. 
 +
*Franks, Norman (1993). ''Above the Lines.'' City: Grub Street. ISBN 0948817739. 
 +
*Frischauer, Willi (1951). ''The Rise and Fall of Hermann Goering.'' Ballantine Books.  OCLC 30233850
 +
*Gilbert, G. (1995). ''Nuremberg Diary.'' New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306806614. 
 +
*Göring, Hermann (1934). ''Germany Reborn.'' London: E. Mathews & Marrot. OCLC 570220.  Excerpt from Germany Reborn
 +
*Gritzbach, Erich (1939). ''Hermann Goering: The Man and His Work.'' London: Hurst & Blackett. OCLC 58964284. 
 +
*Hildebrand, Klaus (1973). ''The Foreign Policy of the Third Reich.'' London: Batsford Press. ISBN 0520025288. 
 +
*Hitler, Adolf (1988). ''Hitler's Table Talk, 1941–1944.'' Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192851802. 
 +
*Irving, David (1989). ''Göring: A Biography.'' New York: Morrow. ISBN 0688066062. 
 +
*Leffland, Ella (1990). ''The Knight, Death and the Devil.'' New York: Morrow. ISBN 0688058361. 
 +
*Manvell, Roger (2006). ''Goering.'' London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1853676128. 
 +
*Maser, Werner (2000). ''Hitlers janusköpfiger Paladin: die politische Biographie.'' ISBN 3861245094. 
 +
*Mosley, Leonard (1974). ''The Reich Marshal: A Biography of Hermann Goering.'' Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0385049617. 
 +
*Overy, Richard (2000). ''Goering.'' London: Phoenix Press. ISBN 1842120484. 
 +
*Paul, Wolfgang (1983). ''Wer War Hermann Goring: Biographie.'' City: Bechtle, 33. ISBN 3762804273. 
 +
*Speer, Albert (1997). ''Inside the Third Reich.'' New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684829495. 
 +
*Taylor, Telford (1992). ''The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials.'' New York: Knopf. ISBN 0394583558.
  
 
==External links==
 
==External links==
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*[http://www.jta.org/page_view_story.asp?intarticleid=16050&intcategoryid=5 A survivor and Nuremberg journalist recalls a surreal meeting with Goering] By Ernest W. Michel for the [[Jewish Telegrahphic Agency|JTA]] November 21 2005
+
All links retrieved December 21, 2017.
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* [http://www.trial-ch.org/no_cache/fr/trial-watch/profil/db/facts/hermann_goering_116.html TRIAL: Göring trial]
 
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*[http://www.historynet.com/wars_conflicts/world_war_2/3751042.html Göring’s last prison interview he gave to US Army Intelligence before the Nuremberg Trials] published by [http://www.thehistorynet.com World War II Magazine]
 
  
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{{start box}}
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* [http://www.archive.org/details/GermanyReborn ''Germany Reborn'' by Hermann Goring]
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{{succession box | title=[[Oberste SA-Führer|Leader of the SA]] | before=[[Hans Ulrich Klintzsche]] | after=Post vacant from 1923-1925 | years=1923}}
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* {{imdb name|0351425|Hermann Göring}} the [[Internet Movie Database]]
  
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{{succession box | title=[[Prime Minister of Prussia]] | before=[[Franz von Papen]]<br/>(Reichskomissar) | after=Prussia abolished | years=1933&ndash;1945}}
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{{s-start}}
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{{s-vac|next=[[Franz Pfeffer von Salomon]]}}
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|-
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{{s-mil}}
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{{s-new|reason=Luftwaffe re-established}}
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{{s-ttl|title=Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe|years=1935–1945}}
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{{s-aft|after=[[Robert Ritter von Greim]]}}
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|-
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{{s-off}}
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{{s-bef|before=[[Franz von Papen]]<br />''(Reichskomissar)''}}
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{{s-non|reason=Prussia abolished}}
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{{s-end}}
  
 
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[[Category:History and biography]]
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Latest revision as of 14:29, 12 February 2022

Hermann Wilhelm Göring
Hermann Goering

President of the Reichstag
In office
1932 – 1945
President Paul von Hindenburg
Adolf Hitler
Preceded by Paul Löbe
Succeeded by none
Minister President of the Free State of Prussia
In office
April 10, 1933 – April 24, 1945
Preceded by Franz von Papen
Succeeded by Prussia abolished
Reichsstatthalter of Prussia
In office
1935 – 1945
Prime Minister Himself
Preceded by Adolf Hitler
Succeeded by Prussia abolished
Reich Minister of Aviation
In office
April 1933 – April 1945
President Paul von Hindenburg
Adolf Hitler
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by N/A
Reich Minister of Forestry
In office
July 1934 – April 1945
President Paul von Hindenburg
Adolf Hitler
Preceded by Position established
Succeeded by N/A
Reich Minister of Economics
In office
November 1937 – January 1938
President Adolf Hitler
Preceded by Hjalmar Schacht
Succeeded by Walther Funk
Born January 12, 1893
Rosenheim, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Died October 15, 1946 (aged 53)
Nuremberg, Germany
Political party NSDAP
Spouse Karin von Kantznow (1923–1931, deceased)
Emmy Sonnemann (1935–1946)
Children 4

Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also spelled Goering) (January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946) was a German politician, military leader and a leading member of the Nazi Party. Among many offices, he was Hitler's designated successor and commander of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force). He was a veteran of the First World War with twenty-two confirmed kills as a fighter pilot, and recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite ("The Blue Max"). He was the last commander of Manfred von Richthofen's famous Jagdgeschwader 1 air squadron (Red Baron).

Goering was one of the central figures in the Nazi regime that was responsible for some of the worst atrocities committed in the twentieth century, including but not limited to the Holocaust.

Following the end of the Second World War, Göring was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials. He was sentenced to death by hanging, but committed suicide the night before he was due to be hanged.

Family background and relatives

Göring was born at the sanatorium Marienbad in Rosenheim, Bavaria. His father Heinrich Ernst Göring (October 31, 1839 – December 7, 1913) had been the first Governor-General of the German protectorate of South West Africa (modern day Namibia)[1] having formerly served as a cavalry officer and member of the German consular service. Göring had among his patrilineal ancestors Eberle/Eberlin, a Swiss-German family of high bourgeoisie.

Göring was a relative of such Eberle/Eberlin descendants as the German aviation pioneer Count Ferdinand von Zeppelin; German romantic nationalist Hermann Grimm (1828–1901), an author of the concept of the German hero as a mover of history, whom the Nazis claimed as one of their ideological forerunners; the industrialist family Merck, the owners of the pharmaceutical giant Merck; one of the world's major Catholic writers and poets of the 20th century German Baroness Gertrud von LeFort, whose works were largely inspired by her revulsion against Nazism; and Swiss diplomat, historian and President of International Red Cross, Carl J. Burckhardt.

In an historical coincidence, Göring was related via the Eberle/Eberlin line to Jacob Burckhardt (1818–1897), a great Swiss scholar of art and culture who was a major political and social thinker as well an opponent of nationalism and militarism, who rejected German claims of cultural and intellectual superiority and predicted a cataclysmic 20th century in which violent demagogues, whom he called "terrible simplifiers," would play central roles.[2]

Göring's mother Franziska "Fanny" Tiefenbrunn (1859 - July 15, 1923) came from a Bavarian peasant family. The marriage of a gentleman to a woman from lower class (1885) occurred only because Heinrich Ernst Göring was a widower. Hermann Göring was one of five children; his brothers were Albert Göring and Karl Ernst Göring, and his sisters were Olga Therese Sophia Goring and Paula Elisabeth Rosa Göring, the last of whom were from his father's first marriage.[3] While anti-Semitism became rampant in Germany of that time, his parents were not anti-Semitic.

Hermann Göring had an older brother Karl Goring, who migrated to the United States. Karl's son, Werner G. Göring, became a Captain in the Army Air Force and piloted B-17s on bombing missions over Europe. Göring's younger brother Albert Göring was opposed to the Nazi regime, and helped Jews and other dissidents in Germany during the Nazi era. He is said to have forged his brother Hermann's signature on transit papers to enable escapes, among other acts.

Early life and Ritter von Epenstein

Göring later claimed his given name was chosen to honor the Arminius who defeated the legions of Rome at Teutoburg Forest. However the name was possibly to honor his godfather, a Christian of Jewish descent[4] born Hermann Epenstein. Epenstein, whose father was an army surgeon in Berlin, became a wealthy physician and businessman and a major if not paternal influence on Göring's childhood. Much of Hermann's very early childhood, including a lengthy separation from his parents when his father took diplomatic posts in Africa and in Haiti (climates ruled too brutal for a young European child), was spent with governesses and with distant relatives. However, upon Heinrich Göring's retirement ca. 1898 his large family, supported solely on Heinrich's civil service pension, became for financially practical reasons the houseguests of their longtime friend and Göring's probable namesake, a man whose minor title (acquired through service and donation to the Crown) made him now known as Hermann, Ritter von Epenstein.

Ritter von Epenstein purchased two largely dilapidated castles, Burg Veldenstein in Bavaria and Schloss Mauterndorf near Salzburg, Austria, whose very expensive restorations were ongoing by the time of Hermann Göring's birth. Both castles were to be residences to the Göring family, their official "caretakers" until 1913. Both castles were also ultimately to be his property. In 1914 he tried to commit suicide; however, he was found by his mother,and was sent to the hospital. He survived after cutting his wrist and was soon sent back home. In 1915 he joined the army and fought in the Battle of the Somme.

According to some biographers of both Hermann Göring and his younger brother Albert Göring, soon after the family took residence in his castles, von Epenstein began an adulterous relationship with Frau Göring[5] and may in fact have been Albert's father. (Albert's physical resemblance to von Epenstein was noted even during his childhood and is evident in photographs.) Whatever the nature of von Epenstein's relationship with his mother, the young Hermann Göring enjoyed a close relationship with his godfather. Göring was unaware of von Epenstein's Jewish ancestry and birth until, as a child at a prestigious Austrian boarding school (where his tuition was paid by von Epenstein), he wrote an essay in praise of his godfather and was mocked by the school's anti-Semitic headmaster for professing such admiration for a Jew. Göring initially denied the allegation, but when confronted with proof in the "Semi-Gotha",[6] a book of German heraldry (Ritter von Epenstein had purchased his minor title and castles with wealth garnered from speculation and trade and was thus included in a less than complimentary reference work on German speaking nobility), Göring, to his youthful credit, remained steadfast in his devotion to his family's friend and patron so adamantly that he was expelled from the school. The action seems to have tightened the already considerable bond between godfather and godson.

Relations between the Göring family and von Epenstein became far more formal during Göring's adolescence (causing Mosley and other biographers to speculate that perhaps the theorized affair ended naturally or that the elderly Heinrich discovered he was a cuckold and threatened its exposure). By the time of Heinrich Göring's death, the family no longer lived in a residence supplied by or seemed to have much contact at all with von Epenstein (though the family's comfortable circumstances indicate the Ritter may have continued to support them financially). Late in his life, Ritter von Epenstein wed a singer, Lily, who was half his age, bequeathing her his estate in his will, but requesting that she in turn bequeath the castles at Mauterndorf and Veldenstein to his godson Hermann upon her own death.

First World War

Göring was sent to boarding school at Ansbach, Franconia and then attended the cadet institutes at Karlsruhe and the military college at Berlin Lichterfelde. Göring was commissioned in the Prussian army on 22 June 1912 in the Prinz Wilhelm Regiment (112th Infantry), headquartered at Mulhouse as part of the 29th Division of the Imperial German Army.

During the first year of World War I, Göring served with an infantry regiment in the Vosges region. He was hospitalized with Rheumatism resulting from the damp of trench warfare. While he was recovering, his friend Bruno Loerzer convinced him to transfer to the Luftstreitkräfte. Göring's application to transfer was immediately turned down. But later that year Göring flew as Loerzer's observer in Feldflieger Ableilung (FFA) 25; Göring had arranged his own transfer. He was detected and sentenced to three weeks' confinement to barracks. The sentence was never carried out: by the time it was imposed Göring's association with Loerzer had been regularized. They were assigned as a team to the 25th Field Air Detachment of the Crown Prince's Fifth Army–"though it seems that they had to steal a plane in order to qualify."[7] They flew reconnaissance and bombing missions for which the Crown Prince invested both Göring and Loerzer with the Iron Cross, first class.

On completing his pilot's training course he was posted back to Feldflieger Ableilung (FFA) 2 in October 1915. Göring had already claimed two air victories as an Observer (one unconfirmed). He gained another flying a Fokker EIII single-seater scout in March 1916. In October 1916 he was posted to Jagdstaffel 5, but was wounded in action in November. In February 1917 he joined Jagdstaffel 26. He now scored steadily until in May 1917 he got his first command, Jasta 27. Serving with Jastas 5, 26 and 27, he claimed 21 air victories. Besides the Iron Cross, he was awarded the Zaehring Lion with swords, the Karl Friedrich Order and the House Order of Hohenzollern with swords, third class, and finally in May 1918 (despite not having the required 25 air victories) the coveted Pour le Mérite.[8] On July 7, 1918, after the death of Wilhelm Reinhard, the successor of The Red Baron, he was made commander of Jagdgeschwader Freiherr von Richthofen, Jagdgeschwader 1.

In June 1917, after a lengthy dogfight, Göring shot down an Australian pilot named Frank Slee. The battle is recounted in The Rise and Fall of Hermann Goering. Göring landed and met the Australian, and presented Slee with his Iron Cross. Years after, Slee gave Göring's Iron Cross to a friend, who later died on the beaches of Normandy on D-Day. Also during the war Göring had through his generous treatment made a friend of his prisoner of war Captain Frank Beaumont, a Royal Flying Corps pilot. "It was part of Goering's creed to admire a good enemy, and he did his best to keep Captain Beaumont from being taken over by the Army."[9]

Göring finished the war with twenty-two confirmed kills.

Because of his arrogance[10] Göring's appointment as commander of Jagdgeschwader 1 had not been well received. Though after demobilization Göring and his officers spent most of their time during the first weeks of November 1918 in the Stiftskeller, the best restaurant and drinking place in Aschaffenburg,[11] he was the only veteran of Jagdgeschwader 1 never invited to post-war reunions.

Göring was genuinely surprised (at least by his own account) at Germany's defeat in the First World War. He felt personally violated by the surrender, the Kaiser's abdication, the humiliating terms, and the supposed treachery of the post-war German politicians who had "goaded the people [to uprising] [and] who [had] stabbed our glorious Army in the back [thinking] of nothing but of attaining power and of enriching themselves at the expense of the people."[12] Ordered to surrender the planes of his squadron to the Allies in December 1918, Göring and his fellow pilots intentionally wrecked the planes on landing. This endeavour paralleled the scuttling of surrendered ships. Typical for the political climate of the day, he was not arrested or even officially reprimanded for his action.

Postwar

He remained in flying after the war, worked briefly at Fokker, tried "barnstorming," and in 1920 he joined Svenska Lufttrafik. He was also listed on the officer rolls of the Reichswehr, the post-World War I peacetime army of Germany, and by 1933 had risen to the rank of Generalmajor. He was made a Generalleutnant in 1935 and then a General in the Luftwaffe upon its founding later that year.

Göring as a veteran pilot was often hired to fly businessmen and others on private aircraft. On a winter's day in 1920 Count Eric von Rosen, a widely-known and intrepid explorer, arrived at an aerodrome in Sweden and requested a flight to his estate at Rockelstad near Sparreholm.[13] It was a short journey by air and as it was snowing it seemed a flight would be the quick way home. The count relished the challenge of flying through snow if a brave enough pilot could be found. With only one or two hours of daylight left, Göring readily agreed to make the journey. After take-off they got lost as the aircraft pitched and plunged over trees and valleys; the count was violently airsick. They finally touched down on the frozen Lake Båven near Rockelstad Castle. It was too late for Göring to go back that day so he accepted the count and countess's invitation to stay overnight at the castle.[14]

The medieval castle, with its suits of armor, paintings, hunting relics and exploration trophies was suited to romance. It may have been here that Göring first saw the swastika emblem, a family badge which was set in the chimney piece around the roaring fire.[15]

This was also the first time Göring saw his future wife. A great staircase led down into the hall opposite the fireplace. As Göring looked up he saw a woman coming down the staircase as if toward him. The count introduced his sister-in-law Baroness Karin von Kantzow (née Freiin von Fock, 1888–1931) to the 27-year-old Göring.[16]

Carin was a tall, maternal, unhappy, sentimental woman five years Göring's senior, estranged from her husband and in delicate health. Göring was immediately smitten with her. Carin's eldest sister and biographer claimed that it was love at first sight. Carin was carefully looked after by her parents as well as by Count and Countess von Rosen. She was also married and had an eight year old son Thomas to whom she was devoted. No romance other than one of courtly love was possible at this point.[17]

First marriage

Carin divorced her estranged husband, Niels Gustav von Kantzow, in December 1922. She married Göring on 3 January 1923 in Stockholm. Von Kantzow behaved generously. He provided a financial settlement which enabled Carin and Göring to set up their first home together in Germany. It was a hunting lodge at Hochkreuth in the Bavarian Alps, near Bayrischzell, some 50 miles from Munich.

Early Nazi

Göring joined the Nazi Party in 1922 and took over the SA leadership as the Oberste SA-Führer. After stepping down as SA Commander, he was appointed an SA-Gruppenführer (Lieutenant General) and held this rank on the SA rolls until 1945. Hitler later recalled his early association with Göring thus:

I liked him. I made him the head of my S.A. He is the only one of its heads that ran the S.A. properly. I gave him a disheveled rabble. In a very short time he had organized a division of 11,000 men.[18]

At this time Carin, who liked Hitler, often played hostess to meetings of leading Nazis including her husband, Hitler, Hess, Rosenberg and Röhm.

Göring was with Hitler in the Beer Hall Putsch in Munich on 9 November 1923. He marched beside Hitler at the head of the SA. When the Bavarian police broke up the march with gunfire, Göring was seriously wounded in the groin.

Addiction and exile

Stricken with pneumonia, Carin arranged for Göring to be spirited away to Austria. Göring was in no fit state to travel and the journey may have aggravated his condition, although he did avoid arrest. Göring was x-rayed and operated on in the hospital at Innsbruck. Carin wrote to her mother from Göring's bedside on December 8, 1923 describing the terrible pain Göring was in: "… in spite of being dosed with morphine every day, his pain stays just as bad as ever."[19] This was the beginning of his morphine addiction. Meanwhile in Munich the authorities declared Göring a wanted man.

The Görings, acutely short of funds and reliant on the goodwill of Nazi sympathizers abroad, moved from Austria to Venice then in May 1924 to Rome via Florence and Siena. Göring met Benito Mussolini in Rome. Mussolini expressed some interest in meeting Hitler, by then in prison, upon his release.[20] Personal problems, however, continued to multiply. Göring's mother had died in 1923. By 1925 it was Carin's mother who was ill. The Görings with difficulty raised the money for a journey in spring 1925 to Sweden via Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland and the Free City of Danzig. Göring had become a violent morphine addict and Carin's family were shocked by his deterioration when they saw him. Carin, herself an epileptic, had to let the doctors and police take full charge of Göring. He was certified a dangerous drug addict and placed in the violent ward of Långbro asylum on 1 September 1925.[21]

The 1925 psychiatrist's reports claimed Göring to be weak of character, a hysteric and unstable personality, sentimental yet callous, violent when afraid and a person who deployed bravado to hide a basic lack of moral courage. "Like many men capable of great acts of physical courage which verge quite often on desperation, he lacked the finer kind of courage in the conduct of his life which was needed when serious difficulties overcame him."[22]

At the time of Göring's detention all doctors' reports in Sweden were in the public domain. In 1925, Carin sued for custody of her son. Niels von Kantzow, her ex-husband, used a doctor's report on Carin and Göring as evidence to show that neither of them was fit to look after the boy, and so von Kantzow kept custody. The reports were also used by political opponents in Germany.

Politics and Nazi electoral victory

Göring returned to Germany in autumn 1927, after the newly elected President von Hindenburg declared amnesty for participants in the 1923 Putsch. Göring resumed his political work for Hitler. He became the 'salon Nazi', the Party's representative in upper class circles. Göring was elected to the Reichstag in 1928. In 1932, he was elected President of the Reichstag, which he remained until 1945.

His wife Carin died on October 17, 1931, aged 42, of tuberculosis.

Hitler became Chancellor on January 30, 1933, striking a deal with the conservative intriguer Franz von Papen. Only two other Nazis were included in the cabinet. One was Göring, who was named minister without portfolio. It was understood, however, that he would be named minister of aviation once Germany built up an air force. At Hitler's insistence, Göring also was appointed interior minister of Prussia under Papen, who doubled as Vice Chancellor of the Reich and minister-president of Prussia. (Prussia at this time, though a constituent state of Germany, included over half of the country.)

Although his appointment as Prussian interior minister was little noticed at the time, it made Göring commander of the largest police force in Germany. He moved quickly to Nazify the police and use them against the Social Democrats and Communists. On February 22, Göring ordered the police to recruit "auxiliaries" from the Nazi party militia, and to cease all opposition to the street violence of the SA. New elections were scheduled for March 5, and Göring's police minions harassed and suppressed political opponents and rivals of the Nazis. He also detached the political and intelligence departments from the Prussian police and reorganized them as the Gestapo, a secret police force.

On February 28, 1933, the Reichstag building was gutted by fire. The Reichstag fire was arson, and the Nazis blamed the Communists. Göring himself met Hitler at the fire scene, and denounced it as "a Communist outrage," the first act in a planned uprising. Hitler agreed. The next day, the Reichstag Fire Decree suspended civil liberties.

Göring ordered the complete suppression of the Communist party. Most German states banned party meetings and publications, but in Prussia, Göring's police summarily arrested 25,000 Communists and other leftists, including the entire Party leadership, save those that escaped abroad. Hundreds of other prominent anti-Nazis were also rounded up. Göring told the Prussian police that "…all other restraints on police action imposed by Reich and state law are abolished…."

On March 5, the Nazi-DNVP coalition won a narrow majority in the election; on March 23, the Reichstag passed the Enabling Act, which effectively gave Hitler dictatorial powers. As part of the anti-Communist campaign, in the first executions in the Third Reich, Göring declined to commute the August 1933 death sentences passed against Bruno Tesch and three other Communists for their alleged role in the deaths of two SA members and 16 others in the Altona Bloody Sunday (Altonaer Blutsonntag) riot, an SA march on July 17, 1932.[23][24].

Second marriage

During the early 1930s Göring was often in the company of Emmy Sonnemann (1893–1973), an actress from Hamburg. He proposed to her in Weimar in February 1935. The wedding took place on April 10, 1935 in Berlin and was celebrated like the marriage of an emperor. They had a daughter, Edda Göring (born June 2, 1938) who was then thought to be named after Countess Edda Ciano, eldest child of Benito Mussolini. Actually, Edda was named after a friend of her mother.[25]

Nazi potentate

Göring was one of the key figures in the process of "forcible coordination" (Gleichschaltung) that established the Nazi dictatorship. For example, in 1933, Göring promulgated the ban on all Roman Catholic newspapers in Germany as a means of removing not only resistance to National Socialism but also to deprive the population of alternative forms of association and means of political communication.

Uniform is on display at the Luftwaffenmuseum der Bundeswehr

In the Nazi regime's early years, Göring served as minister in various key positions at both the Reich (German national) level and other levels as required. In the state of Prussia, Göring was responsible for the economy as well as re-armament.

His police forces included the Gestapo, which he converted into a political spy force. But in 1934 Hitler transferred the Gestapo to Himmler's SS. Göring retained Special Police Battalion Wecke, which he converted to a paramilitary unit attached to the Landespolizei (State Police), Landespolizeigruppe General Göring. This formation participated in the Night of the Long Knives, when the SA leaders were purged. Göring was head of the Forschungsamt (FA), which secretly monitored telephone and radio communications, The FA was connected to the SS, the SD, and Abwehr intelligence services.

After Hjalmar Schacht was removed as Minister of Economics, Göring effectively took over. In 1936, he became Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan for German rearmament. The vast steel plant Reichswerke Hermann Göring was named after him. He gained great influence with Hitler (who placed a high value on rearmament). He never seemed to accept the Hitler Myth quite as much as Goebbels and Himmler did, but remained loyal nevertheless.

In 1938, Göring forced out the War Minister, Field Marshal von Blomberg, and the Army commander, General von Fritsch. They had welcomed Hitler's accession in 1933, but then annoyed him by criticizing his plans for expansionist wars. Göring, who had been best man at Blomberg's recent wedding to a 26-year-old typist, discovered that the young woman was a former prostitute, and blackmailed him into resigning. Fritsch was accused of homosexual activity, and though completely innocent, resigned in shock and disgust. He was later exonerated by a "court of honor" presided over by Göring.

Also in 1938, Göring played a key role in the Anschluss (annexation) of Austria. At the height of the crisis, Göring spoke on the telephone to Austrian Chancellor Schuschnigg. Göring announced Germany's intent to march into Austria, and threatened war and the destruction of Austria if there was any resistance. Schuschnigg collapsed, and the German army marched into Austria without resistance.

Göring and Foreign Policy

The German diplomatic historian Klaus Hildebrand in his study of German foreign policy in the Nazi era noted that besides for Hitler’s foreign policprogramme that there existed three other rival foreigprogramses held by fractions in the Nazi Party, whom Hildebrand dubbed the agrarians, the revolutionary socialists and the Wilhelmine Imperialists[26]. Göring was certainly an ardent Nazi and utterly loyal to Hitler. But his preferences in foreign policy were different. Göring was the most prominent of the "Wilhelmine Imperialist" group in the Nazi regime. This group wanted to restore the German frontiers of 1914, regain the pre-1914 overseas empire, and make Eastern Europe Germany's exclusive sphere of influence. This was a much more limited set of goals than Hitler's dream of Lebensraum seized in merciless racial wars. By contrast, Göring and the "Wilhelmine Imperialist" fraction were more guided by traditional Machtpolitik in their foreign policy conceptions.[27].

Furthermore, the "Wilhelmine Imperialists" expected to achieved their goals within the established international order. While not rejecting war as an option, they preferred diplomacy, and sought political domination in eastern Europe rather than the military conquests envisioned by Hitler. And they rejected Hitler's mystical vision of war as a necessary ordeal for the nation, and of perpetual war as desirable. Göring himself feared that a major war might interfere with his luxurious lifestyle.

Göring's advocacy of this policy led to his temporary exclusion by Hitler for a time in 1938-39 from foreign policy decisions. Göring'unwillingnessss to offer a major challenge to Hitler prevented him from offering any serious resistance to Hitler's policies, and the "Wilhelmine Imperialists" had no real influence.[28][29][30]

Complicity in the Holocaust

Göring's letter to Reinhard Heydrich ordering him to arrange "für eine Gesamtlösung der Judenfrage im deutschen Einflußgebiet in Europa" - for a final solution of the Jewish Question in the German sphere of influence in Europe.

Göring was the highest figure in the Nazi hierarchy to issue written orders for the "final solution of the Jewish Question," when he issued a memo to Heydrich to organize the practical details. This resulted in the Wannsee Conference. Göring wrote, "submit to me as soon as possible a general plan of the administrative material and financial measures necessary for carrying out the desired final solution of the Jewish question." It is almost certain however that Hitler issued an oral order to Göring in late 1941 to this effect.

Head of the Luftwaffe

When the Nazis took power, Göring was Minister of Civil Air Transport, which was a screen for the build-up of German war aviation, prohibited by the Treaty of Versailles. When Hitler repudiated Versailles, in 1935, the Luftwaffe was unveiled, with Göring as Minister and Oberbefehlshaber (Supreme Commander). In 1938, he became the first Generalfeldmarschall (Field Marshal) of the Luftwaffe this promotion also made him the highest ranking officer in Germany. Göring directed the rapid creation of this new branch of service. Within a few years, Germany produced large numbers of the world's most advanced military aircraft.

In 1936, Göring at Hitler's direction sent several hundred aircraft along with several thousand air and ground crew, to assist the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War this became known as the Condor Legion.

By 1939 the Luftwaffe was the most advanced and one of the most powerful air forces in the world. On 9 August 1939, Göring boasted "The Ruhr will not be subjected to a single bomb. If an enemy bomber reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Hermann Göring: you can call me Meier!" ("I want to be called Meier if …." is a German idiom to express that something is impossible. Meier (in several spelling variants) is the second most common surname in Germany.) By the end of the war, Berlin's air raid sirens were bitterly known to the city's residents as "Meier's trumpets," or "Meier's hunting horns."

Göring's private army

Unusually, the Luftwaffe also included its own ground troops, which became Göring's private army. German Fallschirmjäger (parachute and glider) troops were organized as part of the Luftwaffe, not as part of the Army. These formations eventually grew to over 30 divisions, which almost never operated as airborne troops. About half were "field divisions," that is, plain infantry.

There was even a Fallschirm-Panzer Division 1 Hermann Göring, which had originally been the special police battalion mentioned above. Many of these divisions were led by officers with little or no training for ground combat, and performed badly as a result. In 1945, two Fallschirmjäger divisions were deployed on the Oder front. Göring said at a staff meeting "When both my airborne divisions attack, the entire Red Army can be thrown to hell." But when the Red Army attacked, Göring's 9th Parachute Division collapsed.

Second World War

Göring's Reichsmarschall baton

Göring was skeptical of Hitler's war plans. He believed Germany was not prepared for a new conflict and, in particular, that his Luftwaffe was not yet ready to beat the British Royal Air Force (RAF). His personal luxuries might be endangered, too. So he made contacts through various diplomats and emissaries to avoid war.

However, once Hitler decided on war, Göring supported him completely. On 1 September 1939, the first day of the war, Hitler spoke to the Reichstag at the Kroll Opera House. In this speech he designated Göring as his successor "if anything should befall me."

Initially, decisive German victories followed quickly one after the other. The Luftwaffe destroyed the Polish Air Force within two weeks. The Fallschirmjäger seized key airfields in Norway and captured Fort Eben-Emael in Belgium. German air-to-ground attacks served as the "flying artillery" of the panzer troops in the blitzkrieg of France. "Leave it to my Luftwaffe" became Göring's perpetual gloat.

After the defeat of France, Hitler awarded Göring the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross for his successful leadership. By a decree on 19 July 1940, Hitler promoted Göring to the rank of Reichsmarschall (Marshal of Germany), the highest military rank of the Greater German Reich. Reichsmarschall was a special rank for Göring, which made him senior to all other Army and Luftwaffe Field Marshals.

Göring's political and military careers were at their peak. Göring had already received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 30 September 1939 as Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe.[31]

Göring promised Hitler that the Luftwaffe would quickly destroy the RAF, or break British morale with devastating air raids. He personally directed the first attacks on Britain from his private luxury train. But the Luftwaffe failed to gain control of the skies in the Battle of Britain. This was Hitler's first defeat. And Britain withstood the worst the Luftwaffe could do for the eight months of "the Blitz."

However, the damage inflicted on British cities largely maintained Göring's prestige. The Luftwaffe destroyed Belgrade in April 1941, and Fallschirmjäger captured Crete from the British army in May 1941.

The eastern front

If Göring was skeptical about war against Britain and France, he was absolutely certain that a new campaign against the Soviet Union was doomed to defeat. After trying, completely in vain, to convince Hitler to give up Operation Barbarossa, he embraced the campaign. Hitler still relied on him completely. On June 29, Hitler composed a special 'testament', which was kept secret till the end of the war. This formally designated Göring as "my deputy in all my offices" if Hitler was unable to function, and his successor if he died. Ironically, Göring did not know the contents of this testament, which was marked "To be opened only by the Reichsmarschall," until after leaving Berlin in April 1945 for Berchtesgaden, where it had been kept.

The Luftwaffe shared in the initial victories in the east, destroying thousands of Soviet aircraft. But as Soviet resistance grew and the weather turned bad, the Luftwaffe became overstretched and exhausted.

Göring by this time had lost interest in administering the Luftwaffe. That duty was left to incompetent favorites such as Udet and Jeschonnek. Aircraft production lagged. Yet Göring persisted in outlandish promises. When the Soviets surrounded a German army in Stalingrad in 1942, Göring encouraged Hitler to fight for the city rather than retreat. He asserted that the Luftwaffe would deliver 500 tons per day of supplies to the trapped force. In fact no more than 100 tons were ever delivered in a day, and usually much less. While Göring's men struggled to fly in the savage Russian winter, Göring had his usual lavish birthday party.

Göring was in charge of exploiting the vast industrial resources captured during the war, particularly in the Soviet Union. This proved to be an almost total failure, and little of the available potential was effectively harnessed for the service of the German military machine.

The bomber war

As early as 1940, British aircraft raided targets in Germany, debunking Göring's assurance that the Reich would never be attacked. By 1942, the bombers were coming by hundreds and thousands. Entire cities such as Cologne and Hamburg were devastated. The Luftwaffe responded with night fighters and anti-aircraft guns. Göring was still nominally in charge, but in practice he had little to do with operations.

Göring's prestige, reputation, and influence with Hitler all declined, especially after the Stalingrad debacle. Hitler could not publicly repudiate him without embarrassment, but contact between them largely stopped. Göring withdrew from the military and political scene to enjoy the pleasures of life as a wealthy and powerful man. His reputation for extravagance made him particularly unpopular as ordinary Germans began to suffer deprivation.

The end of the war

In 1945, Göring fled the Berlin area with trainloads of treasures for the Nazi alpine resort in Berchtesgaden. He was presented with Hitler's testament, which he read for the first time. On 23 April, as Soviet troops closed in around Berlin, Göring sent a radiogram to Hitler, suggesting that the testament should now come into force. He added that if he did not hear back from Hitler by 10 PM, he would assume Hitler was incapacitated, and would assume leadership of the Reich.

Hitler was enraged by this proposal, which Bormann portrayed as an attempted coup d'état. On April 25, Hitler ordered the SS to arrest Göring. On April 26, Hitler dismissed Göring as commander of the Luftwaffe. In his last will and testament, Hitler dismissed Göring from all his offices and expelled him from the Nazi Party. On April 28, Hitler ordered the SS to execute Göring, his wife, and their daughter (Hitler's own goddaughter). But this order was ignored.

Instead, the Görings and their SS captors moved together, to the same Schloß Mauterndorf where Göring had spent much of his childhood and which he had inherited (along with Burg Veldenstein) from his godfather's widow in 1937. (Göring had arranged for preferential treatment for the woman, and protected her from confiscation and arrest as the widow of a wealthy Jew.)

Capture, trial, and death

Göring (first row, far left) at the Nuremberg Trials.

Göring surrendered on May 9, 1945 in Bavaria. He was the third-highest-ranking Nazi official tried at Nuremberg, behind Reich President (former Admiral) Karl Dönitz and former Deputy Führer Hess. Göring's last days were spent with Captain Gustave Gilbert, a German-speaking American intelligence officer and psychologist (and a Jew), who had access to all the prisoners held in the Nuremberg jail. Gilbert classified Göring as having an IQ of 138, the same as Dönitz. Gilbert kept a journal which he later published as Nuremberg Diary. Here he describes Göring on the evening of April 18, 1946, as the trials were halted for a three-day Easter recess.

Sweating in his cell in the evening, Göring was defensive and deflated and not very happy over the turn the trial was taking. He said that he had no control over the actions or the defensee of the others, and that he had never been anti-Semitic himself, had not believed these atrocities, and that several Jews had offered to testify on his behalf.[32]

Despite claims that he was not anti-Semitic, while in the prison yard at Nuremberg, after hearing a remark about Jewish survivors in Hungary, Albert Speer reported overhearing Göring say, "So, there are still some there? I thought we had knocked off all of them. Somebody slipped up again."[33] Despite his claims of non-involvement, he was confronted with orders he had signed for the murder of Jews and prisoners of war.

Though he defended himself vigorously, and actually appeared to be winning the trial early on (partly by building popularity with the audience by making jokes and finding holes in the prosecution's case) he was sentenced to death by hanging. The judgment stated that:[34]

There is nothing to be said in mitigation. For Goering was often, indeed almost always, the moving force, second only to his leader. He was the leading war aggressor, both as political and as military leader; he was the director of the slave labour program and the creator of the oppressive program against the Jews and other races, at home and abroad. All of these crimes he has frankly admitted. On some specific cases there may be conflict of testimony, but in terms of the broad outline, his own admissions are more than sufficiently wide to be conclusive of his guilt. His guilt is unique in its enormity. The record discloses no excuses for this man.[35]

Göring made an appeal, offering to accept the court's death sentence if he were shot as a soldier instead of hanged as a common criminal, but the court refused.

Defying the sentence imposed by his captors, he committed suicide with a potassium cyanide capsule the night before he was to be hanged. Where Göring obtained the cyanide, and how he concealed it during his entire imprisonment at Nuremberg, remains unknown. It has been claimed that Göring befriended U.S. Army Lieutenant Jack G. "Tex" Wheelis, who was stationed at the Nuremberg Trials and helped Göring obtain cyanide which had been hidden among Göring's personal effects when they were confiscated by the Army.[36] In 2005, former U.S. Army Private Herbert Lee Stivers claimed he gave Göring "medicine" hidden inside a gift fountain pen from a German woman the private had met and flirted with. Stivers served in the 1st Infantry Division's 26th Regiment, who formed the honor guard for the Nuremberg Trials. Stivers claims to have been unaware of what the "medicine" he delivered actually was until after Göring's death. Regardless of his suicide, his dead body was hanged.

After his death, the bodies of Göring and the other executed Nazi leaders were cremated in the crematorium of the Dachau concentration camp, which had been re-lit exclusively for them. His ashes were scattered in the Conwentzbach in Munich, which runs into the Isar river.

Legacy

Hermann Goering's legacy cannot be separated from the legacy of Adolf Hitler and Nazism, which includes the Holocaust and millions of other casualties. He was able to use his position to benefit himself. The confiscation of Jewish property gave Göring great opportunities to amass a personal fortune. Some properties he seized himself, or acquired for a nominal price. In other cases, he collected fat bribes for allowing others to grab Jewish property. He also took kickbacks from industrialists for favorable decisions as Four Year Plan director.

Göring was also noted for his patronage of music, especially opera. He entertained frequently and lavishly. Most infamously, he collected art, looting from numerous museums (some in Germany itself), stealing from Jewish collectors, or buying for a song in occupied countries.

When Göring was promoted to the unique rank of Reichsmarschall, he designed an elaborate personal flag for himself. The design included a German eagle, swastika, and crossed marshal's batons on one side, and on the other Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes ("Grand Cross of the Iron Cross") between four Luftwaffe eagles. He had the flag carried by a personal standard-bearer at all public occasions.

  • Standard, on display at the Musée de la Guerre in the Invalides

Notes

  1. ↑ Maxine Block and E. Mary Trow. Current Biography: Who's News and Why 1941. (New York: H.W. Wilson, 1971), 327-330
  2. ↑ Wolfgang Paul. Wer War Hermann Goring: Biographie. (Bechtle, City 1983. ISBN 3762804273), 33
  3. ↑ Erich Brandenburg. Die Nachkommen Karls Des Grossen. (Neustadt/Aisch: Degener, 1995. ISBN 3768651029)
  4. ↑ Roger Manvell. Goering. (London: Greenhill Books, 2006. ISBN 1853676128), 24
  5. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 23
  6. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 24
  7. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 29
  8. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 32, 403
  9. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 37
  10. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 403
  11. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 36
  12. ↑ Erich Gritzbach. Hermann Goering: The Man and His Work. (London: Hurst & Blackett, 1939) oclc 58964284 . Hermann Goering: The Man and His Work was the official biography edited by Göring himself. He later claimed the lion's share of the royalties for his efforts, according to Manvell, 2006, 402
  13. ↑ February 21, 1920
  14. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 40
  15. ↑ The swastika was a badge which the count and some friends had adopted at school and it became a family emblem, see Manvell, 2006, 40-41
  16. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 41
  17. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 41
  18. ↑ Adolf Hitler. Hitler's Table Talk, 1941–1944. (Oxford University Press, 1988. ISBN 0192851802), 168
  19. ↑ Quoted in Manvell, 2006, 58
  20. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 60
  21. ↑ Manvell, 2006, 404
  22. ↑ Ewan Butler. Marshall Without Glory. (London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1951), 84-87. oclc 1246848. See also Manvell, 2006, 62
  23. ↑ asfpg Altonaer Stiftung für philosophische Grundlagenforschung Retrieved October 18, 2008.
  24. ↑ TIME, 1933-08-14, Back to the Axe!. TIME. accessdate 2008-08-14}
  25. ↑ TIME magazine: "Lady of the Axis", published 24 July 1939. Retrieved October 18, 2008.
  26. ↑ Klaus Hildebrand. The Foreign Policy of the Third Reich. (London: Batsford, 1973), 14-21
  27. ↑ Hildebrand, 1973, 14-15
  28. ↑ Hildebrand, 1973, 14-21
  29. ↑ D. C. Watt. How War Came. (London: Heinemann, 1989), 619
  30. ↑ Ian Kershaw. Hitler: Nemesis. (New York: W. W. Norton, 2000), 95, 123
  31. ↑ Walther-Peer Fellgiebel. Die Trager Des Ritterkreuzes Des Eisernen Kreuzes, 1939–1945. (Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas, 1986. ISBN 3790902845)
  32. ↑ G. Gilbert. Nuremberg Diary. (New York: Da Capo Press, 1995. ISBN 0306806614), 278
  33. ↑ Albert Speer. Inside the Third Reich. (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1997. ISBN 0684829495), 605
  34. ↑ Judgment of International Military Tribunal on Hermann Goering Retrieved October 18, 2008.
  35. ↑ Judgment of International Military Tribunal on Hermann Goering Retrieved October 18, 2008.
  36. ↑ Telford Taylor. The Anatomy of the Nuremberg Trials. (New York: Knopf, 1992. ISBN 0394583558)

References
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  • Block, Maxine and E. Mary Trow (1971). Current Biography: Who's News and Why 1941. New York: H.W. Wilson. OCLC 16655369
  • Brandenburg, Erich (1995). Die Nachkommen Karls Des Grossen. Neustadt/Aisch: Degener. ISBN 3768651029.
  • Butler, Ewan (1951). Marshall Without Glory. London: Hodder & Stoughton, 84-87. OCLC 1246848.
  • Fellgiebel, Walther-Peer (1986). Die Trager Des Ritterkreuzes Des Eisernen Kreuzes, 1939–1945. Friedberg: Podzun-Pallas. ISBN 3790902845.
  • Fest, Joachim (2004). Inside Hitler's Bunker. New York: Farrar, Strauss and Giroux. ISBN 0374135770.
  • Franks, Norman (1993). Above the Lines. City: Grub Street. ISBN 0948817739.
  • Frischauer, Willi (1951). The Rise and Fall of Hermann Goering. Ballantine Books. OCLC 30233850
  • Gilbert, G. (1995). Nuremberg Diary. New York: Da Capo Press. ISBN 0306806614.
  • Göring, Hermann (1934). Germany Reborn. London: E. Mathews & Marrot. OCLC 570220. Excerpt from Germany Reborn
  • Gritzbach, Erich (1939). Hermann Goering: The Man and His Work. London: Hurst & Blackett. OCLC 58964284.
  • Hildebrand, Klaus (1973). The Foreign Policy of the Third Reich. London: Batsford Press. ISBN 0520025288.
  • Hitler, Adolf (1988). Hitler's Table Talk, 1941–1944. Oxford Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0192851802.
  • Irving, David (1989). Göring: A Biography. New York: Morrow. ISBN 0688066062.
  • Leffland, Ella (1990). The Knight, Death and the Devil. New York: Morrow. ISBN 0688058361.
  • Manvell, Roger (2006). Goering. London: Greenhill Books. ISBN 1853676128.
  • Maser, Werner (2000). Hitlers janusköpfiger Paladin: die politische Biographie. ISBN 3861245094.
  • Mosley, Leonard (1974). The Reich Marshal: A Biography of Hermann Goering. Garden City, NY: Doubleday. ISBN 0385049617.
  • Overy, Richard (2000). Goering. London: Phoenix Press. ISBN 1842120484.
  • Paul, Wolfgang (1983). Wer War Hermann Goring: Biographie. City: Bechtle, 33. ISBN 3762804273.
  • Speer, Albert (1997). Inside the Third Reich. New York: Simon & Schuster. ISBN 0684829495.
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External links

All links retrieved December 21, 2017.


Preceded by:
Hans Ulrich Klintzsche 		Leader of the SA
1923 		Vacant
Title next held by
Franz Pfeffer von Salomon


Military offices
New Title
Luftwaffe re-established 		Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe
1935–1945 		Succeeded by: Robert Ritter von Greim
Political offices
Preceded by:
Franz von Papen
(Reichskomissar) 		Prime Minister of Prussia
1933–1945 		Prussia abolished
German Field Marshals (Generalfeldmarschall) of World War II (in alphabetical order)

Werner von Blomberg | Fedor von Bock | Walther von Brauchitsch | Ernst Busch | Hermann Göring | Robert Ritter von Greim | Wilhelm Keitel | Albert Kesselring | Ewald von Kleist | Günther von Kluge | Georg von Küchler | Wilhelm Ritter von Leeb | Wilhelm List | Erich von Manstein | Erhard Milch | Walter Model | Friedrich Paulus | Walther von Reichenau | Wolfram von Richthofen | Erwin Rommel | Gerd von Rundstedt | Ferdinand Schörner | Hugo Sperrle | Maximilian von Weichs | Erwin von Witzleben

Honorary: Eduard Freiherr von Böhm-Ermolli

German Grand Admirals (Großadmiral) of World War II

Erich Raeder | Karl Dönitz

Principal defendants at the Nuremberg Trials

Bormann · Dönitz · Frank · Frick · Fritzsche · Funk · Göring · Hess · Jodl · Kaltenbrunner · Keitel · v.Neurath · v.Papen · Raeder · v.Ribbentrop · Rosenberg · Sauckel · Schacht · v.Schirach · Seyss-Inquart · Speer · Streicher

Key: Sentenced to death · Imprisoned · Acquitted

Coat of arms of Nazi GermanyThe Hitler Cabinet
(30 January 1933 – 30 April 1945)
Adolf Hitler (Chancellor and Führer)
Franz von Papen (ind) · Konstantin von Neurath · Joachim von Ribbentrop · Wilhelm Frick · Heinrich Himmler · Lutz Graf Schwerin von Krosigk (ind) · Alfred Hugenberg (DNVP) · Kurt Schmitt · Hjalmar Schacht (ind) · Hermann Göring · Walther Funk · Franz Seldte · Franz Gürtner (DNVP) · Franz Schlegelberger · Otto Georg Thierack · Werner von Blomberg (ind) · Wilhelm Keitel (ind) · Freiherr von Eltz-Rübenach (ind) · Julius Dorpmüller · Wilhelm Ohnesorge · Richard Walther Darré · Herbert Backe · Joseph Goebbels · Bernhard Rust · Fritz Todt · Albert Speer · Alfred Rosenberg · Hanns Kerrl · Hermann Muhs · Otto Meißner (ind) · Hans Lammers · Martin Bormann · Karl Hermann Frank · Rudolf Hess · Ernst Röhm
All personnel were or became NSDAP members except where indicated ("ind" = nominally independent)
Prime Ministers of Prussia
Kingdom of Prussia
(1701–1918)
Office established 1848 · Arnim-Boitzenburg · Camphausen · Auerswald · Pfuel · Brandenburg · Ladenberg · Manteuffel · Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen · Hohenlohe-Ingelfingen · Bismarck · Roon · Bismarck · Caprivi · Eulenburg · Hohenlohe-Schillingsfürst · Bülow · Bethmann Hollweg · Michaelis · Hertling · Baden
Coat of arms of Prussia
Free State of Prussia
(1918–1947)
Ebert · Hirsch · Braun · Stegerwald · Braun · Marx · Braun · Reichskommisars (Papen · Schleicher · Papen) · Göring

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