Hermann Göring: Hitler’s right-hand man

Hermann Göring was born on January 12, 1893, in Rosenheim, Bavaria, into a prominent military family.

His father, Heinrich Göring, was a former cavalry officer and the first Reichskommissar of German South West Africa, now Namibia.

This background instilled in young Göring a sense of military tradition and duty from a young age.

He attended several military and boarding schools, including the Bayreuth Gymnasium, but frequent relocations due to his father's diplomatic career made life more difficult.

In 1912, Göring joined the Prince Wilhelm Regiment of the Prussian army, continuing his family's legacy of military service.

His early military career was conventional, but the outbreak of World War I in 1914 was a turning point.

Göring initially served in an infantry regiment; however, his interests soon shifted to the emerging field of aerial combat.

In 1915, Göring transferred to the German Air Force, known as the Luftstreitkräfte, where he retrained as a pilot.

Göring's prowess as a fighter pilot earned him significant recognition. In 1918, he took command of the famed Jagdgeschwader 1 (Fighter Wing 1), the same one that had been led by the legendary Red Baron, Manfred von Richthofen.

Under his leadership, the unit continued to excel. Göring himself was credited with 22 aerial victories, earning him the Pour le Mérite, Prussia's highest military honor.

After World War I, Hermann Göring's life took a dramatic turn as he struggled to adapt to post-war Germany.

The nation's defeat and the ensuing economic hardships created a fertile ground for political extremism.

Göring, who was initially employed as a commercial pilot, found himself increasingly drawn to the emerging political movements that sought to restore Germany's former glory.

In late 1922, Göring attended a political rally in Munich where he first heard Hitler speak.

Captivated by Hitler's oratory and the party's nationalist ideology, Göring saw an opportunity to rekindle his sense of purpose and national pride.

He officially joined the Nazi Party in 1923. His charisma, war record, and aristocratic bearing quickly garnered him attention within the party ranks.

Göring's involvement with the Nazis deepened as he took an active role in the party's activities.

His significant moment came during the failed Beer Hall Putsch in Munich on November 8-9, 1923, where he marched alongside Hitler in an attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government.

The putsch ended in failure and bloodshed, with Göring being wounded. This event resulted in the temporary imprisonment of Hitler and the banning of the Nazi Party.

During the period following the putsch, Göring faced both physical and psychological challenges.

He sought treatment in Austria and Sweden for his injuries and developed a dependence on morphine, a struggle that would plague him for many years.

However, his commitment to the Nazi cause remained unshaken. Despite the party's temporary decline, Göring continued to foster connections and support for the Nazi movement in Germany and abroad.

With the reformation of the Nazi Party in 1925 and Hitler's release from prison, Göring returned to Germany to resume his political activities.

His influence grew substantially with the Nazis' increasing political successes in the early 1930s.

In 1933, Göring was appointed as the Minister Without Portfolio and Commissioner for Aviation.

His role expanded quickly; in the same year, he was named the Prussian Minister of the Interior.

This position granted him significant control over the police forces in Prussia, Germany's largest state, which he used to consolidate Nazi power.

He played a crucial role in suppressing political opposition, notably orchestrating a purge of the police forces to install loyal Nazi supporters and establishing the Gestapo (secret state police) in April 1933.

In 1935, he was then appointed as Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, the German air force.

In this role, he oversaw the rapid expansion and modernization of the Luftwaffe.

Göring was also appointed as the Plenipotentiary for the Four-Year Plan in 1936, tasked with preparing the German economy for war within four years.

The Four-Year Plan aimed to make Germany self-sufficient and reduce its reliance on foreign imports, crucial for wartime sustainability.

As part of this, Göring oversaw significant efforts in rearmament, expanding industrial production, and initiating projects like the Autobahn network.

However, his economic policies also included more sinister elements, such as the expropriation of Jewish-owned businesses and the use of forced labor from concentration camp inmates.

By the late 1930s, Göring's position in the Nazi hierarchy was second only to Hitler.

At the height of his power, Göring was Hitler's designated successor.

In the early years of the war, the Luftwaffe was a formidable force. Göring's strategies during the Blitzkrieg campaigns in Poland (1939), France (1940), and the early stages of the invasion of the Soviet Union (1941) were crucial to the rapid successes of the German military.

The Luftwaffe played a pivotal role in providing air support for ground operations, disrupting enemy communications and supply lines, and achieving air superiority.

However, the turning point for Göring and the Luftwaffe came with the Battle of Britain in the summer and autumn of 1940.

Tasked with achieving air superiority over the English Channel to pave the way for a planned invasion of Britain (Operation Sea Lion), the Luftwaffe faced the resilient Royal Air Force.

Göring's underestimation of the RAF, along with strategic errors in targeting and tactics, led to the failure of the operation.

This was the first major defeat for the Luftwaffe and marked a decline in Göring's credibility as a military leader.

Göring's challenges were compounded as the war dragged on. The Luftwaffe was stretched thin on multiple fronts, facing the combined air power of the Allies.

In the Soviet Union, despite initial successes, the Luftwaffe was unable to provide adequate support for the German army, especially during the pivotal Battle of Stalingrad (1942-1943).

Towards the end of the war, the Luftwaffe was a shadow of its former self, hampered by a lack of fuel, trained pilots, and advanced aircraft.

Göring's earlier promises of air superiority and his assertions of the Luftwaffe's capabilities were proven hollow.

As one of the highest-ranking officials in the Nazi regime, his actions and decisions had dire consequences, contributing significantly to the atrocities committed during World War II.

Göring's role in the Holocaust was both direct and administrative. One of Göring's most infamous contributions to the Holocaust was his authorization of the "Final Solution," the Nazi plan for the systematic extermination of Jews.

On July 31, 1941, he issued a written directive to SS-Obergruppenführer Reinhard Heydrich, tasking him with making all necessary preparations for a total solution to the Jewish question in the territories under German control.

This directive effectively set in motion the bureaucratic and logistical machinery that led to the mass murder of six million Jews, as well as millions of other victims, including Romani people, disabled individuals, and political dissidents.

His leadership of the Luftwaffe also made him responsible for the indiscriminate bombing of civilian targets, a strategy that resulted in countless civilian casualties.

The bombing of cities like Warsaw, Rotterdam, and London, characterized by their lack of discrimination between military and civilian targets, exemplified the brutal nature of the Luftwaffe's operations under his command.

Furthermore, Göring played a key role in the economic exploitation and plunder of occupied territories.

He was instrumental in the pillaging of art, cultural artifacts, and property across Europe, amassing a personal collection of stolen art that was one of the largest in the world.

This systematic looting not only served to finance the Nazi war effort but also represented a cultural decimation of the occupied countries.

He established a special task force, the Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg (ERR), dedicated to seizing art from Jewish families, museums, and private collections.

The scale of Göring's art plunder was immense. He amassed one of the largest private art collections in the world, estimated to consist of thousands of stolen pieces.

His collection included masterpieces by renowned artists such as Rembrandt, Rubens, and Vermeer.

These works were often forcibly taken from their rightful owners under the guise of "safeguarding" them for the Reich.

Göring's Carinhall estate, located northeast of Berlin, served as a private gallery displaying his vast collection, symbolizing both his personal wealth and the broader Nazi pillage of European art.

As the Second World War ended and the Nazi regime crumbled, Hermann Göring was captured by American troops on May 9, 1945.

Göring was transported to the Nuremberg Trials, a series of military tribunals held by the Allied forces, primarily to prosecute prominent leaders of Nazi Germany for war crimes.

The Nuremberg Trials began on November 20, 1945, and Göring was the most prominent defendant.

He faced multiple charges, including crimes against peace, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and conspiracy to commit these crimes.

Throughout the trial, Göring, often articulate and defiant, took on a leading role among the defendants, cross-examining witnesses and trying to justify the actions of the Nazi regime.

He attempted to portray himself as a loyal soldier and statesman who was simply following orders, denying any personal responsibility for the Holocaust and the war atrocities.

Despite his defense efforts, the tribunal found Göring guilty on all counts on October 1, 1946.

He was sentenced to death by hanging. However, Göring never faced the gallows. On October 15, 1946, the night before his scheduled execution, he committed suicide in his prison cell using a cyanide capsule.

The source of the capsule remains a matter of debate, but it's speculated that it was smuggled into his cell by a sympathetic guard or obtained during his brief meeting with a German lawyer.

Göring's suicide was a final act of defiance, allowing him to evade the justice imposed by the Nuremberg Tribunal.