Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring

Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring
Name	Hermann Göring
Birth date	1893-01-12
Birth place	Rosenheim, Kingdom of Bavaria, German Empire
Death date	1946-10-15
Death place	Nuremberg, Allied-occupied Germany
Nationality	German
Occupation	Politician, military leader, aviator
Title	Reichsmarschall

Reichsmarschall Hermann Göring was a leading figure of the National Socialist period, a decorated World War I aviator who became a founder of the post-1923 Nazi leadership and the highest-ranking official of the Third Reich after Adolf Hitler. He held a succession of posts linking the Nazi Party, the Luftwaffe, and the state apparatus, accumulating economic and political power that implicated him in major policies including rearmament, territorial expansion, and genocidal programs. Göring's career culminated in capture and prosecution at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg.

Early life and military career

Born in Rosenheim, Bavaria, Göring trained at Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and entered the Imperial German Army and later the Luftstreitkräfte during World War I. As a fighter pilot he commanded units associated with the Jagdstaffel system and was awarded decorations such as the Pour le Mérite and the Iron Cross. He served alongside figures like Manfred von Richthofen's milieu and operated in theaters influenced by the Western Front and air tactics developed after the Battle of Verdun. After the Armistice of 11 November 1918 he joined Freikorps units involved in postwar unrest and interacted with networks that included veterans from the Kapp Putsch milieu and paramilitary cultures such as the Sturmabteilung predecessors.

Rise in the Nazi Party and political roles

Göring became an early convert to the National Socialist German Workers' Party after meeting Adolf Hitler following the Beer Hall Putsch of 1923 and assumed leadership positions in the party's reorganized hierarchy. He was appointed to posts in the Prussian State Council and became a Reichstag deputy during the period of the Weimar Republic, collaborating with figures like Joseph Goebbels, Heinrich Himmler, and Rudolf Hess. Göring served in executive roles under the Nazi seizure of power (Machtergreifung) and was granted control over organizations such as the Prussian Secret Police successor bodies and the Reichstag Fire Decree enforcement mechanisms. He presided over institutions tied to the Four Year Plan with operatives including Hjalmar Schacht and industrialists linked to conglomerates like IG Farben and Krupp.

World War II leadership and responsibilities

As head of the newly reconstituted Luftwaffe, Göring oversaw air operations in conflicts including the Spanish Civil War, the Invasion of Poland (1939), the Battle of Britain, and later campaigns on the Eastern Front (1941–45). He coordinated with military leaders such as Werner von Blomberg, Erwin Rommel, Gerd von Rundstedt, and Wilhelm Keitel and interfaced with strategic planning bodies like the OKW and OKH. Göring held economic authority as Reich Plenipotentiary for the Four Year Plan, impacting resource allocation involving entities such as the Reichswerke Hermann Göring and programs that tied to forced labor administered with organizations like the SS and overseen by officials such as Oswald Pohl. During occupation policies he interacted with administration systems exemplified by the General Government and military administrations in territories like France and Norway.

Relationship with Hitler and intra-party rivalries

Göring maintained a complex relationship with Adolf Hitler, alternating between roles as confidant, designated successor, and rival to other power centers including Heinrich Himmler, Martin Bormann, and Joseph Goebbels. His standing was shaped by episodes such as his 1945 appointment as Hitler's successor and the subsequent erosion of influence during the closing months of the war when figures like Bormann consolidated access to the Führer. Internal conflicts involved competition over control of organizations like the Luftwaffe, the SS, economic portfolios under the Four Year Plan, and authority over occupied territories contested with military leaders including Albert Kesselring and bureaucrats like Hermann Göring (economic enterprises) associates. Tensions manifested in events such as the dismissal of generals after the Battle of Britain and disputes during operations like Operation Barbarossa.

War crimes, trials, and conviction

Göring was implicated in criminal policies including the Holocaust, the administration of occupied territories, and the orchestration of forced labor and expropriation that involved agencies such as the Gestapo, Reich Security Main Office, and industrial partners like Siemens and Thyssen. After the Allied invasion of Germany he was captured by United States Army forces and became a principal defendant at the Nuremberg Trials before the International Military Tribunal. Prosecutors charged him with crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity, with witnesses and documents linking him to decisions involving the Final Solution to the Jewish Question, deportations from the Netherlands, France, and Hungary, and plunder of cultural property tied to the Monuments, Fine Arts, and Archives program. He was convicted and sentenced to death; before the sentence could be carried out he died by suicide in his cell with cyanide, an event noted alongside contemporaneous defendants such as Rudolf Heß and Albert Speer.

Personal life, ideology, and legacy

Göring's personal life included marriages to figures like Emmy Sonnemann and associations with social circles in Berlin, Munich, and Karlsbad, alongside interests in art collection, hunting, and aviation memorabilia tied to Fokker and Junkers machines. His ideology merged elements of Pan-Germanism, expansive nationalism prevalent among veterans of the First World War, and collaboration with racial policies promoted by ideologues associated with Alfred Rosenberg and Karl Haushofer. Postwar historiography has examined Göring through works by historians such as Ian Kershaw, Richard J. Evans, Alan Bullock, and Shirer-era syntheses, assessing culpability in the machinery of the Third Reich and debates over continuity with conservative elites including ties to the German National People's Party antecedents. Monument controversies and legal purges in places like Germany and the United States have engaged institutions such as state archives and museums over provenance questions, while popular culture and scholarship reference Göring in films, biographies, and trials studies alongside portrayals linked to the Nuremberg Trials (film) and literature on Nazi leadership.

Category:Members of the Reichstag of Nazi Germany Category:German World War I flying aces Category:People convicted by the International Military Tribunal