Hermann Goering

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: Hermann Goering : Case text: : 'I am proud of not knowing what justice is' : Goering achieves fame during World War I as a highly decorated ace fighter-pilot. His refusal to spare non-military targets from aerial attack incurs the wrath of his more honorable superior, the legendary fighter ace Baron von Richtofen who expels him from his squadron. : In the early 1920's, Goering gets involved in politics by rallying to Hitler and becoming one of the Nazi party's original seven founding members. His close professional relationship with his master leads him to become one of the most powerful figures of the Third Reich. Elected President of the Reichstag in 1932, Goering is later promoted to the top rank of Air Marshal by Hitler who accedes to power in January 1933. Appointed Reich Air Minister, Goering spends the 1930s developing Nazi Germany's Luftwaffe. : The Air Minister and his Luftwaffe : The Luftwaffe's innovative use of precision dive-bombing by its Stuka fighter-bombers greatly contributes to the spectacular successes of Hitler's blitzkrieg campaigns throughout continental Europe. But the Luftwaffe falls far short of Goering's boastings to Hitler. It is unable to break Britain's will to resist or her capacity to continue the war against Nazi Germany. Goering again discredits himself when he publicly vows that the Luftwaffe will never allow Berlin to be bombed. One the same day, the Royal Air Force launched it's first wave of strategic bombing over Hitler's capital. : During Nazi Germany's war against Russia in late 1942, Goering loses still further credibility as the Luftwaffe proves unable to keep the besieged 6th Army in Stalingrad properly supplied. Thereafter, Hitler loses all confidence in his Air Minister whom he comes to despise for being an avid hunter and heroine addict. As the tide of war turns against Nazi Germany, Goering is increasingly shunned among Hitler's entourage and takes refuge in hunting and looting the art treasures of occupied Europe to adorn his numerous mansions. : The Conspiracy : Oddly enough, the conspirators initially ponder the idea of recruiting Goering to their plot, but quickly abandon the scheme. Their belief that he might be of use stems from his anxious desire in the late 1930's to prevent war from breaking out between Germany and Britain. Goering did invite British diplomats to his residence to explore the possibility of defusing the growing Anglo-German tensions. But the conspirators later conclude that the vane air marshal is too fond of his perks and privileges in being tied to Hitler to be considered a worthy recruit to their cause of overthrowing the Nazi regime. : By 1944, senior conspirators like General Ludwig Beck and General Friedrich Olbricht consider it vital that an assassination attempt against Hitler physically eliminate not only Hitler but as many of his most powerful accomplices as possible. Himmler and to a lesser extent Goering are considered targets important enough to warrant staging the assassination attempt on an occasion when all three might be present. Colonel von Stauffenberg is thus ordered by co-conspirator Olbricht to abort his plans to carry out the attempt when he visits Hitler's Wolf's Lair HQ on July 11 and July 15, 1944. : On the afternoon of Stauffenberg's July 20th coup attempt, Goering plays an insignificant but rather comical role. Upon hearing that Hitler has emerged slightly injured from the attempt, Goering rushes to the Wolf's Lair to make sure he arrives there before Nazi Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop, who is by then his bitter arch-rival. Their hatred and contempt for one another is so fierce that it erupts into the open right in front of a diffident Hitler and an embarrassed Mussolini (who had arrived that afternoon). When Ribbentrop ridicules Goering's boasts about the Luftwaffe's capacity to defend German cities from Allied bombings, Goering loses his temper yelling back, "Shut up! You champagne salesman!" to which Ribbentrop reminds him sharply that he was still Foreign Minister. : Weeks before the end of World War II in Europe, Goering decides to negotiate Germany's surrender to the Western Allies. Himmler does the same, but Goering had the temerity as well to send Hitler a telegram declaring that if he receives no reply from the fuehrer within a matter of hours, he will conclude that his master is incapacitated and that he (Goering) is now in charge of the Reich. Upon reading the telegram, Hitler explodes in anger at what he considers bare faced treachery and orders Goering's immediate expulsion from the party. He issued the same decree against Himmler. : His Fate : Goering stands trial before the world at Nuremburg during 1945-46. Despite putting up an energetic defense displaying much charisma in the court room, Goering is nevertheless found guilty on all charges brought against him by the Allied prosecutors and condemned to death by hanging. Hours before his sentence is to be carried out, he escapes the noose by committing suicide with a cyanide capsule. : Exactly how Goering had been able to keep on his person a cyanide capsule when the prisoners and their cells had been thoroughly checked over repeatedly by the Allied prison guards has always remained a mystery. But it is known that while in prison, Goering developed a close friendship with an American army captain responsible for keeping watch over him. Over the many months he lingered in prison, Goering charmed and fascinated the captain with stories about his life and left him various personal belongings such as watches he had once worn. : The only conceivable theory as to how Goering could have committed suicide with a cyanide capsule is that at some point hours before his execution, Goering might have revealed to the sympathetic captain the whereabouts of the cyanide pill which may have been tucked away in his confiscated luggage. The captain in question had access to the room where such items of prisoners were stowed and could have conceivably smuggled the pill to Goering's cell. : "Hermann Goering had no objections whatsoever to political killings, no more than did Hitler. On the other hand, he had no liking for the rabble. He had just changed his SA duds for that series of colorful and fantastic uniforms, each more magnificent than the last, for which he kater became famous....He dreamed of his future role as that of a Nordic Renaissance tyrant. Such a man despises excesses. He did not want the reek of blood from the streets to penetrate into his perfumed wardrobes. To Goering's mind, even in the Third Reich the masses must be kept under the knout." : +++ Jan's analysis : Hitler's main henchman; WWI daredevil fearless pilot, WWII boastful, fat war criminal who denied everything in a shameless way at the Neurenberg trials, untill confronted with overwhelming evidence by the attorneys. During the war he showed hedonistic behavior; wearing expensive clothes, robbing jewish art and putting it in his own private 'collection'. He took cocaine. Much a disappointment to his boss Hitler; boasting he could take the British force at Dunkirk by his Luftwaffe, Hitler let the Pantzer divisions pause for 3 days; only to see Goering spoil his assignment. Perhaps -from the nazi point of view - his worst failure was his leadership of the Luftwaffe at the Battle of Britain. He somehow seemned to lean to heavy on his boastful dominance to get things done; however good leaders also show competence in their military craft and he didn't have that or didn't put much energy into it. Opportunistic guy; when Hitler lost the war he dared to claim the leadership of Germany. : Classification: anti social disorder (adventurous style) : Jan

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