Hermann Wilhelm Göring (named after family friend)
Fourth of five children
Parents were Heinrich Ernst (d. 1913) and Franziska (Fanny) (d. August 1923) Göring
Only a couple of months old, mother weaned him and left him for three years with a surrogate family
1904 sent to boarding school at Ansbach, Franconia
Attended the cadet institutes at Karlsruhe and then to the military college at Lichterfelde
Given a commission in the Prinz Wilhelm Regiment No. 112
World War I
Participated in infantry when World War I began
Became ill with rheumatic fever
October 1914 became flying observer
Received Iron Cross, First Class
June 1915 began course to become a pilot
October 1915 posted to Jagdstaffel 5
Hit by bullet in thigh
Summer 1916 sent home on convalescent leave
Formally asked Marianne Mauser's father for his approval of marriage - allowed to get secretly engaged
November 3, 1916 reported back for duty; attached to Jagdstaffel 26
Made commander of a new squadron - Jagdstaffel 27
1917 awarded the Ordre Pour le Merite
July 7, 1918 appointed Kommandeur of Jagdgeschwader Freiherr von Richthofen No. 1 (the Red Baron's squadron - the "Flying Circus")
Disobeyed orders to disarm the squadron's planes and fly them to the French headquarters at Strasbourg; instead, he sent five planes to France and ordered the rest flown to Darmstadt, Germany and destroyed
End of WWI to 1933
Worked at Fokker Aircraft Works for two years
Became a stunt pilot and then a commercial pilot for Svenska Lufttraffik in Sweden
Met Carin von Kantzow (nee von Fock) while she was married to Captain Nils von Kantzow (Carin also had a son, Thomas, from this marriage)
1922 enrolled in the university at Munich
Fall of 1922 heard Hitler speak
1922 joined NSDAP
Immediately after oath of allegiance to Hitler (December 1922), Hitler appointed him commander of the SA
February 3, 1923 married Carin von Kantzow (she had finally become divorced from her husband)
August 1923, mother died
November 1923 participated in the Beer Hall Putsch, injured in groin and hip, fled to Austria; became addicted to the morphine that he was given to alleviate the pain from his injuries
September 1925 admitted to the Langbro Asylum in Sweden (he says here he kicked his morphine addiction)
1926 returned to Germany after amnesty
1928 elected to Reichstag
1930 reelected to Reichstag
October 17, 1931 Carin (wife) died of tuberculosis
1932 became President of the Reichstag
1933 to the End
Held many posts including: Reich Minister without Portfolio, Prussian Minister President, Reich Commissioner for Air, and Prussian Minister of the Interior
Some believe he was involved with the Reichstag Fire on February 27, 1933
March 1, 1935 named Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe (commander in chief of the Air Force)
April 10, 1935 married Emmy Sonnemann (1893-1973)
Appointed by Hitler as Plenipotentiary for the Implementation of the Four-Year Plan
September 1, 1939 Hitler appointed him his first successor
June 19, 1940 was made Reichsmarschall (Reich marshal)
Began to lose favor with Hitler during the Battle of Britain because of the decreased effectiveness of the Luftwaffe (German Air Force)
May 9, 1945 captured by U.S. troops
Tried at the Nuremberg Trials
Found guilty on all four counts: conspiracy to commit crimes alleged in other counts, crimes against peace, war crimes, and crimes against humanity
October 15, 1946, two hours before his scheduled execution, he committed suicide by swallowing a cyanide capsule he smuggled into prison.
Portrait of Hermann Göring.
Quotes
Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat.
---Hermann Göring (1936)
I am what I have always been: the last Renaissance man, if I may be allowed to say so.
---Hermann Göring
I joined the party because I was a revolutionary, not because of any ideological nonsense.
---Herman Göring
Pompous and on the verge of ridiculous, he was a mixture of condottiere and sybarite. He was as vain, cunning and brutal as any other follower of Hitler, and yet he was more popular than any of them and for a time actually more popular than Hitler himself.
---Joachim C. Fest in The Face of the Third Reich, Page 111
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