Goering or G�ring, Hermann Wilhelm 1893-1946
German Nazi politician

He was born in Rosenheim, Bavaria. One of the first infantry officers to fight on the Western Front in World War I, he transferred to the air force in 1915, became an ace pilot and later commanded the famous 'Death Squadron'. An anti-Semite, he joined the Nazi party in 1922 and next year commanded the Hitler storm troopers, the Brownshirts (SA), but went into exile for five years after the failure of the November Munich putsch. In 1928 he became one of the 12 Nazi deputies to the Reichstag. In the troubled economic crisis years his influence increased and in 1932 he became President of the Reichstag. When Hitler assumed power (1933) Goering entered the Nazi government, his several posts including that of Reich Air Minister and, in 1938, War Minister. As Hitler's Chief Lieutenant he instigated the Reichstag fire, his pretext for outlawing his Communist opponents. He founded the Gestapo, set up the concentration camps for political, racial and religious suspects, and, in the great purge of 30 June 1934 ('night of the long knives'), had his comrades murdered. Two years later the international phase of his career opened when he mobilized Germany for total war under the slogan 'Guns Before Butter'. He was director of the Four Year Plan, renewed in 1940, to prepare the economy for war, and played a major part in the Anschluss with Austria, (1938) and in the annexation of the Sudetenland (1938). When the Munich Agreement was made in 1938, he announced a five-fold extension of the Luftwaffe. Early in 1940 he became economic dictator of Germany and in June reached the pinnacle of his power when Hitler made him Marshal of the Reich, the first and only holder of the rank. However, the Battle of Britain, the failure of the 1941 Nazi bombing attacks to disrupt the British ports and cities, and the mounting Allied air attacks on Germany in 1942 and 1943 led to a decline in his prestige. By the time of the Allied liberation of Normandy in 1944 he was in disgrace. As the war drew to a close, he attempted a revolution. Hitler condemned him to death, but he escaped and was captured by US troops. In 1946 he was the principal defendant at the Nuremberg War Crimes Trial when his record of unscrupulous intrigue and merciless oppression was laid bare. He was condemned for guilt 'unique in its enormity', but committed suicide by poison a few hours prior to his intended execution.

Bibliography: Leonard Mosley, The Reich Marshall (1974)