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Hermann Wilhelm Göring was a prominent German military official and political commander that, besides the fact that he was one of the most influential individuals of Nazi Germany, was a First World War veteran, one of the leaders of the National Socialist German Workers’ Party and one between many other individuals responsible for Adolf Hitler’s rise to power. He was also directly responsible for the creation of Gestapo. Born January 12, 1893, in Rosenheim, Kingdom of Bavaria, son of a military official that, once a cavalry officer, had been also Governor-General of the German Protectorate of Namibia, Hermann Göring very precociously acquired taste by the military career. Since he was a child, he used to play with little toy soldiers, and was frequently seen wearing a small military uniform that his father gave to him. With versatile and dynamic abilities, being a very sophisticated individual, in his youth, Hermann Göring became an alpinist, and an IQ test conducted on him by a psychologist in 1946 revealed a surprising result, pointed out as 138.
In 1912, fully able for the military service, Göring became a member of the 112th Infantry Regiment of the Prussian army, and when the First World War was ignited, in 1914, the young and fearless Bavarian was eager to show his abilities in the battle field. When he became a pilot, he was assigned with bombing and recognizing operations, soon to be highlighted from his peers by his fierce level of commitment, dedication and courage, besides a deep sense of obligation and duty. Despite being repeatedly wounded in combat, Göring always denied the possibility of being exempted from his military duties. When the First World War was over, Göring had a total of twenty two victories, becoming the recipient of several honors and military decorations, among them the Iron Cross, first and second class, and the coveted Pour le Mérite. Nonetheless, always proud of his military accomplishments, his arrogance and his cynic and egocentric sense of superiority made him an undesired individual between the men of his squad. Like the vast majority of Germans, deeply resented with the defeat of Germany in the war, Göring subscribed to the belief of the “Stabbing in the Back” theory, created to explain that the German defeat occurred mainly as a consequence of the monarchy being subverted by a conspiracy of Jews, republicans and communists, that sabotaged the social, economic and political foundations of the Prussian tradition, at the behalf of their own “sordid interests”. His disappointment obviously made him seek political solutions to fight the ensuing social chaos that ruined Germany after the war. Like many of his contemporaries, Göring became a NSDAP member in 1923, after listening to a speech by Adolf Hitler. In a matter of time, Göring became a person admitted in the circle of trust of the future dictator of Germany, being contemplated with a position of command of the Sturmabteilung, the Detachment troops better known as SA, and soon after he ascended in the ranks of the paramilitary organization.
His incontestable support to Adolf Hitler was proved when Göring actively helped him in the doomed Beer Hall Putsch, in Munich, accompanying him personally to the Ministry of War. Having been shot in the leg in ensuing confusion – that ended up with fourteen party members and four policemen dead – with the help of his wife, the Baroness Carin von Kantzow, Göring managed to avoid prison, escaping to Innsbruck, where he was submitted to a surgery, treating himself with morphine, becoming addicted to the substance in the process, which would deeply consume him throughout his life, being the source of several and severe personal problems. Nonetheless, until the Third Reich become a reality, a series of troubled events would occur in the life of Hermann Göring, as to known, besides his addiction to morphine, which would become worst as time passed by, and would force him to undergo a series of several tempestuous hospitalizations, his life would be shaken by financial, matrimonial and familial problems. His wife, suffering from precarious health, had – besides cardiac problems – tuberculosis and epilepsy, and would eventually die in 1931. At this time, the popularity of the Nazi Party begun to grow exponentially, and with it, came the consolidation of power. The burning of the Reichstag, the German Parliament, in February 27, 1933, gave the Nazis the perfect excuse for the hunting of communists, although much later Göring himself would be implicated in the fire by General Franz Halder, in the Nuremberg Trials, despite Göring categorically denying any involvement in the incident. Nonetheless, nowadays it is generally accepted as plausible the theory that members of the Nazi Party were the actual culprits behind the fire, since this act would give them the prerogative they needed to fully achieve their political goals. With the rise of Adolf Hitler, and the consolidation of power, Göring would become Minister of Forestry, Minister of Prussia and Minister of Aviation – besides a number of other positions and titles – as well as the creator of Gestapo, which would eventually become one of the most deadly, brutal, hostile and cruel instruments of the Third Reich.
Like all individuals in Nazi Germany of the highest ranks, Göring has amounted for himself extensive political and military power. Nonetheless, the ephemerality of the Nazi regime meant the downfall and the dissolution of the established powers, as evidence was becoming more and more clear that – years after being declared – Germany would never have the means to win the war. In 1945, when Göring knew about Adolf Hitler’s intention of committing suicide, Göring dispatched a correspondence to the Führer, asking him permission to take his place, to fully control the Reich. Filled with anger, hatred and wrath, Adolf Hitler considered this attitude a nameless act of treason. After depriving Göring of all his titles, he ordered his arrest. Nonetheless, after negotiating his freedom, Göring became a free man, only to surrender himself to the Americans, after a few days. Considered guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, at the Nuremberg Trials Göring was sentenced to death, but committed suicide before the sentence was executed. A depressing fate, shared by almost everybody who was fooled by the grotesque, arrogant and biased farce that the Third Reich revealed itself to be.
Like all individuals in Nazi Germany of the highest ranks, Göring has amounted for himself extensive political and military power. Nonetheless, the ephemerality of the Nazi regime meant the downfall and the dissolution of the established powers, as evidence was becoming more and more clear that – years after being declared – Germany would never have the means to win the war. In 1945, when Göring knew about Adolf Hitler’s intention of committing suicide, Göring dispatched a correspondence to the Führer, asking him permission to take his place, to fully control the Reich. Filled with anger, hatred and wrath, Adolf Hitler considered this attitude a nameless act of treason. After depriving Göring of all his titles, he ordered his arrest. Nonetheless, after negotiating his freedom, Göring became a free man, only to surrender himself to the Americans, after a few days. Considered guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, at the Nuremberg Trials Göring was sentenced to death, but committed suicide before the sentence was executed. A depressing fate, shared by almost everybody who was fooled by the grotesque, arrogant and biased farce that the Third Reich revealed itself to be.
Wagner
