Who was Hermann Göring? The truth about Hitler’s drug-fuelled enforcer who met his downfall at Nuremberg
Hermann Göring was once Hitler’s chosen successor, and the most powerful man in Nazi Germany after the Führer. He embodied the spirit of the Third Reich and later, at Nuremberg, he became the most prominent member of the regime to stand trial
Hermann Göring held a uniquely prominent position among the architects of Nazi Germany. As the founder of the Gestapo, commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, and Adolf Hitler’s chosen successor, his name became synonymous with the Third Reich at the height of its power – and while it collapsed.
To the rest of the world, Göring often appeared as the public face of Nazi Germany during the 1930s as an example of the regime’s ambition and arrogance. And within Nazi Germany, he was Hitler’s closest ally, who served as a bridge between the Führer’s radicalism and the traditional elites.
When the Second World War ended, Göring was the most senior surviving Nazi official to stand trial at Nuremberg. There, his intelligence, arrogance and courtroom performances made him the defining symbol of the proceedings.
But how did he get there?
Who was Hermann Göring?
Hermann Göring was a decorated First World War pilot who became Hitler’s second-in-command, head of Germany’s air force – the Luftwaffe – and the most prominent Nazi leader tried at Nuremberg for his central role in the crimes of the Third Reich.
But before he reached the highest strata of the Nazi war machine, he had been an ambitious opportunist, whose charm and vanity had carried him from serving in a cockpit during the First World War to the heart of Hitler’s new Reich.
Hermann Göring’s early life and career
Hermann Wilhelm Göring was born in January 1893 in Rosenheim, Bavaria, into a family with strong military and colonial ties.
His father, Heinrich Ernst Göring, had served as governor of German South-West Africa, and his mother, Franziska, was from a Bavarian family. Hermann’s godfather was a Prussian nobleman, which was a connection that opened doors within the officer class of Kaiser Wilhelm II’s Germany.
Friends and biographers described a young Göring as gregarious and theatrical. He could be personally charming, but also impulsive, vain and manipulative. His fascination with pageantry and symbols of authority became a defining feature of his personality.
He entered a military academy at 16, was commissioned into the infantry, and in 1915 transferred to the Imperial German Air Service. By the end of the First World War he was a celebrated fighter ace, credited with 22 aerial victories and had commanded the famed ‘Flying Circus’, the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen, the so-called Red Baron.
But the war’s end left Göring disillusioned. The collapse of the German empire and the punitive Treaty of Versailles would fuel his later political choices.
Hermann Göring during the Weimar years, and the road to Nazism
The 1920s saw Göring struggling to live up to the military glory of his recent past.
He now worked as a commercial pilot in Scandinavia, married to a Swedish baroness, Carin von Kantzow, and had become enamoured with the romantic nationalism sweeping post-war Germany. Returning home, he encountered Adolf Hitler and joined the Nazi Party in 1922. He soon proved an asset to the party, his war hero reputation lending credibility to what was then still a fringe movement.
When Hitler attempted to seize power in the Beer Hall Putsch of November 1923, Göring led stormtroopers into the confrontation and was seriously wounded. Doctors prescribed him morphine, a treatment that began his lifelong addiction to the drug. After the putsch’s failure, Göring fled Germany and lived in exile in Austria and Sweden, with his health and finances in tatters.
He returned after a general amnesty in 1927, and was soon back at the forefront of Germany’s rapidly evolving political landscape.
In the late Weimar years, he established himself as one of Hitler’s most capable political operatives. He was elected to the Reichstag in 1928, and became its president in 1932, using parliamentary procedure to block democratic opposition. His cunning made him a vital part of Hitler’s ascendency.
Hermann Göring at Hitler’s side
When Hitler was appointed Chancellor in January 1933, Göring was rewarded with multiple key posts. He became Minister-President of Prussia, giving him control of the largest German state, including its police force. After the 1933 Reichstag Fire was blamed on communists, he created the Gestapo, the Nazi regime’s secret police, and began the systematic purge of political opponents.
Göring was an important instrument of the Nazification of the state, ensuring that Germany’s civil institutions fell into line behind the new regime. He also became a central figure in rearmament and economic management – both policies which defied the terms of the Treaty of Versailles – founding the Reich Air Ministry in 1933 and later overseeing the Four-Year Plan to prepare Germany for war.
At this point, having known Hitler for a decade, Göring was among the few Nazi leaders who could speak to him on equal terms. Hitler reportedly admired Göring’s ruthless ability, and how he managed to project an image of stability and credibility to foreign governments.
By 1938, Göring was reaching the height of his personal power, and over the next two years he was named Reichsmarschall, the highest military rank in the Reich, and officially designated as Hitler’s successor. He amassed immense wealth, acquired vast estates such as Carinhall (named for his late wife, who died in 1931) and became one of Europe’s most prolific collectors of looted art. He was insatiable.
Hermann Göring’s role in WW2
At the outbreak of the Second World War in September 1939, Göring commanded the Luftwaffe, the air force he had built into a symbol of Nazi might.
Early campaigns appeared to vindicate his leadership: the Luftwaffe’s role in the invasions of Poland, France, and the Low Countries demonstrated the effectiveness of Blitzkrieg tactics – to hit targets hard and fast. Göring was hailed as the regime’s leading military hero.
But the limitations of he and his Luftwaffe force would soon become apparent. During the Battle of Britain in 1940, Göring promised Hitler that air superiority would bring Britain to heel, alongside the rest of Europe. Instead, it began the long decline of the Luftwaffe’s reputation. As Allied production and technology advanced, Göring proved unable to keep pace with the change.
Another failure he bore direct responsibility for was the terror bombing of civilian targets across Europe. It was part of a strategy intended to crush morale. But instead, it hardened resistance.
Now faltering, Göring retreated to Carinhall, surrounding himself with luxury and comfort, and his morphine dependency worsened. Nevertheless, he retained vast formal authority. He supervised the exploitation of occupied economies, directed the looting of Europe’s art, and sat on the Central Planning Board, which oversaw the use of forced labour.
But, by 1943, Hitler’s patience with Göring had run out. The Luftwaffe’s failures during the Battle of Stalingrad and inability to defend Germany from Allied bombing raids meant that Hitler’s faith in Göring had evaporated. Still, with a power base of his own, Göring was able to cling to his titles and prestige. This wouldn’t last.
In April 1945, as Soviet forces closed in on Berlin, Göring sent a telegram to Hitler suggesting that he should assume leadership if the Führer were incapacitated. In response, a paranoid Hitler branded him a traitor, stripped him of office and ordered his arrest.
Hitler’s order was never carried out. Instead, Göring was captured by American troops as war in Europe drew to a close.
Why was Hermann Göring put on trial at Nuremberg?
The victorious Allied powers set up the Nuremberg Trials to bring leading members of Nazi Germany to justice. Held in the German city of Nuremberg between November 1945 and October 1946, these were the first international tribunals in history to prosecute individuals for war crimes.
Led jointly by judges and prosecutors from the United States, the United Kingdom, the Soviet Union, and France, the trials sought to hold Nazi leaders accountable for their roles in the atrocities of the war. The chief American prosecutor, Justice Robert H Jackson, played a central role in presenting the case against the accused.
At Nuremberg, Göring was the most senior Nazi official still alive, and the principal defendant at the International Military Tribunal. In lieu of prosecuting Hitler himself, now dead, Göring became the figurehead upon which the weight of Nazi atrocities could be placed.
He was charged with crimes against peace (planning and waging aggressive war), war crimes, and crimes against humanity.
When captured, Göring was overweight and suffering from high blood pressure, heart problems, and morphine addiction. American doctors carefully detoxified him in prison, replacing morphine with mild sedatives and controlling his diet. He lost nearly 80lbs before the trial began.
Psychologists assessing the defendants administered intelligence and personality tests. Göring’s IQ was among the highest at 138, and he scored high for extroversion and dominance on personality scales. The prison psychiatrists described him as the natural leader among the defendants, noting his ability to charm those around him – even his guards.
How did Hermann Göring act under cross-examination at Nuremberg?
Prosecutors presented evidence of his involvement in every major decision of the Nazi regime, from early rearmament and the annexation of Austria and Czechoslovakia, to the looting of occupied Europe and the formulation of anti-Jewish decrees. He denied direct knowledge of the Holocaust, but the court found his claim impossible to reconcile with his central role in government.
During the trial, Göring dominated proceedings with his bravado. He portrayed himself not as a criminal, but as a patriot who had served Germany, and he defended the Nazi regime as a bulwark against Bolshevism and impending European chaos.
His early exchanges with chief US prosecutor Robert H Jackson became some of the most dramatic moments of the tribunal. Initially, Göring’s composure and rhetorical skill allowed him to defend himself against Jackson’s questions effectively, but it was his arrogance by which he was ultimately undermined. As Göring asserted himself as a figure of great importance, prolonged cross-examination sealed proof of his complicity.
Nazi Germany | A short course from HistoryExtra Academy
Member exclusive | Everything you need to know about Nazi Germany, guided by historian, author and broadcaster Laurence Rees.
Was Hermann Göring’s conviction a foregone conclusion?
For all the drama of the trials, the verdict against Göring was never in doubt.
The documentary evidence tied Göring to every phase of Nazi aggression. The Tribunal convicted him on all counts and sentenced him to death by hanging.
Hermann Göring’s death and the cyanide mystery
In his final appeals, Göring requested to be executed by firing squad, claiming the rights of a soldier rather than those of a common criminal. The judges refused.
But, on the night of 15 October 1946, hours before his scheduled execution, he was found dead in his cell. He’d ingested a cyanide capsule.
How he obtained the poison remains unclear.
Some believe he’d concealed it in a tin of skin cream, or among his personal items. Others suggested that sympathetic guards smuggled it in. A later US Army investigation concluded that at least one guard may have been bribed or manipulated.
Göring’s suicide robbed the Allies of the symbolic closure they sought in publicly hanging the regime’s most senior surviving figure.
His body was cremated, and his ashes – along with those of the other executed Nazis – were scattered over the Conwentzbach, a tributary of the River Isar near Munich, to prevent any grave or shrine from becoming a site of pilgrimage.
For more content like this, check out the best historical movies of all time as chosen by historians and ranked by you, history TV shows and films to stream tonight, and our picks of the new history TV and radio released in the UK this week
Authors
James Osborne is a digital content producer at HistoryExtra where he writes, researches, and edits articles, while also conducting the occasional interview