German Leaders Of The Nazi Era: "Göring"

"Political Leaders" Part One/A "Göring"

I'm doing this in response to a suggestion by a regular reader. The information on each of these leaders is from memory (unless otherwise noted), and comes from the many books and articles I've read over many, many years, plus from documentaries I've seen during that period, which is now closing in on five decades. As I so often note here, if something interests you, please check online sources for more information, or, better yet, go to your local library and see what books and articles they have on the subject of interest to you. I've simply picked out a few of the top German leaders from the Nazi era, and there were many more, but it is always important to remember about that time, that Hitler was THE final authority on EVERYTHING. The whole Nazi system was built around him, and he continued to assume more and more power over the years. While Hitler is seen as the all powerful dictator, he was not much of an administrator, being somewhat lazy, by many accounts, especially in the prewar years. He preferred to set out "themes" then taken by his underlings, who translated their interpretations of these themes into actions. That is likely the reason why no direct order has ever been found with Hitler's signature on it, directing the extermination of Europe's Jews. He did however talk about such, even publicly, as he did in a speech to the Reichstag just months before the war began in 1939. In that speech, he said that if war came to Europe, it would not result in the victory of "Jewry" ("Judentum"), but instead it would result in the destruction of the Jewish race in Europe ("die Vernichtung der jüdische Rasse in Europa).* It can't be much clearer than that, so don't buy the nonsense from Hitler apologists who say he knew nothing of the death camps and mass executions of Jews.

Hermann Göring (also: Goering, but less common)-Göring was a genuine hero as an ace pilot in World War One. He was highly decorated, and in fact, he became the commander of the same unit of the famous Baron von Richthofen, popularly known as "The Red Baron" ("der Rote Baron," in German), not long after the Baron's death. Since his name was quite familiar to the German public, there's no question that Göring's joining the Nazi Party gave it a certain credibility. Göring became the president of the Reichstag (parliament), and he became the head of the revived German Luftwaffe (airforce) under Hitler. If you compare pictures of Göring from World War One with those taken through the years thereafter, you can see he lived a pretty good life, as his waist line expanded tremendously. He loved the benefits of power, and when German forces occupied various countries, but especially France, he grabbed many great works of art for himself.

Severely wounded in the thigh during the attempted Nazi takeover of Germany in 1923, Göring became addicted to the morphine used to ease his pain, and his addiction was a chronic problem throughout the rest of his life, with periods where he kicked the habit, and periods where he returned to drug use. Göring's jovial personality was popular with the German people, seemingly even when the severe air raids began during World War Two, and, as head of the Luftwaffe, he bore responsibility to protect Germany from Allied bombers. Early in the war, Göring "supposedly" said something to the effect, "You can call me 'Meier' if any bombs are dropped on _______."** It wasn't long before Germans began referring to him as "Herr Meier," so there must be some truth about Göring's statement. Göring must also bear a good deal of the blame for the eventual surrender of German forces at Stalingrad, as he assured Hitler shortly after the Red Army surrounded the Germans there, that the Luftwaffe could supply the army inside Stalingrad, something that did not happen. While Hitler may have kept the army there anyway, Göring's assertion certainly solidified Hitler's position of not permitting his forces to breakout of the encirclement. Hitler publicly named Göring as his successor on September 1, 1939 (the day of the German invasion of Poland). Göring is really a mixture of political leader AND military leader, and he was first a general, then Hitler promoted him to field marshal, then to a special rank created only for Göring, "Reichsmarshall" ("Marshal of the Reich").

In the waning days of the war, with the Russians advancing inside Berlin and Hitler hidden deeply away in his bunker beneath the German capitol, Göring, who was in southern Germany, sent a message to Hitler asking about succeeding him. In the message, Göring noted that he realized that Hitler may not have had the ability to respond under the circumstances, and that if he, Göring, didn't receive an answer within so many hours (I just forget the time Göring used), that he would assume Hitler was incapacitated in some way, and that he, Göring, would assume the role as Hitler's successor, as Hitler had ordered in 1939. Göring's message was entirely proper, and according to accounts from survivors who were in the bunker, Hitler seems to have seen it as such, AT FIRST. Hitler's deputy, Martin Bormann, however, supported by Joseph Goebbels,*** Hitler's propaganda chief and personal foe of Göring, told Hitler that Göring's message was an ultimatum, and that Göring was trying to seize power. Ah, excuse me. Helllllllooooooo!!! Seize power of what? A destroyed nation on its knees? It just shows how nuts these guys really were. Hitler exploded and ordered Göring to be stripped of all ranks and offices. He also ordered Göring's execution. With the Russians only blocks away, Hitler was still consumed by such nonsense. The execution order was never carried out, and Göring was captured by American troops. He was put on trial at Nuremberg and mounted a defiant defense. Interestingly, Göring was in the midst of a drug bout when captured, and Allied doctors not only cleaned up his "habit," but reduced his huge hulk to a more manageable size. With a clear mind, this all served Göring well during the trial, as he was shown to be highly intelligent, but his crafty defense didn't save him, and he was condemned to "death by hanging" ("Tod durch den Strang, " literally "death through the rope," and "Strang" is indeed closely related to English "string"). Just a couple of hours before the sentence was to be carried out, Göring took poison and died in his cell. There have been many theories as to how Göring got the poison, and if interested, that might be something you will want to check on, as an American officer at the prison is one of the possible people involved.

Finally, during episodes of drug use, Göring's behavior was reported at times to be bizarre, and many people who knew him commented or wrote about such after the war. Some devout supporters denied many of the scandalous stories about Göring, but I believe there is more than a little basis of truth to most of them; not everyone could have been lying. While I mentioned Göring's jovial personality, it MUST be noted, he could be absolutely RUTHLESS, at times. To his credit, he did try to stop the war from breaking out in 1939, just prior to the invasion of Poland. In my opinion, he was enjoying power too much. He didn't want to jeopardize all the fun by a war that could, and eventually did, end badly (obviously, from his point of view).

* For the entire passage, see "Hitler-Reden und Proklamationen" ("Hitler-Speeches and Proclamations") Band (Volume) II, page 1058, from Hitler's speech to the Reichstag on January 30, 1939.

** It is tough to pin down the exact quote of Göring, and I left the space blank, because some say he mentioned Berlin, others the Ruhr (the major industrial region of Germany), and still others, Germany.

*** Goebbels and Bormann will be covered in Part One/B of this series.

WORD HISTORY:
Singe-This word for "to lightly burn around the edges or tips of something, often hair," has an uncertain origin. It "may" be a Germanic invention, or perhaps more specifically a West Germanic invention (English, German, Low German, Dutch and Frisian are West Germanic), and some believe it is actually related to "sing;" the connection being the sort of "hissing" sound made when something is singed, but I'm not completely sold on that, but don't laugh, words take on meanings in strange, even comic, ways at times. Anyway, West Germanic had "sangjanan," which meant "to burn, scorch." This led to Old English "sengan" (also spelled "sencgan"), which had the "lightly burn" meaning first noted above. Later it was spelled "sengen," before the modern version. German has "sengen," Dutch has "zengen," both also meaning "to singe, to scorch." Frisian had a form, "sendza," but apparently it died out. Icelandic once had "sangr," which also meant "burned," but was this a borrowing from West Germanic? (Icelandic is North Germanic) Or is this a tie to Old Germanic? By the way, "singeing," with the "e" intact, while it looks odd, is the proper spelling, in order to distinguish it from "singing."