Hermann Goering

Hermann Goering, the man who would one day be one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany, second only to Adolf Hitler himself, was born into an aristocratic family in Rosenheim, Bavaria, Germany on January 12, 1893. His father Heinrich Goering had been an army officer and governor of the German colony of Southwest Africa (modern Namibia) and was known for using rather brutal methods to suppress native rebellions.

However, at the time of Hermann's birth, Heinrich Goering was serving as a diplomat in Haiti, and wasn't often at home. As a result, Goering spent most of his childhood being raised by his godfather Hermann Epenstein (who was ironically part Jewish.) Growing up at Epenstein's luxurious castle Veldenstein near Nuremberg, where he spent his days fantasizing about military adventure.

With a background like this, it was perhaps inevitable that the young Goering would pursue a military career, and he joined the German Army in 1912. A year later, the Goering family had a falling out with Epenstein and he was forced to move out of Veldenstein. (Perhaps the genesis of Goering's antisemitism?)

During World War One Goering would serve in the German Air Force, as a pilot in the "Red Baron" Manfred Von Richthofen's famous squadron, and after Richthofen's death Goering took command. When Germany signed the armistice in 1918, Goering was ordered to surrender the squadron to the Allies. Outraged, he refused, and instead he and his men intentionally crash landed their planes in German territory to avoid having to surrender them.

Embittered by Germany's defeat, Goering spent the nest few years in Sweden, where he married his first wife Carin Von Kantzow. After returning to Germany he met Adolf Hitler for the first time in 1922 and joined the Nazi Party. He was given command of the party militia, the Sturmabteilung, or "Storm Troopers", who were tasked with protecting party meetings and roughing up the opposition. In 1923, the Nazis attempted to overthrow the German government in the so-called "Beer Hall Putsch". They failed, and Goering was wounded in the process.

Goering and his wife fled to Austria, where he was given morphine to treat his injuries. He soon became addicted to it, and the once fit soldier now became the obese lethargic slob who would one day become infamous. Reportedly, the drug made him so violent that he had to be put in a straight jacket at least once.

Goering finally returned to Germany in 1927, and his wife Carin died in 1931. After this, Goering devoted his entire life to the Nazi cause. When Hitler finally came to power in 1933, Goering was given the task of creating the new secret police, the infamous Gestapo, and was also given command of Germany's new air force, the Luftwaffe. He was also allegedly responsible for the Reichstag Fire which the Nazis used as a pretext to seize absolute power on February 27, 1933. In 1935, Goering remarried, this time to Emmy Sonnemann, and had a daughter Edda in 1938.

In 1936, Goering was put in charge of the German economy, and instituted the Four Year Plan, a massive rearmament effort to prepare Germany for the coming war Hitler was already planning. He also helped engineer the occupations of Austria and Czechoslovakia. He reached the height of his career on September 1, 1939 (the same day the invasion of Poland began) when Hitler officially designated Goering as his successor.

At first, Goering's Luftwaffe proved a powerful force, crushing the Polish and French Air Forces, and bombing their cities to rubble. But against Britain's Royal Air Force, he finally met his match. Despite his relentless bombing of British cities, the RAF held firm and beat back the Luftwaffe assault. Things would only get worse for Goering from there. Despite promising Hitler that the Luftwaffe would be able to supply the German troops surrounded in Stalingrad, they were unable to do so enough, and the German 6th Army was forced to surrender to the Soviets in early 1942. To make matters worse, from 1943 onward, the Allies launched massive bombing campaigns against Germany, which the devastated Luftwaffe was virtually powerless to resist. Even as the war raged, Goering have orders to the SS to make plans for a "Final Solution to the Jewish Question", which as we all know, turned out to be the Holocaust, which the SS was ruthless in executing. He also signed orders for the torture and execution of partisans and POWs.

During this time, Goering enjoyed a luxurious lifestyle in his palace, decorated with stolen art from across conquered Europe.

By 1945, it was clear even to Goering that the war was lost. He sent a telegram to Hitler, requesting permission to take charge of the government and negotiate with the Allies. Hitler enraged, ordered Goering's arrest and execution. In a bid to avoid the Fuhrer's wrath, (though unknown to him, Hitler had already committed suicide on April 30) Goering surrendered to American troops on May 6, 1945. A few months later, he was taken to Nuremberg to stand trial for war crimes.

At first, it seemed that Goering might well escape justice. His high position within the Nazi Party made many of the other defendants see him as a leader, and when he was first questioned by chief American prosecutor Robert Jackson, many felt Goering got the better of him. But that didn't last long. A few days later, British prosecutor Sir David Maxwell Fyfe caught Goering with his own words, exposing his order to the SS to plan the "Final Solution to Jewish Question". After this, Goering was finished. The judges sentenced him to death by hanging.

But Goering had one last trick up his sleeve. Somehow he managed to sneak a cyanide pill into his cell, and committed suicide the day before the executions took place, thus cheating the hangman. To this day, no one is quite sure how he managed it.

And so ended the inglorious career of Hermann Goring.