Hermann Göring puts down a needle that was once filled with Morphine. For a moment,
he forgets about all of the atrocities and mistakes he's made over the years.
Being Hitler’s right-hand man has brought him riches and power beyond his wildest dream.
Unfortunately for this high-ranking Nazi officer, all of his mistakes are about to catch up to him.
For much of Hitler’s rise to power and eventual reign over Germany, there was one man who stood
by his side. This man murdered and bribed his way to the top and committed countless crimes
against humanity in the name of the Nazi Party. The man was Hermann Göring, and Hitler adored him
to the point that he made Göring his successor as leader of Germany. But things did not go according
to plan for Göring, and towards the end of World War II, he found his Fuhrer despised him more than
anyone else. What did Göring do to fall out of favor with his good friend Hitler? Let’s find out.
Hermann Göring was born to an upper-class Bavarian family. He spent most of his
childhood exploring castles and the Austrian countryside. However, Göring apparently was a
troublemaker from a young age as his parents shipped him off to military school as soon
as he was old enough. Just as Göring was about to graduate, World War I broke out.
He joined the infamous “Flying Circus” with its brightly colored planes and ability to seemingly
travel wherever Allied forces were deployed. Göring was credited with shooting down 22
aircraft during the First World War and became a highly decorated war hero by the time it ended.
However, this notoriety would not last long as he was about to find himself
exiled from the very country he had fought to protect.
With the threat of communism looming on the horizon and the devastation of the German economy
following the war, Göring, like many, believed it was time for a change in leadership. Many
Germans were angered by what they felt were unfair concessions the country had to pay and crippling
sanctions that left the average German citizen struggling to survive. Göring firmly believed
that the only way that Germany would return to its former glory was through the Nazi Party.
In 1922 Göring first met Hitler at a rally protesting against the Treaty of Versailles
and how the current leadership was handling things in Germany. He was so enthralled with Adolf
Hitler’s speech and ideas that he immediately knew this man would be the future leader of Germany. He
decided to throw his support behind the angry man with a little mustache and never look back.
On November 8, 1923, Göring participated in the Beer Hall Putsch with thousands of other Nazi
Party members. The plan was to overthrow the government, but they failed miserably.
During the chaos, something happened to Göring
that would lead to lifelong drug addiction and mental instability.
Adolf Hitler and Generalquartiermeister Erich Ludendorff led Nazi supporters as they fought to
take control of the government in Munich. However, before they could reach the center of the city,
they were stopped by the police, who had been dispatched to stop the insurrection.
Most of the Nazi Party members were unarmed but knew if they could get past the blockade,
they might be able to complete their hostile takeover.
The police opened fire and sent the Nazis running. 16 Nazi Party members and 4 police
officers were killed during the chaos. Göring was fleeing the scene when he was shot in the
leg. He couldn’t go to a hospital in Germany as he would likely have been arrested for his
involvement in the Beer Hall Putsch, so he fled to Austria, where he likely received
his first dose of morphine to dull the pain of the gunshot wound.
It was this first injection that opened the doors for Göring’s lifelong addiction
to the pain killer. Whether it was because of the pain or the disappointment that came
after the Nazi Party was unable to secure power, Göring quickly started abusing the
drug. This led to mental instability and sudden violent changes to his personality. Eventually,
Göring found himself in a Swedish mental asylum after local authorities picked him up for
disturbing the peace. They tried to help Göring get his mood swings under control at the Swedish
institution by keeping him off morphine. The doctors there may have been initially successful,
but his sobriety didn't last long. In hindsight, it would have been better for
everyone if they had just kept him locked up, but unfortunately, that’s not what happened.
In 1927 Göring received word that anyone who was involved in the Beer Hall Putsch was granted
amnesty by the German government. He could now return home. Göring left Sweden and returned
to Germany. As soon as he got there, he started paving the way for Hitler’s rise to power. He used
his influential contacts in the business sector and military officers he had fought with in the
First World War to maneuver Hitler into a position where he could seize control of the nation.
All of Göring’s bribes, fearmongering, and use of back channels eventually paid off.
Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party rose to power in 1933. The pivotal role that Göring played in
getting Hitler to where he was was not unknown to the Fuhrer. As soon as he came to power,
he offered Hermann Göring the position of Minister of the Interior for Prussia.
This was Germany’s largest state, and the position also came with the
benefit of being in charge of most of the police forces in the country.
Using this newfound power, Göring created the Gestapo. This Nazi secret police force that was
tasked with suppressing any opposition to the Nazi Party or Hitler himself.
The men in the Gestapo were ordered to dismantle any organizations that
questioned the Nazi Party or even make people disappear if need be.
Later they would be used to round up Jewish people and bring them to concentration camps
under the orders of Göring, Hitler, and their new best friend, Heinrich Himmler.
Before the Holocaust even began, these men had blood on their hands. Although
there were many people who helped bring Hitler and the Nazis to power,
Göring knew that other members of the party were gaining favor with the populace. He could
not allow this to happen as his position and the life he had now been accustomed to
hinged on Hitler remaining in power. Plus, he really believed that Hitler was the savior of
the German people. The fear of Hitler and Göring losing control of the government
prompted them to do something incredibly cruel to their former friends and allies.
On June 30, 1934, Hitler, Göring, and Himmler organized a mass murder campaign
against other members of the Nazi Party who may have opposed their future plans for the
country. This massacre came to be known as the “Night of the Long Knives.” There was one man
in particular who Hitler wanted dead, and Göring was happy to help his Fuhrer without question.
Ernst Röhm was a devoted party member and had helped secure victory for Nazis in the government.
He worked with Hitler to co-founder the Sturmabteilung, also known as the SA,
"Storm Units,” or brownshirts. This organization acted as the private army for the Nazi Party and
were independent from the Gestapo. When the Nazis first gained power, Röhm was chosen to command the
SA. One of Hitler’s biggest fears was that Röhm would use the brownshirts to try and overthrow him
and seize power for himself. The fact that Röhm was in command of the SA wasn’t the only problem;
however, he was also gaining favor with other party members and the general public.
Hitler and Göring knew that in order to keep their positions in the government secure,
Röhm needed to be eliminated.
During the night of June 30th until July 2nd, a number of Nazi Party members were
murdered by soldiers loyal to Hitler, Göring, and Himmler. Hitler told the people that the
“Night of the Long Knives” was done in order to purge the government of corrupt politicians
and protect the people as a whole from traitors to the Nazi Party. This was just propaganda
to justify his actions. The real reason why so many people were slaughtered was so that Hitler
could remain in control of Germany and Göring could keep the power he had gained thus far.
Now that Göring had solidified himself as Hitler’s right-hand man,
he began doing some extraordinarily bizarre things, much of which was probably fueled
by his drug addiction. It also seems that Göring let all the power he now
had go to his head because he started making some really terrible decisions.
At this point, Göring was in complete control of the German economy and had created a state-owned
business called Hermann Göring Works. This was a thinly veiled disguise for a company that would
make him massively wealthy and not one that was created to benefit the state. The fact that the
company used his actual name likely means there was nothing anyone could do to stop
him. The main objective of Hermann Göring Works was to start ramping up the production of war
machines and weapons. Seven hundred thousand new jobs were created for German citizens,
which would also aid the Nazi Party in the coming years as they prepared for World War II.
While Hermann Göring Works seemed to benefit the people and country over time, Göring was
reaping the benefits from day one. He could now use his money to buy eccentric pieces of art,
real estate, and most importantly, drugs. He purchased a mansion just for hunting and
throwing parties. We assume this estate was just for hunting regular game like deer or ducks,
but we wouldn’t put it past Göring to go hunting for other things such as humans. There is no
knowing what this crazy Nazi would do behind closed doors while pumped full of morphine.
At his mansion, Göring would organize banquets and feasts for head Nazi Party
members and businessmen. There would be wine and beer flowing into every glass and expensive
cuts of meat that never seemed to end. This continued even while World War II raged on,
which goes to show that a German victory sometimes took second place to his own needs. In his estate,
Göring displayed works of art that he had stolen from museums around Europe.
He also had a large collection of artworks that had been taken from Jewish families
after they were arrested and brought to concentration camps.
Needless to say, Hermann Göring was not a nice man. And Hitler would soon find out that he wasn’t
qualified to hold the position of power within the Third Reich that had been bestowed upon him.
It was clear to Nazi Party members and other people who got to know Göring that there was
something a little off about him. Göring was said to have changed outfits at least five times a day
and always accessorized himself with medals and jewelry, many of which were not actually his.
He also was seen donning medieval hunting uniforms and togas that looked like they
had come straight out of ancient Rome. The crazy part was that the German masses actually seemed
to like Göring. It is thought that they saw him as more accessible than Hitler.
Although if they had known what he did in secret, they may have changed their minds.
However, between all of the parties, drugs, and extravagances that Göring enjoyed came some
issues. For one thing Göring started gaining a lot of weight, which along with his drug addiction,
led to some health problems. He also was prone to mood swings as the morphine changed his brain
chemistry and sent him into withdrawals whenever he hadn’t had a hit in a while.
This turned some members of the party and German citizens against him. But since
he had the support of the Fuhrer, there was not much anyone could do about him.
Despite these problems and his busy social life,
Göring still played a major role in the mass genocide of the Jewish people.
On November 9, 1938, Göring, along with another infamous Nazi war criminal, Joseph Goebbels,
launched the Kristallnacht pogrom, or Night of Broken Glass. This was the beginning of
the nightmare that would become the Holocaust for the Jewish people. Göring first fined the
Jewish community a billion Marks, which ensured any Jewish business or person could no longer
influence the economy. It was a way to seize control of Jewish companies and their owners,
which many Germans thought were one of the reasons life had become so hard. Hitler and the Nazi Party
had been spreading endless propaganda that the German's struggle was a direct result of
the Jewish people. This obviously wasn't true and was just a delusion that the Nazis had concocted,
but the people wanted a scapegoat, and unfortunately, the Jewish people were it.
The State then repossessed all Jewish property and began placing the Jewish peoples in ghettos
before they eventually moved to the next phase of their plan. Jewish children were banned from
going to school. Jewish families were segregated and kept out of parks and other public spaces.
After a few days of imposing oppressive laws, Göring took the atrocities up another notch. He
announced that the "final reckoning with the Jews" had been reached. He then gave the order for the
Gestapo and the Sturmabteilung to “carry out all preparations with regard to ... a general solution
of the Jewish question in those territories of Europe which are under German influence.”
We all know what came next as a result of Göring’s orders: World War
II and the Holocaust were about to begin.
On September 1, 1939 Nazi Germany invaded Poland and officially started World War
II. Hitler had big plans for Göring during the war as he had been such an accomplished
pilot and soldier in World War I. Hitler must have thought Göring’s experience in
a war would make him a good commander for the Nazi military. Unbeknownst,
to Hitler, he was about to make one of his biggest mistakes in all of World War II.
On the same day that Germany invaded Poland, Hitler made Göring his successor if anything
happened to him during the war. Hitler also bestowed upon him the special title of
Reichsmarschall, which meant that Göring was now in charge of the entire German military.
This decision would end up benefitting the Allies more than Hitler or the Nazis. Göring
may have been a good pilot, but he was a really bad strategist and military leader.
Perhaps Göring’s biggest mistake during World War II was how he mishandled the Luftwaffe on multiple
occasions. Hilter probably thought that since Göring was a decorated World War I pilot, he could
be trusted to use the German airforce effectively. However, time and time again, Göring would send
Luftwaffe squadrons to the wrong locations or order attacks that had no strategic advantage.
However, Göring's biggest military mistake, and what led to him losing
almost all favor with Hitler, was how he handled the air offensive against Britain.
In 1940 the only country that still posed any threat to Germany was Great Britain.
Although they were across the English Channel, they were slowly gearing up for an invasion,
and the Brits had a formidable navy and airforce.
It was Göring’s job to use the Luftwaffe to carry out bombing runs on the British enemy. However,
even though bombs were being dropped on the capital and airbases were being targeted,
Göring’s orders resulted in minimal damage to the British Royal Air Force. In fact,
Britain seemed to be fighting off attack after attack with success
even though the Luftwaffe had comparable planes and pilots to the British. Hitler knew this,
and he also knew there was only one person to blame for such a failure.
After 1940, Hitler no longer saw Herrman Göring as his right-hand man
and looked for others to carry out his will. In the years to come, not only would Hitler
denounce Göring as his successor, but he ended up hating his former friend and ally.
As 1943 and the end of the war crept closer, Göring received fewer invites to join head Nazi
officials in wartime meetings and planning sessions. He had lost power and influence
in the party itself, which resulted in him finding solace in an old friend, morphine.
In the eyes of Hitler, every defeat that the Germans endured was the result of Göring’s poor
military leadership. But there was something else happening to the Fuhrer that connected
him to Göring in a different way. Recent research suggests that Göring wasn’t the only high-ranking
Nazi official that had a drug problem. In fact, the Fuhrer himself was also an addict.
As World War II continued and it seemed more and more like the Allies would be victorious,
Adolf Hitler began to rely heavily on drugs to keep going. His mental and physical health
had started to deteriorate as a result of the stress of trying to win the war
and carry out a massive genocide simultaneously. By the time Hitler found himself in a Berlin
bunker with Allied forces closing in on all sides, he was addicted to numerous drugs.
It has been reported that in the last few days before he took his own life,
Hitler had withdrawal symptoms such as trembling and the sweats.
However, there weren’t enough drugs in the world to help Hitler or Göring win the war.
Towards the end, they were both addicts. The Fuhrer had lost hope and was content with
getting high in his Berlin bunker before taking his own life. And even though Hitler thought he
had made it clear that he no longer trusted or wanted Göring to be his successor, Göring himself
missed the memo. After Hitler locked himself in the bunker, Göring thought he now ran Germany.
This was not actually the case. It would seem that Göring had no idea Hitler was even upset with
him. When he received word that the Fuhrer was relinquishing his power to the next in command,
Göring was so sure he was about to become the leader of Germany that he started giving orders
and planning his next course of action. To be fair, he was probably pretty high when
he received word of Hitler’s decision, and he was also probably high when he marched
to the capital to claim what he thought was his rightful place as the new Fuhrer.
However, the party saw things differently. According to Hitler’s last will and testament,
Karl Dönitz would become his successor as head of state. Dönitz would receive
the title of President of Germany and Supreme Commander of the Armed Forces on April 30, 1945,
just in time to surrender to the Allies. When Göring tried
to object to this succession of power, he was immediately stripped of his post and arrested.
As the Third Reich collapsed and Allied forces marched into Germany,
chaos amongst Nazi Party members broke out. Anyone in a leadership position knew that
they would stand trial and likely be executed for war crimes and crimes against humanity if
the Allies captured them. There was a mass exodus as Nazi generals, soldiers, and officials tried
to escape Allied forces and make their way to other parts of the world like South America.
Herrman Göring had already been arrested by his own government but managed to escape
and tried to flee the country as well. Unfortunately for him,
Allied forces knew who he was and what he looked like. He had been seen alongside
Hitler in photographs and broadcasts, so when Allied troops noticed a rather
large man decorated head to toe in Nazi regalia fleeing, they recognized him almost immediately.
Göring was arrested and locked up once again to await trial. This was likely
the most miserable time in his life as not only was he awaiting an execution sentence,
but he was going through morphine withdrawal. He spent sleepless nights and restless days writhing
in agony on the floor of his cell as his body flushed any remaining morphine out of its system.
Göring managed to get past the withdrawal symptoms and advocated for himself at his own trial.
The whole process of going through withdrawal and sitting in prison caused Göring to lose a
significant amount of weight, and by the time he stopped into court for the Nuremberg Trials,
he supposedly carried himself with poise. However, the trial
didn’t go his way. Göring was found guilty of conspiracy to wage war, crimes against peace,
war crimes, and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to death by hanging. To be
fair, this was not a shocker as Göring played a pivotal role in the largest genocide in history,
and his orders cost the lives of thousands, if not millions of soldiers.
However, Göring’s sentence was never carried out. Like his Fuhrer, Göring took his own life
rather than meeting his fate at the hands of the Allies. On October 15, 1946, just two hours before
his hanging, Göring bit down on a cyanide capsule that he had hidden from the guards. When they
came to bring him to his execution, the guards found Herrman Göring dead on his cell floor.
Herrman Göring followed Hitler from the beginning. He was instrumental in paving the way for Hilter
to rise to power and was rewarded greatly for his loyalty. But even Hitler couldn’t
forgive his poor judgment when it came to military strategies. At the end of the war,
Göring was a delusional drug addict that took his own life rather than
facing justice. It turns out Hitler and Göring had more in common than they ever realized.
Now watch “What Actually Happened to Nazi Leaders After World War 2?”
Or check out “Nazi Invasion Plans for America.”