Hermann Göring
Hitler's Second-in-Command By: Fred Ramen
Characters
Adolf Hitler
Adolf Hitler was the leader of Germany from 1933 to 1945. He was leader of the Nazi party. Hitler started World War 2 by invading many countries in Europe. He is also known for wanting to exterminate the Jewish people in the Holocaust.
Hermann Göring
Carin von Flacknow
Conflict
Plot
The book, "Hermann Goring, Hitler's Second-in-Command" is a Holocaust biography on Hermann Goring. He was born in Rosenhiem, Germany in 1893. He was trained for a career in the military and got his commission in 1912. He served Germany as a pilot during World War 1. After the war, Goring was a pilot in Denmark and Sweden, where he met his future wife, Carin von Kantzow. Two years earlier, Goring met Adolf Hitler and had joined the Nazi Party. Because he was a former military officer, he was given command of Hitler's stormtroopers. In November 1923, Goring was a part in the failed Beer Hall Putsch, which is when Hitler tried to seize control of the German government by taking over the government in Bavaria. During the putsch, Goring was severely wounded in the groin. He was given the drug morphine, and became addicted to it. After the putsch failed, Hitler put in prison for nine months, and Goring was forced to leave Germany until he was given official permission to come back. He was given an official pardon and returned to Germany. He readmitted to the Nazi Party. Goring's wife died in 1931. The next year, Goring became president of the Reichstag. Hitler was named German chancellor on January 30, 1933. Hitler let Goring create the Gestapo and to establish concentration camps which imprisoned the Nazis' political opponents. He married his second wife Emmy Sonnemann in 1935 and they had a daughter. In 1934, Goring's Gestapo and the Nazis SS carried out what is now known as "Night of the Long Knives". Goring's association with Hitler helped him rise to power. In 1935, he took command of the German air force. He ended up having that job until the end of World War II. In 1939, Hitler made Goring his successor. Eventually, by 1945, Goring considered Hitler to be helpless in Berlin. Hitler thought that this was an act of treason, so he took away all of Goring’s offices and titles, and placed him under house arrest. On April 30, 1945, Hitler and his wife, Eva Braun, committed suicide. Göring was freed from prison, and he immediately found American troops and surrendered. Goring was considered a “war criminal”. He committed suicide by taking cyanide the night before he was supposed to be hung.