Hermann Göring
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
Hermann Göring, Hitler's closest aide, had suffered a severe hip injury during combat in World War I. He became seriously addicted to the morphine prescribed to relieve the pain from this injury and the gunshot wound, variously described as a thigh or groin injury, that he received while taking part in the 1923 Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. In 1925, after consultation with his wife, he entered a Swedish mental hospital for detoxification and treatment. When Göring was captured near the end of the war, he was found to be addicted to dihydrocodeine and was subsequently weaned off it. |
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Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering; 12 January 1893– 15 October 1946) was a German politician, military leader, and a leading member of the Nazi Party. He was a veteran of the First World War as an ace fighter pilot, and a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "The Blue Max". He was the last commander of Jagdgeschwader 1, the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen, "The Red Baron".
In 1935 Göring was appointed Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe (Template:Lang-de), a position he was to hold until the final days of the Second World War. By mid-1940, Göring was at the peak of his power and influence. Hitler had promoted him to the rank of Reichsmarschall, making Göring senior to all other Wehrmacht commanders, and in 1941 Hitler designated him as his successor and deputy in all his offices. By 1942, with the German war effort stumbling on both fronts, Göring's standing with Hitler was very greatly reduced. Göring largely withdrew from the military and political scene to enjoy the pleasures of life as a wealthy and powerful man. After the Second World War, Göring was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials. He was sentenced to death by hanging, but committed suicide by cyanide ingestion the night before he was due to be hanged.
In film and fiction
He has been portrayed by:
- Curly Howard parodied Göring as "Field Marshal Curly Gallstone" - 1940, in the Three Stooges short You Nazty Spy! and as "Field Marshal Herring" -1941- in the sequel I'll Never Heil Again.
- Billy Gilbert parodied Göring as "Minister Herring" - 1940 - Charlie Chaplin's The Great Dictator.
- Vernon Dent parodied Göring as "Field Marshal Boring" - 1943 - in the Three Stooges short Higher Than a Kite.
- Alex Pope - 1944 The Hitler Gang.
- At the beginning of the episode of the Donald Duck cartoon Der Fuehrer's Face, Göring is marching in a procession with other Nazi figures in a dream sequence.
- Mel Blanc voiced a bumbling Göring, called "Fatso" by Bugs Bunny, in the Merrie Melody cartoon Herr Meets Hare, directed in 1945 by Friz Freleng.
- Jan Werich - 1949, Padeniye Berlina (both parts)
- Kurt Wetzel - 1955, Ernst Thälmann - Führer seiner Klasse and 1970, Osvobozhdenie.
- Hein Riess - 1969, Battle of Britain.
- John Banner - 1970 "Fat Hermann Go Home" "Hogans Heroes"
- Barry Primus - 1971, Von Richthofen and Brown.
- Pavle Vuisić - 1971, Nirnberški epilog.
- David King - 1981 The Bunker (television movie).
- Reinhard Kolldehoff - 1983 The Winds of War (television miniseries).
- Joss Ackland - 1988 The Man Who Lived at the Ritz (television movie).
- Volker Spengler - 1996, The Ogre, directed by Volker Schlöndorff, also starring John Malkovich.
- Glenn Shadix - 1996, The Empty Mirror.
- Brian Cox - 2000, Nuremberg (television movie), also starring Alec Baldwin and Jill Hennessy.
- Chris Larkin - 2003, Hitler: The Rise of Evil (television movie).
- Mathias Gnädinger - 2004, Der Untergang.
- Hannes Hellmann - 2006, Nuremberg: Goering's Last Stand.
- Robert Pugh in the 2006 BBC docudrama Nuremberg: Nazis on Trial.
- Gerhard Haase-Hindenberg in the 2008 film Valkyrie.
Footage of Göring has been included in many films, notably in the 1935 Triumph of the Will by Leni Riefenstahl.
The demonic Nazi leader in the 1981 film Mephisto is clearly modeled on Göring, though the name is not explicitly mentioned.
He was mentioned in Yukio Mishima's novel After the Banquet during the retired Japanese ambassadors' dinner at Setsugoan.
In Keith Laumer's "Worlds of the Imperium" - set in an alternate history where the two World Wars never happened and there was never a Nazi party - Hermann Göring has a double who is a decent and respectable character.
In the Riverworld Books by Philip José Farmer, Göring is one of the support characters.
See also
- Air warfare of World War II
- Glossary of Nazi Germany
- Glossary of German military terms
- List of Nazi Party leaders and officials
- Werner G. Goering - Hermann Göring's American born nephew, an officer in the USAAF and a B-17 commander flying missions over Germany in World War II.