Hermann Goring

His first wife was Baroness Carin von Kantzow, who had been estranged from her husband and had a son of eight years. They were married in 1922 after Carin obtained a divorce, and lived in Munich, until she died of illness.

His second marriage was with Emmy Sonnemann, an actress from Hamburg, in April 1935. They had a daughter named Edda Goring, born to them three years later.

Hermann Goring was tried and was condemned to death by hanging. But on the night before the execution, Goring consumed a cyanide capsule and committed suicide.

Born to Heinrich Ernest Goring and Franziska Tiefanbrunn, Hermann was the fourth of five children. Heinrich, a former cavalry officer, was also the Governor General of German protectorate in South West Africa and Franziska.

Karl, Olga and Paul were his older siblings and Albert was his younger brother. Goring had a godfather, Dr. Herman Epenstein, who was a wealthy businessman and a physician friend of his father.

Right from his childhood, he was interested in war games and loved playing with his toy soldiers wearing his Boer uniform, a gift from his father.

At the age of eleven, Hermann was sent to boarding school but he did not like the strict discipline and travelled back home by selling his violin. He was, however, promptly sent back after a few days.

While he grew up playing with his toy soldiers, he also studied war history in detail. He also liked mountain climbing and scaled the peaks of Austrian Alps at a very young age.

Goring joined the Prince Wilhelm Regiment of the Prussian Army in 1912. In the next year, his family was forced to move to Munich, and shortly after that, his father passed away.

After World War I, he joined the air force combat after being coaxed into it by his friend, Bruno Loerzer. They flew as a team in bombing missions in the Crown Prince’s ‘Fifth Army’ and were awarded the ‘Iron Cross’ for their efforts.

By 1917, he was assigned to several air combat missions, seriously injuring himself in one - it took him an year to recover. He had finished the war with about twenty two victories to his credit.

In July 1918, Goring was made the commander of the mission, ‘Flying Circus’. However, his arrogant attitude earned him dislike and disobedience of his team mates.

After the war, he continued to be in the aviation field and worked briefly for Fokker. In 1919, he left Denmark and went to live in Sweden to join the Swedish airline called ‘Svensk Lufttrafik’.

In the first World War, Hermann Goring served at the Mulhausen infantry regiment, which was very close to the French frontier. However, due to damp trench conditions at the camp, he suffered from rheumatism and had to be hospitalized.

During World War II, Goring rose to power alongside Hitler and, in 1935, he took command of the German air force. Goring attempted to assume Hitler’s powers, leading Hitler to think that Goring was cheating on him and placed him under house arrest, after stripping him of all titles.