(1893–1946), German Nazi leader, born in Rosenheim, Bavaria. Goering received a commission in the army in 1912 and served with distinction in World War I. He met Adolf Hitler in1921 and became one of the earliest members of the Nazi party. Goering was elected to the Reichstag in 1928 and became president of that body in 1932. As president of the Reichstag he helped bring Hitler to power as chancellor. He held a series of other offices that he used to establish such elements of the Nazi state as the secret police and concentration camps. For most of World War II, Hermann Goering was head of Germany's air force, the Luftwaffe. It was under his command that the air force assisted in the blitzkrieg (lightning warfare) that weakened one nation after another for a German takeover. It was also under his orders that the relentless bombing of England—the battle of Britain—took place. During the war, he obtained a huge country estate and gathered a large art collection—mostly stolen. After the war he was arrested and sent to Nuremberg for trial. He committed suicide by poison on Oct. 15, 1946, the night he was to have been executed. |