Synopsis
This, the only official biography of Hermann Göring, was a bestseller in Germany and in the English speaking world when first published in 1938. Written by one of Göring’s senior staff members, Erich Gritzbach, this book details the many astonishing services which Göring rendered the German state. Although it is well known that Göring recreated the German air force once the shackles of the Versailles Treaty were shaken off, his other valuable achievements are less famous. He served as prime minister of Prussia, president of the Reichstag, helped resuscitate Lufthansa, and in his role as imperial master of the hunt, helped craft legislation to create forest reserves and protect animals. As minister in charge of Germany’s Four Year Plan to make that nation self-sufficient in manufacturing and resources, he was accorded the highest powers outside of the Fuehrer’s office itself. Finally, he often deputized for Hitler on many state occasions and was, in effect, always the number two man in the Nazi hierarchy, right from his time as first leader of the Brownshirts and his role in the 1923 Putsch through to the end of the war. This book contains the original English version plus all 57 original photographs and the 1938 introduction written by Sir Robert Hamilton Bruce Lockhart. In addition, it contains a brand new introduction which sketches Göring’s career after the book was published, right through to his suicide in defiance of a vengeful Allied prison authority at the Nuremberg war crimes trials.