Goering, Hermann Wilhelm

views updated May 14 2018

Goering, Hermann Wilhelm (1893–1946) German Nazi leader. As commander of the Luftwaffe (Ger. ‘air force’) from 1933 and overall director of economic affairs from 1936, he was second in command to Hitler. His reputation declined during World War II with the failure of the Luftwaffe to subdue the British or the Russians. Captured in 1945, he was sentenced to death at the Nuremberg Trials but committed suicide.

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