Hermann Göring Biography

Quick Facts

NAME: Hermann Göring
OCCUPATION: General, Warrior, Political Leader
BIRTH DATE: January 12, 1893
DEATH DATE: October 15, 1946
PLACE OF BIRTH: Rosenheim, Germany
PLACE OF DEATH: Nuremberg, Germany
AKA: Hermann Goering
AKA: Hermann Göring
Full Name: Hermann Wilhelm Göring
AKA: Hermann Wilhelm Goering

Best Known For

Hermann Göring was a leader of the Nazi Party. He was condemned to hang as a war criminal in 1946 but took his own life instead.

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Hermann Wilhelm Goring

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Convinced that this was an act of treason, Hitler stripped Göring of his offices and titles, and placed him under house arrest. By April 1945, the situation for the Nazis had become dire, and on April 30, 1945, Hitler and wife Eva Braun committed suicide. Göring was freed from prison, and he immediately sought out American troops and surrendered.

Trial and Death

While awaiting trial as a war criminal, Göring finally was able to break his morphine addiction, and he defended himself before the International Military Tribunal at Nuremburg. Göring denied any involvement in the regime's more monstrous activities but was condemned to death nonetheless. He pleaded to be shot instead of hanged, but the tribunal refused his request.

On October 15, 1946, the night that his execution was ordered—and a year and a half after Adolf Hitler had committed suicide in his own bunker—Hermann Göring took a cyanide capsule and died in his cell.