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Hermann Goering, Successor designate No. 1 to Hitler; Reich
Minister for Air; President of the Ministerial Council for the
Defense of the Reich; member of the Secret Cabinet Council;
Reich Forest Master; Commander-in-Chief of the Air Force;
Prime Minister of Prussia; President of the Prussian State Council; President of the
Reichstag; Plenipotentiary for the Four
Year Plan; Head of the "Reichswerke Hermann Goering"; Reichsmarschall; SS
Obergruppenfuehrer; SA- Obergruppenfuehrer.
During his Nuremberg trial Goering, who had slimmed
in captivity and had been taken off drugs, defended himself
with aggressive vigour and skill, frequently outwitting the
prosecuting counsel. With Hitler dead, he stood out among the
defendants as the dominating personality, dictating attitudes to
other prisoners in the dock and adopting a pose of
self-conscious heroism motivated by the belief that he would
be immortalized as a German martyr.
Nevertheless, Goering failed to convince the judges, who
found him guilty, and Goering was sentenced to death by hanging. On 15 October 1946, two hours before his execution
was due to take place, Goering committed suicide in his
Nuremberg cell, taking a capsule of poison that he had
succeeded in hiding from his guards during his captivity. |