Hermann Göring

Hermann Wilhelm Göring (also Goering or Goring in English) (January 12, 1893 – October 15, 1946) was an early member of the Nazi party, founder of the Gestapo, and one of the main leaders of Nazi Germany. He was tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials in 1945-1946 and sentenced to death, but he avoided execution by committing suicide in his cell, a few hours before the sentence was to be carried out.

Capture, trial and death

Göring surrendered on May 8/9, 1945 in Austria. He was the highest ranking Nazi official brought before the Nuremberg Trials. Though he defended himself vigorously, he was sentenced to death; the judgement stated that "his guilt is unique in its enormity". One of his last acts was to ask his brother Albert Göring to look after his wife and daughter. Defying the sentence imposed by his captors, he committed suicide with a cyanide capsule the night before he was supposed to be hanged. Where Göring obtained the cyanide, and how he had managed to hide it during his entire imprisonment at Nuremberg, remains unknown. In the 1950s, Erich von dem Bach would claim that he had given Göring the cyanide shortly before Göring's death; however, this claim is most often dismissed. Modern day theories speculate that Göring had befriended a U.S. Army Lieutenant, stationed at the Nuremberg Trials, who had aided Göring in obtaining cyanide which had most likely been hidden in Göring's personal effects confiscated by the Army. In 2005, a retired Army private, Herbert Lee Stivers, claimed that he delivered "medicine" hidden inside a fountain pen to Göring from a German woman he had met and flirted with. Stivers served in the US 1st Infantry Division's 26th Regiment, who formed the honor guard for the Nuremberg Trials. Stivers claims to have been unaware of what the "medicine" he delivered actually was until after Göring's death. After his suicide, Hermann Göring was cremated and his ashes were scattered into the Isar river.

Related Topics:
May 8 - 9 - 1945 - Austria - Nuremberg Trials - Albert Göring - Suicide - Cyanide - Hanged - 1950s - Erich von dem Bach - 2005 - Herbert Lee Stivers - US 1st Infantry Division - Cremated - Isar

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