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175-629: Following the 1938 Anschluss between Germany and Austria , Yugoslavia shared a border with the Third Reich and came under increasing pressure as her neighbours aligned themselves with the Axis powers . In April 1939, Italy opened a second frontier with Yugoslavia when it invaded and occupied neighbouring Albania . At the outbreak of World War II, the Yugoslav government declared its neutrality . Between September and November 1940, Hungary and Romania joined

350-507: A Großdeutsche Lösung (greater Germany solution), whereby the German states would unite under the leadership of the Austrian House of Habsburg . This solution would have included all the German states (including the non-German regions of Austria), but Prussia would have had to accept a secondary role. This controversy, called dualism , dominated Prusso-Austrian diplomacy and the politics of

525-518: A combat radius of over 1,800 miles (2,900 km) when using underwing drop tanks , began to escort the bombers in large formations to and from the target area in early 1944. From that point onwards, the Luftwaffe began to suffer casualties in aircrews it could not sufficiently replace. By targeting oil refineries and rail communications, Allied bombers crippled the German war effort by late 1944. German civilians blamed Göring for his failure to protect

700-526: A puppet government in Belgrade. On 21 April 1941, the German military area commander for Belgrade, Oberst Ernst Moritz von Kaisenberg, appointed Dragomir Jovanović to lead the city administration. In mid-May 1941, Jovanović established a special squad of 55 police agents, who were directly tasked by the overall German police and security organisation, Einsatzgruppe Serbia , with finding, arresting and questioning communists in Belgrade. This squad grew out of

875-526: A "German state" that would always follow Germany's lead in foreign policy, and members of the "National Opposition" were allowed to enter the cabinet, in exchange for which the Austrian Nazis promised to cease their terrorist attacks against the government. This did not satisfy Hitler and the pro-German Austrian Nazis grew in strength. In September 1936, Hitler launched the Four Year Plan that called for

1050-615: A German minority. The empire caused tensions between the various ethnic groups. Many Austrian pan-Germans showed loyalty to Bismarck and only to Germany, wore symbols that were temporarily banned in Austrian schools and advocated the dissolution of the empire to allow Austria to rejoin Germany, as it had been during the German Confederation of 1815–1866. Although many Austrians supported pan-Germanism, many others still showed allegiance to

1225-454: A Greater Germany. Bismarck had not chosen to include Austria in his 1871 unification of Germany , and there was genuine support from Germans in both Austria and Germany for an Anschluss . Hitler's forces suppressed all opposition. Before the first German soldier crossed the border, Heinrich Himmler and a few Schutzstaffel (SS) officers landed in Vienna to arrest prominent representatives of

1400-565: A Swedish airline. Göring was often hired for private flights. During the winter of 1920–1921, he was hired by Count Eric von Rosen to fly him to his castle from Stockholm. Invited to spend the night, Göring may at this time have first seen the swastika emblem, which Rosen had set in the chimney piece as a family badge. This was also the first time that Göring saw his future wife; the count introduced his sister-in-law, Baroness Carin von Kantzow ( née Freiin von Fock). Estranged from her husband of 10 years, she had an eight-year-old son. Göring

1575-569: A car, crossed the border at his birthplace, Braunau am Inn , with a 4,000 man bodyguard. In the evening, he arrived at Linz and was given an enthusiastic welcome. 250,000 Austrians gathered in Linz to meet Adolf Hitler and support Anschluss . The enthusiasm displayed toward Hitler and the Germans surprised both Nazis and non-Nazis, as most people had believed that a majority of Austrians opposed Anschluss . Many Germans from both Austria and Germany welcomed

1750-447: A career as a soldier from a very early age, Göring enjoyed playing with toy soldiers and dressing up in a Boer uniform his father had given him. He was sent to boarding school at age eleven, where the food was poor, and discipline was harsh. He sold a violin to pay for his train ticket home, and then took to his bed, feigning illness, until he was told he would not have to return. He continued to enjoy war games, pretending to lay siege to

1925-845: A client relationship with Berlin that began with the formation of the Berlin–Rome Axis in 1937. The Austrian Nazi Party failed to win any seats in the November 1930 general election , but its popularity grew in Austria after Hitler came to power in Germany. The idea of the country joining Germany also grew in popularity, thanks in part to a Nazi propaganda campaign which used slogans such as Ein Volk, ein Reich, ein Führer ("One People, One Empire, One Leader") to try to convince Austrians to advocate for an Anschluss to

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2100-604: A dramatic increase in military spending and to make Germany as autarkic as possible with the aim of having the Reich ready to fight a world war by 1940. The Four Year Plan required huge investments in the Reichswerke steel works, a programme for developing synthetic oil that soon went wildly over budget, and programmes for producing more chemicals and aluminium; the plan called for a policy of substituting imports and rationalizing industry to achieve its goals that failed completely. As

2275-514: A failed coup known as the Beer Hall Putsch . Göring, who was with Hitler leading the march to the War Ministry, was shot in the groin. Fourteen Nazis and four policemen were killed; many top Nazis, including Hitler, were arrested. With Carin's help, Göring was smuggled to Innsbruck , where he received surgery and was given morphine for the pain. He remained in hospital until 24 December. This

2450-526: A falling-out with Epenstein. The family was forced to leave Veldenstein and moved to Munich ; Göring's father died shortly afterwards. It was in Bavaria where Göring developed his "romantic sense of Germanness" that further evolved under Nazism. When World War I began in August 1914, Göring was stationed at Mülhausen with his regiment. During the first year of World War I, Göring served with his infantry regiment in

2625-409: A former cavalry officer, had been the first governor-general of German South West Africa (modern-day Namibia ). Heinrich had three children from a previous marriage. Göring was the fourth of five children by Heinrich's second wife, Franziska Tiefenbrunn (1859–15 July 1943), a Bavarian peasant. Göring's elder siblings were Karl, Olga, and Paula; his younger brother was Albert . At the time that Göring

2800-662: A law abolishing the Prussian State Council , the second chamber of the Prussian legislature that represented the interests of the Prussian provinces. In its place, he created a revised non-legislative Prussian State Council to serve merely as a body of advisors to him. Göring would serve as President of the council. It would consist, ex officio , of the Prussian cabinet ministers and state secretaries, as well as hand-picked Nazi Party officials and other industry and society leaders selected solely by Göring. In October 1933, Göring

2975-519: A luncheon held on Hitler's birthday in 1942, Göring said, "The only one who really knows about the Reichstag is I, because I set it on fire!" In his own Nuremberg testimony, Göring denied this story. During the early 1930s, Göring was often in the company of Emmy Sonnemann , an actress from Hamburg . They were married on 10 April 1935, in Berlin. The wedding was celebrated on a huge scale. A large reception

3150-513: A secret speech before a group of German industrialists, Göring stated that the only solution to the problems with meeting the steel production targets laid out by the Four Year Plan was to annex Austria, which Göring noted was rich in iron. Göring did not give a date for the Anschluss , but given that Four Year Plan's targets all had to be met by September 1940, and the current problems with meeting

3325-481: A slim majority in the event of a plebiscite, and not the 75 per cent necessary, and that the number of Anschluss supporters in 1919 was not more than 50 per cent of the population. Even Otto Bauer, leader of the Social Democratic party had to admit that both the bourgeoisie and the peasantry wanted 'an independent Austria fully capable of a national life of its own'. More telling is Bauer's admission that, because of

3500-577: A special Prussian police force, with Rudolf Diels at its head. The force was called the Geheime Staatspolizei ( transl.  Secret State Police ), or Gestapo . Göring, thinking that Diels was not ruthless enough to use the Gestapo effectively to counteract the power of the SA, handed over control of the Gestapo to Himmler on 20 April 1934. By this time, the SA numbered over two million men. Hitler

3675-618: A split in the SPÖ . Austrian left circles vehemently opposed Anschluss, and Renner's declaration prompted many to defect to Revolutionary Socialists under Otto Bauer or the KPÖ . The relevance of Innitzer's endorsement is also disputed—he was reportedly "despised" by Austrian workers, and the Anschluss sparked Catholic protests in Austria under the slogan "Our Führer is Christ" (rather than Hitler). According to Hungarian historian Oszkár Jászi , writing in 1938,

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3850-417: A stream of love as I have never experienced. Not as tyrants have we come, but as liberators." Hitler said as a personal note to the Anschluss : "I, myself, as Führer and Chancellor, will be happy to walk on the soil of the country that is my home as a free German citizen." Hitler's popularity reached an unprecedented peak after he fulfilled the Anschluss because he had completed the long-awaited idea of

4025-612: A suburb of Munich. Göring joined the Nazi Party in 1922 after hearing a speech by Adolf Hitler . He was given command of the Sturmabteilung (SA) as the Oberster SA-Führer on 1 March 1923, succeeding Hans Ulrich Klintzsch , and headed the organization until it was banned in November 1923. He was appointed an SA- Gruppenführer on 18 December 1931. On 1 January 1933, he

4200-610: A triumphal tour that climaxed in Vienna on 15 March 1938, when around 200,000 cheering German Austrians gathered around the Heldenplatz (Square of Heroes) to hear Hitler say that "The oldest eastern province of the German people shall be, from this point on, the newest bastion of the German Reich" followed by his "greatest accomplishment" (completing the annexing of Austria to form a Greater German Reich) by saying "As leader and chancellor of

4375-475: A unification with the Weimar Republic . Further plebiscites were then forbidden. However, Erich Bielka notes that the plebiscites were marred by electoral fraud and voter manipulation, and therefore do not reflect what the general Austrian opinion was at that time: In addition to the massive propaganda campaign and not insignificant Reich German influence, 'Ja' ballot papers were pre-printed and provided at

4550-422: A union, Schuschnigg met Hitler at Berchtesgaden on 12 February 1938, in an attempt to avoid the takeover of Austria. Hitler presented Schuschnigg with a set of demands including appointing Nazi sympathizers to positions of power in the government. The key appointment was that of Arthur Seyss-Inquart as Minister of Public Security, with full, unlimited control of the police. In return Hitler would publicly reaffirm

4725-473: A young age. Whilst infiltrating the German Workers' Party (DAP), Hitler became involved in a heated political argument with a visitor, a Professor Baumann, who proposed that Bavaria should break away from Prussia and found a new South German nation with Austria. In vehemently attacking the man's arguments he made an impression on the other party members with his oratorical skills and, according to Hitler,

4900-464: Is no longer willing to tolerate the suppression of ten million Germans across its borders." On 3 March 1938, Austrian Socialists offered to back Schuschnigg's government in exchange for political concessions, such as legalising socialist press, returning confiscated funds and "the lifting of the ban on the wearing of Social Democrat badges, show Social Democrat flags and standards and singing Social Democrat songs." Schuschnigg agreed to these demands and

5075-738: The Anschluß Österreichs ( pronunciation , English: Annexation of Austria ), was the annexation of the Federal State of Austria into the German Reich on 13 March 1938. The idea of an Anschluss (a united Austria and Germany that would form a " Greater Germany ") arose after the 1871 unification of Germany excluded Austria and the German Austrians from the Prussian-dominated German Empire . It gained support after

5250-647: The 8th Army of the German Wehrmacht crossed the border into Austria. The troops were greeted by cheering Austrians with Nazi salutes, Nazi flags, and flowers. For the Wehrmacht , the invasion was the first big test of its machinery. Although the invading forces were badly organized and coordination among the units was poor, it mattered little because the Austrian government had ordered the Austrian Bundesheer not to resist. That afternoon, Hitler, riding in

5425-418: The Anschluss as they saw it as completing the complex and long overdue unification of all Germans into one state. Hitler had originally intended to leave Austria as a satellite state with Seyss-Inquart as head of a pro-Nazi government. However, the overwhelming reception caused him to change course and absorb Austria directly into the Reich. On 13 March Seyss-Inquart announced the abrogation of Article 88 of

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5600-770: The Anschluss was ambivalent; but, since the Social Democratic Party of Austria leader Karl Renner and the highest representative of the Roman Catholic church in Austria Cardinal Theodor Innitzer both endorsed the Anschluss , approximately two-thirds of Austrians could be counted on to vote for it. What the result of the plebiscite meant for the Austrians will always be a matter of speculation. Nevertheless, historians generally agree that it cannot be explained exclusively by simply either opportunism or

5775-520: The Austro-Hungarian Empire fell in 1918. The new Republic of German-Austria attempted to form a union with Germany, but the 1919 Treaty of Saint Germain and Treaty of Versailles forbade both the union and the continued use of the name "German-Austria" ( Deutschösterreich ); they also stripped Austria of some of its territories, such as the Sudetenland . This left Austria without most of

5950-588: The Battle of Britain , the Luftwaffe attempted to defeat Britain via strategic bombing . On 12 October 1940 Hitler cancelled Sea Lion due to the onset of winter. By the end of the year, it was clear that British morale was not being shaken by the Blitz , though the bombings continued through May 1941. In spite of the Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact , signed in 1939, Nazi Germany began Operation Barbarossa —the invasion of

6125-827: The Battles of the Netherlands , of Belgium and of France in May 1940. After the Fall of France , Hitler awarded Göring the Grand Cross of the Iron Cross for his successful leadership. During the 1940 Field Marshal Ceremony , Hitler promoted Göring to the rank of Reichsmarschall des Grossdeutschen Reiches ( transl.  Reich Marshal of the Greater German Reich ), a specially created rank which made him senior to all field marshals in

6300-640: The Belgrade General Police of the interwar period , which included a political police organisation and had been closely involved in the suppression of the Communist Party of Yugoslavia since it was banned in 1920. The Belgrade General Police had also been involved in overseeing cultural and sports organisations, and had paid special attention to the University of Belgrade , a focal point of libertarian thought in interwar Yugoslavia. The pre-war chief of

6475-603: The Entente with justification for demanding territorial compensations". During the Paris Peace Conference the French sought to forbid a union between Austria and Germany, with French Minister of Foreign Affairs Stephen Pichon stating that they "must see that Germany is not given an opportunity to rebuild her strength by utilizing the Austrian populations which remain outside of Czechoslovakia, Poland, and Jugoslavia". A compromise

6650-447: The French invasion of Russia in 1812. In late October or early November 1941, Hitler and Göring decided on the mass deportation of Soviet prisoners of war —and a larger number of Soviet civilians—to Germany for forced labor , but epidemics soon caused the halting of prisoner-of-war transports. Those who were deported to Germany faced conditions not necessarily any better than existed in

6825-525: The Habsburg monarchy and wished for Austria to remain an independent country. Erich Ludendorff wrote to the Federal Foreign Office on 14 October 1918 about the possibility of conducting an Anschluss with the German areas of Austria-Hungary as its dissolution removed the problem of the country's numerous ethnic groups. Secretary Wilhelm Solf opposed the proposal, stating that it "would provide

7000-602: The July 1932 election , the Nazis won 230 seats to become far and away the largest party in the Reichstag . By longstanding tradition, the Nazis were thus entitled to select the President of the Reichstag , and elected Göring to the post. He would retain this position until 23 April 1945. The Reichstag fire occurred on the night of 27 February 1933. Göring was one of the first to arrive on

7175-602: The Kriegsmarine commander Admiral Erich Raeder and the Luftwaffe commander Hermann Göring recorded in the Hossbach Memorandum . At the conference, Hitler stated that economic problems were causing Germany to fall behind in the arms race with Britain and France, and that the only solution was to launch in the near-future a series of wars to seize Austria and Czechoslovakia , whose economies would be plundered to give Germany

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7350-455: The Nuremberg Laws in 1935. The plan went awry when it became apparent that Hitler would not stand by while Austria declared its independence by public vote. Hitler declared that the referendum would be subject to major fraud and that Germany would never accept it. In addition, the German ministry of propaganda issued press reports that riots had broken out in Austria and that large parts of

7525-575: The Nuremberg trials in 1946. He requested at trial for an execution by firing squad, but was denied, and instead he was sentenced to death by hanging. He committed suicide by ingesting cyanide the night before his scheduled execution. Göring was born on 12 January 1893 at the Marienbad Sanatorium in Rosenheim , Bavaria . His father, Heinrich Ernst Göring (31 October 1839 – 7 December 1913),

7700-579: The Reich or living outside it in order to create an "all-German Reich ". Hitler wrote in Mein Kampf (1925) that he would create a union between his birth country Austria and Germany by any means possible. The First Austrian Republic was dominated from the late 1920s by the Christian Social Party (CS), whose economic policies were based on the papal encyclical Rerum novarum . The First Republic gradually disintegrated in 1933, when parliament

7875-542: The Social Democrats and their trade unions in return for their support in the referendum. He also set the minimum voting age at 24 to exclude younger voters because the Nazi movement was most popular among the young. In contrast, Hitler had lowered the voting age for German elections held under Nazi rule, largely to compensate for the removal of Jews and other ethnic minorities from the German electorate following enactment of

8050-586: The Tripartite Pact , aligning themselves with the Axis, and Italy invaded Greece . From that time, Yugoslavia was almost completely surrounded by the Axis powers and their satellites, and her neutral stance toward the war became strained. In late February 1941, Bulgaria joined the Pact. The following day, German troops entered Bulgaria from Romania, closing the ring around Yugoslavia. Intending to secure his southern flank for

8225-518: The Zähringer Lion with swords, the Friedrich Order , the House Order of Hohenzollern with swords third class, and finally, in May 1918, the coveted Pour le Mérite . According to Hermann Dahlmann , who knew both men, Göring had Loerzer lobby for the award. He finished the war with 22 victories . A thorough post-war examination of Allied loss records showed that only two of his awarded victories were doubtful. Three were possible and 17 were certain, or highly likely. On 7 July 1918, following

8400-425: The impending attack on the Soviet Union , Adolf Hitler began placing heavy pressure on Yugoslavia to join the Axis. On 25 March 1941, after some delay, the Yugoslav government conditionally signed the Pact. Two days later, a group of pro-Western, Serbian nationalist Royal Yugoslav Air Force officers deposed the country's regent , Prince Paul , in a bloodless coup d'état , placed his teenaged nephew Peter on

8575-418: The occupied Soviet Union . By the end of the war, at least 1.3 million Soviet prisoners of war had been deported to Germany or its annexed territories. Of these, 400,000 did not survive and most of these deaths occurred in the winter of 1941/1942. After the attack on Pearl Harbor , Göring, along with Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel and Admiral Erich Raeder , urged Hitler to immediately declare war on

8750-453: The "professor" left the hall acknowledging unequivocal defeat. Impressed with Hitler, Anton Drexler invited him to join the DAP. Hitler accepted on 12 September 1919, becoming the party's 55th member. After becoming leader of the DAP, Hitler addressed a crowd on 24 February 1920, and in an effort to appeal to wider parts of the German population, the DAP was renamed the National Socialist German Workers' Party (NSDAP). As its first point,

8925-447: The 1920 National Socialist Program stated, "We demand the unification of all Germans in the Greater Germany on the basis of the people's right to self-determination." Hitler argued in a 1921 essay that the German Reich had a single task of, "incorporating the ten million German-Austrians in the Empire and dethroning the Habsburgs, the most miserable dynasty ever ruling." The Nazis aimed to re-unite all Germans who were either born in

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9100-508: The 1920s it was a target for German investment capital. By 1937, rapid German rearmament increased Berlin's interest in annexing Austria, rich in raw materials and labour. It supplied Germany with magnesium and the products of the iron, textile and machine industries. It had gold and foreign currency reserves, many unemployed skilled workers, hundreds of idle factories, and large potential hydroelectric resources. Hitler, an Austrian German by birth, picked up his German nationalist ideas at

9275-411: The Allies; he refused. Many of his pilots intentionally crash-landed their planes to keep them from falling into enemy hands. Like many other German veterans, Göring was a proponent of the stab-in-the-back myth , the belief which held that the German Army had not really lost the war, but instead was betrayed by the civilian leadership: Marxists, Jews, and especially the republicans , who had overthrown

9450-411: The Anschluss. While the population's true opinions are unknown, it has been estimated that about 70% of Austrians would have voted to preserve Austrian independence. The idea of grouping all Germans into one nation-state had been the subject of debate in the 19th century from the dissolution of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806 until the break-up of the German Confederation in 1866. Austria had wanted

9625-449: The Austrian Jews as well as "old Hapsburgist officers and officials and by a considerable part of Austrian capitalism". Most contemporary writers estimated that about two-thirds of Austrians wanted Austria to remain independent. Hermann G%C3%B6ring This is an accepted version of this page Hermann Wilhelm Göring (or Goering ; German: [ˈhɛʁman ˈvɪlhɛlm ˈɡøːʁɪŋ] ; 12 January 1893 – 15 October 1946)

9800-410: The Austrian Nazis, cooperated with Catholic groups, and wanted to preserve a measure of Austrian identity within Nazi Germany. On 20 February, Hitler made a speech before the Reichstag which was broadcast live and which for the first time was relayed also by the Austrian radio network . A key phrase in the speech which was aimed at the Germans living in Austria and Czechoslovakia was: "The German Reich

9975-417: The Austrian government looked to a possible customs union with the German Republic in 1931. However, ultimately regional patriotism was stronger than pan-German sentiment. In the Austrian Empire, each Kronland had its own functional government and enjoyed a fair amount of autonomy from Vienna , with "each looking to their own capital" instead. According to Jody Manning, the idea of unification with Germany

10150-406: The Austrian population were calling for German troops to restore order. Schuschnigg immediately responded that reports of riots were false. Hitler sent an ultimatum to Schuschnigg on 11 March, demanding that he hand over all power to the Austrian Nazis or face an invasion. The ultimatum was set to expire at noon, but was extended by two hours. Without waiting for an answer, Hitler had already signed

10325-631: The Austro-Hungarian Empire and offered to form a customs union with Austria. However, Austrian Chancellor Ignaz Seipel , an Anschluss opponent, rejected the offer. Seipel was replaced in 1929 by Johannes Schober , who pursued a pro-Germany policy and attempted to form a customs union. However, a political crisis led to Schober losing power and Seipel returning to the government as Minister of Foreign Affairs. Negotiations were restarted after Otto Ender became chancellor and were finalized with German Foreign Affairs Minister Julius Curtius on 5 March 1931, before being approved by Germany on 18 March. France opposed

10500-651: The Catholic elements of Austria's national identity and staunchly opposed union with Nazi Germany . Engelbert Dollfuss and his successor, Kurt Schuschnigg , turned to Benito Mussolini 's Fascist Italy for inspiration and support. Mussolini supported the independence of Austria, largely due to his concern that Hitler would eventually press for the return of Italian territories which had once been ruled by Austria. However, Mussolini needed German support in Ethiopia ( see Second Italo-Abyssinian War ). After receiving Hitler's personal assurance that Germany would not seek territorial concessions from Italy, Mussolini entered into

10675-409: The Czechs as an inferior race that must be conquered. Chamberlain and Hitler had a series of meetings that led to the signing of the Munich Agreement (29 September 1938), which turned over control of the Sudetenland to Germany. In March 1939, Göring threatened Czechoslovak president Emil Hácha with the bombing of Prague . Hácha then agreed to sign a communique accepting the German occupation of

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10850-452: The First Republic, such as Richard Schmitz , Leopold Figl , Friedrich Hillegeist , and Franz Olah . During the few weeks between the Anschluss and the plebiscite, authorities rounded up Social Democrats, Communists, other potential political dissenters, and Austrian Jews , and imprisoned them or sent them to concentration camps . Within a few days of 12 March, 70,000 people had been arrested. The disused northwest railway station in Vienna

11025-453: The Four Year Plan fell further and further behind its targets, Hermann Göring , the chief of the Four Year Plan office, began to press for an Anschluss as a way of securing Austria's iron and other raw materials as a solution to the problems with the Four Year Plan. The British historian Sir Ian Kershaw wrote: ...above all, it was Hermann Göring, at this time close to the pinnacle of his power, who far more than Hitler, throughout 1937 made

11200-413: The German Reich. Hugo Preuss , the drafter of the German Weimar Constitution , criticized efforts to prevent an Anschluss; he saw the prohibition as a contradiction of the Wilsonian principle of self-determination of peoples. The constitutions of the Weimar Republic and the First Austrian Republic both included the political goal of unification, which parties widely supported. In the early 1930s,

11375-433: The German Reich. Anschluss might have occurred by democratic process had Austrian Nazis not begun a terrorism campaign. According to John Gunther in 1936, "In 1932 Austria was probably eighty percent pro- Anschluss ". When Germany permitted residents of Austria to vote on 5 March 1933, three special trains, boats and trucks brought such masses to Passau that the SS staged a ceremonial welcome. Gunther wrote that by

11550-411: The German boycott was too great. That summer Schuschnigg told Mussolini that his country had to come to an agreement with Germany. On 11 July 1936 he signed an agreement with German ambassador Franz von Papen , in which Schuschnigg agreed to the release of Nazis imprisoned in Austria and Germany promised to respect Austrian sovereignty. Under the terms of the Austro-German treaty, Austria declared itself

11725-415: The German economic sphere of influence was sufficient. In this context, having Austria annexed to Germany was the key towards bringing Eastern Europe into Göring's desired Grossraumwirtschaft ("greater economic space"). Faced with problems in the Four Year Plan, Göring had become the loudest voice in Germany, calling for an Anschluss , even at the risk of losing an alliance with Italy. In April 1937, in

11900-447: The German monarchy. Atop the frustration of military defeat, Göring also experienced the personal disappointment of being snubbed by his fiancée's upper-class family, who broke off the engagement when he returned penniless from the front. Göring remained in aviation after the war. He tried barnstorming and briefly worked at Fokker . After spending most of 1919 living in Denmark , he moved to Sweden and joined Svensk Lufttrafik ,

12075-420: The German nation and Reich I announce to German history now the entry of my homeland into the German Reich." Hitler later commented: "Certain foreign newspapers have said that we fell on Austria with brutal methods. I can only say: even in death they cannot stop lying. I have in the course of my political struggle won much love from my people, but when I crossed the former frontier (into Austria) there met me such

12250-404: The German states in the mid-nineteenth century. In 1866 the feud finally came to an end during the Austro-Prussian War in which the Prussians defeated the Austrians and thereby excluded the Austrian Empire and German Austrians from Germany. The Prussian statesman Otto von Bismarck formed the North German Confederation , which included most of the remaining German states, aside from a few in

12425-421: The Germans settled on a leader for the Serbian puppet administration, Milan Aćimović , a staunch anti-communist who served as Yugoslavia's Minister of Internal Affairs during the winter of 1939–40. However, the SP UGB did not come under the control of Aćimović's Commissioner Government , and remained under Gestapo control. Two resistance movements emerged following the invasion: the communist-led Partisans , and

12600-557: The Göring family, who were surviving on Heinrich's pension, first with a family home in Berlin-Friedenau, and then a small castle called Veldenstein, near Nuremberg . Göring's mother became Epenstein's mistress around this time and remained so for some fifteen years. Epenstein acquired the minor title of Ritter (knight) von Epenstein through service and donations to the Crown. Interested in

12775-498: The Nazi Arthur Seyss-Inquart as his replacement. Hitler's plan was for Seyss-Inquart to call immediately for German troops to rush to Austria's aid, restoring order and giving the invasion an air of legitimacy. In the face of this threat, Schuschnigg informed Seyss-Inquart that the plebiscite would be cancelled. To secure a large majority in the referendum, Schuschnigg dismantled the one-party state. He agreed to legalize

12950-510: The Nazi Party, Göring was among those wounded in Adolf Hitler 's failed Beer Hall Putsch in 1923. While receiving treatment for his injuries, he developed an addiction to morphine which persisted until the last year of his life. After Hitler became Chancellor of Germany in 1933, Göring was named as minister without portfolio in the new government. One of his first acts as a cabinet minister

13125-453: The Nazi cause, such as Prince August Wilhelm of Prussia and the conservative-minded businessmen, Fritz Thyssen and Hjalmar Schacht . The Great Depression led to a disastrous downturn in the German economy, and in the 1930 election , the Nazi Party won 6,409,600 votes and 107 seats. In May 1931, Hitler sent Göring on a mission to the Vatican , where he met the future Pope Pius XII . In

13300-523: The Nazis to agitate. The SA was reorganised, but with Franz Pfeffer von Salomon as its head rather than Göring, and the Schutzstaffel (SS) was founded in 1925, initially as a bodyguard for Hitler. Membership in the party increased from 27,000 in 1925 to 108,000 in 1928 and 178,000 in 1929. In the May 1928 elections the Nazi Party only obtained 12 seats out of an available 491 in the Reichstag . Göring

13475-565: The SP UGB regularly exchanged information with it. The SP UGB also exchanged information with the collaborationist Serbian Volunteer Corps , the German military intelligence bureau, the Abwehr , and Mihailović's Chetniks. SP UGB agents were awarded cash bonuses for their efforts in combating communists. Jovanović's influence over the operations of the SP UGB was undeniable, particularly during round-ups and arrests in Belgrade, and also in decisions made about

13650-551: The SP UGB was tied to the administration of the City of Belgrade, it began to send teams of agents to regional centres, such as Niš , Kragujevac , Šabac , Valjevo , Požarevac and Leskovac . Šterić was sent to head the SP UGB office in Kragujevac. Formally, these teams were subordinated to the area and district chiefs of the puppet administration, which mirrored the military area and district commands, but they were in regular contact with

13825-915: The Sixth Army—some 91,000 men out of an army of 285,000—surrendered in early February 1943; only 5,000 of these captives survived the Soviet prisoner of war camps to see Germany again. Meanwhile, the strength of the US and British bomber fleets had increased. Based in Britain, they began operations against German targets . The first thousand-bomber raid was staged on Cologne on 30 May 1942. Air raids continued on targets farther from England after auxiliary fuel tanks were installed on US fighter aircraft . Göring refused to believe reports that American fighters had been shot down as far east as Aachen in winter 1942–1943. His reputation began to decline. The American P-51 Mustang , with

14000-483: The Soviet Union—on 22 June 1941. Initially, the Luftwaffe was at an advantage, destroying thousands of Soviet aircraft in the first month of fighting. Hitler and his top staff were sure that the campaign would be over by Christmas, and no provisions were made for reserves of men or equipment. But, by July, the Germans had only 1,000 planes remaining in operation, and their troop losses were over 213,000 men. The choice

14175-672: The Soviets to encircle and trap it there without reinforcements or supplies. When the Sixth Army was surrounded by the end of November in Operation Uranus , Göring promised that the Luftwaffe would be able to deliver a minimum of 300 tons of supplies to the trapped men every day. On the basis of these assurances, Hitler demanded that there be no retreat; they were to fight to the last man. Though some airlifts were able to get through, supplies delivered never exceeded 120 tons per day. The remnants of

14350-737: The Treaty of Saint-Germain , which prohibited the unification of Austria and Germany, and approved the replacement of the Austrian states with Reichsgaue . The seizure of Austria demonstrated once again Hitler's aggressive territorial ambitions, and, once again, the failure of the British and the French to take action against him for violating the Versailles Treaty. Their lack of will emboldened him toward further aggression. Hitler's journey through Austria became

14525-520: The United States. Hitler decided that the summer 1942 campaign would be concentrated in the south; efforts would be made to capture the oilfields in the Caucasus . The Battle of Stalingrad , a major turning point of the war, began on 23 August 1942 with a bombing campaign by the Luftwaffe. The German Sixth Army entered the city, but because of its location on the front line, it was still possible for

14700-521: The Yugoslav monarchy—and by extension, Serb political hegemony—would be restored. The Banjica concentration camp was established on 22 June 1941, by order of the head of the German military occupation administration in Serbia, Harald Turner , to the leader of the Serbian collaborationist administration, Milan Aćimović . The purpose of the camp was to hold communists arrested by the Gestapo and SP UGB. The staff of

14875-655: The anti-communist Section IV of the Belgrade General Police was Svetozar Vujković , and his deputies were Stevan Šterić and Brana Božić, and a key agent in Vujković's section was Đorđe Kosmajac. For a short time, the chief of the SP UGB was Mija Petrović, but he was replaced after about a month by Ilija Paranos. The Gestapo had encountered Paranos during Hermann Göring 's 1936 visit to Yugoslavia to meet with Yugoslav Prime Minister Milan Stojadinović , and they considered him an experienced and loyal officer. On 30 April 1941,

15050-664: The area of Mülhausen , a garrison town less than 2 km from the French frontier. He was hospitalized with rheumatism , a result of the damp of trench warfare . While he was recovering, his friend Bruno Loerzer convinced him to transfer to what would become, by October 1916, the Luftstreitkräfte ( transl.  air combat forces ) of the German army, but his request was turned down. Later that year, Göring flew as Loerzer's observer in Feldflieger Abteilung 25 (FFA 25); Göring had informally transferred himself. He

15225-426: The belief that Austria, stripped of its imperial land, was not viable economically. Popular support for the unification faded with time, although it remained as a concept in the contemporary Austrian political discourse. After 1933, when Adolf Hitler rose to power in Germany, desire for unification could be identified with the Nazis, for whom it was an integral part of the Nazi " Heim ins Reich " ("back home to

15400-468: The camp, led by Vujković, took over the camp on 5 July, and it admitted its first inmates on 9 July. Communist resistance commenced in early July, shortly after the invasion of the Soviet Union, targeting both the Germans and the puppet authorities. By the time of the communist-led uprising , the SP UGB was receiving praise from von Kaisenberg, as well as knives, rubber truncheons, rifles and handguns. There

15575-723: The castle Veldenstein and studying Teutonic legends and sagas. He became a mountain climber, scaling peaks in Germany, at the Mont Blanc massif , and in the Austrian Alps . At age 16, he was sent to a military academy in Berlin-Lichterfelde , from which he graduated with distinction. Göring joined the Prince Wilhelm Regiment (112th Infantry, Garrison: Mülhausen ) of the Prussian Army in 1912. The next year his mother had

15750-609: The categorisation and shooting of prisoners at the Banjica concentration camp, where many communists and others were taken by the SP UGB after interrogation. On September 11, 1943, Special Police, alongside Serbian State Guard and battalion of Posava brigade of Chetniks , blockaded pro-Partisan village of Vranić , near Belgrade . One villager was killed by Chetniks and around a dozen were arrested, 4 of which were taken to prison Special Police, where they were interrogated and tortured, and later isolated at Banjica concentration camp . During

15925-417: The changes and allowed the Nazis to take over the government 'to avoid the shedding of fraternal blood [ Bruderblut ]'. Seyss-Inquart was appointed chancellor after midnight on 12 March. It is said that after listening to Bruckner's Seventh Symphony , Hitler cried: "How can anyone say that Austria is not German! Is there anything more German than our old pure Austrianness?" On the morning of 12 March 1938,

16100-631: The customs union, stating that it was in violation of Article 88 of the Treaty of Saint-Germain-en-Laye . When the Nazis , led by Adolf Hitler , rose to power in the Weimar Republic, the Austrian government withdrew from economic ties. Like Germany, Austria experienced the economic turbulence which was a result of the Great Depression , with a high unemployment rate, and unstable commerce and industry. During

16275-407: The death of Wilhelm Reinhard , successor to Manfred von Richthofen , Göring was made commander of the "Flying Circus", Jagdgeschwader 1 . His arrogance made him unpopular with the men of his squadron. In the last days of the war, Göring was repeatedly ordered to withdraw his squadron, first to Tellancourt airdrome, then to Darmstadt . At one point, he was ordered to surrender the aircraft to

16450-445: The desire of socioeconomics and represented the genuine German nationalist feeling in Austria during the interwar period. Also, the general anti-Semitic consensus in Austria meant that a substantial amount of Austrians were more than ready to "fulfill their duty" in the "Greater German Reich". However, British historian Donny Gluckstein notes that Austrian socialists reacted with "disgust" to Renner's endorsement of Anschluss, provoking

16625-416: The drug, he left the facility briefly, but had to return for further treatment. He returned to Germany when an amnesty was declared in 1927 and resumed working in the aircraft industry. Carin Göring, ill with epilepsy and tuberculosis , died of heart failure on 17 October 1931. Meanwhile, the Nazi Party was in a period of rebuilding and waiting. The economy had recovered, which meant fewer opportunities for

16800-472: The end of 1933 Austrian public opinion about German annexation was at least 60% against. On 25 July 1934, chancellor Dollfuss was assassinated by Austrian Nazis in a failed coup. Afterwards, leading Austrian Nazis fled to Germany but they continued to push for unification from there. The remaining Austrian Nazis continued terrorist attacks against Austrian governmental institutions, causing a death toll of more than 800 between 1934 and 1938. Dollfuss's successor

16975-445: The entire world just how little hold National Socialism really had on that tiny country." Schuschnigg desperately sought support for Austrian independence in the hours following the ultimatum. Realizing that neither France nor Britain was willing to offer assistance, Schuschnigg resigned on the evening of 11 March, but President Wilhelm Miklas refused to appoint Seyss-Inquart as Chancellor. At 8:45 pm, Hitler, tired of waiting, ordered

17150-546: The existence of the Luftwaffe was formally acknowledged, with Göring as Reich Aviation Minister. During a cabinet meeting in September 1936, Göring and Hitler announced that the German rearmament programme must be sped up. On 18 October, Hitler named Göring as Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan to undertake this task. Göring created a new organisation to administer the Plan and drew

17325-436: The head of Einsatzgruppe Serbien directed the SP UGB to conduct an investigation into the "Snaga i svetlost" power station, where, according to German information, there was a grouping of communists. The SP UGB subsequently arrested several suspected communists and sent them to the Banjica concentration camp. However, while the SP UGB had a certain amount of autonomy in the arrest of people, they did not have any such autonomy in

17500-499: The head of my SA. He is the only one of its heads that ran the SA properly. I gave him a dishevelled rabble. In a very short time he had organised a division of 11,000 men. Hitler and the Nazi Party held mass meetings and rallies in Munich and elsewhere during the early 1920s, attempting to gain supporters in a bid for political power. Inspired by Benito Mussolini 's March on Rome , the Nazis attempted to seize power on 8–9 November 1923 in

17675-466: The idea of Anschluss was opposed amongst most political circles in Austria. Jászi noted that "the annihilation of the German labor movement showed to Austrian socialism what it could expect from an Anschluss under Nazi rule", while "Austrian Catholicism realized what its fate would be under a system which crushed the great Catholic Party of Germany, the Centrum ". It was also opposed by other groups, such as

17850-485: The invasion to commence at dawn on 12 March regardless. Around 10 pm, a forged telegram was sent in Seyss-Inquart's name asking for German troops, since he was not yet Chancellor and was unable to do so himself. Seyss-Inquart was not installed as Chancellor until after midnight, when Miklas resigned himself to the inevitable. In the radio broadcast in which Schuschnigg announced his resignation, he argued that he accepted

18025-520: The lack of natural resources in Germany and began pushing for Austria to be incorporated into the Reich. The province of Styria had rich iron ore deposits, and the country as a whole was home to many skilled labourers who would also be useful. Hitler had always been in favour of a takeover of Austria, his native country. He met the Austrian Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg on 12 February 1938, threatening invasion if peaceful unification

18200-695: The lead in the arms race. In early 1938, Hitler was seriously considering replacing Papen as ambassador to Austria with either Colonel Hermann Kriebel , the German consul in Shanghai , or Albert Forster , the Gauleiter of Danzig. Significantly, neither Kriebel nor Forster was a professional diplomat, with Kriebel being one of the leaders of the 1923 Munich Beerhall putsch who had been appointed consul in Shanghai to facilitate his work as an arms dealer in China, while Forster

18375-784: The leadership of Bismarck and Prussia formed—this excluded Austria. Besides ensuring Prussian domination of a united Germany , the exclusion of Austria also ensured that Germany would have a substantial Protestant majority. The Austro-Hungarian Compromise of 1867 , the Ausgleich , provided for a dual sovereignty, the Austrian Empire and the Kingdom of Hungary , under Franz Joseph I . This diverse empire included various different ethnic groups including Hungarians, Slavic ethnic groups such as Croats, Czechs, Poles, Rusyns, Serbs, Slovaks, Slovenes, and Ukrainians, as well as Italians and Romanians ruled by

18550-591: The level which private enterprise could economically provide. In 1938, Göring was involved in the Blomberg–Fritsch Affair , which led to the resignations of the War Minister, Generalfeldmarschall Werner von Blomberg , and the army commander, General Werner von Fritsch . Göring had acted as witness at Blomberg's wedding to Margarethe Gruhn, a 26-year-old typist, on 12 January 1938. Information received from

18725-530: The lists of prisoners—numbering in the thousands—and determined who else should be shot. At least 85 people were killed in the period of 30 June to 2 July, which is now known as the Night of the Long Knives . Hitler admitted in the Reichstag on 13 July that the killings had been entirely illegal but claimed a plot had been under way to overthrow the Reich. A retroactive law was passed making the action legal. Any criticism

18900-403: The local offices of the Gestapo in the various towns, and also sent reports to SP UGB headquarters. The SP UGB even tried to extend its reach to Yugoslav forced labourers and prisoners of war held in Germany. The SP UGB operated on its own initiative to arrest, torture and interrogate communists, but was sometimes ordered by the Gestapo to arrest specific people. For example, in November 1941,

19075-565: The major factors that caused the failure of the Moscow offensive, which was resumed in October 1941 with the Battle of Moscow . Poor weather conditions, fuel shortages, a delay in building aircraft bases in Eastern Europe, and overstretched supply lines were also factors. Hitler did not give permission for even a partial retreat until mid-January 1942; by this time the losses were comparable to those of

19250-520: The military. As a result of this promotion, he was the highest-ranking soldier in Germany until the end of the war. Göring had already received the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross on 30 September 1939 as Commander in Chief of the Luftwaffe. The UK had declared war on Germany on 3 September 1939, the third day of the invasion of Poland. In July 1940, Hitler began preparations for an invasion of Britain. As part of

19425-491: The ministries of labour and agriculture under its umbrella. He bypassed the Economics Ministry in his policy-making decisions, to the chagrin of Hjalmar Schacht , the minister in charge. Huge expenditures were made on rearmament, in spite of growing deficits. Schacht resigned on 26 November 1937, and Göring took over the Economics Ministry on an interim basis until January 1938. He then managed to install Walther Funk in

19600-471: The order to send troops into Austria at one o'clock. Nevertheless, the German Führer underestimated his opposition. As Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Edgar Ansel Mowrer , reporting from Paris for CBS News , observed: "There is no one in all France who does not believe that Hitler invaded Austria not to hold a genuine plebiscite, but to prevent the plebiscite planned by Schuschnigg from demonstrating to

19775-566: The outbreak of the Second World War , Hitler appointed Göring as the chairman of a new six-person Council of Ministers for the Defense of the Reich which was set up to operate as a war cabinet. The invasion of Poland, the opening action of World War II, began at dawn on 1 September 1939. Later in the day, speaking to the Reichstag , Hitler designated Göring as his successor as Führer of all Germany, "If anything should befall me", with Hess as

19950-474: The philosophy Austrians were "superior Germans"). Schuschnigg called Austria the "better German state" but struggled to keep Austria independent. In an attempt to put Schuschnigg's mind at rest, Hitler delivered a speech at the Reichstag and said, "Germany neither intends nor wishes to interfere in the internal affairs of Austria, to annex Austria or to conclude an Anschluss." By 1936, the damage to Austria from

20125-519: The pilot's training course, Göring was assigned to Jagdstaffel 5 . Seriously wounded in the hip in aerial combat, he took nearly a year to recover. He then was transferred to Jagdstaffel 26 , commanded by Loerzer, in February 1917. He steadily scored air victories until May, when he was assigned to command Jagdstaffel 27 . Serving with Jastas 5, 26 and 27, he continued to win victories. In addition to his Iron Crosses (1st and 2nd Class), he received

20300-506: The plan, the Royal Air Force (RAF) had to be neutralized. Bombing raids commenced on British air installations and on cities and centres of industry. Göring had by then already announced in a radio speech, "If as much as a single enemy aircraft flies over German soil, my name is Meier!", something that would return to haunt him, when the RAF began bombing German cities on 11 May 1940. Though he

20475-466: The plebiscite was cancelled. By 5:30 the next morning, German troops that had been massing on the border marched into Austria, meeting no resistance. Although Joachim von Ribbentrop had been named Foreign Minister in February 1938, Göring continued to involve himself in foreign affairs. That July, he contacted the British government with the idea that he should make an official visit to discuss Germany's intentions for Czechoslovakia. Neville Chamberlain

20650-483: The police showed that the young bride was a prostitute. Göring felt obligated to tell Hitler, but also saw this event as an opportunity to dispose of Blomberg. Blomberg was forced to resign. Göring did not want Fritsch to be appointed to that position and thus be his superior. Several days later, Heydrich revealed a file on Fritsch that contained allegations of homosexual activity and blackmail. The charges were later proven to be false, but Fritsch had lost Hitler's trust and

20825-527: The polling stations and ballots were to be handed to an election official, undermining voter confidentiality. In addition, voter eligibility rules were liberally conceived and, therefore, open to abuse. Not only were those registered for the Nationalrat elections of October 1920 permitted to vote, but also those who registered themselves as living in Tyrol before April 1921, that is, less than a fortnight before going to

21000-466: The polls, as were all those Tyroleans who lived outside of the state; a train was even chartered from Bavaria to mitigate the financial burden of travelling 'home'. In the aftermath of a prohibition of an Anschluss, Germans in both Austria and Germany pointed to a contradiction in the national self-determination principle because the treaties failed to grant self-determination to the ethnic Germans (such as German Austrians and Sudeten Germans ) outside of

21175-473: The popular will in Austria and Germany, Hitler threatened an invasion and secretly pressured Schuschnigg to resign. A day before the planned referendum, the German Army crossed the border into Austria on 12 March, unopposed by the Austrian military. A plebiscite was held on 10 April, in which the ballot was not secret, and threats and coercion were employed to manipulate the vote, resulting in 99.7% approval for

21350-581: The position, who also took control of the Reichsbank when Schacht was forced out of that post as well in January 1939. In this way, both of these institutions effectively were brought under Göring's control under the auspices of the Four Year Plan. In July 1937, the Reichswerke Hermann Göring was established under state ownership – though led by Göring – with the aim of boosting steel production beyond

21525-401: The prisoners should be shot, but Rudolf Diels , head of the Prussian political police, ignored the order. Some researchers, including William L. Shirer and Alan Bullock , are of the opinion that the Nazi Party itself was responsible for starting the fire. At the Nuremberg trials , General Franz Halder testified that Göring admitted responsibility for starting the fire. He said that, at

21700-570: The racial dogmatism central to Hitler's ideology. Göring was far more interested in the return of the former German colonies in Africa than Hitler was, believed up to 1939 in the possibility of an Anglo-German alliance (an idea that Hitler had abandoned by late 1937), and wanted all Eastern Europe in the German economic sphere of influence . Göring did not share Hitler's interest in Lebensraum ("living space") as for him, merely having Eastern Europe in

21875-511: The realm") concept, which sought to incorporate as many Volksdeutsche (ethnic Germans outside Germany) as possible into a " Greater Germany ". Nazi Germany's agents cultivated pro-unification tendencies in Austria, and sought to undermine the Austrian government, which was controlled by the Austrofascist Fatherland Front , which opposed unification. During an attempted coup in 1934 , Austrian chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss

22050-401: The referendum. On 9 March 1938, in the face of rioting by the small, but virulent, Austrian Nazi Party and ever-expanding German demands on Austria, Chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg called a referendum (plebiscite) on the issue, to be held on 13 March. Infuriated, on 11 March, Adolf Hitler threatened invasion of Austria, and demanded Chancellor von Schuschnigg's resignation and the appointment of

22225-468: The release of prisoners from the Banjica camp. The SP UGB would make a recommendation, often accompanied by the views of the puppet regime, but only the Gestapo could approve release. In some cases, the Gestapo would refuse such requests without an explanation. Jovanović later established the State Security Service ( Serbo-Croatian : Služba državne bezbednosti , SDB), and after its establishment,

22400-422: The remainder of Bohemia and Moravia . Although many in the party disliked him, before the war Göring enjoyed widespread personal popularity among the German public because of his perceived sociability, colour and humour. As the Nazi leader most responsible for economic matters, he presented himself as a champion of national interests over allegedly corrupt big business and the old German elite. The Nazi press

22575-532: The royalist, Serbian nationalist Chetniks . The Partisans were led by the revolutionary Josip Broz Tito , while the Chetniks were led by Colonel Draža Mihailović , an officer in the interwar Royal Yugoslav Army . The two movements had widely diverging goals. Whereas the Partisans sought to turn Yugoslavia into a communist state under Tito's leadership, the Chetniks sought a return to the pre-war status quo , whereby

22750-499: The rump Republic of German-Austria after 1918 largely favored some sort of union with Germany. An Austrian provisional national assembly drafted a provisional constitution that stated that "German Austria is a democratic republic" (Article 1) and "German Austria is a component of the German Republic" (Article 2). Later plebiscites in the Austrian border provinces of Tyrol and Salzburg yielded majorities of 98% and 99% in favor of

22925-534: The running and pushed the hardest for an early and radical solution to the 'Austrian Question'. Göring was not simply operating as Hitler's agent in matters relating to the 'Austrian Question'. His approach differed in emphasis in significant respects...But Göring's broad notions of foreign policy, which he pushed to a great extent on his own initiative in the mid-1930s drew more on traditional pan-German concepts of nationalist power-politics to attain hegemony in Europe than on

23100-570: The scene. Marinus van der Lubbe , a Communist radical, was arrested and claimed sole responsibility for the fire. Göring immediately called for a crackdown on Communists. The Nazis took advantage of the fire to advance their own political aims. The Reichstag Fire Decree , passed the next day on Hitler's urging, suspended basic rights and allowed detention without trial. Activities of the German Communist Party were suppressed, and some 4,000 Party members were arrested. Göring demanded that

23275-564: The second alternate. Big German victories followed one after the other in quick succession. With the help of the Luftwaffe, the Polish Air Force was defeated within a week. The Fallschirmjäger seized vital airfields in Norway ( Operation Weserübung ) and captured Fort Eben-Emael in Belgium on 10 May 1940, the first day of the Battle of France . Göring's Luftwaffe played critical roles in

23450-599: The southwestern region of the German-inhabited lands, and further expanded the power of the Kingdom of Prussia . Bismarck used the Franco-Prussian war (1870–1871) as a way to convince southwestern German states, including the Kingdom of Bavaria , to side with Prussia against the Second French Empire . Due to Prussia's quick victory, the debate was settled and in 1871 the " Kleindeutsch " German Empire based on

23625-597: The steel production targets, suggested that he wanted an Anschluss in the very near-future. Hitler told Goebbels in the late summer of 1937 that eventually Austria would have to be taken "by force". On 5 November 1937, Hitler called a meeting with the Foreign Minister Konstantin von Neurath , the War Minister Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg , the Army commander General Werner von Fritsch ,

23800-414: The strength of the conservative opposition to Anschluss and the real possibility that the majority would have voted against the Anschluss, the Socialists did not dare to hold a referendum in 1919. The French attempted to prevent an Anschluss by incorporating Austria into a Danubian Confederation in 1927. German Minister of Foreign Affairs Gustav Stresemann opposed it, as he saw it as an attempt to re-form

23975-422: The territories it had ruled for centuries and amid economic crisis. By the 1920s, the Anschluss proposal had strong support in both Austria and Germany, particularly to many Austrian citizens of the political left and center. One vehement supporter was Otto Bauer , the prominent Social Democrat leader who served as Austria's Foreign Minister after the war. Support for unification with Germany came mainly from

24150-480: The throne, and brought to power a "government of national unity" led by General Dušan Simović . The coup enraged Hitler, who immediately ordered the country's invasion , which commenced on 6 April 1941. Yugoslavia was quickly overwhelmed by the combined strength of the Axis powers and surrendered in less than two weeks. The government and royal family went into exile, and the country was occupied and dismembered by its neighbours. The German-occupied territory of Serbia

24325-407: The treaty of 11 July 1936 and reaffirm his support for Austria's national sovereignty. Browbeaten and threatened by Hitler, Schuschnigg agreed to these demands and put them into effect. Seyss-Inquart was a long-time supporter of the Nazis who sought the union of all Germans in one state. Leopold argues he was a moderate who favoured an evolutionary approach to union. He opposed the violent tactics of

24500-454: The war, 31 villagers of Vranić were imprisoned at Banjica, six of them were executed by the Germans. From spring of 1944 onwards, executive department of Special Police was involved in several executions of inmates from Banjica camp on two locations in Belgrade. Anschluss The Anschluss ( German: [ˈʔanʃlʊs] , or Anschluß , lit.   ' joining ' or ' connection ' ), also known as

24675-426: Was Kurt Schuschnigg , who followed a political course similar to his predecessor. In 1935 Schuschnigg used the police to suppress Nazi supporters. Police actions under Schuschnigg included gathering Nazis (and Social Democrats) and holding them in internment camps . The Austrofascism of Austria between 1934 and 1938 focused on the history of Austria and opposed the absorption of Austria into Nazi Germany (according to

24850-476: Was a Gauleiter who had proven he could get along with the Poles in his position in the Free City of Danzig ; both men were Nazis who had shown some diplomatic skill. On 25 January 1938, the Austrian police raided the Vienna headquarters of the Austrian Nazi Party, arresting Gauleiter Leopold Tavs, the deputy to Captain Josef Leopold , discovered a cache of arms and plans for a putsch . Following increasing violence and demands from Hitler that Austria agree to

25025-415: Was a German politician, military leader, and convicted war criminal. He was one of the most powerful figures in the Nazi Party , which governed Germany from 1933 to 1945. A veteran World War I fighter pilot ace , Göring was a recipient of the Pour le Mérite . He also served as the last commander of Jagdgeschwader 1 (JG I), the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen . An early member of

25200-432: Was a rapid increase in the size of the SP UGB after the uprising began. The SP UGB operated a network of informants who reported on the arrival of suspicious persons, meetings and conversations, and conducted regular inspections of companies, factories, institutions and hospitals. With minor changes, the SP UGB mirrored the organisation of the Belgrade General Police. It consisted of five sections: The remit of Section II

25375-426: Was among the first to be promoted to the recently created rank of SA- Obergruppenführer , and he held this rank on the SA rolls until 1945. Through the early years, Carin—who liked Hitler—often played hostess to meetings of leading Nazis, including her husband as well as Hitler, Rudolf Hess , Alfred Rosenberg , and Ernst Röhm . Hitler later recalled his early association with Göring: I liked him. I made him

25550-469: Was assassinated by Austrian Nazis. The defeat of the coup prompted many leading Austrian Nazis to go into exile in Germany, where they continued their efforts to unify the two countries. In early 1938, under increasing pressure from pro-unification activists, Austrian chancellor Kurt Schuschnigg announced that there would be a referendum on a possible union with Germany versus maintaining Austria's sovereignty to be held on 13 March. Portraying this as defying

25725-447: Was at the peak of his power and influence. As the Second World War progressed, Göring's standing with Hitler and the German public declined after the Luftwaffe proved incapable of preventing the Allied bombing of Germany's cities and resupplying surrounded Axis forces in Stalingrad . Around that time, Göring increasingly withdrew from military and political affairs to devote his attention to collecting property and artwork, much of which

25900-405: Was born, his father was serving as consul general in Haiti , and his mother had returned home briefly to give birth. She left the six-week-old baby with a friend in Bavaria and did not see the child again for three years, when she and Heinrich returned to Germany. Göring's godfather was Hermann Epenstein , a wealthy Jewish physician and businessman his father had met in Africa. Epenstein provided

26075-477: Was by then in prison. Hitler penned Mein Kampf while incarcerated, before being released in December 1924. Meanwhile, personal problems continued to multiply for Göring. By 1925, Carin's mother was ill. The Görings—with difficulty—raised the money in the spring of 1925 for a journey to Sweden via Austria, Czechoslovakia , Poland, and Danzig (now Gdańsk). Göring had become a violent morphine addict; Carin's family were shocked by his deterioration. Carin, who

26250-450: Was confident the Luftwaffe could defeat the RAF within days, Göring, like Admiral Erich Raeder , commander-in-chief of the Kriegsmarine (navy), was pessimistic about the chance of success of the planned invasion (codenamed Operation Sea Lion ). Göring hoped that a victory in the air would be enough to force peace without an invasion. The campaign failed, and Sea Lion was postponed indefinitely on 17 September 1940. After their defeat in

26425-479: Was converted into a makeshift concentration camp. American historian Evan Burr Bukey warned that the plebiscite result needs to be taken with "great caution". The plebiscite was subject to large-scale Nazi propaganda and to the abrogation of the voting rights of around 360,000 people (8% of the eligible voting population), mainly political enemies such as former members of left-wing parties and Austrian citizens of Jewish or Romani origin. The Austrians' support for

26600-476: Was deeply concerned that Ernst Röhm , the chief of the SA, was planning a coup. Himmler and Reinhard Heydrich plotted with Göring to use the Gestapo and SS to crush the SA. Members of the SA got wind of the proposed action and thousands of them took to the streets in violent demonstrations on the night of 29 June 1934. Enraged, Hitler ordered the arrest of the SA leadership. Röhm was shot dead in his cell when he refused to commit suicide; Göring personally went over

26775-448: Was discovered and sentenced to three weeks' confinement to barracks, but the sentence was never carried out. By the time it was supposed to be imposed, Göring's association with Loerzer had been made official. They were assigned as a team to FFA 25 in the Crown Prince 's Fifth Army. They flew reconnaissance and bombing missions, for which the Crown Prince invested both Göring and Loerzer with the Iron Cross , first class. After completing

26950-426: Was dissolved and power was centralized in the office of the chancellor , who was empowered to rule by decree . Rival parties, including the Austrian National Socialists, were banned, and government evolved into a corporatist , one-party government that combined the CS and the paramilitary Heimwehr . It controlled labor relations and the press. ( See Austrofascism and Patriotic Front ). The new regime emphasized

27125-423: Was elected as a representative from Bavaria. Having secured a seat in the Reichstag , Göring gained a more prominent place in the Nazi movement, since Hitler saw him as a public relations officer for Nazism in this capacity. Göring continued to be elected to the Reichstag in all subsequent elections during the Weimar and Nazi regimes. Electoral success also afforded Göring with access to powerful sympathizers to

27300-445: Was entrusted with the task of mobilizing all sectors of the economy for war, an assignment which brought numerous government agencies under his control. In September 1939, Hitler gave a speech to the Reichstag designating him as his successor. After the Fall of France in 1940, he was bestowed the specially created rank of Reichsmarschall , which gave him seniority over all officers in Germany's armed forces . By 1941, Göring

27475-466: Was followed on 11 April 1933 by his appointment as Minister-President of Prussia, Prussian interior minister and chief of the Prussian police. On 25 April 1933, Hitler also delegated his powers as Reichsstatthalter (Reich Governor) of Prussia to Göring. On 18 May 1933, Göring secured passage of an enabling act through the Landtag of Prussia that conferred all legislative powers on the cabinet. Using this authority, on 8 July 1933 Göring enacted

27650-445: Was forced to resign. Hitler used the dismissals as an opportunity to reshuffle the leadership of the military. Göring asked for the post of War Minister but was turned down; he was appointed to the rank of Generalfeldmarschall . Hitler took over as supreme commander of the armed forces and created subordinate posts to head the three main branches of service. As minister in charge of the Four-Year Plan, Göring became concerned with

27825-438: Was held the night before at the Berlin Opera House . Fighter aircraft flew overhead on the night of the reception and the day of the ceremony, at which Hitler was best man. Göring's daughter, Edda , was born on 2 June 1938. Final solution Parties When Hitler was named chancellor of Germany on 30 January 1933, Göring was appointed as Reichsminister without portfolio and Reichskommissar of Aviation. This

28000-404: Was ill with epilepsy and a weak heart, had to allow the doctors to take charge of Göring; her son was taken by his father. Göring was certified a dangerous drug addict and was placed in Långbro Asylum on 1 September 1925. He was violent to the point where he had to be confined in a straitjacket , but his psychiatrist felt he was sane; the condition was caused solely by the morphine. Weaned off

28175-540: Was immediately infatuated and asked her to meet him in Stockholm. They arranged a visit at the home of her parents and spent much time together through 1921, when Göring left to study political science at the University of Munich . Carin obtained a divorce, followed Göring to Munich, and married him on 3 February 1922. Their first home together was a hunting lodge at Hochkreuth in the Bavarian Alps , near Bayrischzell , some 80 kilometres (50 mi) from Munich. Later in 1922, they moved to Obermenzing  [ de ] ,

28350-411: Was in favour of a meeting, and there was talk of a pact being signed between Britain and Germany. In February 1938, Göring visited Warsaw to quell rumours about the upcoming invasion of Poland . He had conversations with the Hungarian government that summer as well, discussing their potential role in an invasion of Czechoslovakia. At the Nuremberg Rally that September, Göring and other speakers denounced

28525-426: Was made a member of Hans Frank 's Academy for German Law at its inaugural meeting. In July 1934, he was appointed Reichforstmeister , with the rank of a Reichsminister , as the head of the newly created Reich Forestry Office . Wilhelm Frick , the Reich interior minister, and the head of the SS, Heinrich Himmler , hoped to create a unified police force for all of Germany, but Göring on 26 April 1933 established

28700-485: Was made to concentrate the attack on only one part of the vast front; efforts would be directed at capturing Moscow. After the long, but successful, Battle of Smolensk , Hitler ordered Army Group Centre to halt its advance to Moscow and temporarily diverted its Panzer groups north and south to aid in the encirclement of Leningrad and Kiev . The pause provided the Red Army with an opportunity to mobilize fresh reserves; historian Russel Stolfi considers it to be one of

28875-405: Was met with arrests. One of the terms of the Treaty of Versailles , which had been in place since the end of World War I, stated that Germany was not allowed to maintain an air force. After the 1928 signing of the Kellogg–Briand Pact , police aircraft were permitted. Göring was appointed Air Traffic Minister in May 1933. Germany began to accumulate aircraft in violation of the Treaty, and in 1935

29050-444: Was not forthcoming. The Nazi Party was made legal in Austria to gain a power base, and a referendum on reunification was scheduled for March. When Hitler did not approve of the wording of the plebiscite, Göring telephoned Schuschnigg and Austrian head of state Wilhelm Miklas to demand Schuschnigg's resignation, threatening invasion by German troops and civil unrest by the Austrian Nazi Party members. Schuschnigg resigned on 11 March and

29225-440: Was not overwhelmingly popular among the Austrian population in 1919, which is one of the reasons why no nationwide referendum was held, even before it was forbidden by the Entente: Despite the initially compelling statistics, overall, it appears doubtful that a qualified majority of Austrians would have supported Anschluss with Germany. From the sparse evidence available, it appears that the pro-Anschluss movement could only hope for

29400-452: Was on Göring's side. Other leaders, such as Hess and Ribbentrop, were envious of his popularity. In Britain and the United States, some viewed Göring as more acceptable than the other Nazis and as a possible mediator between the western democracies and Hitler. Göring and other senior officers were concerned that Germany was not yet ready for war, but Hitler insisted on pushing ahead as soon as possible. On 30 August 1939, immediately prior to

29575-420: Was reached and Article 80 of the Treaty of Versailles stated that "Germany acknowledges and will respect strictly the independence of Austria, within the frontiers which may be fixed in a Treaty between that State and the Principal Allied and Associated Powers; she agrees that this independence shall be inalienable, except with the consent of the Council of the League of Nations ." Elite and popular opinion in

29750-415: Was reduced to the Kingdom of Serbia 's pre- Balkan War borders and was kept under direct military occupation by the Germans due to the key rail and riverine transport routes that passed through it, as well as its valuable resources, particularly non-ferrous metals . The occupied territory covered about 51,000 km and had a population of 3.8 million. The Germans began searching for a Serb suitable to lead

29925-432: Was severely restricted, as the Gestapo maintained responsibility for monitoring and dealing with all foreigners in the occupied territory. During the occupation, 15,000 communist suspects from Belgrade were processed by Section IV, with that section responsible for over eighty per cent of all tasks undertaken by the SP UGB. The SP UGB was housed in a building at the corner of Takovska and Dalmatinska Streets. Belgrade. Although

30100-480: Was stolen from Jewish victims of the Holocaust . Informed on 22 April 1945 that Hitler intended to commit suicide, Göring sent a telegram to Hitler requesting his permission to assume leadership of the Reich. Considering his request an act of treason, Hitler removed Göring from all his positions, expelled him from the party, and ordered his arrest. After the war, Göring was convicted of conspiracy , crimes against peace , war crimes , and crimes against humanity at

30275-421: Was supported by the united front of socialists and communists, as well as the Heimwehr, monarchist groups and the majority of the Austrian police. The Social Democrats also declared their readiness to support Schuschnigg in the event of a plebiscite under the conditions that immediately after such a plebiscite a definite negotiation be begun to include them in the Government. This support led Schuschnigg to announce

30450-509: Was the beginning of his morphine addiction, which lasted until his imprisonment at Nuremberg. Meanwhile, the authorities in Munich declared Göring a wanted man. The Görings—acutely short of funds and reliant on the good will of Nazi sympathizers abroad—moved from Austria to Venice . In May 1924 they visited Rome, via Florence and Siena . Sometime in 1924, Göring met Mussolini through his contacts with members of Italy's Fascist Party; Mussolini had also expressed an interest in meeting Hitler, who

30625-434: Was to oversee the creation of the Gestapo , which he ceded to Heinrich Himmler in 1934. Following the establishment of the Nazi state, Göring amassed power and political capital to become the second most powerful man in Germany. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (air force), a position he held until the final days of the regime. Upon being named Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan in 1936, Göring

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