That is how Hermann Goering, the Reichsmarshal and Nazi Party number two, classified the years from 1933 when the Nazis ascended power to its demise in May 1945. This is an understatement. They could rather be referred to as his halcyon days.

Hermann Goering, the morphine addict, who required 5 shots per day to remain functional, was the archetypal playboy or “The Renaissance Man”as he liked to refer to himself. Even when the Third Reich faced a catastrophic situation such as at Stalingrad, his focus was elsewhere: buttressing his image as the Reich’s foremost jaegermeister [Hunting Master], topping-up his art and diamond collection or having more medals and awards bestowed upon himself.

What was foremost on Hermann’s mind when the Nazi’s captured Paris in June 1940? Was it the awarding of medals to his brave pilots? Was it a celebratory drink with his non-alcohol consuming boss, Adolf? No, it was definitely none of the aforementioned. Rather he instructed his senior assistants to catalogue all the works of art so that he could pillage what he wanted with his favourites being Germanic art and nudes. The paintings that were purloined were not merely from the local Jewish Community but also from the national art galleries.

Carinhall. Hermann’s pretensous home outside Berlin

This was the start of Hermann’s impressive art collection, all stolen, which he would house in the palatial upgrade of his mansion called Carinhall named after his first wife, the Swedish beauty Carin Fock.

How had Hermann become addicted to morphine? In 1923 the NSDAP or Nazi Party as it is colloquially known, had attempted to overthrow the Bavarian government in the so-called 1923 Beerhall Putsch. Amongst the casualties was Hermann Goering who was severely injured. The morphine was provided as a pain killer. It is ironic that Hermann, an anti-Semite, was addicted to a substance that was possibly unfairly referred to as the Jewish drug. As an aside when Goering was captured by the Americans in May 1945, he was weaned off morphine before his trial. For the first time in many years, Hermann was again lucid and focused. His intellect was again able to take precedence.

Carin Goering

From first meeting Hitler in 1922, Hermann was “smitten.” The attraction was mutual. In Hitler’s case the reason was that Hermann not only had “class” and could thus be an advantage when dealing with the Industrialists and other rich supporters and benefactors but also because Hermann was the holder of the Pour le Merite medal, the Blue Max, for his accomplishments during WW1 in shooting down 22 Allied planes.

On obtaining power in 1933, Goering was tasked with the task of raising the Phoenix, the Luftwaffe, from the ashes. In this he was successful not due to his efforts but rather due to the capable assistants such as Udet. What Goering lacked was an overarching strategic vision for the future direction of the Luftwaffe. The requirements of a short-range short duration Blitzkrieg campaign are vastly different from that of a long distance long term campaign as could happen in Russia. In terms of Hitler’s vision as espoused in his racist tome Mein Kampf – My Struggle – Russia was where Germany would obtain lebensraum to accommodate an ever expanding population. Thus there was an incipient gulf between Germany’s military capability and its political ambitions as expressed by Hitler.

Part of this disconnect arose from Goering himself. Intrinsically Goering comprehended and doubted whether Germany was capable of winning a war. That is why Goering indirectly attempted to avert war with Britain and France over the Sudetenland, the German speaking part of Czechoslovakia. It is interesting to note in this episode that Goering only obliquely opposed Hitler. In truth, all of Hitler’s acolytes were in a similar subservient relationship with Hitler. None dared talk truth to power.

Apart from Goering’s art collection, his home movies reveal that his passion was for stag hunting. On his vast estates around Carinhall, he would purposely ignore the exigencies of war. On one particular occasion when senior Luftwaffe officers reported to Goering about a critical situation during the war, his response was lackadaisical and one of disinterest. After they had finished explaining the seriousness of the situation, he immediately enquired of his gamesmen where a particular stag was situated. He then demotivated his officers even further by openly admitting that this was what really interested him.

After Goering’s promises to supply the trapped German forces in Stalingrad in late 1942 were proved to be mere platitudes, Hitler lost respect for Goering. But what is interesting is that despite Goering’s ineptitude, Hitler never wavered in his support for his loyal friend. Perhaps if he had known about the extent of Goering’s kleptocracy and ineptitude, he would have taken action sooner rather than in the last month of the war.

Planes at Staingrad. Goering’s bravado and flawed promises doomed the German Sixth Army to a slow death

By 1944, Goering has plainly lost all interest in the war & its progress. Instead he became involved in the plans to convert Carinhall from a mansion into an opulent castle. All that he had left was bluster and propaganda. In late 1944, Goering produced a record which was distributed to all Luftwaffe personnel. On it he berated them for being incompetent and not worthy of being members of an elite force. This was while Goering ignored the capabilities of the new jet fighters such as the Me262 calling them useless. Goering was trapped in the mindset of WW1.

The bomb shattered German cities bore mute testimony to the Luftwaffe’s less than stellar performance and their destruction was the logical culmination of Goering’s personal ineptitude. Instead of lamenting the performance of the Luftwaffe, he should have taken steps to address the underlying issues – lack of pilot training, paucity of fuel and planes and perhaps more importantly, a dearth of strategic vision and insight.

The consequence of Goering’s ineptitude: destruction wraught on German Cities

On Goering’s capture by the Americans, he deluded himself into believing that his skills and insight would allow the Allies to disregard his part in the holocaust. For the first few days of his detention he was even allowed to wear his official Reichmarshal uniform instead of anodyne prison garb. Goering was soon disabused of his true status when all his luxuries were withdrawn.

Withdrawal from drug addiction and smaller meal portions were on the menu. A pale shadow of his former self physically emerged, ironically mentally once more became lucid, driven and energised  for the first time in years: his demeanour transformed from blasé and unconcerned into defiant.

When his initial replies at the Nuremburg trial to the prosecution which bore a note of sweet reason did not mollify the audience, his attitude veered to petulant, dyspeptic and dismissive. In a futile attempt to sway the judges he accused the whole trial as being a charade and an example of victor’s justice. The showing of a movie on Auschwitz soon disabused the world and the German volk themselves of the vileness of the Nazi Regime.

Hermann Goering at Nuremberg in 1946

On the night when Goering was to be hanged, he committed suicide by swallowing a vial of cyanide. That begs the question of how he acquired the toxin. Theories abound to this day.

The much vaunted Reichmarshal was no more. Vain, affable and rotund like a jewel bedecked Santa Clause, Goering was not the acceptable face of Nazism as many had fondly imagined.

As far as understatements are concerned, Goering’s comment in his last days before his suicide that “at least I had a decent 12 years” is a clear winner. Goering indulged himself with all the objects of his desire – objet d’art, a palatial abode, vast hunting grounds and a plenitude of medals and worthless awards.

Hermann at the very end of his 12 decent years

This comment underscores Goering’s leitmotiv. His bonhomie belied his fatuous, venal and debauched lifestyle, the opposite in every way to the ascetic Hitler. Despite this, a deep-rooted mutual loyalty forced Hitler to disregard the fact the Goering was culpable for the destruction of the German cities due to the Allied bombing and the loss of the Sixth Army at Stalingrad – a vivid evocation of the cost of sheer blind loyalty.

For the price of millions of German lives, Hermann at least had his 12 decent years.