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.

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