ZDF - Goering Nazi Number One (2006) Part 2 The Deputy

“Hermann is going to become either a great man or a great criminal”, Mrs. Goering would say, and her bull-headed son proved her right - by becoming a great criminal, Hitler's second man, and for the War Crimes Tribunal in Nuremberg, “Nazi Number One”. This is the story of an incredible rise to power, the most comprehensive documentary on Hermann Goering ever made. He was a man of many faces: vain, ambitious, more brutal than any other of Hitler's minions, yet the most popular Nazi official of all, at times even more popular than Hitler himself. He embodied the jovial side of the Third Reich. Yet the same man who organised dissolute bacchanals also founded the Gestapo, set up the first concentration camps, and had his own comrades murdered in the purge of 1934. Nearly all the laws and decrees promulgated against the Jews bear his signature; his name is indelibly connected to the Holocaust. “Goering - Nazi Number One” incorporates sensational material thought to have been lost for many years and presented here for the first time: private colour films shot in the late 1930s, some by Goering himself, showing his house, his pets, his yacht - the things that meant the most to him. These unique personal records form the largest and most important single film find from the Nazi era in past years. This exclusive material is supplemented with archival footage and new content shot in original locations. “Goering - Nazi Number One” examines a man who embodied the banality of evil like no other.

Part 2: The Deputy

Since September 1, 1939 Hermann Goering leads as Chief of the Air Force a war that he himself did not wanted. He sees his riches and his power threatened by a battle with an uncertain outcome. But despite all the misgivings Goering carries Hitler's War of Extermination from the outset. At his command all Polish Jews and forcibly recruited Polish civilians are dispossessed for the German armaments industry. 1940 at the height of his military successes, Goering receives the highest military rank specially created for him, “Reichsmarschall of the Greater German Reich.” But at the fronts it is becoming increasingly clear that the Air Force is not prepared for this war. Goering's prestige takes massive damage, especially when Hitler trusts him less and less.

Full Version Available Upon Request