| “ | I say to you all that I would rather die than say we were wrong! | „ |
| ~ Hermann Goering |
Hermann Wilhelm Goering is the main antagonist in the 2000 television film Nuremberg. He is a fictionalized version of the real-life Nazi war criminal of the same name.
He was portrayed by Brian Cox, who also played Hannibal Lecktor in Manhunter, Killearn in Rob Roy, Ward Abbott in the Jason Bourne film series, Dark Yabu in Vexx, William Stryker in X2: X-Men United, Lionel Starkweather in Manhunt, Agamemnon in Troy, Scolar Visari in Killzone, Pariah Dark in Danny Phantom, General Hemmer in Battle for Terra, Mr. Kreeg in Trick 'r Treat, Jack Denham in Syndicate, Conrad in Bob the Builder, Logan Roy in Succession, Kostas Becker in The Simpsons and Niander Wallace, Sr. in Blade Runner: Black Lotus.
Biography[]
During the Nazi era, Goering served as Hitler's second in command as the latter took total power in Germany. Goering learned that Hitler, just before committing suicide, had ordered him and his family to be killed.
In the days following the surrender, Goering surrendered to American forces, hoping that he could charm his way out of any serious repercussions for the war. The Americans he initially surrendered to treated him quite well as a "fellow airman", even throwing a party in which they drank and posed for photographs with him. The Allied governments, however, were not happy to see Goering being treated as a guest instead of a criminal. General Dwight D. Eisenhower reprimanded the officer who had his picture taken with Goering and proceeded to order that Goering be treated no differently than any other war criminal. They imprisoned Goering at a stockade while they prepared to put him and the other Nazis on trial for crimes against humanity.
Goering worked to establish himself as a leader among the other high-ranking Nazis on trial, encouraging them to take a hard line against the Allies and refusing to admit that they had done anything wrong. This led to the Allies moving to isolate Goering from the other prisoners to keep him from influencing the trial.
When Albert Speer testified that he had plotted to assassinate Hitler, Goering threatened him, saying that if they could, he and the other Nazis would assemble their own court and sentence Speer to death.
When the prosecution showed the jury a film of the atrocities committed in Nazi concentration camps, Goering tried to downplay the significance of the film, dismissing it as British or American propaganda.
Goering was a charming man who was able to charm his guard Lt. Tex Wheelis, and developed a relationship with him. He was also highly intelligent and during the first day of direct examination he was able to outmaneuver the American prosecutor Robert Jackson, humiliating Jackson in the process. However the following day Jackson was able to come back from his setback and goaded Goering into making a number of incriminating statements to the court.
At the conclusion of the trial, Goering was sentenced to death by hanging. He was able to talk Lt. Wheelis into bringing him some personal belongings from his luggage. Hidden in his belongings was a cyanide capsule. Goering swallowed this capsule and died a few hours before the hanging could be carried out. Col. Andus was furious, feeling that Goering cheated him by determining his own fate.
Trivia[]
- The film portrays Goering as being unnerved, and even saddened, by evidence of the genocide committed in Nazi concentration camps, suggesting that he did not know about it while it was going on. In reality, however, there is a great deal of historical evidence proving that Goering knew about and approved of the Nazi regime's campaign of mass murder against all "non-Aryans".