German Leaders in World WarⅡHermann Goering （赫尔曼·戈林）- Number 2 LeaderHermann Goering was a German politician, military leader, and leading member of the Nazi Party (NSDAP). A veteran of World War I as an ace（王牌）fighter pilot, he was a recipient of the coveted Pour le Mérite, also known as "the Blue Max"（蓝马克勋章）. He was the last commander of Jagdgeschwader（战斗机联队）1, the fighter wing once led by Manfred von Richthofen（曼弗雷德·冯·里希特霍芬）, "the Red Baron"（红男爵）.A member of the NSDAP from its early days, Goering was wounded in 1923 during the failed coup known as the Beer-Hall Putsch（啤酒馆政变，慕尼黑暴动）. He suffered from a lifelong addiction to morphine（吗啡）after being treated with the drug for his injuries. He founded the Gestapo（盖世太保）in 1933. Goering was appointed commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (air force) in 1935, a position he held until the final days of World War II. Adolf Hitler promoted him to the rank of Reichsmarschall（帝国元帅）, a rank senior to all other Wehrmacht commanders, and in 1941 Hitler designated him as his successor（继承人）and deputy in all his offices.Goering 's standing with Hitler was greatly reduced by 1942, with the air force unable to fulfill its commitments and the German war effort stumbling on both fronts. Goering largely withdrew（撤出）from the military and political scene and focused on the acquisition of property and artwork, much of which was confiscated（没收）from Jewish victims of the Holocaust. Informed on 22 April 1945 that Hitler intended to commit suicide, Goering sent a telegram to Hitler asking to assume control of the Reich（德意志帝国）. Hitler then removed Goering from all his positions, expelled him from the party, and ordered his arrest. After World War II, Goering was convicted（定罪）of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials. He was sentenced to death by hanging, but committed suicide by ingesting cyanide（吞食氰化物）the night before the sentence was to be carried out.Joseph Goebbels （约瑟夫·戈培尔）- Propaganda ExpertJoseph Goebbels was a German politician and Reich Minister of Propaganda in Nazi Germany from 1933 to 1945. As one of Adolf Hitler's closest associates and most devout （忠实的）followers, he was known for his zealous orations（激情的演说）and anti-Semitism（反犹太主义）.Goebbels rose to power in 1933 along with Hitler and the Nazi Party and he was appointed Propaganda Minister. One of his first acts was the burning of books. He exerted totalitarian（集权主义）control over the media, arts and information in Germany.From the beginning of his tenure（任期）, Goebbels organized attacks on German Jews, commencing with the one-day boycott（联合抵制）of Jewish businessmen, doctors, and lawyerson April 1, 1933. His attacks on the Jewish population culminated in the Kristallnacht（水晶之夜）assault of 1938, an open and unrestrained（放纵的）pogrom（大屠杀）unleashed by the Nazis all across Germany, in which scores of synagogues（犹太教会堂）were burned and hundreds of Jews were assaulted and murdered. Further, he produced a series of anti-Semitic films. Goebbels used modern propaganda techniques to ideologically（思想上）prepare the German people for aggressive warfare.During World War II, Goebbels increased his power and influence through shifting alliances with other Nazi leaders. By late 1943, the tide of the war was turning against the Axis（轴心国）powers, but this only spurred Goebbels to intensify the propaganda by urging the Germans to accept the idea of total war and mobilization. Goebbels remained with Hitler in Berlin to the end. After Hitler's suicide, Goebbels succeeded him as Chancellor. Goebbels along with his wife Magda killed their six young children and then committed suicide. The couple's bodies were burned in a shell crater（炮弹坑）, but owing to the lack of petrol the burning was only partly effective.The Nazi book burnings were a campaign conducted by the authorities of Nazi Germany to ceremonially burn books in Germany and Austria by classical liberal, anarchist, pacifist, communist, Jewish, and other authors whose writings were viewed as subversive or whose ideologies undermined the National Socialist administration.Heinrich Himmler（海因里希·希莱姆）- Head of the SSThe most feared German leader, he held the power of life and death over all and did not mind using it. Being a master organizer made him even more dangerous. Himmler had the look of a school teacher. He was quiet and introverted（内向的) but with so much political power that he was allowed to have his own armies and, at one time, commanded thirty five divisions of troops in addition to the Gestapo, the secret police force and other police apparatus.The Gestapo was one of the most powerful and cruel police forces that ever existed.SS organizations were responsible for the concentration camps（集中营）. Although Himmler had over 5,000,000 people killed, it is said the only time he personally watched a group of Jews being shot by firing squads（执行死刑的射击队）, he almost fainted.Despite his brutality, Himmler, as early as 1943, foresaw the end for Germany and he tried to broker a number of deals (without Hitler's permission) to end World War 2 in Europe.When the war ended, Himmler blended in（混进）with refugees in an attempt to escape but was apprehended（逮捕）and, as he was being examined by a Doctor, he committed suicide with cyanide poison implanted in a tooth.Hermann Goering Joseph Goebbels Heinrich HimmlerRudolf Hess（鲁道夫·赫斯）-- No. 2 Leader in the Early YearsWhy Did Hess Fly to Britain?The No. 2 leader for a number of years. Like many German leaders, Hess was wounded in World War I. After the war, he studied for a time at the University of Munich where he was heavily influenced by the geopolitical（地理政治学的）teachings of Professor Karl Haushofer. Hess was at Hitler's side in the 1923 Beer-Hall Putsch and was sentenced to prison. In prison with Hitler, Hess got Hitler interested in geopolitics. He also served as Hitler's secretary and took dictation as Hitler wrote Mein Kampf（《我的奋斗》，希特勒所著）. After prison, he continued to follow Hitler and also continued to rise in the Nazi party.All of Hess's efforts in the Nazi party came to naught（失败）in 1941 when he apparently became mentally unbalanced（错乱）and flew solo（单独地）to England for the apparent purpose of talking England into a peace treaty. After the war, Hess was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to life imprisonment.。