Albert Göring

Albert Günther Göring(9 March 1895 – 20 December 1966) was a German engineer, businessman, and the younger brother ofHermann Göring(head of the GermanLuftwaffe, founder of theGestapo, and leading member of theNazi Party). In contrast to his brother, Albert was opposed toNazism, and helpedJewsand others persecuted inNazi Germany.He was shunned inpost-war Germanybecause of his family name, and died without any public recognition, receiving scant attention for his humanitarian efforts until decades after his death.
Albert Göring was born on 9 March 1895 in theBerlinsuburb ofFriedenau.He was the fifth child of the formerReichskommissartoGerman South-West Africaand German Consul General toHaiti,Heinrich Ernst Göring, and his wife, Franziska "Fanny" Tiefenbrunn, who came from aBavarianpeasant family.
The Görings were relatives of numerous residents of the Eberle/Eberlin area in Switzerland and Germany, among them GermanCountsZeppelin, including aviation pioneerFerdinand von Zeppelin; German nationalist art historianHerman Grimm, author of the concept of the German hero as a mover of history that was later embraced by the Nazis; Swiss historian of art and cultural, political and social thinkerJacob Burckhardt; Swiss diplomat, historian and President of theInternational Red CrossCarl J. Burckhardt; theMerck family, owners of the German pharmaceutical giantMerck; and German Catholic writer and poetGertrud von Le Fort.
The Göring family lived with their children's aristocraticgodfatherof Jewish heritage,Hermann EpensteinRittervon Mauternburg, in his Veldenstein andMauterndorfcastles. Epenstein was a prominentphysicianand acted as a surrogate father to the children as Heinrich Göring was often absent from the family home.Albert was one of five children. His brothers were Hermann and Karl Ernst Göring, and his half-sisters were Olga Therese Sophia and Paula Elisabeth Rosa Göring, both from his father's first marriage.
Epenstein began an affair with Franziska Göring about a year before Albert's birth.A strong physical resemblance between Epenstein and Albert Göring even led many to believe that they were father and son. If this were true, it meant that Albert Göring was one-quarter Jewish.However, Franziska Göring had accompanied her husband to his post inPort-au-Prince, Haiti, and lived there with him between March 1893 and mid-1894, which makes this seem extremely unlikely.
During World War I, Albert served in the trenches with theImperial German armyas a signal engineer.
Göring seemed to have acquired his godfather's character as abon vivantand looked set to lead an "unremarkable life" as a filmmaker, until theNaziscame to powerin 1933. Unlike his elder brother Hermann, a leading party member, Albert Göring despisedNazismand the brutality involved.
Many anecdotal stories exist about Göring's resistance to the Nazi ideology and regime.For example, Albert is reported to have joined a group of Jewish women who had been forced to scrub the street. TheSSofficer in charge inspected his identification, and ordered the group's scrubbing activity to stop after realizing he could be held responsible for allowing Hermann Göring's brother to be publicly humiliated.
Albert Göring used his influence to get his Jewish former boss Oskar Pilzer freed after the Nazis arrested him. Göring then helped Pilzer and his family escape from Germany. He is reported to have done the same for numerous other German dissidents.
Göring intensified his anti-Nazi activity when he was made export director at theŠkoda Worksin theProtectorate of Bohemia and Moravia(occupied part of the formerCzechoslovakia). He encouraged minor acts ofsabotageand had contact with theCzech resistance. On many occasions, he forged his brother's signature on transit documents to enable dissidents to escape. When he was caught, he used his brother's influence to gain his release. Göring also sent trucks toNazi concentration campswith requests for labourers. The trucks would stop in an isolated area, and their passengers were then allowed to escape.
After the war, Albert Göring was questioned during theNuremberg trials. However, many of those he had helped testified in his defense, and he was released. Soon afterwards, Göring was arrested byCzechoslovakauthorities, but again released when the full extent of his activities became known.
In 2010,Edda Göring, the daughter of Hermann, said of her uncle Albert inThe Guardian:
On his release, Göring returned to Germany, but was shunned because of his family name. He found occasional work as a writer and translator, and lived in a modest flat far from the baronial splendour of his childhood. Having known of his infidelities, his Czech wife Mila divorced him and migrated toLima, Peru, with their daughter Elizabeth.
In his last years, Göring lived on a pension from the government. He knew that if he married, on his death the pension payments would be transferred to his wife. As a sign of gratitude, he married his housekeeper in 1966 so she would receive his pension. One week later, Albert Göring died without his wartime anti-Nazi activities having been publicly acknowledged.
Although Göring lived out his last years inMunichinBavaria, he died further away in a hospital inNeuenbürgin the neighbouring state ofBaden-Württemberg.
Albert Göring's story remained largely unknown to the public even three decades after his death. While his brother Hermann Göring was the subject of many publications, Albert received little or no attention. One exception was a short article in German weekly magazineaktuellby writerErnst Neubachin the early 1960s, when Göring was still alive. At the end of the 20th and beginning of the 21st century, Albert Göring and his work became the subject of several books and documentaries, in turn triggering a larger number of new publications.
In 2006, British author James Wyllie published a doublebiographyThe Warlord and the Renegade. Göring was also covered in the 2011 bookRettungswiderstand(Resistance to save) by German historian andHolocaust survivorArno Lustiger.
Göring's humanitarian efforts were recorded by William Hastings Burke in the bookThirty Four(ISBN9780956371201). A review of the 2009 book inThe Jewish Chronicleconcluded with a call for Albert Göring to be honoured at theYad Vashemmemorial;however, Yad Vashem subsequently announced that Göring would not be listed asRighteous Among the Nations, stating that although "[t]here are indications that Albert Goering had a positive attitude to Jews and that he helped some people," there is not "sufficient proof, i.e.,primary sources, showing that he took extraordinary risks to save Jews from danger of deportation and death."
Göring was the subject of film documentaries, the first and most extensive beingThe Real Albert Goering, produced by 3BM TV and broadcast in the United Kingdom in 1998. The documentary was picked up by theHistory Channelfor foreign distribution and made its way to other countries, notably the United States, during the early 2000s.Roughly a decade later, William Hastings Burke produced a documentary based on his book, and in 2014 Véronique Lhorme'sLe Dossier Albert Göringwas broadcast on French TV.
In January 2016, German TV channelDas Erstebroadcast thedocudramaDer gute Göring(The Good Göring) withBarnaby Metschuratas Albert Göring andFrancis Fulton-Smithas his brother Hermann.In 2018,Emmanuel AmaradirectedLa liste Goring("Göring's List") forToute L'Histoire.ABBC Radio 4documentary entitledThe Good Göring, also broadcast in January 2016, featured an investigation of the life of Albert Göring by British journalist and broadcasterGavin Esler.