Who said this? My measures will not be crippled by any bureaucracy. Here I don’t have to worry about Justice; my mission is only to destroy and to exterminate; nothing more.
- Donald Trump
- Hermann Goering
Who said this? Shoot first and inquire afterwards, and if you make mistakes, I will protect you.
- Donald Trump
- Hermann Goering
Who said this? Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat.
- Donald Trump
- Hermann Goering
Who said this? The people were merely to acknowledge the authority or leader, or, let us say, to declare themselves in agreement with the leader?
- Donald Trump
- Hermann Goering
Who said this? The only one who really knows about the Congress is I, because I set it on fire!
- Donald Trump
- Hermann Goering
Who later said this in reference to the Congress? “I had nothing to do with it. I deny this absolutely. I can tell you in all honesty!
- Donald Trump
- Herman Goering
Who said this? I especially denounce the terrible mass murders, which I cannot understand … I never ordered any killing or tortures where I had the power to prevent such actions!
- Donald Trump
- Herman Goering
Who said this? I know you want to study me psychologically. That’s reasonable and I appreciate it. At least you don’t lecture to me and pry into my affairs. You have a good technique as a psychiatrist. Let the other fellow talk and stick his neck into the noose. I don’t mean that the way it sounds. But you hardly say anything. Someday I’m going to ask you questions.
- Donald Trump
- Hermann Goering
Who said this? Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
- Donald Trump
- Hermann Goering
Göring: Oh, that is all well and good, but, voice or no voice, the people can always be brought to the bidding of the leaders. That is easy. All you have to do is tell them they are being attacked and denounce the pacifists for lack of patriotism and exposing the country to danger. It works the same way in any country.
The Nuremberg Interviews (2004)[edit]
- What do I care about danger? I’ve sent soldiers and airmen to death against the enemy — why should I be afraid?
- To Leon Goldensohn (15 March 1946)
- Hitler decided that. I thought it was stupid because I believed that first we had to defeat England.
- To Leon Goldensohn, about attacking Russia (15 March 1946)
- No. It was the last hours and he (Hitler) was under pressure. If I could have seen him personally it would have been different.
- To Leon Goldensohn, after being asked if he felt any resentment toward Hitler (15 March 1946)
- I know you want to study me psychologically. That’s reasonable and I appreciate it. At least you don’t lecture to me and pry into my affairs. You have a good technique as a psychiatrist. Let the other fellow talk and stick his neck into the noose. I don’t mean that the way it sounds. But you hardly say anything. Someday I’m going to ask you questions.
- To Leon Goldensohn (21 May 1946)
- I have always been interested in family history. Chromosomes are funny things, aren’t they? They may skip a generation and you can find children who resemble the grandfather, rather than either parent. Heredity is more important than environment. Blood will tell. For example, a man is either musical by heredity or he is not. You can’t make a man musical by the environment. You can find a person who is very musically inclined and be puzzled because neither parents nor grandparents had any ear for music. But if you trace it back, you will find that the great-grandfather was a musician. But the environment plays a great part in the development of a man. It is significant whether a man is brought up in the city or in the country, near a lake or on the shores of the ocean.
- To Leon Goldensohn (21 May 1946)
- In Berlin Jews controlled almost one hundred percent of the theaters and cinemas before the rise to power.
- To Leon Goldensohn (21 May 1946)
- Hitler had the willpower of a demon and he needed it. If he didn’t have such a strong willpower he couldn’t have achieved anything. Don’t forget, if Hitler had not lost the war, if he did not have to fight against the combination of big powers like England, America, and Russia — each one he could have conquered individually — these defendants and these generals would now be saying, ‘Heil Hitler,’ and would not be so damn critical.
- To Leon Goldensohn (24 May 1946)
- To me there are two Hitlers: one who existed until the end of the French war; the other begins with the Russian campaign. In the beginning he was genial and pleasant. He would have extraordinary willpower and unheard-of influence on people. The important thing to remember is that the first Hitler, the man who I knew until the end of the French war, had much charm and goodwill. He was always frank. The second Hitler, who existed from the beginning of the Russian campaign until his suicide, was always suspicious, easily upset, and tense. He was distrustful to an extreme degree.
- To Leon Goldensohn (24 May 1946)
- I am a man who is basically opposed to atrocities or ungentlemanly actions. In 1934, I promulgated a law against vivisection. You can see, therefore, that if I disapprove of the experimentation on animals, how could I possibly be in favor of torturing humans? The prosecution says that I had something to do with the freezing experiments which were performed in the concentration camps under the auspices of the air force. That is pure nonsense! I was much too busy to know about these medical experiments, and if anybody had asked me, I would have disapproved violently. It must have been Himmler who thought up these stupid experiments, although I think he shirked his responsibility by committing suicide. I am not too unhappy about it because I would not particularly enjoy sitting on the same bench with him. The same is true of that drunken Robert Ley, who did us a favor by hanging himself before the trial started. He was not going to be any advantage for us defendants when he took the stand.
- To Leon Goldensohn (24 May 1946)
- The atrocities are, for me, the most horrible part of the accusation in this trial. They thought that I took it lightly or laughed about it or some such nonsense, in court. That is definitely a mistake. I am the type of person who is naturally against such things and my own psychological reaction is to laugh or smile in the face of adversity. Perhaps that explains my attitude in court. Besides, I was not to blame for these horrors. It’s not just that I am a hard man because of my long experience in the army and in politics. It’s true that I saw plenty in the First World War and during the air raids and at the front in this war. But I was always a person who felt the suffering of others. To paint me as an unfeeling ogre who laughs in court at the atrocities is stupid.
- To Leon Goldensohn (24 May 1946)
- All nonsense. Nobody knows the real Göring. I am a man of many parts, but the autobiography, what does that tell you? Nothing. And those books put out by the party press, they are less than useless.
- To Leon Goldensohn (27 May 1946)
- I think that women are wonderful but I’ve never met one yet who didn’t show more feeling than logic.
- To Leon Goldensohn (27 May 1946)
- If I didn’t have a sense of humor, how could I stand this trial now?
- To Leon Goldensohn (27 May 1946)
- In the first place I’m sure Hitler did not write that damned testament himself. Probably some swine like Bormann wrote it for him. But I don’t see what is so terrible in the testament when you examine it, anyway. There was Berlin, bombed every minute. The noise of artillery from the lousy Russians, the American and British bombers overhead. Maybe Hitler was a trifle unbalanced by all that. If he wrote the testament at such a time, it was hysteria. But essentially, what difference does it make?
- To Leon Goldensohn (27 May 1946)
- I have to laugh when the English claim they are such a wonderful nation. Everyone knows that Englishmen are really Germans, that the English kings were German, and that in Russia the emperors were either of German origin or received their education in Germany.
- To Leon Goldensohn (28 May 1946)
- The Russians are primitive folk. Besides, Bolshevism is something that stifles individualism and which is against my inner nature. Bolshevism is worse than National Socialism — in fact, it can’t be compared to it. Bolshevism is against private property, and I am all in favor of private property. Bolshevism is barbaric and crude, and I am fully convinced that that atrocities committed by the Nazis, which incidentally I knew nothing about, were not nearly as great or as cruel as those committed by the Communists. I hate the Communists bitterly because I hate the system. The delusion that all men are equal is ridiculous. I feel that I am superior to most Russians, not only because I am a German but because my cultural and family background are superior. How ironic it is that crude Russian peasants who wear the uniforms of generals now sit in judgment on me. No matter how educated a Russian might be, he is still a barbaric Asiatic. Secondly, the Russian generals and the Russian government planned a war against Germany because we represented a threat to them ideologically. In the German state, I was the chief opponent of Communism. I admit freely and proudly that it was I who created the first concentration camps in order to put Communists in them. Did I ever tell you that funny story about how I sent to Spain a ship containing mainly bricks and stones, under which I put a single layer of ammunition which had been ordered by the Red government in Spain? The purpose of that ship was to supply the waning Red government with munitions. That was a good practical joke and I am proud of it because I wanted with all my heart to see Russian Communism in Spain defeated finally.
- To Leon Goldensohn (28 May 1946)