HERMANN GÖRING
For five-year-old Hermann Göring, Burg Veldenstein – soaring majestically into the sky, secure against any threat – was a dream fulfilled. And, as with most children at that age, his young mind made little clear distinction between fantasy and reality. Consequently, on his first day at the old fortress, the imaginative would-be warrior disappeared within Veldenstein to explore its defensive structures, passageways and other secrets. And then there was the tower, offering a spectacular view of the surrounding Bavarian countryside. Dr. Hermann Epenstein owned the fortress, but young Hermann Göring must have felt as if he were master of the place.
The following day, the boy is said to have returned to the tower and taken down the ornamental broad swords and lances that had long been on the walls and arranged them in the order needed for a coming battle. Such an undertaking seems to be an incredible feat for a youngster. Thus, what happened next, as related by biographer Erich Gritzbach some thirty-five years later, is best regarded as offering the flavour, if not the actual facts, of events that may have taken place at Veldenstein:
‘Under the leadership of Hermann the children play a game of “Knights and Squires”. As Hermann expertly explains to his father and godfather, in the village he has rounded up all of the hardy squires and horsemen. His sisters [Olga and Paula] and the daughters of Mother Graf [Hermann’s caretaker when he lived in Fürth], Fanny and Erna, who are all about the same age as his sisters, are the Knight’s daughters who have found shelter under the protection of the “Lord of the Fortress”. But the game lasts only a few days. He says it is too boring, that his enemies are weak-kneed and cannot even force their way into the lower courtyard.
‘Now [Hermann] will “play” the enemy and conquer the fortress himself. He appoints the strongest boy in the town … who is also his best friend, as Lord of the Fortress. But, he adds, it is understood that [status] is only as long as they are playing. And now the other boys, who were given a good thrashing, man the ramparts of beautiful Veldenstein. Then Hermann withdraws with his squires. But before he goes, he calls out to the defenders: “You must wait awhile. I am not coming right away. We shall certainly come, but not where you expect us.” Like a strategist firmly convinced of the seriousness of the situation, he withdraws through the village with his troop, moves stealthily through the forest and down into the lovely Pegnitz valley, out of which the fortress rises 120 metres steeply above the high crags and into the heavens. ‘”Here is where we will attack,” he announces. While most of his squires look at him in disbelief, he calls out to them: “If you are cowards, then go away. But do not show your faces at the fortress ever again.”’2
Gritzbach’s account – surely dictated by Göring – became even more fanciful. In it, the boy warrior and five of his ‘men’ ascended the sheer fortress walls and, of course, only the steely-courageous Hermann completed the climb and successfully ‘swung over the ramparts’ in the most dramatic manner. And there only to be apprehended by a servant who brought him to his anxious parents. As Göring noted on this and other occasions, an inherent toughness enabled him to survive any punishment.3
There is little reason to believe that tired, old Heinrich Göring was harsh in his treatment of the ‘wild child’ of his second brood of offspring. Indeed, Hermann sensed favouritism in his father’s eyes. As one story goes, in the days before Hermann could read, a telegram arrived when his father was not at home and the boy quickly snatched it away and kept it until his father returned. Fearing no chastisement, he surrendered it and exclaimed gleefully ‘Ich bin doch Papas Liebling!’ [After all, I am Papa’s favourite!].4
The combination of parental laxity and Hermann’s wilfulness led to behavioural problems when, at age six, the boy’s formal education began. At first, he joined his sisters Olga and Paula, who were only seventeen months apart in age, in a private class taught by a governess. When Hermann was added to their small classroom, however, there was more disruption than the teacher could manage.
As time passed, American psychologist Gustave M. Gilbert observed, Hermann became a cruel bully: ‘Not content with tyrannising the boys in his neighbourhood, he turned upon his sisters …Neither his mother nor his governess could control him and the father’s punishments proved to be of no avail.’5