Editing Hermann Göring (section)

== Personal properties ==
{{see also|Nazi plunder|Reichswerke Hermann Göring}}
[[File:Göering weapon and baton.jpg|thumb|left|Göring's {{lang|de|Reichsmarschall}} baton and [[Smith & Wesson Model 10]] revolver. To the left is the silver-bound guest book from [[Carinhall]] ([[West Point Museum]]).]]

Göring's name is closely associated with the Nazi plunder of Jewish property. His name appears 135 times on the [[Nazi plunder#Art Looting Investigation Unit|OSS Art Looting Investigation Unit (ALIU) Red Flag Names List]]{{sfn|OSS Reports}} compiled by US Army intelligence in 1945-46 and declassified in 1997.{{sfn|NARA Records}}

The confiscation of Jewish property gave Göring the opportunity to amass a personal fortune. Some properties he seized himself or acquired for a nominal price. In other cases, he collected bribes for allowing others to steal Jewish property. He took [[Political corruption|kickbacks]] from industrialists for favourable decisions as Four-Year Plan director and money for supplying arms to the Spanish Republicans in the [[Foreign involvement in the Spanish Civil War|Spanish Civil War]] via [[Pyrkal]] in Greece (although Germany was supporting Franco and the Nationalists).{{sfn|Beevor|2006|pp=366–368, 538}}

Göring was appointed Reich Master of the Hunt in 1933 and Master of the German Forests in 1934. He instituted reforms to the forestry laws and acted to protect endangered species. Around this time, he became interested in [[Schorfheide-Chorin Biosphere Reserve|Schorfheide Forest]], where he set aside {{convert|100000|acres|km2}} as a state park, which is still extant. There he built an elaborate hunting lodge, Carinhall, in memory of his first wife, Carin. By 1934, her body had been transported to the site and placed in a vault on the estate.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2011|pp=120–123}} Through most of the 1930s, Göring kept pet lion cubs, borrowed from the [[Berlin Zoological Garden|Berlin Zoo]], both at Carinhall and at his house at [[Obersalzberg]].{{sfn|Kellerhoff|2018}} The main lodge at Carinhall had a large art gallery where Göring displayed works that had been plundered from private collections and museums around Europe from 1939 onward.{{sfn|Speer|1971|pp=244–245}}{{sfn|Rothfeld|2002}} Göring worked closely with the {{lang|de|Einsatzstab Reichsleiter Rosenberg}} ({{translation|[[Reichsleiter Rosenberg Taskforce]]}}), an organisation tasked with the looting of artwork and cultural material from Jewish collections, libraries and museums throughout Europe.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2011|pp=283–285}} Headed by Alfred Rosenberg, the task force set up a collection centre and headquarters in Paris. Some 26,000 railroad cars full of art treasures, furniture and other looted items were sent to Germany from France alone. Göring repeatedly visited the Paris headquarters to review the incoming stolen goods and to select items to be sent on a special train to Carinhall and his other homes.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2011|pp=283–285, 291}} The estimated value of his collection, which numbered some 1,500 pieces, was $200&nbsp;million.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2011|p=281}}

[[File:Standarte des Reichsmarschalls (1941–45).jpg|upright=0.9|thumb|Standard, on display at the {{lang|fr|Musée de la Guerre}} in [[Les Invalides]], Paris]]
Göring was known for his extravagant tastes and garish clothing. He had various special uniforms made for the many posts he held;{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2011|pp=115–116}} his {{lang|de|Reichsmarschall}} uniform included a jewel-encrusted baton. [[Hans-Ulrich Rudel]], the top {{lang|de|[[Stuka]]}} pilot of the war, recalled twice meeting Göring dressed in outlandish costumes: first, a medieval hunting costume, practicing archery with his doctor; and second, dressed in a red [[toga]] fastened with a golden clasp, smoking an unusually large pipe. [[Italian Minister of Foreign Affairs|Italian Foreign Minister]] [[Galeazzo Ciano]] once noted Göring wearing a fur coat that looked like what "a high-grade prostitute wears to the opera".{{sfn|Fussell|2002|pp=24–25}} He threw lavish housewarming parties each time a round of construction was completed at Carinhall and changed costumes several times throughout the evenings.{{sfn|Manvell|Fraenkel|2011|p=122}}

Göring was noted for his patronage of music, especially opera. He entertained frequently and sumptuously and hosted elaborate birthday parties for himself.{{sfn|Speer|1971|p=417}} Armaments minister [[Albert Speer]] recalled that guests brought expensive gifts such as gold bars, Dutch cigars and valuable artwork. For his birthday in 1944, Speer gave Göring an oversized marble bust of Hitler.{{sfn|Speer|1971|pp=416–417}} As a member of the Prussian Council of State, Speer was required to donate a considerable portion of his salary towards the council's birthday gift to Göring without even being asked. {{lang|de|Generalfeldmarschall}} Milch told Speer that similar donations were required out of the Air Ministry's general fund.{{sfn|Speer|1971|pp=417–418}} For his birthday in 1940, Ciano decorated Göring with the coveted [[Supreme Order of the Most Holy Annunciation|Collar of Annunziata]]. The award reduced him to tears.{{sfn|Mosley|1974|p=280}}

The design of the {{lang|de|Reichsmarschall}} standard, on a light blue field, featured a gold [[German eagle]] grasping a wreath surmounted by two batons overlaid with a swastika. The reverse side of the flag had the {{lang|de|Großkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes}} ({{translation|Grand Cross of the Iron Cross}}) surrounded by a wreath between four Luftwaffe eagles. The flag was carried by a personal standard-bearer at all public occasions.

Though he liked to be called "{{lang|de|der Eiserne}}" ({{translation|the Iron Man}}), the once dashing and muscular fighter pilot had become corpulent. He was one of the few Nazi leaders who did not take offence at hearing jokes about himself, "no matter how rude", taking them as a sign of his popularity among the masses. One such German joke poked fun at Göring by stating that he would wear an admiral's uniform with rubber medals to take a bath. His obesity was also a target, it being joked that "he sits down on his stomach".{{sfn|Block|Trow|1971|p=330}}{{sfn|Gunther|1940|p=65}} Another joke claimed that he had sent a wire to Hitler after his visit to the Vatican: "Mission accomplished. Pope unfrocked. Tiara and pontifical vestments are a perfect fit."{{sfn|Evans|2005|p=409}}{{clear left}}