Willi Frischauer's penetrating study of Goering was first published in 1950. His brilliant analysis of this many-sided and complex personality revealed for the first time the authentic inner story of the man who has been called the Nazi Nero. Frischauer had unrivalled access to the people close to Goering – talking at length with Goering's widow, his personal valet, his closest friend and his Chief of Staff – as well as expert knowledge of the Nazi regime. The book tells of the intrigues within the Nazi Party, of how Goering simultaneously built up the Luftwaffe and feathered his own nest by investing in aircraft companies – of the dramatic Nuremberg trial and the mystery surrounding his suicide. It also tells how Goering, the much decorated fighter ace of the First World War Richthoven Circus, became Fokker's commercial traveller in Sweden – of his lasting infatuation for his first wife Karin, to whose memory he dedicated his fantastic luxury palace, "Karinhall.” You are shown Goering the family man and self-styled model of chivalry who nevertheless signed documents sending thousands to slavery – Goering the playboy and drug addict – Goering the master pirate who ransacked Europe's art galleries and museums to satisfy his greed for works of art. Frischauer provides a fair, unbiased, factual summing-up, packed with detail, charged with such drama and changing human fortune as few lives can have rivalled.
Willi Frischauer, born in Vienna in 1906, became editor of a Vienna newspaper at twenty-three. In the 1930s he helped to reveal the “Schickelgrüber” story of Hitler’s origin, first published in Frischauer’s newspaper. He settled in England in 1935, reporting and writing as an expert on German and European affairs for the Daily Herald, Illustrated magazine, and the Evening Standard. Before Goering, he published Twilight in Vienna (1938) and The Nazis at War (1940). He went on to write biographies of Himmler (1953) and Otto John (1958), and also gained a considerable following as an early celebrity biographer, with compelling portraits of such figures as Aristotle Onassis (1968), Otto Preminger (1973), Jacqueline Kennedy (1977) and Princess Margaret (1977). European Commuter (1964) is his account of his own adventures. He died in 1978.
About the Author
Willi Frischauer, born in Vienna in 1906, became editor of a Vienna newspaper at twenty-three. In the 1930s he helped to reveal the “Schickelgrüber” story of Hitler’s origin, first published in Frischauer’s newspaper. He settled in England in 1935, reporting and writing as an expert on German and European affairs for the Daily Herald, Illustrated magazine, and the Evening Standard. Before Goering, he published Twilight in Vienna (1938) and The Nazis at War (1940). He went on to write biographies of Himmler (1953) and Otto John (1958), and also gained a considerable following as an early celebrity biographer, with compelling portraits of such figures as Aristotle Onassis (1968), Otto Preminger (1973), Jacqueline Kennedy (1977) and Princess Margaret (1977). European Commuter (1964) is his account of his own adventures. He died in 1978.
