Heinrich Hoffmann (1885 – 1957) served as Adolf Hitler’s official photographer from when Hitler took control of the Nazi party in 1921 until his death in 1945. Hoffmann estimates he took over half a million photographs of Hitler over the course of his career. His portraits were the most significant source of Nazi propaganda materials published over the course of close to 25 years, everything from postcards, posters, magazines, postage stamps and picture books. Click on eachtheme below to see a complete photo albumdevoted to that particular event or topic.
Hermann Wilhelm Göring was born 131 years ago today on 12 January 1893 in Rosenheim Germany. Göring joined the NSDAP in October 1922, shortly after hearing a speech given by Adolf Hitler in Munich. Following the establishment of the Nazi state, Göring amassed power and political capital to become the second most powerful man in Germany. He was appointed commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe (Air Force), a position he held until the final days of the regime. This album features over 50 photos from both the public and private life of Hermann Göring.
Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring at the Nuremberg Party Rally in 1929.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring at the Nuremberg Rally in 1929.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring at the Nuremberg Rally in 1929.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring at the Nuremberg Rally in 1929.Hermann Goering delivers a speech while standing in an open car at the Gau Parteitag [District Party Day] rally in Weimar on 12 April 1931. Adolf Hitler stands outside the car.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring drinking Weissbierat the Hochlenzer restaurant on the Obersalzberg in the summer of 1931. Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, and the industrial magnat Fritz Thyssen (speaking) are pictured in the Industrie-Club Düsseldorf (Industry Club Düsseldorf) in Germany on 26 January 1932. Thyssen invited Hitler to deliver a speech to industrial magnats, bankers, and farmers. Hermann Göring played a special role in connecting Hitler with big capitalists. Adolf Hitler in conversation with Hermann Göring and Ernst Röhm in Tempelhof airport on 13 June 1932. Hitler flew in to Berlin from Mannheim in order to visit Baron Werner von Alvensleben and Reich Chancellor Franz von Papen, then returned to Tempelhof to take a flight to Frankfurt in order to give a speech in Mainz in front of 30,000 listeners.Another photo of Hermann Göring, Ernst Röhm and Adolf Hitler at Templehof on 13 June 1932. From “I Knew Hitler” by Kurt G.W. Ludecke, published in 1938.Adolf Hitler with Gregor Strasser, Ernst Röhm and Hermann Göring in Berchtesgaden for the 9 July 1932 NSDAP leadership meeting.Adolf Hitler on holiday in Schönau am Königssee on 6 August 1933, in front of the house where Dietrich Eckart lived for several months before his death in 1923. On his right Hermann Goering.Another view of Hitler and Göring’s visit to the Eckart Lodge in Schönau am Königssee on 6 August 1933.NSDAP Pressechef Dr. Otto Dietrich, Ernst “Putzi” Hanfstaengl, Hermann Göring, Hitler, SA-Stabschef Ernst Röhm and Dr. Wilhelm Frick in Berlin just prior to the November 1932 elections.Adolf Hitler in a car with Wilhelm Frick and Hermann Göring on his way to meet Reichspraesident Paul von Hindenburg on 19 November 1932, for talks after the resignation of Chancellor Franz von Papen the day before. Hitler hands over a document demanding the chancellorship, but negotiations fail and the position is instead granted to Kurt von Schleicher.Adolf Hitler and Field Marshal Goering attend a ceremony marking the 10th anniversary of the Munich Putsch on 9 November 1933.Adolf Hitler and Field Marshal Goering participate in a march marking the 10th anniversary of the Beer Hall Putsch on 9 November 1933.Adolf Hitler, Ernst Röhm and Hermann Göring observing “The Minute of Silence” on the 10th anniversary of the Putsch on 9 November 1933.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring at the re-burial of Göring’s first wife Carin, in Carinhall, Göring’s Swedish-style hunting lodge north of Berlin, on 19 June 1934.Adolf Hitler visits the Jagdgeschwader Richthofen on the air base Döberitz near Berlin on 28 March 1935 with Hermann Göring and General der Flieger Hugo Sperrle. This was Hitler’s first visit to view the Richthofen fighter squadron. Later this same evening he would attend the premier of the film “Triumph of the Will”,Adolf Hitler besucht das Jagdgeschwader Richthofenauf dem Fliegerhorst Döberitz bei Berlin; links: Hermann Göring, im Hintergrund General der Flieger Hugo Sperrle. 28 März 1935.Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, and Reichsminister Werner von Blomberg view demonstrations of the Reichswehr. Adolf Hitler gives a speech and watches demonstrations on the Zeppelinfeld on the Tag der Wehrmacht at the Nuremberg Party Congress on 16 September 1935.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring in the former Prussian House of Lords (Preussischen Herrenhaus) in Berlin; in the background is Hitler’s personal adjutant SS leader Julius Schaub. Hitler delivers a speech to the Führerkorps on the Heroes’ Remembrance Day on 8 March 1936.Erhard Milch, Hermann Göring, Adolf Hitler, and Viktor Lutze at the formation of Luftwaffe JG 134 Horst Wessel squadron on 16 May 1936.Adolf Hitler visits the Jagdgeschwader “Richthofen” (wing formation) fighter military unit on the air base Döberitz near Berlin on 28 March 1935.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering at the funeral ceremony for the 60 workers who died in the explosion of a munitions factory in Reinsdorf on 18 June 1935.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering in his SA uniform (right) and Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler (left) on the ‘Adolf-Hitler-Platz’ during the Nuremberg Rally in 1936.Adolf Hitler, Hermann Goering, and other Nazi officials including General Ernst Udet and Wilhelm Keitel, at a Luftwaffe demonstration at the OKW headquarters in Zingst on 13 June 1938. After a tour of the training troops on the North Sea coast, Hitler delivered a speech to 40 generals in which he justified the dismissal of Werner Freiherr von Fritsch, despite his proven innocence.Adolf Hitler’s speech at the Sports Palace on 26 September 1938 can be seen as a preparation for the annexation of the Czech Republic. Three days later, in the Munich Agreement, it was decided that Germany could annex the Sudetenland. To the right of Hitler, Hermann Goering and Wilhelm Frick.Adolf Hitler visited Jägerndorf (later Krnov) in the annexed Sudetenland on 7 October 1938. He was greeted by Hermann Göring and Colonel General von Rundstedt. On the balcony of the town hall at the Hermann Göring Platz, the Führer spoke of his determination to fight to the end and emphasized the strength of the German Wehrmacht.
“While one might rob three or six million Germans of their rights and oppress them, no one can, in this world, bend eighty million Germans to his will. On October 10 the Hakenkreuz will fly over even the last morsel of the Sudetenland. Then this region will finally be freed, and it will be a Reichsgau and part of the German nation for all time to come!”
Adolf Hitler with Hermann Göring for his 46th birthday on 12 January 1939.Field Marshal Hermann Göring greets Adolf Hitler, who hosted a special reception for the officer cadets of the Army, the Navy and the German Air Force in the new Reich Chancellory on 13 January 1939.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering in his SA uniform (right) and Reichsfuehrer-SS Heinrich Himmler (left) on the ‘Adolf-Hitler-Platz’ during the Nuremberg Rally in 1937. In the background is Martin Bormann.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering visit the Tea House on the Mooslahnerkopf Hill in 1937.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring standing in front of large tree in the park of the Berghof on 3 September 1936.Adolf Hitler in a private meeting with Hermann Goering in the Great Room of the Berghof on 22 September 1936 after the conclusion of the Nuremberg Party Rally.Hitler, Bormann, Göring and Baldur von Schirach in Obersalzberg on 18 October 1936. Göring is officially appointed as representative of the four-year plan. Upon being named Plenipotentiary of the Four Year Plan, Göring was entrusted with the task of mobilizing all sectors of the economy for war, an assignment which brought numerous government agencies under his control.Hermann Göring demonstrates his new exercise equipment, a mechanical horse, to Adolf Hitler during his visit to Carinhall on 1 October 1937.Hermann Göring shows Adolf Hitler his model trains at Carinhall, Templin on 1 October 1937.Hitler und Göring (im Hintergrund ganz rechts Heß) nach dem großen Appell im Luitpoldhain in Nürnberg 11 September 1938.The Führer receives congratulations from Hermann Göring on the National Socialist Party Day in 1938.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring salute the crowd from the balcony of the Reich Chancellery in Berlin on 16 March 1938 at Hitler’s return after the Anschluss in Austria.Hermann and Emmy Göring with Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels at a concert conducted by Wilhelm Furtwängler in the Philharmonie on 10 February 1937.
Emmy Göring, born Emma Sonnemann in Hamburg on 24 March 1893, was Hermann Goering’s second wife. Emmy was a professional actress who started dating Goering in 1932 after their first meeting in Weimar at a cafe that Hitler also frequented. Adolf Hitler served as best man at their wedding in 1935. As the wife of Hitler’s second in command, she often served as Adolf Hitler’s hostess at state functions and was referred to as “The First Lady of the Third Reich”.
Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring at the premiere of the film ‘William Tell’ on 12 January 1934 at the UFA Palast am Zoo in Berlin. This German-Swiss historical drama film was directed by Heinz Paul and starred Emmy Göring (née Sonnemann), Hermann’s future wife. It is based on the 1804 play ‘William Tell’ by Friedrich Schiller about the Swiss folk hero William Tell. Adolf Hitler with Emmy and Hermann Göring at their wedding reception and dinner held in the Kaiserhof Hotel in Berlin on 10 April 1935.Hermann Göring and wife Emmy with their daughter Edda and Adolf Hitler at Edda’s baptism on 4 November 1938.Hermann and Emmy Göring with Edda and Adolf Hitler at Edda’s baptism on 4 November 1938.Adolf Hitler with General Field Marshall Hermann Göring & his wife Emmy at Wahnfried House in Bayreuth while attending the Wagner Music Festival in July 1938.Adolf Hitler with the French prime minister Edouard Daladier signing the Munich agreement after the negotiations on 29 September 1938 as Hermann Göring looks on.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Göring in front of the Pergamon Museum on Museum Island on Kupfergraben in Berlin after the opening of an exhibition of Japanese art; left, next to Hitler his personal adjutant, Julius Schaub, next to Göring to the right: personal adjutant Albert Bormann, group leader of the Nazi motor corps, Luftwaffe adjutant Nicolaus von Below, and Major General Karl Bodenschatz, Göring’s liaison officer with Hitler, on 28 February 1939.Adolf Hitler in conversation with senior German officers gathered in the Great Hall of the Berghof on 22 August 1939. Hitler gathered the leaders of the three branches of the Wehrmacht on the Obersalzberg to once again explain to them the reasons for the imminent war, and confirms the date of attack on Poland for 26 August 1939. Speaking to Reichstag members on the morning of the German invasion of Poland, 1 September 1939, Hitler appoints Goering, seen here with Himmler, to be his successor “if anything should befall me.” After Göring, Rudolf Hess was formalized in succession. Göring largely withdrew from the military and political scene after 1942 when the Luftwaffe stumbled on both the Western and Eastern fronts.Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering at the diplomatic meeting between the foreign ministers of Germany and Italy, in Fuschl, Austria, on 20 August 1939.Hermann Göring, Grand Admiral Erich Raeder, German Chancellor Adolf Hitler and Field Marshal Walther von Brauchitsch in the Führer’s box during Hitler’s 50th birthday celebration and parade in Berlin on 20 April 1939. Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering inspect the Canet Battery used for the defense of the Gdynia harbor and Oksywie outside of Gotenhafen on 21 September 1939.Adolf Hitler congratulates General Field Marshall Hermann Goering on his 47th birthday on 12 January 1940. In the middle is SA Group Leader Wilhelm Brueckner. Adolf Hitler and Hermann Goering in 1940.Hitler and Goering just before the signing of the armistice in Compiègne, France, on 22 June 1940. This is one of my favorite photographs in my collection, talk about reveling in triumph. Adolf Hitler deliberately chose Compiègne Forest as the site to sign the armistice because of its symbolic role as the site of the Armistice of 11 November 1918 that signaled the end of World War I and Germany’s surrender.Adolf Hitler shaking hands with Japanese foreign minister Yōsuke Matsuoka while Hermann Göring and others look on and admire a decorative cart and floral bouquet on a marble table in the Reich Chancellery on 27 March 1941.Photo featured in “Berliner Illustrierte Zeitung” Number 50, December 11, 1941. “The Führer received Europe’s statesmen.” Adolf Hitler and Reichsmarschall Göring listen to a lecture given by General Jodl to the Führer and his guests on 27 November 1941. Reception and lunch in Berlin on the anniversary of the Anti-Comintern Pact of 1936 between the German Reich and Japan. Reception of the Foreign Minister of Finland Witting, the Prime Minister of Hungary von Bardossy, the Foreign Minister of Bulgaria Popoff and the Foreign Minister of Croatia Lorković.Croatian dictator Ante Pavelic met with Adolf Hitler on an official state visit on 9 June 1941 at the Berghof near Berchtesgaden in Bavaria. He was accompanied by Andrija Artukovic and was also greeted by Joachim von Ribbentrop and Hermann Goering.On the occasion of his visit to the Führer’s headquarters, the Croatian president Dr. Ante Pavelic presented to Hitler one of the Prussian flags conquered during the Seven Years’ War by the Croatian units. Grouped around the flag from left to right: Adolf Hitler, Reich Marshal Hermann Goering and Ante Pavelic on 13 June 1942.Adolf Hitler, flanked by Hermann Goering, and Albert Speer. Speer was Minister of Armaments and War Production. His Org. Todt armband refers to German wartime industrial and military engineering works that ran the Nazi slave labor workforce. April 10, 1943.Marshall Göring congratulates Adolf Hitler for his 55th birthday near Schloss Klessheim on 20 April 1944.Adolf Hitler along with Hermann Goering and staff inspect the first 20 Jagdpanzer 38 (Sd.Kfz. 138/2) “Hetzer” during an official presentation for Hitler’s 55th birthday near Schloss Klessheim in Salzburg on 20 April 1944.Adolf Hitler meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Döme Sztójay and Hungarian and German general staff officers during a situation report given by Alfred Jodl the day following the allied invasion of Normandy. A discussion of strategy following the Normandy Invasion held at the Klessheim Palace in Salzburg on 7 June 1944. From left to right: Sztojay, Joachim von Ribbentrop, an unidentified man, Adolf Hitler, Günther Korten, Hermann Göring, Alfred Jodl, Walter Warlimont, and Wilhelm Keitel.
Hitler had actually anticipated an Allied invasion to occur on the northern coast of France as early as 1942. Goebbels had even just written in his diary on the 16th of May that he needed to make more propaganda about an impending attack. Hitler believed that the invasion would be coming soon and finally be the chance he awaited to decide the war. When D-Day happened Goebbels wrote: “The party was right. The Führer is always right!” The Führer was actually asleep at the time of the invasion and Alfred Jodl refused to wake him up due to very strict orders never to disturb his sleep. Even with the invasion well underway, nobody dared to wake up Hitler in order to break the news. When Hitler finally awoke at noon he was not angry upon hearing of the attack but beamed and exclaimed “good, now we have them right where we want them!” Confident that the enemy would be quickly smashed on the beaches, the swift defeat would knock the British and Americans out of the war and he could concentrate all of his armies on the eastern front.
I love history and have always been infatuated with the design and style of the 1920’s. Unfortunately I can’t time travel back to this era, so I live vicariously through books, movies and photos.
Lots of great photos, especially of the wedding reception and Edda’s baptism. I didn’t know much about Goering at all, so this was very interesting and informative!
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Heinrich Hoffmann Photo Gallery 