The Battle of Britain Five Months That Changed History, May—October 1940 by James Holland (z-lib.org).epub

and his ideals, he became his new friend’s right-hand man in the National
Socialist Party, and head of the paramilitary Nazi organization, the
Sturmabteilung, or SA.
Göring was badly wounded in the groin during the Beer Hall Putsch in
Munich in 1923, and it was during his long period of recovery in Italy and
Austria that he first became addicted to morphine, administered initially as
an antidote to his extreme pain. This addiction had plagued him ever since;
battles against the drug were won then lost but many of his more outlandish
characteristics were most likely a direct result of regular morphine taking.
A narcotic and highly addictive, morphine, besides relieving pain, also
relieves fear and anxiety and produces euphoria. It plays havoc with a
person’s glands and hormones, and prompts outbursts of increased energy
and vanity, as well as delusions. Extreme vitality is often followed by
periods of languor and inactivity. All these symptoms were displayed by
Göring.
In many ways, he was a contradictory character. A family man, he
adored his first wife, Carin, but was equally devoted to his second wife,
Emmy, and his young daughter with her, Edda. He loved art and nature,
could be kind, generous and loyal, yet was also unscrupulous, demonic,
vain and power-hungry. How much of this Jekyll and Hyde persona was a
part of his natural make-up and how much was due to his drug addiction, it
is impossible to know.
Certainly, however, in his moments of energy – and he was a highly
driven, ambitious and determined individual before he had ever succumbed
to morphine – Göring was to prove one of Hitler’s most loyal and capable
lieutenants. It was Göring who created the Schutzstaffel, or SS, set up
initially as Hitler’s personal bodyguard; and it was Göring who created the
Sicherheitsdienst, the SD, of which the Gestapo, the Nazi secret police, was
part. He was responsible for establishing the concentration camps. He
became Speaker of the German Parliament, President of the Reichstag,
Prime Minister of Prussia, President of the Prussian State Council, Reich
Master of Forestry and Game (his hunting laws still exist), and creator of
the new German air force, which, under his command, in 1935 became the
Luftwaffe.
By this time, his position and standing within the Reich had never been
higher. Hitler, the visionary, was no economist, but Göring was proving
himself an adept businessman. In 1935, Hitler gave him control of