War hero
Hermann Wilhelm Goering was born on 12 January 1893 in Rosenheim, Bavaria. He came from a family connected to imperial service and grew up with a taste for status, uniforms, and display. During World War I he became a fighter pilot and, after Manfred von Richthofen's death, eventually commanded Jagdgeschwader 1, the famous Richthofen squadron. He received the Pour le Merite, Germany's highest military honour. The war gave him fame, confidence, and a heroic identity that survived Germany's defeat. Like many veterans, he entered the postwar world unwilling to accept the collapse of the old order. His later Nazi career drew heavily on that aura. Goering was never merely a functionary. He arrived in politics as a decorated combat celebrity, and that prestige made him useful to Adolf Hitler's movement.
