What awards did Herman Goering receive?

[hhbooker2]

"GREETINGS & SALUTATIONS!" Herman Goering the WW1 Ace received just about every award if Imperial German and later the 3rd reich, or so it seems? Is there a list of the German and foreign awards he was given? I once heard in the 1940s that he wore rubber medals in the bathtub? Emperor Haile Selassie seems to have been up there with Goering for medals, but I have always suspect Goering is the most benedalled man in history? Any thoughts on this or picture anyone has wearing his medals? Thank you! Sarge Booker of Tujunga, California

[Guest Rick Research]

Actually, his First World War awards were all well earned and quite "local." He was never the celebrity type then, so other states didn't cascade publicity awards on him the way Baron Richthofen got decorations.

From his native Baden, G?ring got

the Military Karl Friedrich Merit Order-Knight 11 February 1918 (the highest they had to give) and

Order of the Z?hringen Lion-Knight 2nd Class with Swords (BZ3bX) on 19 August 1915

he occasionally tried wearing the oakleaves of a captain's grade in the 1930s but eventually gave that fraud up

Prussian:

Pour le Merite 2June 1918

Hohenzollern House Order 3X 20 October 1917

both classes of Iron Cross, the military Pilots' Badge, and later the Flyers' Commemorative Badge for long years of flying without getting killed.

This was an extraordinary record-- 1 neck award, 2 pinbacks, and a 4 medal bar wearable together-- and he would have done better assuming a Hitler-ian cloak of understated display

because his absurd award-hogging later on which made him a laughingstock cannot get around the fact that as a mere Oberleutnant, he WAS a war hero.

[Deruelle]

After the First World War, G?ring wore the BZ3b mit X u. Eichenlaub. Why, we don't know, but some pictures I have seen proove this fact. We know he loved medals and honour. May be that's why he wore this medal instead of the first he received during the war. Remember he received the Pour le M?rite when he's got 18 victories not 20 like usual. His political relationship was very important. The explanation is here.

Regards

Christophe

[Deruelle]

Hi,

All the infos are here. a beautiful website.

http://www.geocities.com/~orion47/WEHRMACH...smarschall.html

Regards

Christophe

[Avitas]

Chris Ailsby's book "A Collector's Guide to the Luftwaffe" has a complete list of his awards from all the countries involved, the list is ridiculously long, probably about 100 medals!

Cheers,

Pat

[Deruelle]

Hi,

Can someone confirm if Goering received the T?rkischer Eiserner Halbmond. it's the first time I see such informations.

Avitas, can you post the list in the Ailsby's book. MAny thanks

Regards

Christophe

[Paul R]

This is a great thread! I have learned a lot.

[Riley1965]

Great thread and that website shows how much of a Medal Hog Goerring was. Mein Got!! How many ODMs does ONE person need or is entitled to?!!

Doc

[Avitas]

Hi,

Can someone confirm if Goering received the T?rkischer Eiserner Halbmond. it's the first time I see such informations.

Avitas, can you post the list in the Ailsby's book. MAny thanks

Regards

Christophe

Hi Christophe,

Unfortunately my old computer is preventing me from uploading pics to the site after the software update, so I cannot post the pic and I don't have the time to type it all out right now, maybe PM Warlord and see if he has it on file (he is the author). I did not see the Turkish award on the list though, he has them listed by country and Turkey is not mentioned. Hope that helps and if there are any more you would like me to check the list for I would be happy to do so.

Cheers,

Pat

[922F]

Hi Christophe,

Unfortunately my old computer is preventing me from uploading pics to the site after the software update, so I cannot post the pic and I don't have the time to type it all out right now, maybe PM Warlord and see if he has it on file (he is the author). I did not see the Turkish award on the list though, he has them listed by country and Turkey is not mentioned. Hope that helps and if there are any more you would like me to check the list for I would be happy to do so.

Cheers,

Pat

Additionally, decorations from Croatia, Hungary and Bulgaria at least--Klenau published a book in the late-70s or early 80s on the ordens kabinet presented to G which includes illustrations of these other awards.

[Herr General]

Found this scan in my archive. If I remember correctly these are suppossed to be from Goering. Now in a private British collection.

[Alex K]

Hi These are displayed at the RAF Museum at Hendon London together with uniform and other awards

attached

regards

[David S]

Blimpie boys A & D

From A Collectors guide to the Luftwaffe by ChristopherJ. Ailsby

Here is part 1

[David S]

Here is Part 2

[Cartaphilus]

Hello friends.

Normally in the list of medals won by Göring in World War I are the Pour le Merite, the three Prussian (EKS and HHOX) and the two from Baden (Zähringen Lion Knight Cross and Karl Friedrich Military Merit Order). But in this famous photo of 1932 we can see on his medal bar not 4, but 5 (and the aditional Commemorative Medal por combattants prior of the institution of the Hindenburg Cross):

Whah could be the 5th cross, between the Zähhringen Lion Knight Cross and the Deutsche Ehrendenkmünze des Weltkrieges Medal? It reminds me a Lippe Cross without swords, what do you think?

[Auseklis]

Does I miss the Holy Queen Tamara on the listings shown here?

[Guest Rick Research]

Well, that's an interesting Halloween costume!

No! Because Göring most assuredly did NOT earn that--nor did he earn the Turkish War Medal star. Whether that is photo-shopped or the big fat phony REALLY liked prancing around festooned in nonsense... not a get-up I've ever seen before.

Hermann... liked to wear things he was not entitled to in the 1920s and early 1930s--as if a Pour le Merite and the Baden Military Karl Friedrich Order were not enough. You will note, at about the time of his first wife's death, in photos (like the one above the previous) he is sporting UNEARNED oakleaves to the Baden Zähringen Lion that he DID earn. The self-bestowed salad later disappeared.

Hermann Frommherz also liked to swan about wearing a Blue Max HE thought he was "entitled" to, during the same period. It too appears in photos and later... went away.

Edited September 8, 2013 by Rick Research

[Auseklis]

With all respect. I don't think so! I found no hard evidence yet, but I belive that he got his TWM from the turkish military attache in Berlin, already during the war. As you sayed in #2... He was a war hero after all.

About the Tamara (on both pictures above...). I believe he purchased the right to wear it from the Government of the Democratic Republic of Georgia in Exile (located in France), who gladly sold everything they could sell, to come up for their expenses. Even the Georgian Embassy in Paris was working until 1933.

[Guest Rick Research]

Fraudulent wearing of unearned decorations was--even then--a felony in Germany. He got away with it--for a while--but he was NOT, ever, entitled to at least THREE of those awards: oakleaves to his BZ3bX, TH, or Tamara.

"Buying" something (even presuming you have documentation for that?) did not make it legal when the seller had no right to bestow the same. That is why all the German vanity veterans awards 1919-33 (several of which he is shown wearing above) also "went away" afterwards.

I have--being expert in matters Tamara--seen paperwork from Paris in the very early 1920s "authorizing" Tamaras to... FRENCH nationals the Georgian representative (unaccredited, BTW) was attempting to influence (with scraps of notepaper! ). There were NO French-made Tamaras, of course. Georgia fell to the Soviets in 1921. There were no legal bestowals (even then, only on paper) of Tamaras after 1918. That was an ephemeral award.

The "decorations" of the various "Princes" of White Russian exile groups 1919+ also bestowed decorations--illegally. The Duke of Saxe-Coburg, later head of the Nazi Red Cross, absolutely festooned himself with "honorary" Freikorps badges and insignia in the 1920s, none of which he was entitled to, either.

There was and is a very clear distinction between legal and illegal wear of unearned decorations, and even the High & Mighty were subject, eventually, to the rules.

[Auseklis]

1. Without wanting to be insisting, but why should Hermann not have been given a TWM when Boelcke, Richthofen (both), Loerzer, Immelmann and even Richthofens ADC Karl-Heinrich Bodenschatz got one?

2. I think your conception of what a government in exile is, is not entirely correct. Your view would implement that also the decorations given by the polish government in exile in London are illegal. It does not matter at all what you thing about such an body, as long as there are governments around that accept a government in exile, it has sort of credebility. So a Tamara given by the Georgian government in exile is at least as real, as the decorations from the polish government in exile after WW2.

[Freiwillige]

Speaking of an Order of Saint Tamara it must be noted that there were four different decorations:

1. “Original” decoration - Badge of the Georgian Legion (Abzeichen der Georgischen Legion), 1st and 2nd classes issued in 1917 ex parte the Committee of Independent Georgia.
2. An Order of Saint Tamara, illegitimately established in 1918 by Zakhari Mdivani, the then War Minister of Democratic Republic of Georgia.
3. An Order of Saint Tamara, restored in 1922 by the Parity Committee.
4. An Order of Saint Tamara, restored in 1941 by Shalva Maglakelidze, the future commander of the Georgian Legion.

It seems Göring was photographed wearing “M1922” Order that was restored by the Parity Committee, or “Committee for Independence of Georgia” commonly known then as “Damkom” (short for Damoukideblobis Komiteti). Decoration of those who could assist in revival of national, i.e. Georgian awareness was considered an effective measure of a newly formed organization and widely known Order of St.Tamara had been chosen as an official award of the Parity Committee in 1922.

Thus the Parity Committee had a right to issue its badges legally, and if so, Göring had a right to wear it legally.

Edited September 9, 2013 by Freiwillige

[Cartaphilus]

The size of the image is not too big, but we can see perfectly Göring with e the sash and the Grand Cross (little in the photo) of the yugoslavian Order of the White Eagle, during the visit of Prince Regent Paul to Berlin. This Order is not included in the list of Göring's awards posted in this topic. Raeder and von neurath wear the same sash, and Brauchitsch the blue sash and Grand Cross of the Order of Yugoslavian Crown. The unknown German diplomatic on the right wears the Order of Saint Sava. Hitler, as was usual, didn't receive any foreign award from his visitor.

[Guest Rick Research]

Ottfried Neubecker: "Die Orden Hermann Görings," Graf Klenau Verlag GmbH, Fridingen, ohne Datum ( ?1980) ISBN 3-921566-13-9

presents Göring's awards and the enormous display chest from his 50th birthday, mentioning all awards.

[Les]

Neubecker says he got these:

Decorations & Awards:

- Pour le mérite: am 02.06.1918 als Oberleutnant und Führer der Jagdstaffel 27

- Grosskreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes: am 19.07.1940 als Generalfeldmarschall und Reichsminister der Luftfahrt u. Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe

- Ritterkreuz des Eisernen Kreuzes: am 30.09.1939 als Generalfeldmarschall und Reichsminister der Luftfahrt und Oberbefehlshaber der Luftwaffe (Aushändigung des Ritterkreuzes durch Adolf Hitler)

- Ritterkreuz des kgl. Preuss. Hausordens von Hohenzollern mit Schwertern: 20.10.1917

- 1914 Eisernes Kreuz II. Klasse: 15.09.1914

- 1914 Eisernes Kreuz I. Klasse: 22.03.1915

- Ritterkreuz II Klasse des Grossherzoglich Badischen Ordens vom Zähringer Löwen mit Schwertern: 08.07.1915

- Ehrenbecher für den Sieger in Luftkampf: 15.04.1916

- Ritterkreuz des Grossherzoglich Badischen Militär Karl-Friedrich-Verdienstordens: 20.10.1917

- Kgl. Preuss. Flugzeugbeobachter-Abzeichen: 15.11.1914

- Kgl. Preuss. Flugzeugführer-Abzeichen: 12.10.1915

- Verwundetenabzeichen, 1918 in Schwarz

- Türkischer Eiserner Halbmond

- Blutorden der NSDAP (ohne Nr.): 09.11.1933

- Goldenes Ehrenzeichen der NSDAP: 01.12.1933

- Grosskreuz des Kgl. Italien. Militärordens von Savoyen

- Ehrenzeichen des Deutschen Roten Kreuzes, Halskreuz mit Bruststern, Sonderstufe

- Großkreuz des Herzoglich Sachsen-Ernestinischen Hausordens (2. Modell)

- Fliegerschaftsabzeichen (19.01.1935 von Göring gestiftet)

- gemeinsames Flugzeugführer- und Beobachterabzeichen in Gold mit Brillanten, sog. Luftwaffen-Doppelabzeichen (Stifter und erster Träger dieser ad personam ehrenhalber verliehenen Auszeichnung)

- Luftwaffen-Ärmelband Jagdgeschwader Frhr. v. Richthofen Nr. 1 1917/1918 gestiftet und am rechten Arm angelegt: 00.10.1935

- Ehrenkreuz für Frontkämpfer

- Gauehrenzeichen Silberner Gauadler des Gaues Thüringen der NSDAP: 20.04.1937

- Goldenes Gauehrenzeichen des Gaues Berlin der NSDAP

- Luftschutz-Ehrenzeichen 1. Stufe: 20.04.1938

- Großkreuz des Danebrog-Ordens mit den Insignien in Diamanten und der zum Großkreuz gehörenden Ordenskette (höchster dänischer Orden): 06.08.1938

- Großkreuz des Kgl. Ital. Ordens vom Heiligen Mauritius und Lazzarus: 00.00.1938

- Großkreuz des Kgl. Schwed. Schwerterordens mit Kette: 02.02.1939

- Wehrmacht-Dienstauszeichnung IV. Klasse

- Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz II. Klasse: 00.09.1939

- Spange zum Eisernen Kreuz I. Klasse: 00.09.1939

- Kreuz von Danzig II. und I. Klasse: 00.10.1939

- Große Ordenskette des Annunziatenordens (Kgl. Orden der Heiligen Verkündigung von Italien): 22.05.1940

- Orden vom Joch und den Pfeilen, höchste Stufe (Imperial del Yugo y las Flechas de España , Spanien)

- Kgl. Rumän. Orden Michael der Tapfere Orden Michael der Tapfere III., II. und I. Klasse: 21.10.1941

- Großkreuz des Militärordens von Savoyen mit Stern und Schulterband: 27.11.1941

- Grosskreuz des finnischen Freiheitskreuzes mit Schwertern: 25.03.1942

- Großkreuz des Kaiserl. Japan. Palowina-Ordens: 29.09.1943

- Slowakisches Kriegssiegerkreuz I Klasse

- Komturkreuz des Kgl. Rumän. Ordens Aeronautische Tugend mit der Kriegsdekoration und Schwertern

- Grosskreuz des finnischen Löwenordens mit Schwertern

- Grosskreuz des Ordens der Finnischen Weissen Rose mit Schwertern

- 1 Schwert des japanischen nationalen Verbandes Shochoku Seishin Shinkokai

- Grosskreuz des Kgl. Italien. Ordens des Sterns

- U-Bootkriegsabzeichen, 1939 mit Brillanten

- Kgl. Rumän. Flugzeugführer-Abzeichen

[P.F.]

Did Hermann Goring receive the 3 x NSDAP Long Service Decorations? They never seem to make the list, but surely he was entitled to them.

 

Thanks