--- title: Hermann Göring url: https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/hermann-goering/ description: 8 verified quotes from Hermann Göring, Reich Marshal, with sources. section: FRAME --- ![Illustration: an interwar radio-and-newsreel intelligence collage with a 1930s map of Europe and propaganda poster proofs.](https://propagandaarchive.org/static/generated/detail/hero-interwar.jpg) [Quotes](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/) · Germany # Hermann Göring ![Hermann Göring in August 1932](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/images/nazi-germany/hermann-goering.jpg) [Photo](https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bundesarchiv_Bild_102-13805,_Hermann_G%C3%B6ring.jpg): Unknown (Bundesarchiv), CC BY-SA 3.0 de Reich Marshal · Germany On the regime page: [Nazi Germany](https://propagandaarchive.org/regimes/nazi-germany/#hermann-goering) 8 quotes, oldest first. [Filter with other speakers](https://propagandaarchive.org/quotes/#speaker=hermann-goering). 1. **Content note:** Threatens Communists and says his mission is to "destroy and exterminate". The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Fellow Germans, my measures will not be crippled by any judicial thinking. My measures will not be crippled by any bureaucracy. Here I don't have to give Justice, my mission is only to destroy and exterminate, nothing more! This struggle, fellow Germans, will be a struggle against chaos and such a struggle I shall not conduct with the power of any police. A bourgeoise state might have done that. Certainly, I shall use the power of the state and the police to the utmost my dear Communists, so that you won't draw any false conclusions but the struggle to the death, in which my fist will grasp your necks, I shall lead with those down there, — those are the brown shirts.” — English: Office of United States Chief of Counsel, translation of Nuremberg document 1856-PS. Original-language text not found. — March 3, 1933 · Speech · Frankfurt am Main — Election-campaign speech five weeks after Hitler became Chancellor and two days before the Reichstag election of 5 March 1933. Göring was Prussian Minister of the Interior and in command of the Prussian police. The US prosecution cited the passage as an example of the purge of political opponents. — Speech "Wir tragen die Verantwortung" (We Bear the Responsibility), NSDAP demonstration, Frankfurt am Main, 3 March 1933, in Hermann Göring, Reden und Aufsätze, ed. Erich Gritzbach, 3rd ed. (Munich: Franz Eher Nachf., 1939), p. 27, document 1856-PS, in Office of United States Chief of Counsel for Prosecution of Axis Criminality, Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression, vol. 4 (Washington: US Government Printing Office, 1946), p. 495 [Source](https://archive.org/details/naziconspiracyag04unit) 2. > “But on the other hand, where real crimes were committed against the people, there must be pitiless and just revenge. That is the prerequisite if we are to forgive the others. The big ones must be caught, not the little ones. We want to let the little ones alone, but we must settle accounts with the big ones who know how to juggle things back and forth, doing their business here and there. They must receive just revenge with pitiless hardness.” — English: Randall Bytwerk, German Propaganda Archive, Calvin University. Original-language text not found. — April 9, 1933 · Speech · Berlin, Sportpalast — Speech to the Nazi factory-cell organisation about two months after Hitler became Chancellor. In the surrounding passage Göring urges generosity toward former opponents who were minor figures and asks for an end to denunciations. — Speech "Nationalismus und Sozialismus" to the NSBO, Berlin Sportpalast, 9 April 1933, in Hermann Göring, Reden und Aufsätze (Munich: Zentralverlag der NSDAP, 1941), pp. 36-49; English translation by Randall Bytwerk [Source](https://research.calvin.edu/german-propaganda-archive/goering1.htm) 3. **Content note:** Opens a conference on excluding Jews from the economy. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Gentlemen, today's meeting is of a decisive nature. I have received a letter written on the Fuehrer's order by the Stabsleiter of the Fuehrer's deputy, Bormann, requesting that the Jewish question be now uniformly comprehended and solved one way or another. And yesterday once again the Fuehrer requested me by phone to take co-ordinated action in the matter.” — English: Nuremberg trial translation of document 1816-PS (English text as read into the IMT record). Original-language text not found. — November 12, 1938 · Statement · Berlin, Reich Air Ministry — Opening words of a conference Göring chaired three days after the November 1938 pogrom, on the exclusion of Jews from the economy. Ministers and officials including Funk and Goebbels attended. Stenographic report, document 1816-PS (exhibit USA-261). — Declaration by the US prosecution reading 1816-PS, in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947), vol. 4, p. 553 (session of 8 January 1946) [Source](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/01-08-46.asp) 4. **Content note:** Calls Jews "pigs" and threatens them. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “I demand that German Jewry as a whole shall, as a punishment for the abominable crimes, et cetera, make a contribution of 1,000,000,000 marks. That will work. The pigs will not commit a second murder so quickly. Incidentally, I would like to say again that I would not like to be a Jew in Germany.” — English: Nuremberg trial translation of document 1816-PS (English text as read into the IMT record). Original-language text not found. — November 12, 1938 · Statement · Berlin, Reich Air Ministry — Closing remarks at the 12 November 1938 conference on the Jewish question, after discussion of a collective fine on German Jews of one billion Reichsmarks. Göring signed the decree imposing the fine the same day. Read to Göring in cross-examination by Justice Jackson, who asked whether he said it; Göring answered "That was correct, yes." — Göring cross-examined by Justice Jackson, in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947), vol. 9, p. 543 (session of 20 March 1946) [Source](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/03-20-46.asp) 5. **Content note:** Order to prepare a "complete solution of the Jewish question" in German-controlled Europe. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “Complementing the task that was assigned to you on 24 January 1939, which dealt with arriving at-through furtherance of emigration and evacuation-a solution of the Jewish problem as favorable as possible, I hereby charge you with making all necessary preparations in regard to organizational and financial matters for bringing about a complete solution of the Jewish question in the German sphere of influence in Europe. [...] I charge you furthermore, to send me before long an overall plan concerning the organizational, factual, and material measures necessary for the accomplishment of the desired final solution of the Jewish question.” — English: Nuremberg trial translation of document 710-PS (as read into the IMT record). Original-language text not found. — July 31, 1941 · Letter · Berlin — Written order from Göring, as Reich Marshal and head of the Four Year Plan, to Reinhard Heydrich, chief of the Security Police and SD. It refers to Heydrich's earlier task of 24 January 1939 on Jewish emigration. Document 710-PS, exhibit USA-509; Göring was questioned on it on 20 March 1946. — Prosecution reading of 710-PS, in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947), vol. 4, p. 278 (session of 2 January 1946) [Source](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/01-02-46.asp) 6. **Content note:** States intent to plunder occupied territories. The words are shown as they were said or written. [Why](https://propagandaarchive.org/about/#as-it-was) — > “It seemed to me to be a relatively simple matter in former days. It used to be called plundering. It was up to the party in question to carry off what had been conquered. But today things have become more humane. In spite of that, I intend to plunder and to do it thoroughly.” — English: Translation of document USSR-170 as read into the IMT record. Original-language text not found. — August 6, 1942 · Speech · Berlin — Göring addressed a conference of Reich Commissioners for the occupied territories and military commanders on food deliveries from occupied areas. Read to him in cross-examination by Soviet prosecutor Rudenko; Göring answered that "that was exactly what I said at that conference." — Cross-examination of Göring by General Rudenko, reading document USSR-170, in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947), vol. 9, p. 632 (session of 21 March 1946) [Source](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/03-21-46.asp) 7. > “Repeatedly we have heard here how the worst crimes were veiled with the most secrecy. I wish to state expressly that I condemn these terrible mass murders to the utmost, and cannot understand them in the least. But I should like to state clearly once more before the High Tribunal, that I have never decreed the murder of a single individual at any time, and neither did I decree any other atrocities or tolerate them, while I had the power and the knowledge to prevent them.” — English: Official IMT simultaneous translation. Original-language text not found. — August 31, 1946 · Statement · Nuremberg, Palace of Justice — Göring's final statement to the Tribunal before judgment, delivered after the closing speeches of the prosecution and defence. — Final statement of the defendant Göring, in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947), vol. 22, p. 365 (session of 31 August 1946) [Source](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/08-31-46.asp) 8. > “I did not want a war, nor did I bring it about. I did everything to prevent it by negotiations. [...] The only motive which guided me was my ardent love for my people, its happiness, its freedom, and its life.” — English: Official IMT simultaneous translation. Original-language text not found. — August 31, 1946 · Statement · Nuremberg, Palace of Justice — Passage from Göring's final statement to the Tribunal, in which he answers the charge of planning aggressive war. — Final statement of the defendant Göring, in Trial of the Major War Criminals before the International Military Tribunal (Nuremberg: IMT, 1947), vol. 22, p. 367 (session of 31 August 1946) [Source](https://avalon.law.yale.edu/imt/08-31-46.asp) ## Often attributed, not verified These words circulate under Hermann Göring’s name but could not be traced to a source. They are listed so readers can check them, not as Hermann Göring’s words. - > “Guns will make us powerful; butter will only make us fat.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Göring, speech in Hamburg, 1936 (the wording given in W. Frischauer, Goering, 1951) — Traced only to secondary books (Frischauer, 1951, and later quotation dictionaries); no speech text with date and stenographic or press source was found. Goebbels is recorded saying something similar on 17 January 1936 ('We can do without butter, but, despite all our love of peace, not without arms'), also not checked against a primary text here. - > “If a single enemy bomber reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Hermann Göring. You can call me Meier.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Göring, 1939 (often given as a speech of August or September 1939) — Not found in the IMT transcript or Nazi Conspiracy and Aggression vols. 1-8. Frequently repeated in memoirs and histories with varying dates and wording; no contemporaneous text located. - > “Whenever I hear the word culture, I reach for my gun.” — Misattributed Usually said to come from: Göring (also Goebbels, Himmler) — The line is from the play Schlageter (1933) by Hanns Johst ('Wenn ich Kultur höre ... entsichere ich meinen Browning'), spoken by a character; it was later attributed to Nazi leaders. Not found in the IMT record under Göring's name. - > “Why, of course, the people don't want war. [...] But after all, it is the leaders of the country who determine the policy and it is always a simple matter to drag the people along.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Göring to Gustave Gilbert, Nuremberg, 18 April 1946 (Gilbert, Nuremberg Diary, 1947) — Widely cited from Gilbert's prison diary, a private conversation and not part of the trial record. The book text could not be opened in this check, so the wording is not published here as verified. - > “I decide who is a Jew.” — Unverifiable Usually said to come from: Göring, on Erhard Milch's ancestry (usually given as 'Wer Jude ist, bestimme ich') — Often attributed to Göring (the phrase is also credited to Karl Lueger in Vienna). No contemporaneous record located by this check.