Emma Johanna Henny "Emmy" Göring (née Sonnemann; 24 March 1893 – 8 June 1973) was a German actress and the second wife of Luftwaffe Commander-in-Chief Hermann Göring.[1] She served as Adolf Hitler's hostess at many state functions and thereby staked a claim to the title of "First Lady of the Third Reich", a title also sometimes conferred upon Magda Goebbels.[2]
She was born Emma Johanna Henny Sonnemann in Hamburg, Germany, on 24 March 1893 to a wealthy salesman.[3] After schooling, she became an actress at the National Theatre in Weimar.[4]
On 13 January 1916, Sonnemann married actor Karl Köstlin in Trieste, Austria-Hungary.[4] Thereafter, she was known as Emmy Köstlin. In her autobiography, Göring said that she and Köstlin soon realized that they were more suited as friends and soon separated. They eventually divorced in 1926.
On 10 April 1935, in a church ceremony she married the prominent Nazi and Luftwaffe chief Hermann Göring, becoming Emmy Göring.[6] It was also Göring's second marriage; his first wife, Carin, had died in October 1931.[5][7] She was given an unsolicited membership to the Nazi Party during Christmas 1938.[8]
Their daughter, Edda Göring, was born on 2 June 1938, when Emmy was 45 years old.[9] Edda was reported as being named after the Countess of Cortellazzo and Buccari, eldest child of Benito Mussolini.[10] Time reported: "Herr and Frau Göring became her fast friends."[11] However, in her autobiography, Göring said her daughter was named after one of her friends.[12]
Hermann Göring named his country house Carinhall after his first wife, while referring to his hunting lodge at Rominten (now Krasnolesye) – the Reichsjägerhof – as "Emmyhall".[citation needed]
Emmy served as Hitler's hostess at many state functions prior to the Second World War. This and her claim to be the "First Lady of the Third Reich" created much animosity between herself and Hitler's future wife, Eva Braun, whom she snubbed and openly despised. Hitler consequently issued angry instructions to Hermann Göring demanding that Emmy treat Eva with more respect; one of the outcomes of Emmy's condescending attitude toward Eva was that she was no longer invited to Hitler's Bavarian retreat, the Berghof.[13] As for Eva Braun, she allegedly never forgave Emmy for having assumed the role of "First Lady of the Reich".[14][15] Emmy and Magda Goebbels, the wife of Propaganda Minister Joseph Goebbels, also tried to outshine each other, hosting lavish parties and dressing like royalty.[5]
As wife of one of the richest and most powerful men in Europe, she received much public attention, was constantly photographed,[14] and enjoyed a lavish lifestyle well into the Second World War. Her husband owned mansions, estates and castles in Austria, Germany and Poland and was a major beneficiary of the Nazis' confiscation of art and wealth from Jews and others deemed enemies by the Nazi regime. Her husband celebrated their daughter's birth by ordering 500 planes to fly over Berlin (he stated he would have flown 1,000 planes as a salute for a son) and the family had a private box at the theatre.[16] She also hosted foreign dignitaries, such as Edward, Duke of Windsor and Wallis Simpson in 1937.[17][18] Following her husband's promotion to Reichsmarschall in 1940, she was addressed as Frau Reichsmarschall (lit. 'Mrs Reich Marshal').[19]
After the end of the war, she was arrested at her home in Sackdilling and was imprisoned at Straubing camp, ninety miles from Nuremberg,[9] with her daughter, sister, niece and a servant.[20] A German denazification court convicted her of being a Nazi and sentenced her to one year in jail. When she was released, 30 percent of her property was confiscated, and she was banned from the stage for five years.[21] She was unable to revive her career.[22]
Some years after her release from jail, Emmy secured a very small flat in a building in the city of Munich and remained there for the rest of her life.[21] In her final years, she suffered from sciatica. She wrote an autobiography, An der Seite meines Mannes (1967), published in English as My Life with Goering in 1972.
Emmy died in Munich on 8 June 1973 at the age of 80.[21] She is buried at Munich Waldfriedhof.
Notes
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