Image - Youtube, (from an interview with Swedish television in 1986)
Edda Goering, the only daughter of Reichsmarschall Hermann Goering, has died in Munich at the age of 80. She died on December 21 last year but her death has been kept secret until now. She was buried at an undisclosed location in the Waldfriedhof Cemetery in Munich.
Edda Goering was born on June 2, 1938. She was the daughter of Herman Goering and his second wife, the actress Emmy Sonnemann. Her father received over 600,000 messages of congratulations on his daughter's birth; tributes came in from all over the world, including telegrams from British Lords Halifax and Londonderry.
On 4 November 1938, Edda was baptised at Carinhall, Goering's hunting estate to the north-east of Berlin, and Adolf Hitler became her godfather. At the time of her baptism, she received a painting of the Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder, as a gift from the city of Cologne.
A similar painting by the same artist was sold at Sothebys in London in 2010 for £481.250 ($727.602).
After the war, the City of Cologne sought the return of the painting, on the grounds that it had been unwillingly given to Edda under pressure from Göring.
The legal battle over the Cranach Madonna lasted for 15 years. At the first hearing, in the regional court of Cologne, judgement was given for the city. Edda, who at the time was studying law, appealed this decision to the Higher Regional Court of Cologne, which in 1954 overturned the lower court. The appeal court came to the conclusion that Hermann Göring had not exerted any pressure and, on the contrary, the mayor of the day (Schmidt) had tried to curry favour for the city of Cologne by giving away the Cranach painting. However, out of pure vindictiveness, the authorities continued to pursue the case of the Cranach painting, and in January 1968 the Federal Court of Justice of Germany in Karlsruhe gave a final judgment in favour of the City of Cologne.
Edda grew up at Carinhall and like other daughters of high-ranking Nazi leaders and officials she was called Kleine Prinzessin ("Little Princess").
In the final stages of the war Goering left Carinhall, with his wife and daughter, and moved to their mountain home at Obersalzberg, near Berchtesgaden.
After the war had ended, Edda and her mother were interned, but by 1946 the two had been freed and were living in Burg Veldenstein, Herman Goering's medieval castle in Neuhaus, near Nuremberg. There they were visited by the American officer John E. Dolibois, who described Edda as, "A beautiful child, the image of her father. Bright and perky, polite and well-trained".
During the Nuremberg trials, Edda accompanied her mother to visit her father in prison. He was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death but committed suicide on 15 October 1946, the night before his scheduled execution, by swallowing a cyanide pill.
In 1948, Edda entered the St Anna-Mädchenoberrealschule (Saint Anne's High School for Girls) at Sulzbach-Rosenberg in Bavaria. After leaving school, Edda studied law at the University of Munich and became a law clerk; she later worked for a doctor.
A private letter from an unknown relative in 1959 stated that "The baby is now a young lady, slim, fair-haired and pretty. She lives with her mother on the 5th floor of a modern apartment block in the Munich city centre".
She was a regular guest of Hitler's patron Winifred Wagner. Other guests included Ilse Hess (the wife of Rudolf Hess), the Nazi film director Karl Ritter and the British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley.
In her later years, Edda worked in a hospital laboratory and was hoping to become a medical technician. She also worked in a rehabilitation clinic in Wiesbaden and devoted herself to taking care of her mother, remaining with her until she died on 8 June 1973.
In the 1970s, Edda was the companion of the Stern magazine journalist Gerd Heidemann. Heidemann had bought the yacht Carin II, which had belonged to Hermann Göring. Edda and Heidemann ran social events aboard the boat. At one event, the guests of honour were two former SS Generals, Karl Wolff and Wilhelm Mohnke.
In the 1990s, she said of her father in an interview:
She died on 21 December 2018 and was buried in the Waldfriedhof Cemetery in Munich. The exact location of her grave has not been disclosed to prevent it from becoming a place of pilgrimage for those who still support the old regime.
Reference: Wikipedia
Below - Goering's daughter christened at Carinhall, 4 Nov 1938 - British Pathé
Madonna and Child by Lucas Cranach the Elder which was given to Edda Goering (Image - public domain)
A similar painting by the same artist was sold at Sothebys in London in 2010 for £481.250 ($727.602).
After the war, the City of Cologne sought the return of the painting, on the grounds that it had been unwillingly given to Edda under pressure from Göring.
The legal battle over the Cranach Madonna lasted for 15 years. At the first hearing, in the regional court of Cologne, judgement was given for the city. Edda, who at the time was studying law, appealed this decision to the Higher Regional Court of Cologne, which in 1954 overturned the lower court. The appeal court came to the conclusion that Hermann Göring had not exerted any pressure and, on the contrary, the mayor of the day (Schmidt) had tried to curry favour for the city of Cologne by giving away the Cranach painting. However, out of pure vindictiveness, the authorities continued to pursue the case of the Cranach painting, and in January 1968 the Federal Court of Justice of Germany in Karlsruhe gave a final judgment in favour of the City of Cologne.
Edda grew up at Carinhall and like other daughters of high-ranking Nazi leaders and officials she was called Kleine Prinzessin ("Little Princess").
In the final stages of the war Goering left Carinhall, with his wife and daughter, and moved to their mountain home at Obersalzberg, near Berchtesgaden.
After the war had ended, Edda and her mother were interned, but by 1946 the two had been freed and were living in Burg Veldenstein, Herman Goering's medieval castle in Neuhaus, near Nuremberg. There they were visited by the American officer John E. Dolibois, who described Edda as, "A beautiful child, the image of her father. Bright and perky, polite and well-trained".
During the Nuremberg trials, Edda accompanied her mother to visit her father in prison. He was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death but committed suicide on 15 October 1946, the night before his scheduled execution, by swallowing a cyanide pill.
In 1948, Edda entered the St Anna-Mädchenoberrealschule (Saint Anne's High School for Girls) at Sulzbach-Rosenberg in Bavaria. After leaving school, Edda studied law at the University of Munich and became a law clerk; she later worked for a doctor.
A private letter from an unknown relative in 1959 stated that "The baby is now a young lady, slim, fair-haired and pretty. She lives with her mother on the 5th floor of a modern apartment block in the Munich city centre".
She was a regular guest of Hitler's patron Winifred Wagner. Other guests included Ilse Hess (the wife of Rudolf Hess), the Nazi film director Karl Ritter and the British Fascist leader Oswald Mosley.
In her later years, Edda worked in a hospital laboratory and was hoping to become a medical technician. She also worked in a rehabilitation clinic in Wiesbaden and devoted herself to taking care of her mother, remaining with her until she died on 8 June 1973.
In the 1970s, Edda was the companion of the Stern magazine journalist Gerd Heidemann. Heidemann had bought the yacht Carin II, which had belonged to Hermann Göring. Edda and Heidemann ran social events aboard the boat. At one event, the guests of honour were two former SS Generals, Karl Wolff and Wilhelm Mohnke.
In the 1990s, she said of her father in an interview:
"I loved him very much, and it was obvious how much he loved me. My only memories of him are such loving ones, I cannot see him any other way. I actually expect that most everybody has a favourable opinion of my father, except maybe in America. He was a good father to me."After robbing her of her works of art and other assets, the government of West Germany, in an act of pure vindictiveness, denied Edda Göring the pension that was rightfully hers.
She died on 21 December 2018 and was buried in the Waldfriedhof Cemetery in Munich. The exact location of her grave has not been disclosed to prevent it from becoming a place of pilgrimage for those who still support the old regime.
Reference: Wikipedia
Below - Goering's daughter christened at Carinhall, 4 Nov 1938 - British Pathé
