Bidspirit auction | ”Europe Amérique” – Hermann Göring

”Europe Amérique” – Hermann Göring Invented the Gestapo – a feature article on Hermann Göring ahead of his trial in Nuremberg at the end of the war - ”A bullet fired from a police pistol is my bullet. If you call it murder, then I am the murderer myself.” The Belgian periodical Europe Amérique - Investigations and Photo Reports, dated July 12, 1945, featuring the headline: Dans ce numéro: Hermann Göring qui inventa la Gestapo - Hermann Göring, who invented the Gestapo - An in-depth article on the rise and fall of the Nazi war criminal Hermann Göring, one of the leading figures in Adolf Hitler’s regime, commander of the Luftwaffe and the Ministry of Aviation, and one of the main perpetrators of the Holocaust of European Jewry. Brussels, Belgium. At the center of the issue is an extensive article by Pierre Arnold on the rise and fall of Hermann Göring and his significant role in the German Reich - tracing his ascent through the ranks until he became commander of the German Air Force, his capture, and his being brought to justice. The article was written before the proceedings of the Nuremberg Trials began at the end of the war, and before Göring committed suicide in his cell, shortly before his death sentence was to be carried out. The writer traces Hermann Göring’s path from being a wounded yet ambitious officer in the First World War, through his deep association with Hitler and participation in the failed 1923 coup, to becoming a key figure in the Nazi regime. Despite his injury and addiction to morphine, Göring never ceased his political activity. He cultivated an image of power, order, and influence, and used propaganda and emotional rhetoric to rally support. In his declaration, “With the Führer, we are everything. Without him – we are nothing, ” he expressed his loyalty to Hitler in the early days of the Nazi Party and affirmed his central role in the rise of the Third Reich. The writer documents fascinating details about Göring’s role in the founding of the Nazi Gestapo - his uncompromising approach, sense of mission, craving for order and control, and willingness to use violence are presented as the foundation from which the Reich’s most brutal instrument of repression would emerge. A 1934 quote encapsulates Göring’s worldview as head of the ruthless Gestapo: ”A bullet fired from a police pistol is my bullet. If you call it murder, then I am the murderer myself.” Göring is portrayed as a man with a fierce hunger for control, both physical and psychological charisma, an insatiable appetite for power, and a high level of rhetorical skill - at times coupled with a dark self-awareness. He was not merely a part of the system — he was one of its architects. In light of this, Hitler himself entrusted Göring with the management of the party’s political apparatus. The writer emphasizes that, unlike those who gained influence through charisma or popularity, Göring was given real authority - to rule, to decide, and to suppress. He is described as a man who knew how to deploy flattery and pressure, threats and manipulation, to dismantle his opponents. “His flattery killed slowly, but his threats were immediate, ” it says. Göring did not shy away from using brute force, so long as it brought him closer to total control. The turning point in Göring’s life came with Hitler’s rise to power in January 1933, when President Hindenburg appointed Hitler as Chancellor, and Göring was given command of the Interior Ministry in Prussia, the most powerful state in Germany at the time. Göring himself later described the events leading to the Nazi Party’s rise in 1933: “We spoke in fiery language, stirred emotions with passion, activated the minds of our listeners, sharpened in their minds, sharpened in their hearts that they must be only one thing: Germans; that they have only one duty: Germany.”  From that point, a gradual yet forceful process of building a police state began, culminating in the establishment of the Geheime Staatspolizei, the Gestapo, “the Secret State Police.” The writer notes that Göring was the first to give this body a defined structural and legal framework. He constructed the system of surveillance, control, and repression, and founded agencies whose sole purpose was the persecution of domestic opponents and the systematic spread of fear. In testimony he gave after the war, Göring described how he founded and oversaw the mechanism: “I decided to create a structure that would be impenetrable.” Pierre Arnold continues to follow the trajectory of Hermann Göring, from the height of his career as commander of the Luftwaffe (the German Air Force) to his political and personal downfall at the end of the Second World War. During the war, Göring increasingly withdrew from the public eye and rarely addressed the Reichstag. Though he initially displayed a strong military presence, deploying advanced aircraft and investing in ambitious technological projects,