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Hermann Göring, German Nazi politician and military leader after his capture, 1945. A decorated World War I fighter ace who flew with Baron Manfred von Richthofen's squadron, Göring (1893-1946) joined the Nazi party in 1922. The following year he was involved in the Munich Beer Hall Putsch alongside Adolf Hitler. After the Nazis came to power in 1933, Göring became one of the new regime's leading figures. He commanded the Gestapo until 1934, when he handed its command over to Heinrich Himmler, and from 1935 onwards was commander of the Luftwaffe, the German air force. Captured by the Allies at the end of the Second World War, Göring was convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity at the Nuremberg Trials, but committed suicide the night before he was due to be executed.