Hermann Goering: From Secret Luftwaffe to Hossbach War Conference 1935-37: The Personal Photograph Albums of Hermann Goering

In March 1935, Goering unveiled to the world his formerly "black,' secret German Air Force, the later dreaded Luftwaffe. That April, he married his second wife, a popular German stage actress, and in May solidified Germany's pre-1939 surprisingly good relations with neighboring Poland. In March 1936, the Luftwaffe took part in the peaceful occupation of the formerly French-occupied Rhineland, and by the end of the year, Goering was also the recognized economic dictator of the Third Reich via heading the Nazi Four Year Plan. A State Visit to Rome in January 1937 made him a main player regarding the future Reich alliance with Fascist Italy and that November, he hosted Europe's largest hunting exposition of 50 years at Berlin. Overshadowing all of this, however, was the top-secret Hossbach war conference, at which Hitler announced his intention go to war by 1943 in order to seize Russian territory for an expanded German empire in the east. In all of the above, Goering was the main player, second only to Hitler, especially regarding the economy and the air force.