Adolf Hitler (1889-1945)

Hermann Goring was Commander-in-Chief of the Luftwaffe, President of the Reichstag, Prime Minister of Prussia, and Hitler's designated successor. He created the secret police, a.k.a.the Gestapo, and helped set up the early concentration camps for political opponents. Goring directed the Luftwaffe campaigns against Poland, France, and Great Britain. Hitler blamed Goring for Germany's military defeats. Goring was tried at Nuremberg, found guilty and sentenced to death. He committed suicide while in prison by swallowing a poison pill.

was instrumental in implementing the Final Solution, organizing transports of Jews from all over Europe to the killing centers. As SS lieutenant colonel and head of IVB4, the Jewish department of the Office for Reich Security, Eichmann served as secretary at the Wannsee Conference. He was arrested at the war's end in the American zone of Germany, but escaped to Latin America and disappeared. In 1960, members of the Israeli Secret Service discovered Eichmann in Argentina and through a covert action, transported him to Israel for trial. In December, 1961, Eichmann was sentenced to death and executed in Jerusalem.

Governor-General of occupied Poland from 1939 to 1945. A member of the Nazi Party from its earliest days and Hitler's personal lawyer, he announced, "Poland will be treated like a colony; the Poles will become slaves of the Greater German Reich." By 1942, more than 85% of the Jews in Poland had been transported to extermination camps. Frank was tried at Nuremberg, convicted, and executed in 1946.

held the title of Reich Minister for People's Enlightenment and Propaganda from 1933 until his suicide in May, 1945. He had total control of the radio, the press, publishing houses, and the cinema. He was highly skilled at mass persuasion and played an important role in creating and maintaining the Nazi image. He was also responsible for staging the book burning in Berlin in 1933.

was the mentally unstable number three man in Hitler's Germany. He was basickly Hitlers dog. Following Hitler around like a little puppy and having loyalty to his master at each and every point. He was never given any real power because of his lack for understanding of how power really worked and his ability to make decisions on his own. He was sentenced to life in prison at Nuremberg. He died in jail in 1987.

became the chief of the SD. His more notorious achievements included the establishment of ghettos in Poland, his leadership of the Einsatzgruppen, and the convening of the Wannsee Convention. His assassination in 1942 caused merciless German reprisals, continuing after his death the terror and intimidation that characterized his life.

was an unsuccessful chicken farmer and fertilizer salesman who became a leader in the Nazi party in the mid-1920s. As head of the SS as well as the Gestapo, he was a cold, efficient, ruthless administrator. He was the organizer of the mass murder of Jews, the man in charge of the concentration and death camps.

SSphysician at Auschwitz, notorious for pseudo-medical experiments, especially on twins and Gypsies. He "selected" new arrivals by simply pointing to the right or the left, thus separating those considered able to work from those who were not. Those too weak or too old to work were sent straight to the gas chambers, after all their possessions, including their clothes, were taken for resale in Germany. After the war, he spent some time in a British internment hospital but disappeared, went underground, escaped to Argentina, and later to Paraguay, where he became a citizen in 1959. He was hunted by Interpol, Israeli agents, and Simon Wiesenthal. In 1986, his body was found in Embu, Brazil.

was the SS major general responsible for the destruction of the Warsaw ghetto in 1943. Later that year, as Higher SS and Police Leader in Greece, he supervised the deportation of thousands of Jews from Salonika. He was sentenced to death and executed in Poland in 1951.

Professor Comments:

This is an excellent selection of key figures for the time.  An you were able to locate photos of each; a nice addition.  You did your work. Congrats on a job well done.

The descriptions are fine, all to the point, and they provide sufficient detail to pursue other facts, if desired.