With Anzac only four days away, pondering on these things, I was rifling through the family archive air tight chest recently I came across a newspaper photograph of the wedding of Nazi Germany's Hermann Göring to Emmy Sonnermann which took place on 10 April 1935, which is only 11 days and 80 years ago.
My late mother who died in 1995 aged 75 cut out many newspaper articles during the second part of the 1930's and filed them away, and it is only now, 80 years later, I've opened the air tight chest to take a serious look at them.
I was well aware they were there, and we've gone through the family letters along with letters from friends and relatives, but in recent weeks I've been looking at the cuttings.
My mother had a penchant for history and wrote many articles for her own interest on historical events and the twists and turns of what the future might hold in world politics. Therefore, she may have cut this article out because it was a major world event or that possibly it had some other significance to her.
Hermann Göring was a colourful figure of the Nazi Government. He was a WWI fighter ace and maintained close relationships with many of Germany's industrialists and it was through these links in the 1920's that he introduced the future Chancellor and aspiring politician Adolf Hitler.
When the Nazi's came to power Göring became of the President of the German Parliament (Reichtsag) which ensured the 1933 Enabling Act was passed giving Hitler dictatorial powers. In 1935 he was appointed head of the Luftwaffe (Air Force) and in 1936 took control of the German national economy.
This larger than life figure was a lover of all fine things, none more so than uniforms and titles. The German media loved his character and wherever he went throughout Germany crowds gathered to meet him and enjoy the festivities for which he was the first in line!
So it came as no surprise that when he married (his first marriage ended in divorce some years previously) it was not only the German wedding of 1935, it was the European wedding of the year.
Eyes on Germany
All eyes were on Germany and her rise in the European power stakes. That same year the Luftwaffe's mass expansion was made public and it was becoming clear that its rearming was a clear threat to the peace after the slaughter of WWI.
Hermann Göring had kept company with Emmy Sonnemann an actress from Hamburg and proposed to her in Weinmar in February 1935, and marrying in April.
Berlin celebrated. It was like the marriage of an emperor. There is another cutting from the same newspaper which shows the wedding car and the mass of troops lining the roads all in dress uniform.
As an aside, although Hermann Göring committed suicide on 15 October 1946 in Nuremberg hours before he was due to be hanged, his wife Emmy lived until 1973.
In my book "Boy Parachutist 1943-45" on the experiences of a 16 year old German boy Harry Henkel (now 83) going to war with the Wehrmacht, he speaks of that difficult post war period as a translator and then a driver for the Americans (his mother was English).
He was on duty in Nuremberg the night the Nazi war criminals were hung on the gallows and heard the thump as each dropped. He heard the uproar a little earlier when Hermann Göring was able to somehow get a cyanide capsule and escape the hangman's noose.
Harry Henkel saw first hand the terrible results of the life of Hermann Göring and his policies which led directly to the Holocaust for which Göring personally signed. Yet, he was a man, who like many despots, loved, fathered and married.
As I pondered upon these events and the drama of that 1935 celebrity wedding, there are many 'heirs' (believers in the Lord) who enjoy Kingdom celebrity weddings when two people, a man and a women who love the Lord and themselves join together in holy matrimony.
These weddings may not reach the newspapers around the world, but their 'big day' is celebrated in the heavenlies. What a contrast !!
Dr Mark Tronson is a Baptist minister (retired) who served as the Australian cricket team chaplain for 17 years (2000 ret) and established Life After Cricket in 2001. He was recognised by the Olympic Ministry Medal in 2009 presented by Carl Lewis Olympian of the Century. He mentors young writers and has written 24 books, and enjoys writing. He is married to Delma, with four adult children and grand-children.
Mark Tronson's archive of articles can be viewed at http://www.pressserviceinternational.org/mark-tronson.html
