On July 15, 1937, the Reichswerke Hermann Göring industrial company was founded in Nazi Germany. It was named after the then commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, Hermann Göring, who was also a minister in Hitler’s government and held a number of other positions. At that time, Göring held the rank of colonel general, and was later promoted to field marshal and even marshal Reich (Reichsmarschall).
Although the company was named after him and although he was its head, Göring did not have an ownership stake in it. The original purpose of Reichswerke Hermann Göring was to extract iron ore in the Salzgitter area of Lower Saxony. It was ore that was present there in large quantities, but in a form unprofitable for commercial exploitation.
Due to the fact that this company absorbed a number of German industrial companies, and then those in the associated and conquered territories became one of the largest in the Third Reich. For example, after the Anschluss of Austria, the Reichswerke Hermann Göring included a number of Austrian ironworks, and after the occupation of Czechoslovakia, between 50 and 60% of the heavy industry facilities there allegedly entered the company.
A similar pattern was later applied to occupied Poland, France, and the USSR. Over time, Reichswerke Hermann Göring grew into a giant with around 500,000 workers and a capital of several billion Reichsmarks (possibly one of the largest industrial companies in Europe and the world).
