Thirty Four by William Hastings Burke
Thirty Four by William Hastings Burkewww.34thebook.com

A new book has been released revealing little-known facts about German brothers Albert and Hermann Goering. One was an infamous Nazi leader, and other other used his last name to rescue Jewish victims from the Holocaust. Israel National Radio's Walter's World interviewed the author William Hastings Burke about the book Thirty Four which throws new light on a hitherto little known subject.

For the full interview download the Walter's World podcast by clicking here.

Readers will most likely know is the name of Reichsmarshall Hermann Goering (also spelled Goring). Mention that name, and a shudder will run down the spine of anyone familiar with the Nazi period during the 1930’s and 1940’s. He was Commander-in-Chief of the Nazi Luftwaffe, President of the Reichstag, Prime Minister of Prussia and the designated successor to Adolf Hitler should Hitler ever become incapacitated. In short, the second powerful man in the Third Reich.   

Goering joined the infant Nazi Party in the early 1920’s and became a commander of the Brownshirts, the SA. After Hitler came to power in 1933, Goering is said to have engineered the Reichstag fire and directed operations during the Blood Purge of 1934, the murder of SA chief Ernst Roem and other Sturm Abteilung leaders considered to be rivals to him and the regime.

At the Nuremberg War crimes trials Hermann Goering was found guilty on all counts, including crimes against humanity, and sentenced to death. One day before his scheduled execution by hanging, he took a cyanide potassium phial which was said to have been smuggled in a fountain pen and committed suicide.   

He was of aristocratic background and in his early years lived in two castles on the Austrian Bavarian border; sometimes in one and sometimes in the other. They belonged to his mother’s lover Dr. Hermann Epenstein, or Ritter von Epenstein to give him his aristocratic title. 

But, there is another story to the name Goering.

And this is where the fascinating account of Albert Goering, the Reichmarshall’s younger brother, begins, recorded in the book with the strange title Thirty Four. Its author is William Hastings Burke, who came from Sydney, Australia to begin a three-year self-funded journey through eight countries to uncover the truth. 

For the full interview download Walter's World by clicking here.

Arutz Sheva staff writer Ben Bresky contributed to this report.

Walter Bingham was born in Germany. Just days before the outbreak of WWII, with the help of a Zionist youth movement he was selected for a place on the ‘Kindertransport’ to Great Britain. He currently resides in Israel. Walter's World broadcasts every Sunday from 5:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. For podcast archives click here.