[Göring] was shot,” Sir Eric Phipps informed London in Febru-
ary , “he is, so I am told, unable to have children.”
Göring accepted that this was true but put a good face on
his incapacity, telling Madame François-Poncet philosophically
that being childless was a godsend in troubled times. While a
Goebbels must worry all along what might become of his chil-
dren, he and Emmy had only themselves to care for.
Fueled by the hormone imbalances that his injury and the
morphine had induced, his body had become bloated to a size
that invited but defied caricature. Commissioning a homespun
woolen garment in September for Göring’s then-
forthcoming fiftieth birthday, Heinrich Himmler would order
the weavers to allow at least three times the normal weight of
wool.
This manicured mountain of perfumed flab swept into
Warsaw’s cathedral for the state funeral of Marshal Pilsudski on
May , “late,” as Roosevelt’s roving ambassador described
the entrance, “as if he were a German tenor playing Siegfried.”
He is [added Bullitt] at least a yard across the bottom
as the crow flies.... In an attempt to get his shoulders
out as far as his hips he wears two inches of padding
extending each one.... He must carry with him a
personal beauty attendant, as his fingers, which are
almost as thick as they are short, carry long, pointed,
carefully enameled nails and his pink complexion
shows every sign of daily attention.Bullitt suspected morphine from the way the general’s eyes were
“popping.” Göring certainly dozed off during the funeral cere-
mony.
The death of Pilsudski was a setback to Hitler’s plans, be-
cause when Göring now talked, after the funeral, with Polish