Judge-Advocate General von Hammerstein briefed him on
August on court-martial cases in Crete, and described the
sprawling Palace of Minos. Göring interrupted with his familiar
scooping gesture. “That’s coming to Carinhall too,” he bragged.
“Do you know how big the palace is?” gasped Hammer-
stein.
“Have you any idea,” countered Göring, “how big Carin-
hall’s going to be?”
Several times he was awakened by air-raid alerts, and the
Russians actually raided Berlin on August , an impertinence
that caused Göring to summon General Hubert Weise, the
Luftwaffe’s commander in chief center, to discuss their air de-
fenses in the east. His diary two days later records two visits by
Sepp Angerer, who unrolled a dozen Italian tapestries for his
approval. Göring purchased six, including a battle scene and
two Renaissance works richly embroidered with gold and silver
thread. Two of the larger Gothic tapestries were, Angerer re-
ported, jointly owned by a Princess Rospiljosi with her English
sister and American brother the tapestry expert suggested
persuading Mussolini to sequestrate the Englishwoman’s share,
while a future war with the United States would enable Italy to
seize the brother’s share too. Göring approved. He did not
hesitate to exploit Mussolini, as his papers show. After the Fascist
dictator visited his train at Rostken on the twenty-sixth, he was
able to acquire the tapestry.
In mid-August Göring left Carinhall to vacation in Bavaria.
He rummaged around art galleries in Munich, then took his
train on to Paris, ostensibly for an air-force conference at the
Quai d’Orsay but in fact in order to cast covetous eyes once
more over the Jeu de Paume and the diamonds at Cartier. A na-
val signals unit billeted in a château in the Bois de Boulogne had
just found a strong room concealing another Rothschild cache,