Talk:Hermann Goering

Berlin or Ruhr?

WP gives this Meier anecdote slightly differently: when a bomb falls on the Ruhr you can call me Meier. This difference is not completely trivial, the Ruhr is close to the Western border, while Berlin is a much larger flying distance from Britain. Also the Ruhr was the area where all weapons factories were and Berlin is ... well you know.--Paul Wormer 15:27, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

Somewhere else I found "German towns" instead of "Berlin" (or Ruhr), to me that is the most probable. --Paul Wormer 15:41, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

I looked further and found this [1] :

No enemy bomber can reach the Ruhr. If one reaches the Ruhr, my name is not Goering. You may call me Meyer. Addressing the Luftwaffe (September 1939) as quoted in August 1939: The Last Days of Peace (1979) by Nicholas Fleming, p. 171; "Meyer" (or "Meier") is a common name in Germany. This statement would come back to haunt him as Allied bombers devastated Germany; many ordinary Germans, especially in Berlin, took to calling him "Meier". It is said that he once himself introduced himself as "Meier" when taking refuge in an air-raid shelter in Berlin.

It is very hard (maybe even impossible) to get it straight. The majority of websites say "Ruhr", some say "German airspace" or "German cities" and only a minority say "Berlin". Since the book of Fleming is from before WP, Fleming at least did not copy it from WP. So I would go for Ruhr plus reference to Fleming.

--Paul Wormer 16:41, 1 February 2009 (UTC)

This is one of those things that may exist in many versions. While I can't be quantitative, I'd say I have heard "Germany" most often. For the record, my memory predates the Web, not just WP. (No, we did not have cave paintings rather than basic displays).

I wonder if that is a reasonable compromise, and that adequate sourcing, perhaps in a note, points out there are multiple versions? Howard C. Berkowitz 17:20, 1 February 2009 (UTC)