Goering and Hitler, 1938. Photo: Wikipedia

Albert Goering, the brother of infamous Nazi Hermann Goering, is now among the candidates to receive the Righteous Among The Nations award. Albert was a German businessman who died in 1966.

According to accounts, Albert saved hundreds of Jews and political dissidents during the Second World War by helping them obtain exit permits and through other means.

Irena Steinfeldt, director of the Righteous Among The Nations department at Yad Vashem, the Holocaust memorial and research center in Israel, is supposedly preparing a file on Goering. The award is given to those who not only saved Jews, but risked their lives in doing so.

Despite their conflicting political views, the Goering brothers remained close. However, Albert leveraged his brother’s influence to help Jewish friends or political prisoners. The family name was also able to shield him from intense scrutiny by the Gestapo. One Gestapo report noted his loathing for Nazi conventions, saying that he refused to have the greeting ‘Heil Hitler’ uttered in his presence.

During the war he worked as export director in Nazi-occupied Czechoslovakia which at the time was a major arms manufacturer.

After the war ended, he spent two years in prison, during which time he was put on trial in Prague for his wartime role. He was acquitted following testimony from factory workers.