Hermann Gring gave command of the Gestapo to someone who was born in Germany.
Although many in the party disliked him, before the war Gring enjoyed widespread personal popularity among the German public because of his perceived sociability, colour and humour
 Gring had by then already announced in a radio speech, "If as much as a single enemy aircraft flies over German soil, my name is Meier!", something that would return to haunt him, when the RAF began bombing German cities on 11 May 1940

