The person most often described as Adolf Hitler’s second in command was Hermann Göring, especially during the peak years of Nazi rule in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Who was “second in command” to Hitler?

  • Hermann Göring held multiple top positions: commander-in-chief of the Luftwaffe, president of the Reichstag, and “Reichsmarschall,” a rank created for him and senior to all other military commanders.
  • In 1941 Hitler formally designated Göring as his successor and second in command in all his offices, making him the regime’s primary number-two at that time.
  • Contemporary and later sources frequently refer to Göring as Hitler’s second-in-command or right-hand man.

But it changed over time

Nazi power circles were unstable and competitive, so “second in command” is not a fixed title across the whole period.

  • Early–mid war: Göring was widely seen as the key number two.
  • Late war: After Göring’s fall from favor in 1945, Heinrich Himmler (head of the SS and Gestapo) was often effectively the most powerful figure after Hitler, and some historians describe him as Hitler’s second in command by that stage.

So if you’re answering “who was second in command to Hitler?” for general purposes, Hermann Göring is the standard answer, with Heinrich Himmler sometimes noted as later eclipsing him as Hitler’s closest subordinate.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.