Branch: Government
Born: 26 April 1894 in Alexandria, Khedivate of Egypt.
Died: 17 August 1987 in Spandau, West Berlin, West
Germany.
Appointment's:
Deputy Führer 21 April 1933 to 12 May 1941
Decorations:
Other: Personnel
Articles:
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was born on 26 April 1894 in Alexandria,
Khedivate of Egypt and was a prominent Nazi politician who
was
Adolf Hitler's
deputy in the National Socialist Party during the 1930s and
early 1940s. On the eve of war with the Soviet Union, he flew
solo to Scotland in an attempt to negotiate peace with the
United Kingdom, but was arrested and became a prisoner of
war. Rudolf Hess was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to life
imprisonment, which he served at Spandau Prison, Berlin, where
he died in 1987. There have been conspiracy theories linked
to Rudolf Hess. After World War II Winston Churchill wrote
of Rudolf Hess, He was a medical and not a criminal case,
and should be so regarded.
On 27 to 28 September 2007, British news services published
descriptions of disagreement between his Western and Soviet
captors over his treatment and how the Soviet captors were
steadfast in denying his release. In July 2011, the remains
of Rudolf Hess were exhumed from a grave in Bavaria after
it became a focus of a pilgrimage for neo-Nazis.
Rudolf Hess, the eldest of four children, was born in Alexandria,
Egypt to Fritz H. Rudolf Hess, a prosperous German Lutheran
importer/exporter from Bavaria, and Clara (née Münch).
His mother was of Greek descent, of the Georgiadis family
of Alexandria. The family lived in luxury on the Egyptian
coast near Alexandria, and visited Germany often during the
summers, allowing the Rudolf Hess children to learn the German
language and to absorb German culture. The family moved back
to Germany in 1908, where Rudolf Hess enrolled as a boarder
at the Protestant School in Bad Godesberg. Rudolf Hess showed
aptitude in science and mathematics, and expressed interest
in becoming an astronomer. However, his father wished him
to continue the family business, Rudolf Hess & Co., and
in 1911 convinced Rudolf Hess to study business for a year
in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, at the Ecole Supérieure
de Commerce.
Rudolf Hess joined the Hamburg trading company Feldt, Stein
& Co. as an apprentice in 1912. At the outbreak of World
War I he enlisted in the 7th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment,
becoming an infantryman, and was awarded the Iron Cross, second
class. He saw heavy action both on the Western Front (at Ypres
and Verdun) and in the Carpathian Mountains. After being wounded
on several occasions including a chest wound severe enough
to prevent his return to the front as an infantryman he transferred
to the Imperial Air Corps (after being rejected once). He
underwent aeronautical training and was a pilot in an operational
squadron, Jasta 35b (Bavarian), with the rank of lieutenant
from 16 October 1918. He won no victories. The war ended on
11 November 1918.
On 20 December 1927, Rudolf Hess married 27-year-old Ilse
Pröhl 22 June 1900 to 7 September 1995 from Hannover.
They had a son, Wolf Rüdiger Rudolf Hess 18 November
1937 to 24 October 2001.
After the war, the successful Rudolf Hess family business
collapsed. Rudolf Hess went to Munich, and took a job at a
textile importing firm. He joined the Freikorps. He also joined
the Thule Society, a right-wing völkisch occult-mystical
organization. After the end of the war, Bavaria suffered fierce
infighting between right-wing groups and left-wing forces,
some of which were Soviet-backed.
In autumn of 1919, Rudolf Hess left his job and enrolled in
the University of Munich where he studied political science,
history, geography, and geopolitics under Professor Karl Haushofer,
whom he had first met in the summer of 1919 in a social setting.
From their first meeting, Rudolf Hess became a disciple of
Haushofer: the two became close friends, and their families
also become close, with Rudolf Hess and Haushofer's son Albrecht
developing a strong friendship.
After hearing Adolf
Adolf
Hitler, a powerful orator, speak for the first time in
May 1920 at a Munich rally, Rudolf Hess became completely
devoted to him, and spent much of his time and effort for
the next several years organizing for
Adolf
Hitler at the local level in Bavaria. Rudolf Hess joined
the fledgling National Socialist Party in 1920 as one of its
first members. Rudolf Hess introduced Haushofer to
Adolf
Hitler in the spring of 1921, following a rally at a beerhall.
This was a critical and vital development in the Nazi rise
to power. Haushofer and
Adolf
Hitler connected immediately on a personal level. Haushofer's
geopolitical theories found a strong convert in
Adolf
Hitler, who used this material to form the basis of his
plans for the rebuilding of Germany
Adolf
Hitler soon began using Haushofer's material in his speeches,
which drew ever-larger audiences and attention. Haushofer
became a close adviser to
Adolf
Hitler, and assumed prominence in Germany with
Adolf
Hitler's rise.
Rudolf Hess commanded an SA battalion during the
Adolf
Hitler led Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, which failed. Rudolf
Hess served seven and a half months in Landsberg Prison
Adolf
Hitler was sentenced to five years in the same prison,
but served just nine months. Acting as
Adolf
Hitler's private secretary in prison, Rudolf Hess transcribed
and partially edited
Adolf
Hitler's book Mein Kampf. While in prison,
Adolf
Hitler and Rudolf Hess were frequently visited and tutored
by Haushofer. Rudolf Hess also introduced
Adolf
Hitler at early National Socialist Party rallies.
Rudolf Hess retained his interest in flying after the end
of his active military career, and competed successfully in
several races during the 1920s and 1930s latterly in a BFW
M35b monoplane. He also flew the
Messerschmitt
Bf 108 and
Messerschmitt
Bf 110, which he learned to fly under the tutelage of
the company chief test pilot Willi Stör.
Writing in Mein Kampf,
Adolf
Hitler said, 'under the old regime there was Prince Eulenburg,
under the new, there is Rudolf Hess'. Anton Drexler (known
for being
Adolf
Hitler's mentor during his early days in politics) and
his group resented Rudolf Hess, considering him 'too intellectual'.
Rudolf Hess became the third-most-powerful man in Germany,
behind
Adolf Hitler
and
Hermann
Göring. Soon after
Adolf
Hitler assumed dictatorial powers, beginning in early
1933, Rudolf Hess was named Deputy to the Führer. Rudolf
Hess had a privileged position as
Adolf
Hitler's deputy in the early years of the Nazi movement
and in the early years of the Third Reich. For instance, he
had the power to take merciless action against any defendant
that he thought got off too lightly, especially for those
found guilty of attacking the party,
Adolf
Hitler or the state. Rudolf Hess also played a prominent
part in the creation of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935.
Adolf
Hitler's biographer John Toland described Rudolf Hess's
political insight and abilities as somewhat limited.
Rudolf Hess had extensive dealings with senior leaders of
major European nations during the 1930s. His education, family
man image, high office, and calm, forthright manner all served
to make him a more respectful and respectable representative
of the often otherwise crude and vulgar Nazis. Compared with
other Nazi leaders, Rudolf Hess had a good reputation among
foreign leaders.
Within Germany, Rudolf Hess was somewhat marginalized as the
1930s progressed, as foreign policy took greater prominence.
His alienation increased during the early years of the war,
as attention and glory were focused on military leaders and
Hermann
Göring,
Joseph
Goebbels and
Heinrich
Himmler. Those three Nazi leaders in particular had much
higher profiles than Rudolf Hess. Though Rudolf Hess worshipped
Adolf Hitler
more than the others, he was not nakedly ambitious and did
not crave power in the same manner that they did. However,
as the Deputy Führer, he was definitely not a figurehead.
Rudolf Hess held as much power as the other Nazi leaders,
if not more, under
Adolf
Hitler. He controlled who could get an audience with the
Führer, as well as passing and vetoing proposed bills,
and managing party activities.
Adolf
Hitler appointed Rudolf Hess as Minister Without Portfolio.
On 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland and launched
World War II,
Adolf
Hitler announced that should anything happen to both him
and
Hermann
Göring, Rudolf Hess would be next in the line of
succession.
Like
Joseph
Goebbels, Rudolf Hess was privately distressed by the
war with the United Kingdom because he, influenced by his
academic advisor and in line with earlier statements by
Adolf
Hitler, hoped that Britain would accept Germany as an
ally. Rudolf Hess may have hoped to score a diplomatic victory
by sealing a peace between the Third Reich and Britain, using
the contact his adviser Albrecht Haushofer had made in Nazi
Germany, just before the war, with Douglas Douglas-Hamilton,
14th Duke of Hamilton.
On 10 May 1941 at about 18:00, Rudolf Hess took off from Augsburg
in a
Messerschmitt
Bf 110 (radio code VJ+OQ) that he had equipped with drop
tanks to increase its range. Goering ordered the General of
the Fighter Arm to stop him but squadron leaders were ordered
to scramble only one or two fighters, since Rudolf Hess's
particular aircraft could not be distinguished from others
and he was soon out of their range over the North Sea.
Rudolf Hess flew from Augsburg via Darmstadt and Bonn towards
the Zuider Zee and then towards the Shetland Islands. At 22:08
Rudolf Hess's aircraft was first detected by radar from RAF
Station Ouston, north of Newcastle-upon-Tyne, when he was
70 mi (110 km) off the coast of Scotland, headed in a north-westerly
direction towards the island of Lindisfarne. His flight was
designated HOSTILE RAID 42J.
The
Messerschmitt
Bf 110 dived to lose altitude after crossing the coast
and was sighted by a Royal Observer Corps post near Chatton
in Northumberland (12.5 mi (20.1 km) inland) at 22:25, flying
at only 50 ft (15 m).
At 22:35 two 602 Squadron Spitfires were scrambled from Heathfield
(Ayr). Within 90 seconds Flight Lieutenant Al Deere DFC was
vectored towards the track of Raid 42. An RAF Defiant nightfighter
was scrambled from RAF Prestwick at 22:35 on an unsuccessful
interception course towards Kilmarnock. The
Messerschmitt
Bf 110 flew well below radar sweeps and after 45 minutes
in the air Flt Lt Deere was ordered back to Ayr. The Bf 110
flew low over Kilmarnock, climbed over the Firth of Clyde,
then headed inland over the Fenwick Moor. Turnhouse Ops Room
reported at 23:09 that the intruder had crashed south of Glasgow.
Rudolf Hess parachuted from the
Messerschmitt
Bf 110 and landed near the village of Eaglesham, injuring
his ankle on landing.
Rudolf Hess landed near Floors Farm, Eaglesham, where he was
discovered removing his parachute harness by local ploughman
David McLean. Rudolf Hess identified himself as Hauptmann
Alfred Horn, and said that he had an important message for
the Duke of Hamilton. McLean helped Rudolf Hess to his home
nearby then contacted the local Home Guard unit. Rudolf Hess
was then escorted under guard to the local Home Guard headquarters
in Busby, East Renfrewshire, and from there to the Battalion
HQ in Giffnock, where he arrived shortly after midnight. At
Giffnock he was briefly questioned by Major Donald, the Assistant
Group Officer of the Glasgow Royal Observer Corps. Rudolf
Hess gave a short description of his flight and repeated that
he had a secret and vital message for the Duke of Hamilton
and that he must see him immediately. The message was described
as being in the highest interest of the British Air Force,
but Rudolf Hess declined to go into any detail.
Rudolf Hess was handed over to the Army and taken to Maryhill
Barracks, Glasgow, where he again requested that the Duke
should speak to him alone. Hamilton was informed of the prisoner
and visited him, whereupon he revealed his true identity.
Shortly afterwards, Hamilton summarised their conversation
in a report to Winston Churchill, dictated at RAF Turnhouse.
Hamilton stated that, based on Press photographs and a description
of Rudolf Hess given by Albrecht Haushofer, that this prisoner
was indeed Rudolf Hess himself. Hamilton then flew to RAF
Northolt, and on to Kidlington near Oxford, from where he
was taken by car to meet Churchill at Ditchley Park.
The flight of Rudolf Hess, but not his destination or fate,
was first announced by Munich Radio in Germany on the evening
of Monday 12 May. Rudolf Hess's capture was reported at the
time in the British and international media and McLean claimed
to have arrested Rudolf Hess with his pitchfork.
The wreckage of the aircraft was salvaged by 63 Maintenance
Unit between 11 and 16 May 1941. The aeroplane was found to
be armed with machine guns in the nose but there was no ammunition
on board.
Records released by the UK's National Archives confirm that
Rudolf Hess was on a peace mission. In early 1941 Germany
tried to negotiate peace with Britain through diplomatic communications
via Sweden. The Duke of Hamilton commenced libel action in
1941/42 and wanted Rudolf Hess in court as a witness. There
is no evidence to implicate the Duke of Hamilton. National
Archives files relating to Rudolf Hess and concerning the
nature and range of German peace feelers in early 1941 (C1687G,
C1954, C2785G) were formerly closed until 2017, but were released
in 2007.
In May 1943, the American Mercury magazine published a story
from an anonymous source that indicated the British Secret
Service lured Rudolf Hess to Scotland to meet the Duke of
Hamilton, a member of the Anglo-German Fellowship and that
Rudolf Hess was on a peace mission this was denied by
Adolf
Hitler. The Queen's Lost Uncle, a television programme
broadcast in November 2003 and March 2005 on Britain's Channel
4, indicated involvement of Prince George, Duke of Kent. It
appears that Rudolf Hess was tricked into thinking he was
in communication with the Duke of Hamilton, whom Rudolf Hess
was led to believe was an opponent of Winston Churchill.
Rudolf Hess was quoted by his wife as saying:
My coming to England in this way is, as I realise, so unusual
that nobody will easily understand it. I was confronted by
a very hard decision. I do not think I could have arrived
at my final choice unless I had continually kept before my
eyes the vision of an endless line of children's coffins with
weeping mothers behind them, both English and German, and
another line of coffins of mothers with mourning children.
Adolf Hitler
granted Rudolf Hess's wife a pension but stripped Rudolf Hess
of all of his party and state offices, and privately ordered
him shot on sight if he ever returned to Germany. Martin Bormann
succeeded Rudolf Hess as deputy under a newly-created title.
Rudolf Hess's flight raised suspicions with Soviet leader
Joseph Stalin that secret discussions were under way between
Britain and Germany to attack the Soviet Union. Later, in
a meeting with Stalin, Churchill addressed the topic and found
Stalin still believed secret agreements were discussed with
Rudolf Hess. When I make a statement of facts within my knowledge
I expect it to be accepted, Churchill responded to Stalin,
again denying that the incident resulted in any communications
with Nazi Germany. Files at The National Archives dated 1942
include Moscow Embassy correspondence concerning Rudolf Hess
some pages are subject to non-disclosure under statute.
According to data published in a book about
Wilhelm
Canaris, a number of contacts between Britain and Germany
were kept during the war.
Churchill sent Rudolf Hess initially to the Tower of London,
making Rudolf Hess the last in the long line of prominent
people to be held in the 900-year-old fortress. Churchill
gave orders that Rudolf Hess was to be strictly isolated,
but treated with dignity. He remained in the Tower until 20
May 1941. After being held in the Maryhill army barracks,
he was transferred to Mytchett Place near Aldershot. He was
kept under close guard. Frank Foley and two other MI6 officers
were given the job of debriefing him or Jonathan, as he was
now known. Churchill's instructions were that Rudolf Hess
should be strictly isolated, and that every effort should
be taken to get any information out of him that might be useful.
During his time as a prisoner of war Rudolf Hess was confined
at Maindiff Court Military Hospital, Abergavenny, Wales for
treatment for insanity. He was treated well and enjoyed painting.
At the time of his capture, official London sources had claimed
Rudolf Hess was sane and healthy and had not brought any peace
message. However, the Nazis claimed he had left behind a letter
which showed clearly traces of mental disorder which led to
fears that Party Comrade Rudolf Hess was a victim of hallucinations.
In an official report to President Franklin Roosevelt A Former
Naval Person wrote: Rudolf Hess seems in good health and not
excited, and no ordinary signs of insanity can be detected.
On 15 October 1941, Rudolf Hess made his first suicide attempt
by throwing himself over the rail of the first floor balcony,
but he only broke his leg.
Rudolf Hess was interviewed by psychiatrist John Rawlings
Rees, who had worked at the Tavistock Clinic prior to becoming
a Brigadier in the British Army. Rees concluded that he was
not insane, but certainly mentally ill and suffering from
depression probably due to the failure of his mission. Rudolf
Hess's diaries from his imprisonment in Britain after 1941
make many references to visits from Rees, whom he did not
like and accused of poisoning him and mesmerizing him. Rees
took part in the Nuremberg Trials of 1945.
Rudolf Hess was in captivity for almost four years of the
war and thus he was absent from most of it, in contrast to
the others who stood accused at Nuremberg. British government
files released by The National Archives include a note concerning
Rudolf Hess's war crimes trial in which Judge Jackson considered
whether Rudolf Hess should be certified as insane. His case
was considered by the Attorney-General.
Rudolf Hess became a defendant at the Nuremberg Trials of
the International Military Tribunal, on the insistence of
the Soviet Union, despite his being in a state of almost complete
forgetfulness. He was flown to Nuremberg in October 1945.
Rudolf Hess regained his memory for a short period and was
declared fit to stand trial. Partial memory loss returned
and he went back into amnesia. He spent his time in court
reading, occasionally laughing. In the British view, Rudolf
Hess was of unsound mind. Some of his last words before the
tribunal were I regret nothing.
In 1946, Rudolf Hess was found guilty on two of four counts:
crimes against peace (planning and preparation of aggressive
war), and conspiracy with other German leaders to commit crimes.
He was found not guilty of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
He was given a life sentence.
Following the release in 1966 of Baldur von Schirach and
Albert
Speer, Rudolf Hess was the sole remaining inmate of Spandau
Prison, partly at the insistence of the Soviets. Guards reportedly
said he degenerated mentally and lost most of his memory.
For the next eight years, his main companion was warden Eugene
K. Bird, with whom he formed a close friendship. Bird wrote
a 1974 book titled The Loneliest Man in the World, The Inside
Story of the 30-Year Imprisonment of Rudolf Hess about his
relationship with Rudolf Hess. Frank Keller, a former guard
at Spandau, said that Rudolf Hess would march by himself in
the jail courtyard every day.
In the third volume of his book The Second World War Winston
Churchill wrote.
Reflecting upon the whole of the story, I am glad not to be
responsible for the way in which Rudolf Hess has been and
is being treated. Whatever may be the moral guilt of a German
who stood near to
Adolf
Hitler, Rudolf Hess had, in my view, atoned for this by
his completely devoted and frantic deed of lunatic benevolence.
He came to us of his own free will, and, though without authority,
had something of the quality of an envoy. He was a medical
and not a criminal case, and should be so regarded.
In the early 1970s, the U.S., British and French governments
approached the Soviet government to propose that Rudolf Hess
be released on humanitarian grounds due to his age. The Soviet
official response was apparently to reject these attempts
and reportedly refused to consider any reduction in Rudolf
Hess's life sentence. U.S. President Richard Nixon was in
favour of releasing Rudolf Hess and stated that the U.S.,
Britain and France should continue to entreat the Soviet Union
for his release.
In 1977, Britain's chief prosecutor at Nuremberg, Sir Hartley
Shawcross, characterised Rudolf Hess's continued imprisonment
as a scandal. In 1987, the new Soviet leadership agreed that
Rudolf Hess should be set free on humanitarian grounds.
The restrictions of communication in prison for Rudolf Hess
were strict. Family visits were restricted to a half-hour
visit once a month he considered this degrading and refused
such short visits until 1968. In the 1970s he was visited
by members of his family once a month, and later in the 1970s
on humanitarian grounds visitation rights were extended to
one hour per month. Rudolf Hess was never allowed to discuss
anything related to the period of World War II or to the National
Socialist Regime.
Rudolf Hess's letters and all communication were subject to
censorship. British government files released by The National
Archives detail a disagreement between the western powers
and the Soviet Union regarding rights, especially censorship.
The Soviet governor argued that uncensored letters to Rudolf
Hess's wife could be used to construct a propagandist essay.
British government files opened on 28 September 2007 by The
National Archives from the period 6 May to 6 August 1974 contain
a report of an altercation between Rudolf Hess and a Soviet
warder. The western governors raise issues of Soviet policy
towards Rudolf Hess, for example taking away Rudolf Hess's
glasses before lights out, destroying his notebooks, increasing
the strictness of censorship and blocking visits by his lawyer.
On 17 August 1987, Rudolf Hess died while under Four-Power
imprisonment at Spandau Prison in West Berlin, at the age
of 93. He was found in a summer house in a garden in a secure
area of the prison with an electrical cord wrapped around
his neck. His death was ruled a suicide by asphyxiation. He
was buried at Wunsiedel in a family plot sold to his family
by the Vetters of the Sechsämtertropfen bitter liquor
company of Wunsiedel. Spandau Prison was demolished to prevent
it from becoming a shrine.
Rudolf Hess was the last surviving member of
Adolf
Hitler's cabinet.
Neo-Nazis from Germany and Europe held gatherings in Wunsiedel
for a memorial march and similar demonstrations took place
every year around the anniversary of Rudolf Hess's death.
These gatherings were banned from 1991 to 2000 and neo-Nazis
tried to assemble in other cities, and countries such as the
Netherlands and Denmark. Demonstrations in Wunsiedel were
legalized in 2001. After stricter German legislation regarding
demonstrations by neo-Nazis was enacted in March 2005, the
demonstrations were banned again.
With the grave's lease due to expire in October 2011, the
Rudolf Hess family applied for a 20-year extension, which
was denied. We decided not to extend the lease because of
all the unrest and disturbances, said parish council chairman
Peter Seisser. After negotiations between the church's chaplin
and Rudolf Hess's granddaughter, the family agreed to remove
his remains from the town. Rudolf Hess's grave was re-opened
on the morning of 20 July 2011 and his remains exhumed, then
cremated. Soon afterward his ashes were scattered at sea the
gravestone, which bore the epitaph Ich hab's gewagt (I dared),
was destroyed.
Rudolf Hess ordered a mapping of all the ley lines in the
Third Reich. There is speculation that Rudolf Hess was questioned
by the British about Nazi interest in the occult.
There have been conspiracy theories concerning his death,
mainly from Wolf Rüdiger Rudolf Hess.
Wolfgang Spann, who was in charge of the second autopsy, stated
that we can't prove a third hand participated in the death
of Rudolf Hess.
In 2008 Abdallah Melaouhi, a Tunisian who acted as Rudolf
Hess's medical caretaker in Spandau prison from 1984 to 1987,
was dismissed from his position in his local German district
parliament's advisory board for integration after he wrote
a book, I Looked into the Murderer's Eyes. He had claimed
in the book that his patient was murdered by MI6 the British
Secret Intelligence Service.
According to Hugh Thomas's book The Murder of Rudolf Hess
1979, the prisoner tried at Nuremberg and incarcerated in
Spandau as Rudolf Hess was an imposter. Dutch author At Voorhorst
contradicts Thomas's allegations with his study in which he
compares biometric features of the prisoner in Spandau prison
and deputy of
Adolf
Hitler in the Second World War.
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