Rudolf Hess was one of Adolf Hitler's principal lieutenants in the 1920s and '30s. Hess, the son of a German merchant, was born in Alexandria, Egypt. After serving in the German army during World War I, he joined the fledgling Nazi Party in 1921.

Hess participated in the Nazi attempt to overthrow the Bavarian government in 1923 and was imprisoned with Hitler at Landsberg, becoming the Nazi leader's private secretary. After Hitler became chancellor of Germany in 1933, he appointed Hess his deputy in charge of the party organization. In 1934 he was elevated to the rank of minister and appointed a member of Hitler's cabinet. Hitler named him third deputy of the Reich in 1939, placing him directly below the Nazi leader Hermann Göring in line of succession.

Two years later, when World War II was reaching its height, Hess made a solo airplane flight to Scotland; on his immediate arrest as a prisoner of war he announced that he had flown to Britain to persuade the British government to conclude peace with Germany. He remained a prisoner and at the war crimes trials held at Nürnberg in 1945-46, he was convicted as a major war criminal. Sentenced to life imprisonment at Spandau Prison, West Berlin, he was its solitary inmate from 1966 until his alleged 'suicide'.

Hess died on 17th August 1987 in the Allied Military Prison in Spandau, Berlin. He had supposedly hanged himself in a summerhouse in the prison garden. This is the official and widespread theory. Over 15 years after the death of Hess, the claim that he was murdered still exists.

The one burning question remains: did a 93 year old man really commit suicide?

His suicide note read thus:

"Please would the Governors send this home. Written a few minutes before my death. I thank you all my beloved, for all the dear things you have done for me. Tell Freiburg, I am extremely sorry, that since the Nuremberg trial I had to act as though I did not know her. I had no choice, because otherwise, all attempts to gain freedom would have been in vain. I had so looked forward to seeing her again - I did get pictures of her, as of you all.
Your Eldest."

adolf hitler | josef goebbels | triumph of the will | leni riefenstahl | josef mengele | martin bormann
the wonderful horrible life of leni riefenstahl uk dvd review

[ r u d o l f   h e s s   s h o p   b o o k s ]

[ r u d o l f   h e s s   s h o p   d v d s ]

[ r u d o l f   h e s s   s h o p   v i d e o s ]

adolf hitler | josef goebbels | triumph of the will dvd | leni riefenstahl | josef mengele | martin bormann