Not to be confused with
Rudolf Höss, commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess, also spelled Heß (26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987), was a prominent Nazi politician who was Adolf Hitler's deputy in the Nazi 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, where he was arrested and became a prisoner of war. Hess was tried at Nuremberg and sentenced to life imprisonment, which he served at Spandau Prison, Berlin, where he died in 1987. After World War II Winston Churchill wrote of Hess, "He was a medical and not a criminal case, and should be so regarded."[1]
On 27–28 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.[2][3] In July 2011, the remains of Hess were exhumed from a grave in Bavaria after it became a focus of a pilgrimage for neo-Nazis.
Hess, the eldest of four children, was born in Alexandria, Egypt, to Fritz H. Hess, a prosperous German Lutheran importer/exporter from Bavaria, and Clara Hess (née Münch). The family lived in luxury on the Egyptian coast near Alexandria, and visited Germany often during the summers, allowing the Hess children to learn the German language and to absorb German culture. The family moved back to Germany in 1908, where Hess enrolled as a boarder at the Protestant School in Bad Godesberg. Hess showed aptitude in science and mathematics, and expressed interest in becoming an astronomer. However, his father wished him to continue the family business, Hess & Co., and in 1911 convinced Hess to study business for a year in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, at the Ecole Supérieure de Commerce.[4]
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.[5]
In autumn of 1919, 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, Hess became a disciple of Haushofer: the two became close friends, and their families also become close, with Hess and Haushofer's son Albrecht developing a strong friendship.[6]
After World War I, the successful Hess family business collapsed. Hess went to Munich, and took a job at a textile importing firm.[7] He joined the Freikorps. He also joined the Thule Society, a right-wing völkisch occult-mystical organization.[8] After the end of the war, Bavaria witnessed frequent and often bloody conflict between right-wing groups and left-wing forces, some of which were Soviet-backed.[9]
On 20 December 1927, Hess married 27-year-old Ilse Pröhl (22 June 1900 – 7 September 1995) from Hannover. They had one son, Wolf Rüdiger Hess (18 November 1937 – 24 October 2001).
After hearing Adolf Hitler, a powerful orator, speak for the first time in May 1920 at a Munich rally, Hess became completely devoted to him, and spent much of his time and effort for the next several years organizing for Hitler at the local level in Bavaria. Hess joined the fledgling Nazi Party in 1920 as one of its first members. Hess introduced Haushofer to 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 Hitler connected immediately on a personal level. Haushofer's geopolitical theories found a strong convert in Hitler, who used this material to form the basis of his plans for the rebuilding of Germany; Hitler soon began using Haushofer's material in his speeches, which drew ever-larger audiences and attention. Haushofer became a close adviser to Hitler, and assumed prominence in Germany with Hitler's rise.[10]
Hess commanded an SA battalion during the Hitler-led Beer Hall Putsch in 1923, which failed. Hess served seven and a half months in Landsberg Prison; Hitler was sentenced to five years in the same prison, but served just nine months. Acting as Hitler's private secretary in prison, Hess transcribed and partially edited Hitler's book Mein Kampf. While in prison, Hitler and Hess were frequently visited and tutored by Haushofer.[11] Hess also introduced Hitler at early Nazi Party rallies.
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[12] 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.[13]
Writing in Mein Kampf, Hitler said, 'under the old regime there was Prince Eulenburg, under the new, there is Rudolf Hess'.[14] Anton Drexler (known for being Hitler's mentor during his early days in politics) and his group resented Hess, considering him 'too intellectual'.[15]
Hess became the third-most-powerful man in Germany, behind Hitler and Hermann Göring. Soon after Hitler assumed dictatorial powers, beginning in early 1933, Hess was named "Deputy to the Führer". Hess had a privileged position as 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, Hitler or the state. Hess also played a prominent part in the creation of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. Hitler's biographer John Toland described Hess's political insight and abilities as somewhat limited.
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 on behalf of the Nazis. Compared with other Nazi leaders, Hess had a good reputation among foreign leaders.[16]
Within Germany, Hess was somewhat marginalised 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 Hess. Though Hess worshipped 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. Hess held as much power as the other Nazi leaders, if not more, under Hitler. He controlled who could get an audience with the Führer, as well as passing and vetoing proposed bills, and managing party activities.[17] Hitler appointed Hess as "Minister Without Portfolio".[16]
On 1 September 1939, the day Germany invaded Poland and launched World War II, Hitler announced that should anything happen to both him and Göring, Hess would be next in the line of succession.[18]
The wreckage of Hess's Bf 110
Like Goebbels, 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 Hitler, hoped that Britain would accept Germany as an ally. Hess may have hoped to score a diplomatic victory by sealing a peace between the Third Reich and Britain,[19] using the contact his adviser Albrecht Haushofer had made in Nazi Germany, just before the war, with Douglas Douglas-Hamilton, 14th Duke of Hamilton.[20]
On 10 May 1941 at about 18:00, Hess took off from Augsburg in a Messerschmitt Bf 110D (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 Hess's particular aircraft could not be distinguished from others[21] and he was soon out of their range over the North Sea.
Hess flew from Augsburg via Darmstadt and Bonn towards the IJsselmeer and then towards the Shetland Islands.[22] At 22:08 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".[23]
The 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).[24]
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.[25] An RAF Defiant nightfighter was scrambled from RAF Prestwick at 22:35 on an unsuccessful interception course towards Kilmarnock.[26] The 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.[25] Hess parachuted from his aeroplane, and landed near the village of Eaglesham, injuring his ankle on landing.
Hess landed near Floors Farm, Eaglesham, where he was discovered removing his parachute harness by local ploughman David McLean. Hess identified himself as "Hauptmann Alfred Horn", and said that he had an important message for the Duke of Hamilton. McLean helped Hess to his home nearby then contacted the local Home Guard unit. 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. 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 Hess declined to go into any detail.[27]
Hess was handed over to the Army and taken to Maryhill Barracks, Glasgow,[28] 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 Hess given by Albrecht Haushofer, that "this prisoner was indeed Hess himself".[29] 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 Hess, but not his destination or fate, was first announced by Munich Radio in Germany on the evening of Monday 12 May.[30] Hess's capture was reported at the time in the British and international media and McLean claimed to have arrested Hess with his pitchfork.[21][31][32]
The wreckage of the aircraft was salvaged by 63 Maintenance Unit (MU) between 11 and 16 May 1941.[33] The aeroplane was found to be armed with machine guns in the nose but there was no ammunition on board.[13] Part of the aeroplane is now in London's Imperial War Museum.[34]
Records released by the UK's National Archives confirm that Hess was on a peace mission. In early 1941 Germany tried to negotiate peace with Britain through diplomatic communications via Sweden.[35] The Duke of Hamilton commenced libel action in 1941/42 and wanted Hess in court as a witness.[36] However, some writers have speculated that the Duke of Hamilton may in fact have been implicated.[37] Some National Archives files relating to 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,[38] although these contain information largely in the public domain. Some files are still to be released, both from the arrest of Hess in 1941 and his death in Spandau.[citation needed]
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."
[39]
Hitler granted Hess's wife a pension but stripped 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 Hess as deputy under a newly created title.[citation needed]
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 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.[1] Files at The National Archives dated 1942 include Moscow Embassy correspondence concerning Hess; some pages are subject to non-disclosure under statute.[40]
According to data published in a book about Wilhelm Canaris, a number of contacts between Britain and Germany were kept during the war.[41]
Churchill sent Hess initially to the Tower of London, making Hess the last in the long line of prominent people to be held in the 900-year-old fortress.[42] Churchill gave orders that Hess was to be strictly isolated, but treated with dignity.[43] 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 Hess should be strictly isolated, and that every effort should be taken to get any information out of him that might be useful.[44][45]
During his time as a prisoner of war Hess was confined at Maindiff Court Military Hospital, Abergavenny, Wales for treatment for insanity. He was treated well and enjoyed painting.[46]
At the time of his capture, official London sources had claimed Hess was "sane and healthy" and had not brought any peace message.[31] However, the Nazis claimed he had left behind a letter which "showed clearly traces of mental disorder which led to fears that Party Comrade Hess was a victim of hallucinations."[31] In an official report to President Franklin Roosevelt "A Former Naval Person" wrote: "Hess seems in good health and not excited, and no ordinary signs of insanity can be detected."[47]
On 15 October 1941, Hess made his first suicide attempt by throwing himself over the rail of the first floor balcony, but he only broke his leg.
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.[45] 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.
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 Hess's war crimes trial in which Judge Jackson considered whether Hess should be certified as insane. His case was considered by the Attorney-General.[48]
Hess (first row, second from left) in the defendants' box at the Nuremberg Trials
Hess in his cell at Nuremberg prison while on trial
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. 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, Hess was of unsound mind.[49] Some of his last words before the tribunal were "I regret nothing".
In 1946, 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, 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 Hess. Frank Keller, a former guard at Spandau, said that "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 Hess has been and is being treated. Whatever may be the moral guilt of a German who stood near to Hitler, 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.
[1]
In the early 1970s, the U.S., British and French governments approached the Soviet government to propose that Hess be released on humanitarian grounds due to his age. The Soviet official response was apparently to reject these attempts and it reportedly "refused to consider any reduction in Hess's life sentence."[50] U.S. President Richard Nixon was in favour of releasing 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 Hess's continued imprisonment as a "scandal".[51] In 1987, the new Soviet leadership agreed that Hess should be set free on humanitarian grounds, though his death meant this decision was never put into effect.
The restrictions of communication in prison for 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. Hess was never allowed to discuss anything related to the period of World War II or to the Nazi regime.[citation needed]
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 Hess's wife could be used to construct a propagandist essay.[52]
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 Hess and a Soviet warder. The western governors raise issues of Soviet policy towards Hess, for example taking away Hess’s glasses before lights out, destroying his notebooks, increasing the strictness of censorship and blocking visits by his lawyer.[53]
On 17 August 1987, 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.[54][55]
Hess was the last surviving member of 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 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 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 Hess's granddaughter, the family agreed to remove his remains from the town.[56] 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.[56][57][58][59]
Hess ordered a mapping of all the ley lines in the Third Reich.[60] There is speculation[citation needed] that Hess was questioned by the British about Nazi interest in the occult.
There have been conspiracy theories concerning his death, mainly from Wolf Rüdiger Hess.[61]
Wolfgang Spann,[62] who was in charge of the second autopsy, stated that "we can't prove a third hand participated in the death of Rudolf Hess".[63] Conspiracy theorists have argued that by the time of his death, the 93-year old Hess was so frail that he could not lift his arms above his head, making it impossible for him to be able to hang himself.
The autopsy of Hess did not find any pre-existing medical conditions aside from age-related deterioration (most notable severe arthritis) and his major organs were relatively healthy.[64]
In 2008 Abdallah Melaouhi, a Tunisian who acted as 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).[65]
According to Hugh Thomas's book The Murder of Rudolf Hess (1979),[66] the prisoner tried at Nuremberg and incarcerated in Spandau as 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 Hitler in the Second World War.[67]
Hess has been portrayed by the following actors in film, television and theatre productions:[68]
Hess has been portrayed in literary works by the following authors:
- W. Durie "The British Garrison in Berlin 1945–1994, No where to go" Verlag: Vergangenheits, Berlin May 2012 ISBN 978-3-86408-068-5
- James Leasor in Rudolf Hess: The Uninvited Envoy, Allen & Unwin, London, 1962, 2011. ISBN 978-1-908291-16-5
- Desmond Zwar in Talking To Rudolf Hess, The History Press UK, 2010. ISBN 978-0-7524-5522-8
- Eugene K. Bird in The Loneliest Man In The World: the inside story of the 30-year imprisonment of Rudolf Hess, Secker & Warburg, London, 1974. ISBN 978-0-436-04290-4. The book was also published in the United States by Viking, and in 10 other countries.
- Upton Sinclair in his Lanny Budd Series
- Eric Knight in 1942 novel Sam Small Flies Again
- James Barwick in the 1978 novel Shadow of the Wolf
- Timothy Findley in 1981 novel Famous Last Words
- Daniel Carney in 1982 novel The Square Circle
- Katherine Kurtz in 1992 novel The Lodge of the Lynx
- Peter Lovesey in 1992 novel The Secret of Spandau
- Greg Iles in 1993 thriller novel Spandau Phoenix
- Christopher Priest in the 2002 novel The Separation
- David Edgar in 2000 play Albert Speer
- Michael Moorcock in 2001 novel The Dreamthief's Daughter
- Peter Ho Davies in 2007 novel The Welsh Girl
- Ethan Mordden in 2008 novel The Jewcatcher
- Bruce Weiss in his novel The Ghost of Rudolph Hess
- In the 2006 alternate-history novel Farthing, by Jo Walton, Hess is not portrayed, but his flight is the story's divergence point with real history: his entreaties have been accepted, and have led to a peace between United Kingdom and Nazi Germany, and to the former withdrawing from World War II.
- John Douglas-Gray in his thriller 'The Novak Legacy' ISBN 978-0-7552-1321-4
- In Joy Division's song "Warsaw", lyrics include reference to Hess's prison number, 31G-350125
- British punk rock band Angelic Upstarts released the song "Lonely Man of Spandau", which called for Hess's release
- Chumbawamba's song "The Day the Nazi Died" reflects on Hess' role as a symbol for neo-Nazis.
- Skrewdriver wrote two songs about Hess's incarceration, "Prisoner of Peace" and "46 Years".
- Landser released the song, "Rudolf Hess" as part of their 1997 album, "Rock gegen oben."
- Final War (band) from California wrote a tribute song about Hess called "Tales of Honour"
- ^ a b c Churchill, Winston (1950). The Second World War Volume III: The Grand Alliance. London: Cassell & Co Ltd. p. 49.
- ^ Kennedy, Maev (28 September 2007). "How Nixon showed pity for 'the world's loneliest man'". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,,2178948,00.html. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ The Hitler/Hess Deception, by Martin Allen, HarperCollins, 2002, ISBN 978-0-00-714119-7, pp. 4–5.
- ^ The Hitler/Hess Deception, by Martin Allen, HarperCollins, 2002, ISBN 978-0-00-714119-7, pp. 5–6.
- ^ Martin Allen, pp. 8–9
- ^ Martin Allen, pp. 6–7, 11
- ^ The occult historian Nicholas Goodrick-Clarke (2003: 114) now affirms Hess's membership in the Thule Society. Goodrick-Clarke had previously (1985: 149) maintained that Hess was no more than a guest to whom the Thule Society extended hospitality during the Bavarian revolution of 1918. Martin Allen (pp. 8–9) wrote that Hess joined the Thule Society, and took part in clashes during this period.
- ^ Martin Allen, pp. 7–9
- ^ Martin Allen, pp. 15–18
- ^ Martin Allen, pp. 20–21
- ^ Martin Allen, The Hitler/Hess Deception
- ^ a b Ray Conyers Nesbit and Georges van Acker (1999). The Flight of Rudolph Hess Myths and Reality. The History Press. ISBN 978-0-7509-4757-2.
- ^ Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, pg 366
- ^ Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler, pg 524
- ^ a b Martin Allen
- ^ Schwarzwaller, Wulf. Rudolf Hess The Last Nazi. ISBN# 0-915765-52-7
- ^ "GERMANY: Mess's Successor". Time (magazine). 2 March 1942. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,773092,00.html. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
- ^ Shirer, William L.. The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich.
- ^ Bird, Eugene K. (1974). Prisoner #7: Rudolf Hess. The Viking Press. p. 235. NOTE: Bird showed the Haushofer Letters in the National Archives in Washington D. C.
- ^ a b Galland, Adolf (1968 Ninth Printing – paperbound) [1954]. The First and the Last: The Rise and Fall of the German Fighter Forces, 1938–1945. New York: Ballantine Books. p. 56.
- ^ Görtemaker, Manfred (2006). Britain and Germany in the Twentieth Century. German Historical Perspectives. 18. Berg. p. 76. ISBN 978-1-85973-842-9.
- ^ "AIR 28/624". National Archives. Air Ministry. http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/catalogue/displaycataloguedetails.asp?CATLN=6&CATID=5030654&SearchInit=4&SearchType=6&CATREF=AIR+28%2F624.
- ^ Operational Record Book, 72 Squadron, 10 May 1941, Public Record Office AIR 27/624
- ^ a b McRoberts, Douglas (1985). Lions Rampant: The Story of 602 Spitfire Squadron. William Kimber. p. 142. ISBN 0-7183-0572-8.
- ^ Operational Record Book, RAF Ayr, 10–11 May 1941, PRO AIR 28/40
- ^ Royal Observer Corps Report, "Tracking of flight of Rudolf Hess", 28 May 1941, PRO AIR 16/1266
- ^ National Archives (UK), Air/28/40, 10 May 1941
- ^ Report of Hamilton for Prime Minister, 11 May 1941, PRO, PREM 3/219/7
- ^ Leasor, James (1962) [1962]. Rudolf Hess: The Uninvited Envoy. London: Allen & Unwin. p. 142.
- ^ a b c "GERMANY: Hess Goes over the Hill". Time Magazine US. 19 May 1941. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,765561,00.html. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
- ^ "Hitler's deputy escapes to Britain". London: The Guardian. 13 May 1941. http://century.guardian.co.uk/1940-1949/Story/0,,127470,00.html. Retrieved 24 July 2011.
- ^ National Archives (UK), A2A, AIR 29/1019
- ^ "Imperial War Museum London: Aircraft Collection", airmuseumsuk.org. Retrieved 10 May 2012
- ^ The National Archives (UK), A2a, FO 371/26542, C1687G,C1954 and C2785G
- ^ HO 144/22492/863753, Duke of Hamilton, Libel
- ^ Picknett, Lynn; Clive Prince, Stephen Prior (2002). Double Standards: The Rudolf Hess Cover-Up. Sphere. ISBN 978-0-7515-3220-3.
- ^ FO 371/26542
- ^ 10 June 1941 (from Rudolf Hess: Prisoner of Peace by his wife, Ilse Hess).
- ^ FO 181/969/12
- ^ Bassett, Richard (2005), Hitler’s Spy Chief. London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson.
- ^ Olwen Hedley, Her Majesty's Tower of London, pp.19–20, Pitkin Pictorials Ltd., London, 1976
- ^ Hedley, p.19
- ^ Churchill, Winston (1950). The Second World War Volume III: The Grand Alliance. London: Cassell & Co Ltd. p. 45.
- ^ a b Foley: Michael Smith, Hodder & Stoughton, 1999
- ^ CSV Action Desk Leicester (23 August 2005). "WW2 People's War – Marjorie's War". BBC. http://www.bbc.co.uk/ww2peopleswar/stories/40/a5279240.shtml. Retrieved 28 April 2010.
- ^ Churchill, Winston (1950). The Second World War Volume III: The Grand Alliance. London: Cassell & Co Ltd. p. 47.
- ^ National Archives (UK) FO 371/50976
- ^ Nuremberg: Nazis On Trial, By Professor Richard Overy, 2011-02-17
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ Interview with Bild am Sonntag, 10 April 1977. Quoted in: Wolf R. Hess, My Father Rudolf Hess, p. 402.
- ^ FCO 90/18
- ^ FCO 90/20
- ^ "Hess Dies at 93; Hitler's Last Lieutenant". New York Times. 23 August 1987. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B0DEFDE1338F930A1575BC0A961948260. Retrieved 21 July 2007. "Walter Richard Rudolf Hess, the last of Hitler's lieutenants, died last week in Nuremberg Prison in West Berlin in characteristically murky circumstances. Allied officials said Hess had committed suicide, as did his long-dead fellow Nazis – Hitler, Goring, Goebbels and Himmler, strangling himself with an electric cord. They said he left a note pointing to suicide, but a lawyer for the partially blind 93-year-old prisoner suggested there might have been foul play."
- ^ "Germany The Inmate of Spandau's Last Wish". Time (magazine). 31 August 1987. http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,965331,00.html. Retrieved 21 August 2007. "Nearly every day for four decades, the prisoner took a stroll through a tiny garden inside West Berlin's forbidding Spandau fortress. He was never without a keeper and his gait had slowed to a shuffle over the years, but he rarely missed the opportunity for fresh air. Last Monday a guard left him alone briefly in a small cottage at the garden's edge. A few minutes later the guard returned to find the sole inmate of Spandau slumped over, an electrical cord wound tightly around his neck. Rushed to the nearby British Military Hospital, 93-year-old Hess was pronounced dead at 4:10 pm An autopsy showed that he had died of asphyxiation."
- ^ a b Dowling, Siobhan (21 July 2011). "Rudolf Hess's body removed from cemetery to deter Nazi pilgrims". The Guardian (London). http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/jul/21/rudolf-hess-body-removed-nazi. Retrieved 19 August 2011.
- ^ "Top Nazi Rudolf Hess exhumed from 'pilgrimage' grave". BBC News. 21 July 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14232768.
- ^ "Hitler aide's body exhumed after town bcame neo-nazi mecca". Irish Independent. 21 July 2011. http://www.independent.ie/world-news/europe/hitler-aidersquos-body-exhumed-after-town-became-neonazi-mecca-2827895.html. Retrieved 21 July 2011.
- ^ "Top Nazi Rudolf Hess exhumed from 'pilgrimage' grave". BBC News. 21 July 2011. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-14232768. Retrieved 20 July 2011.
- ^ Pennick, Nigel Hitler’s Secret Sciences:His Quest for the Hidden Knowledge of the Ancients New York:1982 C.W. Daniel Co., Ltd.
- ^ Wolf Rudiger Hess/ Alfred Seidl: Who Murdered My Father Rudolf Hess? My Father's Mysterious Death in Spandau. Reporter Press, 1989
- ^ BBC2 Newsnight, 28 February 1989
- ^ Knopp, Guido. Hitler's Henchmen. London, Sutton Publishers, 2000
- ^ "Rapporto autoptico Prof.Cameron". Thule-italia.net. http://www.thule-italia.net/dossier/hess2.htm. Retrieved 10 May 2012.
- ^ "Bezirk feuert Krankenpfleger von Heß" (in German). Bild (largest European newspaper). http://www.bild.de/BILD/berlin/aktuell/2008/07/24/bezirk-feuert-krankenpfleger-von/rudolf-hess.html.
- ^ Thomas, Hugh (1979). The Murder of Rudolf Hess. Harper & Row. p. 224. ISBN 0-06-014251-0.
- ^ Voorhorst, At (2011). Look-alikes Unmasked. Zwolle. p. 192. ISBN 978-90-815545-1-0. http://www.dubbelgangersontmaskerd.nl/.
- ^ "Rudolf Hess (Character)". IMDb.com. http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0042374/. Retrieved 8 May 2008.
- British Garrison Berlin 1945 -1994, "No where to go", W. Durie ISBN 978-3-86408-068-5
- Allen, Martin. The Hitler / Hess Deception. (HarperCollins, 2003, ISBN 978-0-00-714119-7)
- Allen, Peter. The Crown and the Swastika: Hitler, Hess, and the Duke of Windsor.
- Brenton, Howard. H.I.D.: Hess Is Dead.
- Churchill, Winston S. The Second World War; Volume 3: The Grand Alliance (Cassell & Co., 1950)
- Cornell University Law Library – "Analysis of the Personality of Adolph Hitler" Cornell University lawschool. Readers can download a PDF version of the whole document
- Costello, John. Ten Days to Destiny: The Secret Story of the Hess Peace Initiative and British Efforts to Strike a Deal With Hitler. Also published as Ten Days That Saved the West.
- Douglas-Hamilton, James. Motive for a Mission: The Story Behind Rudolf Hess's Flight to Britain.
- Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. The Occult Roots of Nazism: The Ariosophists of Austria and Germany 1890–1935. (Wellingborough, England: Aquarian Press, 1985, ISBN 0-85030-402-4)
- Goodrick-Clarke, Nicholas. Black Sun: Aryan Cults, Esoteric Nazism and the Politics of Identity. (New York University Press, 2002, ISBN 0-8147-3124-4. Paperback 2003, ISBN 0-8147-3155-4)
- Ernst Haiger Fiction, Facts, and Forgeries: The 'Revelations' of Peter and Martin Allen about the History of the Second World War. The Journal of Intelligence History, Vol 6 no. 1 (Summer 2006 [published in 2007]), pp. 105–117.
- Harris, John. Hess:The British Conspiracy
- Hess, Ilse. Prisoner of Peace.
- Hess, Rudolf. Selected speeches.
- Hess, Wolf Ruidger. My Father Rudolf Hess.
- Hutton, Joseph Bernard. Hess: The Man and His Mission.
- Irving, David John Cawdell. Hess: The Missing Years 1941–1945.
- Le Tissier, Tony. Farewell to Spandau.
- Knopp, Guido for ZDF Hitlers Helfer – Hess, der Stellvertreter. (German TV, 1998, ISBN 0-7509-3781-5)
- Kilzer, Louis C. Churchill's Deception: The Dark Secret That Destroyed Nazi Germany.
- Leasor, James. The Uninvited Envoy. UK, 1962, 2011. ISBN 978-1-908291-16-5
- Machtan, Lothar. The Hidden Hitler. (2001) ISBN 0-465-04308-9
- Manvell, Roger. Hess: A Biography.
- Moriarty, David M. Rudolf Hess, Deputy Führer: A Psychological Study.
- Nesbit, Roy Conyers, and Georges Van Acker. The Flight of Rudolf Hess: Myths and Reality.
- Padfield, Peter. Hess: Flight for the Führer.
- Padfield, Peter. Hess: The Führer's Disciple.
- Picknett, Lynn, Clive Prince, and Stephen Prior. Double Standards The Rudolf Hess Cover-Up. ISBN 0-7515-3220-7
- Pile, G. Rudolf Hess: Prisoner of Peace.
- Rees, John R., and Henry Victor Dicks. The Case of Rudolf Hess; A Problem in diagnosis and forensic psychiatry.
- Rees, Philip, editor. Biographical Dictionary of the Extreme Right Since 1890. (1991, ISBN 0-13-089301-3)
- Royce, William Hobart The Behest of Hess'.
- Smith, Alfred. Rudolf Hess and Germany's Reluctant War, 1939–41.
- Tuccille, Jerome, and Philip S. Jacobs. The Mission. (Dutton Adult, 1991 novel, ISBN 1-55611-199-1)
- Thomas, Hugh. The Murder of Rudolf Hess (republished as Hess: A Tale of Two Murders).
- Schwarzwäller, Wulf. Rudolf Hess, the Last Nazi. (A Zenith edition)
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1 in absentia. 2 Committed suicide. 3 Found unfit to stand trial; charges dropped due to extremely poor health and senility.
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