THE SECRET MISSION
OF RUDOLF HESS
G'day folks,
Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, mysteriously parachuted into Scotland on this day intending to negotiate a peace deal with the British. He did so without the knowledge of the Führer, who was absolutely livid when he heard the news.
Hess had met the Duke of Hamilton at the Berlin Olympics in 1936 and
learned that the duke was a member of a far-right group who were
interested in a "German-English agreement."
He hoped that Hamilton would arrange for him to meet King George VI, believing he could persuade the king to sack Winston Churchill, then Britain could make peace with Germany and join forces against the Soviet Union.
At 6,000 feet and within 30 miles of the duke's residence near Glasgow,
Hess bailed out of the Messerschmitt that he had piloted by himself and
parachuted safely to the ground. His first contact was a Scottish farmer
who was told in English by Hess: "I have an important message for the
Duke of Hamilton."
Interrogated at an army barracks, he proposed that the British should
allow Germany to dominate Europe, in return for which the British Empire
would be safe from attack by Adolf Hitler.
He insisted that German victory in the war was inevitable and
threatened that the British people would be starved to death by a
blockade around the country unless his generous peace offer was
accepted.
Hitler quickly issued a statement saying that his deputy was mentally
disordered and "a victim of hallucinations." He immediately stripped
Hess of all the ranks he held in the Nazi party including being a party
member and secretly ordered him shot on sight if he ever returned to
Germany.
Hess was born Rudolf Walter Richard Hess in Alexandria, Egypt, in 1894,
the son of a Bavarian wholesaler and exporter. He did not live in
Germany until he was 14.
When the First World War broke out in 1914 he enlisted in the 7th
Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment as an infantryman, was wounded several
times and won the Iron Cross in 1915.
Sharing Hitler's stab-in-the-back notion that Germany's failure to win
the 1914-18 war was caused by a conspiracy of Jews and Bolsheviks rather
than a military defeat, Hess joined the Nazi party in 1920 and quickly
became Hitler’s friend and confidant.
He was at Hitler’s side in November 1923 for the Beer Hall Putsch, a
failed Nazi attempt to seize control of the government of Bavaria. While
the pair were serving time in jail for this attempted coup, Hess helped
Hitler write his book, Mein Kampf, which became a foundation of the
Nazis' political platform.
After the Nazi seizure of power in 1933, Hess was appointed Deputy
Führer and as well as appearing on Hitler’s behalf at speaking
engagements and rallies, he signed into law much of the legislation that
stripped German Jews of their rights.
Hess’s peace proposals met with no response from the British government and he was held prisoner until the end of the war.
In 1946 he was sent for trial at Nuremberg where he was acquitted on
charges related to war crimes and crimes against humanity, but convicted
of crimes against peace.
In his final speech to the judges he continued to display loyalty to
Hitler, declaring: "It was granted me for many years to live and work
under the greatest son whom my nation has brought forth in the thousand
years of its history.
"Even if I could, I would not expunge this period from my existence. I
regret nothing. If I were standing once more at the beginning I should
act once again as I did then, even if I knew that at the end I should be
burnt at the stake."
He was sentenced to life imprisonment and with other Nazi leaders sent
to Spandau Prison in Berlin. After 1966 he was the only prisoner there.
Hess was held as Prisoner No. 7, always denied parole, and hanged
himself in the grounds of the jail on 17 August 1987 at the age of
ninety-three.
After his death the prison was demolished to prevent it from becoming a neo-Nazi shrine.
Clancy's comment: A sad tale of a sad time. Lest we forget those who perished.
I'm ...
