137 Facts About Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was a German politician and a leading member of the Nazi Party in Nazi Germany.

Rudolf Hess was taken prisoner and eventually convicted of crimes against peace.

Rudolf Hess was still serving his life sentence at the time of his suicide in 1987.

Shortly before the war ended, Rudolf Hess enrolled to train as an aviator, but he saw no action in that role.

In 1919, Rudolf Hess enrolled in the University of Munich, where he studied geopolitics under Karl Haushofer, a proponent of the concept of, which became one of the pillars of Nazi ideology.

Rudolf Hess joined the Nazi Party on 1 July 1920 and was at Hitler's side on 8 November 1923 for the Beer Hall Putsch, a failed Nazi attempt to seize control of the government of Bavaria.

Rudolf Hess was appointed in 1938 to the Cabinet Council and in August 1939 to the Council of Ministers for Defence of the Reich.

On 10 May 1941, Rudolf Hess made a solo flight to Scotland, where he hoped to arrange peace talks with the Duke of Hamilton, whom he believed to be a prominent opponent of the British government's war policy.

Rudolf Hess served a life sentence in Spandau Prison; the Soviet Union blocked repeated attempts by family members and prominent politicians to procure his early release.

Rudolf Hess's grave, bearing the inscription "Ich hab's gewagt", became a site of regular pilgrimage and demonstrations by Neo-Nazis.

Rudolf Hess, the eldest of three children, was born on 26 April 1894 in Ibrahimieh, a suburb of Alexandria, Egypt, into a wealthy German family.

Originally from Bohemia, the Rudolf Hess family settled in Wunsiedel, Upper Franconia, in the 1760s.

Rudolf Hess's brother, Alfred, was born in 1897 and his sister, Margarete, was born in 1908.

Rudolf Hess's youth growing up under the "Veiled Protectorate" of Sir Evelyn Baring made him unique among the Nazi leaders in that he grew up under British rule, which he saw in very positive terms.

Rudolf Hess believed that the Egyptians could accomplish nothing on their own and credited all of the progress achieved in Egypt to the British "veiled protectorate".

Rudolf Hess attended a German language Protestant school in Alexandria from 1900 to 1908, when he was sent back to Germany to study at a boarding school in Bad Godesberg.

Rudolf Hess's initial posting was against the British on the Somme; he was present at the First Battle of Ypres.

On 9 November 1914, Rudolf Hess transferred to the 1st Infantry Regiment, stationed near Arras.

Rudolf Hess was awarded the Iron Cross, second class, and promoted to Gefreiter in April 1915.

Rudolf Hess was promoted to platoon leader of the 10th Company of the 18th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment, which was serving in Romania.

Rudolf Hess was wounded on 23 July and again on 8 August 1917; the first injury was a shell splinter to the left arm, which was dressed in the field, but the second was a bullet wound that entered the upper chest near the armpit and exited near his spinal column, leaving a pea-sized entry wound and a cherry stone-sized exit wound on his back.

Rudolf Hess received basic flight training at Oberschleissheim and Lechfeld Air Base from March to June 1918, and advanced training at Valenciennes in France in October.

Rudolf Hess saw no action with Jagdstaffel 35b, as the war ended on 11 November 1918, before he had the opportunity.

Rudolf Hess was discharged from the armed forces in December 1918.

Rudolf Hess joined the Thule Society, an antisemitic right-wing Volkisch group, and the Freikorps of Colonel Ritter von Epp, one of many such volunteer paramilitary organisations active in Germany at the time.

Rudolf Hess was a participant in street battles in early 1919 and led a group that distributed thousands of antisemitic pamphlets in Munich.

Rudolf Hess later said that Egypt made him a nationalist, the war made him a socialist, and Munich made him an antisemite.

In 1919, Rudolf Hess enrolled in the University of Munich, where he studied history and economics.

Rudolf Hess's geopolitics professor was Karl Haushofer, a former general in the German Army who was a proponent of the concept of Lebensraum, which Haushofer cited to justify the proposal that Germany should forcefully conquer additional territory in Eastern Europe.

Rudolf Hess later introduced this concept to Adolf Hitler, and it became one of the pillars of Nazi Party ideology.

Rudolf Hess became friends with Haushofer and his son Albrecht, a social theorist and lecturer.

Rudolf Hess's name was, at least in part, to honour Hitler, who often used "Wolf" as a code name.

Rudolf Hess joined the Sturmabteilung by 1922 and helped organise and recruit its early membership.

Rudolf Hess was with Hitler on the night of 8 November 1923 when he and the SA stormed a public meeting organised by Bavaria's de facto ruler, Staatskommissar Gustav von Kahr, in the Burgerbraukeller, a large beer hall in Munich.

When Rudolf Hess left briefly to make a phone call the next day, the hostages convinced the driver to help them escape.

Rudolf Hess, stranded, called Ilse Prohl, who brought him a bicycle so he could return to Munich.

Rudolf Hess went to stay with the Haushofers and then fled to Austria, but they convinced him to return.

Rudolf Hess was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in prison for his role in the attempted coup, which later became known as the Beer Hall Putsch.

Rudolf Hess accompanied Hitler to speaking engagements around the country and became his friend and confidante.

Rudolf Hess was one of the few people who could meet with Hitler at any time without an appointment.

On 15 December 1932 Rudolf Hess was named head of the Party Liaison Staff and Chairman of the Party Central Political Commission.

Rudolf Hess's instructor was World War I flying ace Theodor Croneiss.

Rudolf Hess acquired two more Messerschmitt aircraft in the early 1930s, logging many flying hours and becoming proficient in the operation of light single-engine aircraft.

Rudolf Hess was named as a member of Hans Frank's Academy for German Law.

Rudolf Hess spoke over the radio and at rallies around the country, so frequently that the speeches were collected into book form in 1938.

Rudolf Hess acted as Hitler's delegate in negotiations with industrialists and members of the wealthier classes.

Rudolf Hess was authorised to increase the sentences of anyone he felt got off too lightly in these cases, and was empowered to take "merciless action" if he saw fit to do so.

In 1933, Rudolf Hess founded the Volksdeutscher Rat to handle the Nazi Party's relations with ethnic German minorities around the world, with a particular focus on Eastern Europe.

Rudolf Hess's office was partly responsible for drafting Hitler's Nuremberg Laws of 1935.

Rudolf Hess did not build a power base or develop a coterie of followers.

Rudolf Hess was motivated by his loyalty to Hitler and a desire to be useful to him; he did not seek power or prestige or take advantage of his position to accumulate personal wealth.

Rudolf Hess was devoted to the volkisch ideology and viewed many issues in terms of an alleged Jewish conspiracy against Germany.

On 30 August 1939, immediately prior to the outbreak of the Second World War, Rudolf Hess was appointed by Hitler to the six-person Council of Ministers for Defense of the Reich which was set up to operate as a war cabinet.

On 8 October 1939, Rudolf Hess co-signed the law that annexed the Free City of Danzig, the Polish Corridor, and the part of Upper Silesia lost in 1921 to Germany.

Rudolf Hess argued that a separate legal code was necessary because "the Pole is less susceptible to the infliction of ordinary punishment".

Rudolf Hess concluded his speech by saying that with Hitler in charge, there was no possibility of the current war ending similarly.

Rudolf Hess was obsessed with his health to the point of hypochondria, consulting many doctors and other practitioners for what he described to his captors in Britain as a long list of ailments involving the kidneys, colon, gall bladder, bowels and heart.

Rudolf Hess was a vegetarian, and he did not smoke or drink.

Rudolf Hess brought his own food to the Berghof, claiming it was biologically dynamic, but Hitler did not approve of this practice, so he discontinued taking meals with the Fuhrer.

Rudolf Hess was interested in music, enjoyed reading and loved to spend time hiking and climbing in the mountains with his wife, Ilse.

Rudolf Hess placed sixth of 29 participants in a similar race held the following year.

Rudolf Hess was concerned that Germany would face a war on two fronts as plans progressed for Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union scheduled to take place in 1941.

Rudolf Hess decided to attempt to bring Britain to the negotiating table by travelling there himself to seek meetings with the British government.

Rudolf Hess decided they should contact his fellow aviator the Duke of Hamilton, whom he had never met.

Rudolf Hess chose Hamilton in the mistaken belief that he was one of the leaders of a party opposed to war with Germany, and because Hamilton was a friend of Haushofer.

Rudolf Hess began training on the Messerschmitt Bf 110, a two-seater twin-engine aircraft, in October 1940 under instructor Wilhelm Stor, the chief test pilot at Messerschmitt.

Rudolf Hess asked for a radio compass, modifications to the oxygen delivery system, and large long-range fuel tanks to be installed on this plane, and these requests were granted by March 1941.

Rudolf Hess then took a heading of 335 degrees for the trip across the North Sea, initially at low altitude, but travelling for most of the journey at 5,000 feet.

Rudolf Hess was nearly out of fuel, so he climbed to 6,000 feet and parachuted out of the plane at 23:06.

Rudolf Hess injured his foot, either while exiting the aircraft or when he hit the ground.

Rudolf Hess would have been closer to his destination had he not had trouble exiting the aircraft.

Rudolf Hess considered this achievement to be the proudest moment of his life.

Rudolf Hess intended to approach the Duke of Hamilton at his home in Scotland, hoping that the duke might then be willing to advocate for and assist him negotiate peace with Germany on terms that would be acceptable to Hitler.

Hitler worried that his allies, Italy and Japan, would perceive Rudolf Hess's act as an attempt by Hitler to secretly open peace negotiations with the British.

Rudolf Hess abolished the post of Deputy Fuhrer, assigning Hess's former duties to Bormann, with the title of Head of the Party Chancellery.

US journalist Hubert Renfro Knickerbocker, who had met both Hitler and Rudolf Hess, speculated that Hitler had sent Rudolf Hess to deliver a message informing Winston Churchill of the forthcoming invasion of the Soviet Union, and offering a negotiated peace or even an anti-Bolshevik partnership.

Soviet leader Joseph Stalin believed that Rudolf Hess's flight had been engineered by the British.

Shortly before midnight on 10 May 1941, Rudolf Hess landed at Floors Farm, by Waterfoot, south of Glasgow, where he was discovered still struggling with his parachute by local ploughman David McLean.

Rudolf Hess was next taken to the police station at Giffnock, arriving after midnight; he was searched and his possessions confiscated.

Rudolf Hess repeatedly requested to meet with the Duke of Hamilton during questioning undertaken with the aid of an interpreter by Major Graham Donald, the area commandant of Royal Observer Corps.

Hamilton had been on duty as wing commander at RAF Turnhouse near Edinburgh when Rudolf Hess had arrived, and his station had been one of those that had tracked the progress of the flight.

Rudolf Hess arrived at Maryhill Barracks the next morning, and after examining Hess's effects, he met alone with the prisoner.

Rudolf Hess immediately admitted his true identity and outlined the reason for his flight.

Rudolf Hess told Hamilton that he was on a "mission of humanity" and that Hitler "wished to stop the fighting" with England.

Rudolf Hess, who had prepared extensive notes to use during this meeting, spoke to them at length about Hitler's expansionary plans and the need for Britain to let the Nazis have free rein in Europe, in exchange for Britain being allowed to keep its overseas possessions.

From Buchanan Castle, Rudolf Hess was transferred briefly to the Tower of London and then to Mytchett Place in Surrey, a fortified mansion, designated "Camp Z", where he stayed for the next 13 months.

Churchill issued orders that Rudolf Hess was to be treated well, though he was not allowed to read newspapers or listen to the radio.

Rudolf Hess prepared a letter to the Duke of Hamilton, but it was never delivered, and his repeated requests for further meetings were turned down.

Major Frank Foley, the leading German expert in MI6 and former British Passport Control Officer in Berlin, took charge of a year-long abortive debriefing of Rudolf Hess, according to Foreign Office files released to the National Archives.

Rudolf Hess repeated his peace proposal to John Simon, 1st Viscount Simon, then serving as Lord Chancellor, in an interview on 9 June 1942.

Lord Simon noted that the prisoner's mental state was not good; Rudolf Hess claimed he was being poisoned and was being prevented from sleeping.

Rudolf Hess would insist on swapping his dinner with that of one of his guards, and attempted to get them to send samples of the food out for analysis.

Rudolf Hess claimed that the force acted on Hitler's mind as well, causing him to make poor military decisions.

Rudolf Hess said that the Jews had psychic powers that allowed them to control the minds of others, including Himmler, and that the Holocaust was part of a Jewish plot to defame Germany.

Rudolf Hess fell onto the stone floor below, fracturing the femur of his left leg.

Captain Munro Johnson of the Royal Army Medical Corps, who assessed Rudolf Hess, noted that another suicide attempt was likely to occur in the near future.

Rudolf Hess was moved to Maindiff Court Hospital on 26 June 1942, where he remained for the next three years.

Rudolf Hess was allowed walks on the grounds and car trips into the surrounding countryside.

Rudolf Hess had access to newspapers and other reading materials; he wrote letters and journals.

Rudolf Hess continued to complain on and off of memory loss and made a second suicide attempt on 4 February 1945, when he stabbed himself with a bread knife.

Rudolf Hess, facing charges as a war criminal, was ordered to appear before the International Military Tribunal and was transported to Nuremberg on 10 October 1945.

On his arrival in Nuremberg, Rudolf Hess was reluctant to give up some of his possessions, including samples of food he said had been poisoned by the British; he proposed to use these for his defence during the trial.

Rudolf Hess's diaries indicate that he did not acknowledge the validity of the court and felt the outcome was a foregone conclusion.

Rudolf Hess was thin when he arrived, weighing 65 kilograms, and had a poor appetite, but was deemed to be in good health.

The prosecution's case against Rudolf Hess was presented by Mervyn Griffith-Jones beginning on 7 February 1946.

Rudolf Hess declared that as Hess had signed important governmental decrees, including the decree requiring mandatory military service, the Nuremberg racial laws, and a decree incorporating the conquered Polish territories into the Reich, he must share responsibility for the acts of the regime.

Rudolf Hess pointed out that the timing of Hess's trip to Scotland, only six weeks before the German invasion of the Soviet Union, could only be viewed as an attempt by Hess to keep the British out of the war.

Rudolf Hess noted that while Hess accepted responsibility for the many decrees he had signed, he said these matters were part of the internal workings of a sovereign state and thus outside the purview of a war crimes trial.

Rudolf Hess noted that Hess could not be held responsible for any events that took place after he left Germany in May 1941.

Rudolf Hess spoke to the tribunal again on 31 August 1946 during the last day of closing statements, where he made a lengthy statement.

Rudolf Hess was found guilty on two counts: crimes against peace, and conspiracy with other German leaders to commit crimes.

Rudolf Hess was found not guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Rudolf Hess was given a life sentence, one of seven Nazis to receive prison sentences at the trial.

Visitors were allowed to come for half an hour per month, but Rudolf Hess forbade his family to visit until December 1969, when he was a patient at the British Military Hospital in West Berlin for a perforated ulcer.

Rudolf Hess cried out in the night, claiming he had stomach pains.

Rudolf Hess continued to suspect that his food was being poisoned and complained of amnesia.

Conditions were far more pleasant in the 1980s than in the early years; Rudolf Hess was allowed to move more freely around the cell block, setting his own routine and choosing his own activities, which included television, films, reading, and gardening.

Additionally, Soviet officials believed Rudolf Hess must have known in 1941 that an attack on their country was imminent.

In 1967, Wolf Rudiger Rudolf Hess began a campaign to win his father's release, garnering support from politicians such as Geoffrey Lawrence in the UK and Willy Brandt in West Germany, but to no avail, in spite of the prisoner's advanced age and deteriorating health.

In 1967, Wolf Rudolf Hess founded a society that by September had collected 700 signatures on a petition calling for Rudolf Hess's release.

Wolf argued that his father was unjustly imprisoned to hide the UK's "war guilt", arguing that millions of lives could have been saved if only Churchill had accepted Rudolf Hess's peace offer in May 1941.

In 1973, the Israeli foreign minister Abba Eban charged that Rudolf Hess was not being treated as badly as his champions claimed and that he should serve his full sentence.

In September 1979, medical tests showed that Rudolf Hess was suffering from potentially fatal prostate cancer.

Cyrus Vance wrote: "Far from representing the beginning of irrationality, Rudolf Hess's well considered attempt is to use his medical condition to 'force' his release".

Rudolf Hess continued to be an unapologetic Nazi and anti-Semite; this was usually ignored by those championing his release, who portrayed him as a harmless old man.

Rudolf Hess further hindered efforts to get himself released by promising to make no statements to the media if he were released, while repeatedly writing drafts of statements that he planned to make.

On 25 June 1986, a Soviet guard caught Charles Gabel, the chaplain at Spandau, attempting to smuggle out a statement by Rudolf Hess, causing Gabel to be fired.

Rudolf Hess had originally written the document as his opening address at the Nuremberg trial in 1946, which he had been unable to deliver in full after the judges cut him short.

Rudolf Hess tried to mail a copy of the statement to Sir Oswald Mosley in October 1946, but the letter was intercepted by his US guards.

Rudolf Hess's statement claimed that Germany's attack on the Soviet Union was preemptive; he claimed there had been overwhelming evidence that the Soviet Union had planned to attack Germany.

Rudolf Hess said in the statement that he had decided to make his flight to Scotland without informing Hitler, with the aim of informing the UK of the Soviet danger to "European civilization" and the entire world.

Rudolf Hess believed his warning would cause the UK to end its war with Germany and join in the fight against the Soviet Union.

Rudolf Hess was found dead on 17 August 1987, aged 93, in a summer house that had been set up in the prison garden as a reading room; he had hanged himself using an extension cord strung over a window latch.

Rudolf Hess was initially buried at a secret location to avoid media attention or demonstrations by Nazi sympathisers, but his body was re-interred in a family plot at Wunsiedel on 17 March 1988; his wife was buried beside him in 1995.

Wolf Rudiger Rudolf Hess repeatedly claimed that his father had been murdered by the British Secret Intelligence Service to prevent him from revealing information about British misconduct during the war.

The autopsy results supported the conclusion that Rudolf Hess had killed himself.

Historian Peter Padfield wrote that the suicide note found on the body appeared to have been written when Rudolf Hess was hospitalised in 1969.