Hess, Rudolf (redirected from Rudolf Hess)

Hess, Rudolf, 1894–1987, German National Socialist leader, b. Alexandria, Egypt; son of a German merchant. In 1920 he became an ardent follower of Adolf Hitler and after the Munich "beer-hall putsch" (1923) shared Hitler's imprisonment. Hitler dictated Mein Kampf to him. In 1933 he became deputy Führer and minister without portfolio. In 1939, Hitler named him second in line of succession after Hermann Goering. Hess created a worldwide sensation when he stole an airplane and flew (May, 1941) from Augsburg to Scotland (where he was arrested), apparently in an attempt to negotiate a peace agreement with Great Britain. At the Nuremberg war-crimes trial he was sentenced (1946) to life imprisonment at Spandau prison. Hess's behavior both before and during his trial raised questions as to his sanity. At the time of his death, he was Spandau's last remaining prisoner.

Bibliography

See J. Douglas-Hamilton, Motive for a Mission (1971); W. Schwarzwaller, Rudolf Hess: The Last Nazi (1988).

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Hess, (Walter Richard) Rudolf

(born April 26, 1894, Alexandria, Egypt—died Aug. 17, 1987, West Berlin, W.Ger.) German Nazi leader. He joined the fledgling Nazi Party in 1920 and soon became Adolf Hitler's friend. After participating in the Beer Hall Putsch (1923), he escaped but returned voluntarily to prison, where he took down dictation for Hitler's Mein Kampf. He became Hitler's private secretary and, in 1933, deputy party leader. In the early days of World War II his power waned. In 1941 he created an international sensation when he secretly landed by parachute in Scotland on an abortive mission to negotiate peace between Britain and Germany. The British government held him as a prisoner of war, and his peace initiative was rejected by Hitler. He was given a life sentence at the Nürnberg trials, and from 1966 he was the sole inmate at Spandau prison.