Rudolf Hess

Rudolf Hess (1894-1987) was a powerful political ally of Adolf Hitler and held the rank of Deputy Führer of the Greater German Reich. In 1941, he was involved in a curious incident when he piloted a Luftwaffe aircraft to Scotland, landed there, and asked to meet with the Duke of Hamilton for reasons no one ever learned. It was suggested at the time that he wished to open peace negotiations with the Duke, but if he did he did so without Hitler's consent.

Hess was arrested and held prisoner in Britain for the duration of World War II. After the war, he was convicted of war crimes, a somewhat controversial conviction given his status as a prisoner. He was found dead in 1987 in his cell in Spandeau Prison. His death was officially ruled a suicide, but this, like nearly everything else about Hess, is the center of debate. Hess has become a hero to the Neo-Nazi movement.

Rudolf Hess in The Man With the Iron Heart
In 1945, Rudolf Hess was extradited to Germany, where he would have been tried for war crimes and crimes against humanity by the Allied Forces in the Palace of Justice had the Werewolves not destroyed that building.

The Allies tried again in 1946, preparing to try Hess and several other German leaders in Frankfurt. This failed when the German Freedom Front destroyed the American residency compound with a radium bomb. Again Hess and his colleagues were spared.

The Soviet Union prepared a trial the following year, but that was stopped when agents of the GFF crashed a cargo plane into the courtroom.

Rudolf Hess in The War That Came Early
In 1940, with the second European war stalemated in the west, Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland with the blessing of the German government to negotiate an alliance between Germany and Britain. Hess injured his ankle when he landed, and was immediately taken into custody by Welsh Sgt. Alistair Walsh, who escorted Hess to the authorities. During much of their journey, Hess, who spoke fluent English, tried to convince Walsh of the value of an alliance between their two countries in the fight against the Soviet Union. Walsh finally ordered Hess to be silent.

While Walsh was unreceptive, the government of Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was, despite protests from War Minister Winston Churchill. By mid-1940, after Churchill was hit and killed by a drunk driver, the British and the French governments concluded a peace with Germany and began a war with the USSR.