Hess, Rudolf Walter Richard. “Rudy”.

Hess, Rudolf was born, on 26-04-1894 five years after Hitler (see William Hitler), in Alexandria, Egypt, the eldest of four children, to Fritz H. Hess, a prosperous German Lutheran importer/exporter from Bavaria, and Clara, born Münch. Rudolf sshad a brother Alfred, born in 1897 and a sister Margarete, born in 1908. 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 Rudolf was subsequently enrolled in boarding school in Bad Godesberg, at the Evangelical School. After the war, the possessions of the Hess family in Egypt were confiscated by the British. Hess showed aptitude in science and mathematics, and expressed interest in becoming an astronomer. At the outbreak of World War I he enlisted in the 7^th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment, became an infantry man and was awarded the Iron Cross, second class. He saw heavy action both on the Western Front, at Ypres and Verdun.

He fought in the First Battle of Ypres and the Battle of Verdun and was wounded in the left arm and left hand by shrapnel on 12-06-1916 at Thiaumont. After his recovery he returned to Verdun. He was transferred to Romania and was wounded there on 23-07-1917 by a shell splinter in his left arm, which was treated on the spot. On  08-08-1917, a bullet entered the upper chest near the armpit and exited his body next to his spine. On August 20, he had recovered sufficiently to be transported to a hospital in Hungary. He was then transferred to a clinic in Meissen. On 25-10-1917, at the wish of his father, he was transferred to the hospital in Bad Alexandersbad, closer to Reicholdsgrün. After Christmas 1917 he trained as a fighter pilot in Munich. On 14-10-1918 he arrived at Jagdstaffel 35b to fly a Fokker D.VII biplane, but the war ended on 11-11-1918 before he could be deployed for the first time.

After the war the successful Hess family business collapsed and was taken over by the victorious Western allies. Hess went to Munich, and took a job at a textile importing firm. He joined the Freikorps. Hess also joined the Thule Society , a right-wing völkischoccult-mystical organization. Bavaria was undergoing fierce infighting right after the war’s end, between right-wing groups and left-wing forces, some of which were Soviet-backed. After hearing Adolf Hitler (see Alois Hitler)

  (did you know), a powerful orator, speak for the first time in May 1920 at a Munich rally, Hess became completely devoted to Hitler, and spent much of his time and effort for the next several years organizing for Hitler at the local level in Bavaria. Together with his girlfriend Ilse, Hess distributed posters and pamphlets for the party. He also participated in the fights between the supporters of the NSDAP and political opponents, especially the communists and socialists. He fervently battled with those who tried to violently disrupt Hitler’s meetings and speeches. Once Hess was hit by a beer mug, which left him with a gaping head wound. In 1922, Hess became a member of the Stürmabteilung (SA), the paramilitary battle group of the NSDAP. Hess joined the fledgling Nazi Party in 1920 as one of its first members. Hess introduced Karl Haushofer

   to Hitler in the spring of 1921, following a rally at a beerhall. Haushofer and Hitler connected immediately on a personal level and Haushofer would become a close adviser to Hitler and assume prominence in Germany with Hitler’s rise. Eventually, Hess became the third-most powerful man in Germany, behind Hitler and Hermann Göring (did you know) (see Goering Fock).

Soon after Hitler assumed dictatorial powers, beginning in early 1933, Hess was named “Deputy to the Fuhrer.” and had the nicknames “Fraulein Hess,” Miss Hess, “Fraulein Paula,” Miss Paula and “Black Emma.” He at first endorsed a laissez-faire attitude toward homosexuality, especially among his close associates. He at last under “pressure”, 33 years old, married the 27-year-old Ilse Pröhl  from Hanover, born 22-06-1900 and died old age 95 on 07-09-1995, on 20-12-1927 . The marriage with most the attention for Hitler who was a witness for Hess and the couple got one child, son Wolf Rudiger Hess    , on 18-11-1937 and Adolf Hitler was his godfather . Wolf would die on 24-10-2001, age 63 and left behind his widow Andrea and their son Wolf Andrea Hess.

      Ilse later complained that her life with him was much like that of a “convent schoolgirl.”
  Hess also played a prominent part in the creation of the Nuremberg Laws in 1935. Hitler biographer described Hess’ political insight and abilities as somewhat limited Hitler appointed Hess as ‘Minister Without Portfolio. Hess was privately distressed by the war with the United Kingdom because he, influenced by his academic advisor, 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, to contact Douglas-Hamilton, 14^th Duke of Hamilton, Hamilton died age 70 on 30-03-1973. It is known that Hess had been getting flying lessons in a personalized Messerschmitt aircraft and in the early stages of this preparation he was accompanied by Hitler’s personal pilot, SS Obergruppenführer, Hans Baur.  On 10 May 1941, at about 6:00 P.M., Hess took off from Augsburg in a Messerschmitt Bf 110, and Hitler ordered the General of the Fighter Arm to stop him, Hess parachuted over Renfrewshire, Scotland on 10 May and landed, breaking his ankle, at Floors Farm near Eaglesham.

           In a newsreel clip, farmhand David McLean

 claims to have arrested Hess with his pitchfork. It appears that Hess believed the Duke of Hamilton to be an opponent of Winston Churchill,

  whom he held responsible for the outbreak of the war. Churchill sent Hess initially to the Tower of London , making Hess the last, in the long line of prominent political prisoners, to be held in the 900 year-old fortress. Churchill gave orders that Hess was to be strictly isolated, but treated with dignity. He remained in the Tower until 20-05-1941. Hitler also stripped Hess of all of his party and state offices, and privately ordered him shot on sight if he ever returned to Germany. However, Adolf Hitler did grant Hess’ wife a pension. Martin Bormann

succeeded Hess as deputy under a newly created title. Borman committed suicide after his escape together with Hitler’s pilot Hans Baur from the Führer Bunker, age 44, on 02-05-1945. Hess then became a defendant at the Nuremberg Trials of the International Military Tribunal

, where, in 1946, he 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.

  

On 17-08-1987, 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 located in a secure area of the prison with an electrical cord wrapped around his neck.

There were different versions of death: In an allied press release that had been prepared for a long time and that was published immediately afterwards, it was said that Hess had “died in prison”. More details were released the following day. Allegedly, the Soviet Union initially opposed this. The body was autopsied on the same day by British coroner James Cameron. The garden pavilion was burned down a few hours later; the prison later demolished.

     His death was ruled a suicide by asphyxiation. He was buried with his wife Ilse, born Pröhl, who died old age 94, on 07-09-1995, at Wunsiedel in a Hess family grave plot sold to his family by the Vetters of the Sechsämtertropfen bitter liquor company of Wunsiedel. The Führer’s deputy and former Reich Minister was buried in the closest family circle on a cold morning at 8:40 a.m. in March 1988 in Wunsiedel with the words of the Dean Schwekenbecher, after he had previously rested in a small cemetery in the western Bavarian Alpine foothills. The tomb was opened after dark and the body was transferred to a new coffin. A grave commemorated the man who made the peace flight in 1941 at the risk of his life. For this he was imprisoned for 46 years and apparently murdered in ambush at the age of 93. Extensive precautions ensured that the public was excluded. On 20-07-2011, the anniversary of the assassination attempt on Adolf Hitler, the family grave of the Hess family was leveled at the instigation of the Protestant church leadership and the remains were scattered over the sea.

 

              

       

                                                                                         Since 21-07-2011 the grave is removed on order of the Mayor

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