How Was The Flight Of Rudolf Hess Explained To The German People

imme

Does anyone have any information on how the flight of Deputy Fuhrer Rudolf Hess to Scotland was explained in the media at the time in Nazi Germany.

Recent media reports on a new book on ".... the Nazi Mind" raised this question for me.


Thanks.

BESman

Munich Radio reported Hess's flight on May 12 1941, two days after he took off. There were no details provided on where he was going or that he had been captured, but this information was widely available in the international press and on BBC radio.

I'm not 100% but some documentaries suggest that his flight was portrayed by the Nazis as recreational or adventurous in nature but I have no idea how they attempted to handle subsequent enquiries into his fate, especially since it would have been clear to a lot of the German population that he had been captured and was possibly in a deranged mental state at the time of his departure. In any event, it was an obvious embarrassment to Hitler and the Nazis that such a high ranking official, Hitler's deputy for all intents and purposes, had not only committed treason but was likely insane.

Stovepipe

there was a mention of it in one of the documentaries about Bletchley Park, in that the signal intercept people reported intense Luftwaffe radio traffic during and after the Hess flight.It also appeared in some of the Luftwaffe pilot's memoirs, about being scrambled to intercept.

regards
Stovepipe

Fuinseog

BESman wrote: »

Munich Radio reported Hess's flight on May 12 1941, two days after he took off. There were no details provided on where he was going or that he had been captured, but this information was widely available in the international press and on BBC radio.

I'm not 100% but some documentaries suggest that his flight was portrayed by the Nazis as recreational or adventurous in nature but I have no idea how they attempted to handle subsequent enquiries into his fate, especially since it would have been clear to a lot of the German population that he had been captured and was possibly in a deranged mental state at the time of his departure. In any event, it was an obvious embarrassment to Hitler and the Nazis that such a high ranking official, Hitler's deputy for all intents and purposes, had not only committed treason but was likely insane.

the truth about Hess will be revealed around 2025 when The British open their files.
there are those who believe that Hess was on a secret peace mission. Churchill preferred war to peace. Millions of lives could have been saved.

BESman

Fuinseog wrote: »

the truth about Hess will be revealed around 2025 when The British open their files.
there are those who believe that Hess was on a secret peace mission. Churchill preferred war to peace. Millions of lives could have been saved.

I understand that this was Hess' intention as he along with a lot of other senior Nazi officials believed Hitler was wrong in attacking Britain. They viewed Britain as Germany's natural ally and the British people were considered "Ayrian" in their eyes. I've also heard conspiracy theories that Hess was murdered in captivity by the SAS as he held a lot of secrets. I don't think this is plausible as he was 93 when he died so why go to the bother of murdering him.

Tony EH

Britain attacked Germany, not the other way round.

Hess's mission couldn't really be discussed openly with the German public at the time because, if either case was true, the German leadership feared that it wouldn't go down too well with the public at large.

If indeed, Hess had flown to Britain with Hitlers approval, it would seem a massive backfire, as the British had simply thrown him in jail, making Hitler and the German leadership look desperate, which, in fact they were. Hitler was close to finally embarking on his raison d'etre, the invasion of Russia and had long wished that the British would simply back off and let him get on with it.

Consequently, if Hess had flown to Britain under his own steam to contact a peace party in Britain, it might make the Führer look rather silly.

Hess, like many in the German government, had been quite disturbed by the war with Britain, which they viewed as the completely wrong path. In fact, Hitler himself viewed war with Britain as something thrust upon him and certainly not something within his plans. But, while Hitler reluctantly accepted the fact, Hess was deeply perturbed by the conflict and it played on him terribly. In fact, it may have had some impact on his drift in a downwards direction within the power structure of the party. By 1941, Hess, who had rode high in the 1930's, was a fairly insignificant entry and his input was limited to Minister without Portfolio. He still maintained a good reputation with the leaders of other nations, with whom he had built up a respectable image before the war.

Either way, Hitler and the German leadership had to distance themselves from Hess's peace mission, as it had backfired so badly. But, there is evidence to suggest that Hess instructed that if the peace mission failed, that Hitler was to say that Hess was "...out of his mind"...

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-1392208/Hitler-gave-ahead-Rudolf-Hess-peace-mission.html

...and subsequently German radio announced that Hitler denounced Hess' peace flight to Britain and declared that Hess had embarked upon the flight without the Führer's knowledge. Furthermore, the broadcast stated that Hess had been suffering from a "progressive disease". Nothing further was said on the matter.

As it turned out the German public, while somewhat surprised by the news of Hess' flight to England, forgot the episode a month later, when Barbarossa was unleashed and coupled with the fact that the Deputy Führer had been effectively silenced by Britain's imprisonment, the subsequent news blackout on the incident and the fact that the man was kept a prisoner for 42 years, Hess' peace flight became a small, but largely unremembered, matter of history, even though it should have been very significant.

As for theories about a possible murder of Hess in Spandau, one must remember that Hess was on the verge of being released. In 1987, perestroika was largely in effect and the idea that Hess should be kept alone in Spandau, didn't play well. Many public voices had been calling for Hess' release for years, saying that his imprisonment for so many years and in such conditions was unfair, despite his membership of such a universally despised political movement. Many pointed out that Hess' participation within the party had ceased, before the regime had embarked on its more notorious activities. In addition, other party members who had been active the whole war had been released long before.

Britain had used Soviet Russia as an excuse as to why Hess had not been released many times before, but ironically, when Russia had declared that Hess' release was being seriously discussed, the British government were prepared to veto such a proposal.

Plus, Hess' movement was extremely restricted. He couldn't raise his arms above shoulder due to arthritis and his method of "suicide" was dubious, to say the least. Why would a man choose to hang himself with the cord of a lamp from a window frame, when he could have slit his wrists many times in the bath? In addition, the height of the window would have required Hess to strangle himself, as it was impossible to actually hang himself. Quite difficult, if not outright impossible for a man in his condition.

As to why bother murdering him, if indeed he was murdered. One must remember that with Hess' release he with have been free to tell the absolute truth about his peace flight to Britain, who contacted him and what he had really told the British government during that time. Considering that the British still have many, many documents on Hess locked away, one has to conclude that there is some VERY sensitive information within, that they do not want in the public domain.

But, if there's one thing that's shrouded in more mystery than Hess' flight to Britain in 1941, it's his death in 1987.

BESman

Tony EH wrote: »

Britain attacked Germany, not the other way round.

I knew I phrased that badly. What I meant to say is that Germany wanted to avoid a conflict with Britain if possible and Hess believed this could be achieved. Whether Hitler approved of this or not, I don't know. I think Hitler began to accept that peace with Britain was no longer possible with Churchill at the helm, whom he grew to loathe very quickly.

A lot of interesting points raised in the rest of your post. Germany must have offered some kind of controversial peace deal with Britain. Definitely some sensitive information being concealed. I shall await 2025 with anticipation...

Snickers Man

BESman wrote: »

I've also heard conspiracy theories that Hess was murdered in captivity by the SAS as he held a lot of secrets. I don't think this is plausible as he was 93 when he died so why go to the bother of murdering him.

The most prominent "conspiracy theory" around Hess was that the old man held in Spandau prison all those years was not he. The real Hess had died round about the time of his flight to Britain and to cover it up the British had substituted an imposter, whom they kept in jail in Berlin until the late 1980s.

A book entitled "The murder of Rudolf Hess" brought these allegations to the public. By coincidence in the late 1980s, my landlord in London was a military doctor who had been stationed in Berlin and who had medical responsibility for Hess. He said the book was bull****.

As I remember, some of the main evidence the book cited (I never read it) was that the "Hess" in Spandau didn't have bullet wounds that the real Hess had suffered in WWI. My doctor landlord said he did.

Tony EH

Ah, I knew what you meant BESman. I was just being a bit of a "divil". Sorry.

Hitler had been offering peace deals to Britain for the better half of 1940, but none of them worked, even though they were willing to be addressed by a large enough circle. But Britain knew that Germany was on the back foot. Chamberlain's declaration of war in 1939, even though it was 90% bluff, really did put a spanner in the works for Hitler's plans and his repeated efforts to make peace with Britain betrayed his intentions toward her in the most transparent manner. Churchill, being the wise old owl he was, knew that Hitler and Germany was on flimsy ground with regards to Britain and despite bombing campaigns etc, he was well aware that an actual invasion was never even on the cards. Britain could actually "take it", not in the manner of his propaganda rhetoric, but in factual terms, divorced from usual weekly newsreel nonsense.

Churchill had had Hitler's measure from the beginning and knew that he had held most, if not all, of the cards in their particular game. He had figured that Hitler's interest extended to Britain, only as far as Britain wished to remain in that game. As long as a Britain wasn't under direct land attack from Germany and the distinct possibility of America coming in on Britain's side remained as potent as it was, then Churchill maintained the upper hand.

Hess's peace proposal, as far as I know, contained basically the same offers that had been put forth since 1939. Namely that Germany had no designs on Britain or her empire. She also had no interest in reclaiming the colonies lost at the end of WWI. Her only demand was a reassurance that Britain would not interfere in Germany's business, which meant dealing with Russia. But, in fairness, most people, even with the political wherewithal, wouldn't have known exactly what Hitler's intent was.

What remains mysterious about the Hess affair was who or what had lured him to Britain. Hess wasn't a stupid man, despite his labeling as such by his MI5 interrogator and a penchant for astrology etc, so there must have been something that motivated him to undertake such a drastic flight. Was there contact from a peace party made up English ruling class types? Was the contact from from people within political circles? Was there even contact from someone within the cabinet?

It's all impossible to know at present and, to be honest, will probably remain so, even after the release of known locked documents. I'm sure, if there are other, more sensitive, documents regarding this issue, that they will never see the light of day.

Tony EH

Snickers Man wrote: »

The most prominent "conspiracy theory" around Hess was that the old man held in Spandau prison all those years was not he. The real Hess had died round about the time of his flight to Britain and to cover it up the British had substituted an imposter, whom they kept in jail in Berlin until the late 1980s.

A book entitled "The murder of Rudolf Hess" brought these allegations to the public. By coincidence in the late 1980s, my landlord in London was a military doctor who had been stationed in Berlin and who had medical responsibility for Hess. He said the book was bull****.

As I remember, some of the main evidence the book cited (I never read it) was that the "Hess" in Spandau didn't have bullet wounds that the real Hess had suffered in WWI. My doctor landlord said he did.

The idea that the man in Spandau wasn't Hess is so absurd that it doesn't even bare thinking about. Just why anyone would be willing to substitute their life for an incarceration of 40+ years is a question that doesn't even need asking. In addition, it would have been nigh on impossible to actually find a man that even closely resembled Hess, his features were that unique.

But, the real letdown to that silly conspiracy theory is that Wolf Hess, Rudolf's son, always maintained that prisoner #7 was his father.

HavingCrack

What mental illness was Hess suffering from out of curiosity? Out of interest was he 'cured' so to speak during his incarceration?

Fuinseog

HavingCrack wrote: »

What mental illness was Hess suffering from out of curiosity? Out of interest was he 'cured' so to speak during his incarceration?

a lot of negative things were said about Hess to muddy the waters. He was a dangerous man and the British could not afford to have him free and talking.

He was allowed to keep a diary in Spandau, but once it was completed it was confiscated and destroyed.

He was essentially a political prisoner but Amnesty International never took up his case.

Tony EH

I don't think Hess was suffering from any mental illness at all. There are historians that say he was faking mental illness at Nuremberg, because he was hoping to avoid the rope and that makes a lot of sense to me. In fact, I believe he admitted to faking during the trial.

His son Wolf never mentioned any illness either.

Fuinseog

Tony EH wrote: »

I don't think Hess was suffering from any mental illness at all. There are historians that say he was faking mental illness at Nuremberg, because he was hoping to avoid the rope and that makes a lot of sense to me. In fact, I believe he admitted to faking during the trial.

His son Wolf never mentioned any illness either.

on what charge would they hang him on? he had nothing to do with the final Solution.
Nuremberg itself was a travesty of justice.
maybe it would have been more humane to hang the man rather than lock him away from 1941-87 allowing him little or contact with his family or indeed fellow humans.