The history of Nazi Germany is like a swamp in which all more or less real facts are drowning. Difficulties are also thrown up by former allies, who are vitally interested in hiding many unpleasant events. Once upon a time there lived a Nazi, to whom all of the above can be applied in full. His name is Rudolf Hess.
Who was he?
He was a loyal companion of Adolf Hitler, a devoted member of the NSDAP. He was sentenced by decision of the Nuremberg Tribunal to life imprisonment. This is the only Nazi of this level that lasted until 1987. And what is strange is that at the beginning of that year, the Soviet Union offered to release the old man "for reasons of humanity", after which he suddenly "committed suicide" (according to the British and Americans). There is something else. Some people think that Rudolf Hess is the commandant of Auschwitz. In fact, he was Rudolf Höss, who had nothing to do with the hero of our article.
But his relatives - a number of German, Soviet, and later Russian authors - believe that he was simply eliminated,when there was a danger that the old man might tell the whole world about the real aims of the negotiations he had with the British government. The son of Rudolf Hess, Wolf Rüdiger Hess, says the same thing: “I know that initially the forensic experts spoke about the double strangulation of the father. So he hanged himself twice?”
The "suicide" mystery
Materials on his so-called suicide can only be declassified in 2017, and there is no doubt that most of the information will simply be erased from the papers. Information on his interrogations is generally classified until 2040 with the possibility of extension, so we are unlikely to ever know what the British are actually hiding.
Short biography
So, Rudolf Hess (1894-1987) was born into a hereditary trading family, studied to be a merchant in Switzerland. During the First World War, he finally broke with his father's business and volunteered for the front. First he commanded a platoon, then he became a pilot. Among its commanders was the infamous G. Goering. Awarded the Iron Cross. He ended the war as a lieutenant, by that time he had received two more Iron Crosses. Even opponents of Nazism note that Rudolf Hess at that time was a devoted son of Germany and honestly fought for it. After that, he joins the secret society "Thule", becomes a member of one of the volunteer battalions.
In 1920 he joined the NSDAP. Studying in Munich. His scientific teacher was the famous Karl Haushofer, who created the German geopolitical school. In 1923, he was a member of the Beer Putsch, fled to Austria, was captured and sat in the same cell with Hitler himself. Two years later he became his personal secretary. In 1933 he was appointed his deputy in the party. Who Invented "Sieg Heil"? Rudolf Hess! The Hitler Youth is also his brainchild. In a word, he was not the last person…
In 1939, the Fuhrer appoints him as his possible successor (after Goering). In May 1941, on a private plane, he secretly flies to England, is again captured. This time he will sit in a cell until the very end of his life … We can assume that the biography of Rudolf Hess is over. But he left behind too many questions.
A landmark flight
It should be remembered that May 10, 1941 can rightly be considered no less significant date than June 21 of the same year. Allegedly, Rudolf Hess hijacks the Messerschmitt-110 from the military airfield, after which he flies to England on it. There have been such cases in world history, but extremely rarely.
Just think about it: the man whom Hitler officially named his successor two years earlier suddenly “escapes” to Great Britain, with which Germany has been at war for two years! It is strange to think that the man who fanatically shouted "Sieg heil!", Rudolf Hess, decided to betray his Fuhrer.
Officially, Hitler immediately called his successor crazy, Stalin expressed deep doubts about the accident of the flight, and the British themselves have not been able to say anything intelligible for 70 years. The world's experts havestrong suspicions that they will not say anything further. And the upcoming declassification of the dossier does not play any role, since anything can “suddenly” happen to these papers.
Official flight history
So, on a warm May evening, having “hijacked” a completely new plane in perfect technical condition, he flies on it towards Scotland, without encountering the slightest (!) opposition from the air defense forces. No one is following him, which also makes me think…
Flying in the area where Duke Hamilton was supposed to live, he jumps with a parachute, sending the plane into a free fall. In the life of the 48-year-old Hess, such extreme entertainment had never appeared before, which played a role in the landing. He breaks his ankle and severely injures his spine. With difficulty hobbled to the nearest farm, Rudolf Hess (whose photo is in the article) conveys that he must urgently see Duke Hamilton. He is taken into custody and handed over to the army authorities.
Unusual oddities…
It is noteworthy that "Nazi No. 2" at the same time does not ask for political asylum, which is quite natural in this case. He constantly emphasizes the outstanding role of his mission. It is very difficult to believe the official version of the UK. According to her, only "small office clerks" communicated with him. So that only bureaucratic “cogs” bother to talk to Hitler’s deputy himself?!
So what is the secret of Rudolf Hess? Why did he fly to England, although he did not need asylumand did not deny his important mission in any way? What made him leave his native Vaterland and, risking his life, go to England, where no one was waiting for him? Or… very much even waited? As they say, “he left his grandmother and left his grandfather”: he was not shot down by either the German or the English air defense system, there was no chase after him. He was far from the best pilot, it would not have been difficult to catch up with Hess. What can we pay attention to such "little things" that in those parts where "Nazi No. 2" went, the network of radar stations was perhaps the densest in Foggy Albion. Of course, "no one noticed" him.
On "democratic" interrogation methods
The Nuremberg Tribunal acknowledged that Hess was carrying to England some important proposals for a draft peace treaty, which was approved by Hitler himself. And further. Today it is known for sure that the significant flight took place a couple of weeks after the exact date of the attack on our country was set … But an even more interesting fact is recorded in the transcript of the tribunal itself. At the end of August 1946, Hess nevertheless decided to reveal some information about the real goals of his mission. As soon as he managed to say: "In the spring of 1941 …", he was instantly interrupted by the chairman from the British side, Lawrence. The mystery of Rudolf Hess has not been solved.
Immediately after that, Hess stopped talking. Moreover, he immediately began to play the feeble-minded, who completely lost his memory. Simply put, the British shut up their protégé's mouth so that he would not have time to say what he should not have said in any case. Note that not only Rudolph was interrogated in this way. Hess. Auschwitz, which was led by Rudolf Höss, also keeps many of its terrible secrets only because many of its members simply fled to the same England and the USA, where they found safe shelter from the persecution of the NKVD.
So why did he fly to England?
Most likely, in 1941, Adolf Hitler's deputy was carrying such an offer that the UK could not refuse (and did not want to, apparently). What is the essence of the proposal, it is easy to guess - to abandon the operation "Sea Lion" in exchange for the cessation of hostilities on the British side. Hitler needed this peace in order to start a war with the USSR. The British wanted the same … So Rudolf Hess, whose quotes were widely used in the Reich Chancellery, was definitely not a traitor to Germany, flying into the camp of the "worst enemy".
Treacherous World
The statement of the notorious Allen Dulles, who later became director of the CIA, says the same. In 1948, Dulles openly stated that back in the early 1940s, British intelligence in Berlin had contacted Hess himself in order to negotiate with the Fuhrer. At the same time, Hitler's deputy was told that, subject to an attack on the USSR, England would not interfere and stop hostilities. Most likely, in May 1941, Hess was taking to Britain a proposal for a separate peace, where the following conditions were prescribed:
- Complete cessation of hostilities on both sides.
- England can (should) join the aggression against the USSR.
- Conclusion of peace between Great Britain andItaly.
- The transfer to the Germans of all their colonies, which they lost during the WWI. The withdrawal of British troops from Iraq, rich in oil deposits.
- Complete freedom for London within the English empire.
- Coalition of all European states to fight the Soviets (in principle, it already existed).
- Removal from government of Winston Churchill.
The last one is highly debatable. Churchill appears as an ardent "opponent of Nazism" only when viewed from a distance. At one time, he got along well with Mussolini, and with Hitler, if necessary, he could easily make friends. The country where Rudolf Hess was during the war did not fight so zealously against Nazism, bothering to open a second front only in 1944.
Reasons for the attack on the USSR
And why could the British want to attack the USSR by the Germans? The answer is very simple. Since the end of the First World War, there has been a single independent state in Europe that has pursued the same policy. Since the 19th century, England has done everything to weaken Russia, and has succeeded a lot. The Russian-Turkish wars, the war with Japan, the suicidal entry of the Russian Empire into WWI - all these are links in the same chain. Surely the British pinned great hopes on the Bolsheviks, especially since Lenin had already concluded the “obscene peace of Brest-Litovsk”.
They assumed that with the same ease he could pass a couple of tidbits to the "Queen of the Seas". But Ilyich turned out to be not so simple: first he put an end to the interventionists, and then completely abandonedold debts of Nicholas II, which caused Russia's entry into the First World War on the side of the Entente.
Naturally, the sponsors of the White Guards did not tolerate such an "insult". There is a lot of evidence that it was English loans and the "blindness" of the British that enabled Hitler to create a first-class army, although he was generally forbidden to have something like that under the conditions of the post-war world. Just think about it - Germany, a completely "demilitarized" country, is openly building ships and tanks, but the "allies" do not pay any attention to this! The Fuhrer was the perfect tool to take over the USSR. But the British miscalculated somewhat: Hitler created such a good army that some British could no longer (and frankly were cowardly) dictate their terms to him.
Guarantees and Offers
Of course, Hess was probably given some kind of guarantee. We can only guess about them, although the main ones are beyond doubt: Great Britain could simply promise not to open the Second Front and not interfere in any way with the solution of the “Eastern Question”. Although some historians (and not only Soviet and Russian ones) believe that it could have been an open statement of England on the side of Nazi Germany. The late Lev Bezymensky said that Hess was instructed to create a single European coalition.
Against whom, no need to tell for a long time. The British clearly did not want to openly fight the USSR, since many of their citizens would obviously not understand this, but they really did not interferethe Nazis to fight the Soviet Union did not prevent the creation of volunteer units from British citizens who fought on the Eastern Front. Moreover, it was England that became a safe haven for nonhumans from the Galicia division after the war, and their “faithful sons”, who fought on the side of the Reich, were not oppressed there in any way.
The End of Nazi 2
Hess stayed comfortably in the Tower of London until October 6, 1945. After Nuremberg, he was sent to Germany, to the Spandau prison. The conditions of his detention were so cruel that even Brezhnev was going to release the old Nazi. He did not want Hess to be a bogeyman showing the whole world that "the USSR is mocking old people." But then the expected happened…
In mid-August 1987, he was found dead with a short wire tied around the neck of "Nazi No. 2". According to his son's recollections, there were two "in the form of the US Army" nearby, calmly smoking cigarettes and not reacting in any way to requests for help. However, there was a reaction: one of them immediately did an "artificial massage" of the old man's chest, breaking ten of his ribs and tearing part of the insides. It was done professionally and calmly. A couple of days later (by order of the English prison administration) all personal belongings and diaries of Hess were destroyed. Based on this, it is difficult to count on the real disclosure of all the facts and mysteries associated with the name of this person. If we talk about his quotes, then we can cite the following as an example:
- "I must confess frankly that the liquidation of Jews fromthe help of the gas had a calming effect on me. I was terrified to see the mountains of the executed, among whom were women and children. The gas freed us from these blood streams…"
- "There was no way for me to get away from it. I had to continue the process of mass destruction, worry about the death of others, look at what was happening coldly, although everything was boiling inside … When something emergency happened, I could not immediately go home Then I mounted a horse in order to somehow forget myself behind a wild gallop, to get rid of the painful pictures that stood before my eyes, or I went to the stable in order to forget at least a little with my favorites.
