Rudolf Hess and His Mission to England

Rudolf Hess

From: M.J.Ratcliffe@bris.ac.uk (M.J.Ratcliffe@bris.ac.uk)
Subject: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1996/02/23

Hi,
Could somebody plese clarify this for me:

I reckon the trip to England in '41 (date?) by Rudolf Hess was made entirely without prompting by anybody of either side, and that Hitler was livid.

Someone has suggested that RH was invited over by the English to talk
peace, and was arrested on landing (by parachute I think?).

I reckon that his trip WAS unsolicited - who is right?          Max

From: George F. Hardy (georgeh@www.comet.chv.va.us)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1996/02/23

IMHO, neither of you. I think that Hess made the trip with Hitler's full approval. That Hitler hoped that he could negotiate an armistice. That Churchill and England would welcome 1) peace and 2) the elimination of communism in the USSR. (So I don't agree with your theory.)

What happened is a matter of record. He was NOT welcomed in England. (So I don't agree with "someone's" theory.) Hess remained jailed for so long because of England's desire to supress knowledge of this offer.

Again, this is my opinion. I have no secret information or convincing facts to support it.

GFH

From: Donald Phillipson (ad201@freenet.carleton.ca)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1996/02/25

Recorded matters show:
1. Hess flew to Britain several weeks before Germany invaded Russia: if
Hess had Hardy's item 2) in mind, he kept it secret.

2. Hess remained in jail until death because the Occupying Powers decided
in 1946 unanimous agreement was required to release Nuremberg Tribunal
prisoners before completion of their sentence (life in prison for Hess)
and the USSR never agreed to release Hess early. If the USSR government
was thus acting in the British interest rather than its own (including
vindictiveness or caprice of Brezhnev) the reason went unrecorded.

From: Jan Wellmann (fox@janmdr.pp.fi)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1996/02/25

The facts are closed to the public until the year 2015. This in itself supports your theory.

Some sources purport that Hess was "institutionalized" in Britain. He received electric shock treatment and was heavily drugger, until he lost his memory. This would tend to support your theory too.

The peace offers - some six of them between 6.10.39 and 19.7.40 - that Hitler made were vehemently rejected by Churchill who wanted Germany's complete surrender as a condition of peace. This would also tend to ...

Regards,    Jan Wellmann

From: Dirk Lorek (dirk.lorek@mailbox.swipnet.se)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1996/03/02

Three Hess jokes from the Third Reich:

- Isn't it a paradox, the second man of the third Reich is the first one
who defects.

- Two Gestapo-prisoners: A: Why are you here ? B: At May, 5, I said that Hess
was insane, what about you ? A: At May, 15, I said Hess wasn't insane.

- After Hess' flight, Churchill welcomes him saying: Oh, you are the insane
one! Hess: Oh no, I'm only the deputy.

Regards, Dirk

From: rdopf@delphi.com (rdopf@delphi.com)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1996/02/26

Rudolf Kies, Ph.D. <76046.1730@compuserve.com> writes:

>M.J.Ratcliffe@bris.ac.uk wrote: >*Could somebody plese clarify this for me:
>
>I reckon the trip to England in '41 (date?) by Rudolf Hess was made entirely without prompting by anybody of either side, and that Hitler was livid.

The 1986 book "Motive for a Mission" by James Douglas-Hamilton with a forward by Alan Bullock may be of interest to you. I've only skimmed it so far but it seems to go along with the theory the mission was entirely of Hess' own origin. It makes a point that Goering once spoke of personally undertaking such a mission but then abandoned the idea. The suggestion is made that Hess, who was falling out of favor with the Fuhrer, seized upon the idea to secure a favorable peace with Britain and win favor again.
R. Dopf

From: Cassan4929 (cassan4929@aol.com)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1996/02/25

There is no evidence to suggest that Hess' flight was invited, or expected
by anyone in England.

Though there is some evidence that Hess believed that his efforts would be
wellcomed with open arms, there is as much evidence that he had lost touch
with reality!

A recent article in the british publication Aeroplane Monthly discused the
known facts of Hess' flight and a second article dicussed the details of
the aircraft used. This article mentions that Hess had evidently gone
seeking to land at or near the home of a certain peer (a Duke or Earl as I
recall) whom he had once met, feeling that he would be welcomed. This
particular peer was on active duty at the time and stationed some distance
away and had no knowledge of the trip.

Another snapshot of this event can come from the postwar writings of
Speer, Doenitz and Raeder, who all considered Hess to be unstable and
perhaps even insane.

Perhaps one day the records of the interviews and interogations by the
British of Rudolf Hess will be made available to the public.

From: Bnitzel (bnitzel@aol.com)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1996/02/26

The saga of Rudolf Hess is still one of the strangest incidents in World
War II. To say he was insane and acted on his own, was coerced to make the
trip by England, or sent as some kind of diplomatic project by Hitler are
all possibilities. Which one is right? That's anyone's guest. My readings
have always led me to agree with the person here who argues that Hess had
some type of mental problems. There is absolutely no evidence that England
invited him, and with the abilities of MI5 and MI6 at this time, no
intelligence work would have been botched like this incident. After all,
look at Britain's most successful effort to float a body into Spain with
misleading information on the D-Day plans. Likewise look at their
code-breaking efforts. These incidents are not typical of a nation that
would "invite" Hess to England for diplomatic overtures. Likewise, at this
point in time, Hitler had Europe under control, or at least he thought he
did. He was convinced England would not attack him, and he had conquered
everyone else that could threaten him, so he was turning East to begin the
real reason he started the war in the first place. Thus, his sending Hess
to England to negotiate a peace of some kind seems unlikely in the least,
impossible more likely. So, what's left? A dearranged man with some kind
of an idea that he could "save" the world and settle all the problems of
Europe. One writer here concluded that if Hitler had won the war, Hess
would have been treated as a spy. He was in England, probably more
severely than any other German excluding the generals and officials who
were hung at Nuremberg. I agree, it would be historical revealing if the
British would release their records of the incident, but I doubt they
will. If it isn't favorable, the British have a definite tendancy to hide
the problem under a cloak of secrecy.

Bob Nitzel

From: Dallas Patterson (nye@ns1.fidalgo.net)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1997/05/19

See information about the Nuremberg Trials to learn about the crimes for which he was convicted and sentenced to life in prison. If memory serves me correctly, he was found guilty of planning and waging a war of aggression. He was second in importance only to Adolf Hitler in the heirarchy of the Third Reich. As a senior executive officer in the Nazi
government, he shared responsibility as an accomplice to the crimes against humanity when the concentration camps were built and used against political and ethnic enemies during his participation from 1932 to 1942. He was a direct participant in the establishment and execution of many criminal government policies while he held his Nazi offices. Many of those policies were part of the early years of the Holocaust.

However, there has been a controversy about whether or not Hess was ever in Spandau Prison. It has been claimed that the man identified as Rudolph Hess in Spandau prison was not him at all. It is claimed that British authorities rewarded Hess for his wartime anti-Hitler cooperation by sending an impostor to Spandau Prison. This controversial conspiracy
theory has been discussed in books and television documentaries.

From: Mark Heaton (heaton@hc.ti.com)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1997/05/19

This is a minor detail but if I am not mistaken Hess was given the honor of being the last prisoner held in the Tower of London ... However, he was able to keep his head unlike some prior guests.

Cheers, Mark

From: Nog (nog@pygmy.demon.co.uk)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1997/05/27

>I prefer the version where he was killed- either crashed or shot down by someone. An imposter took his place.

I know all my posts start this way but WHY?. If the job of being the imposter for Hess or Speer was advertised would you take it?

Job prospects

Germany win = hung by neck from meat hook.
England win = life in prison
Draw        = never to be seen again

I think Hess came to Scotland to do a deal and was duped. Its still odd why he was kept in Spandow till he died.

From: -Mayo,H.H. (hhm@ihgp2.ih.lucent.com)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1997/05/30

>I prefer the version where he was killed- either crashed or shot down by
>someone. An imposter took his place. I read a book on that once that was
>pretty convicing. Apparantly, the photo showing the plane he supposedly
>went to Britain in shows clearly identification numbers that do not match
>the markings on the aircraft that left Germany. That's just one thing.

We clearly know that Hess was drugged, and his uniform was duplicated for some reason. My suspicion is that there was indeed a secret negotiation between Hess, and parties in Britain to end the war. An interesting scenario follows from there. Hess' plane was modified with larger fuel tanks, and this certainly gave time for Himmler and or Goering to find out what he was planning. They are then presented with an opportunity to rid themselves of a nuisance. Hitler is personally aware of the plan, so they can not move against Hess directly. They plan to substitute a double whom Himmler controls. The double is charged with negotiating on terms that they want, or is simply charged with finding out who the contacts in England are. The double presumes that he will be returned to Germany quickly. A double is found, and substituted for Hess and flys to England in place of the real one who is either secretly waylaid, or shot
down.

On arriving in England, the phony Hess is taken into captivity, and immediatly the plan starts to go wrong. For one reason or another, the British soon realize that "Hess" is a fake. So what do they do? They can't tell the public this because they would look like fools after trumpeting that they have the deputy fuhrer in custody. They can't let "Hess" start blabbing names of those who were involved in the negotiations, so they are in a real fix as to what to do with him.

                         Larry Mayo

From: Ted Skrecky (ud264@victoria.tc.ca)
Subject: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1998/05/13

I recently read Hugh Thomas's book "The Murder of Rudolf Hess". Basically,
it stated that prisoner No. 7 in Spandau gaol could not have been
Rudolf Hess. Numerous points were made to support this theory, the most
important of which was the medical evidence. During WWI, Rudolf Hess
suffered a bullet wound to the lung, however, according to the author
who examined the Spandau prisoner on a couple of occasions in 1973, No. 7
did not have any scars and also x-rays showed no damage to the lung.
So, was the Rudolf Hess who was sentenced to life in prison at the
Nuremberg Trials the real Hess or an impostor?

From: Gord McFee (gmcfee@ibm.net)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 1998/05/14

On 13 May 1998 22:17:09 -0400, George Hardy <georgeh@ankerstein.org>
wrote:

> In article <6jcudn$70n@dgs.dgsys.com>, Ted Skrecky <ud264@victoria.tc.ca>
> says:
> >
> >So, was the Rudolf Hess who was sentenced to life in prison at the
> >Nuremberg Trials the real Hess or an impostor?
>
> I would be willing to bet that he was the same man who was
> captured in England in 1941. Was he Hess?

I would make the same bet. From what I have read, there seems little
doubt he was Hess, and certainly Albert Speer, who spent 20 years in
Spandau with Hess, thought it was Hess. Speer can hardly have been
mistaken about this, and I cannot think of any reason why he would have
covered for an imposter. That being said, when Speer was released in
1966, Hess was the only inmate left, which allows one to speculate what
might have happened after that.

From: Ross Binnie (dianaros@ican.net)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii

Date: 1998/05/18

Certainly the Hess family believed he was in Spandau. Hess' son (Rolf?) tried repeatedly to get him released. There was some press coverage about the issue in the world press.

From: Andrew Clark (aclark@cedar-consultancy.co.uk)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 2000/08/24

<rothenburgsort@my-deja.com> wrote

> what could have been the
> reason for that man (Rudolf Hess, deputy of Adolf Hitler) to fly to UK ?

I'm with Churchill on this one: Hess wanted to serve the Fuhrer whom he adored by securing peace between Germany and Britain so as to give Germany a free hand in the East. In the great man's words "Hess's flight was an act of
benevolent lunacy".

From: Polar (smeric@mindspring.com)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 2000/08/27

With a reputation for absolute loyalty to Hitler, Hess had little intelligence or personality of his own. During the later 1930s and the first years of World War II, when military and foreign policy preoccupied Hitler, Hess's power waned, and his influence was further undermined by Martin Bormann and other top Nazi leaders. Hess decided in the spring of 1941 to bring the continuing military struggle between Germany and Britain to an end by means of a spectacular coup and thereby restore his flagging prestige. On May 10 he secretly flew alone from Augsburg and landed by parachute in Scotland with peace proposals, demanding a free hand for Germany in Europe and the return of former German colonies as compensation for Germany's promise to respect the integrity of the British Empire. Hess's proposals met with no response from the British government, which treated him as a prisoner of war and held him throughout World War II. His quixotic action was likewise rejected by Hitler himself, who accused Hess of suffering from "pacifist delusions."

Or some other kind of delusions!            Polar

From: Donald Phillipson (ad201@freenet.carleton.ca)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 2000/08/28

William Dillard (OWLSDILLARD@webtv.net) writes:

> Obviously speculative, but I truly believe that Hess was sent by Hitler > in order to secure an "Aryan" truce. As angry as Hitler was towards > Chuchill, he still believed Britain to be a natural ally. His lack of > destroying English troops at Dunkirk as well as a promise to keep the > British Empire intact could be construed as some evidence of this. But

Difficulties:
1. Hitler had never before this used Hess for any international or diplomatic mission. (Top-level diplomacy was assigned to Ribbentrop, e.g. Nazi- Soviet Pact; Ribbentrop was rightly or wrongly supposed to be an expert on Britain with the very best access to backstairs powers in the UK.)

2. Why would a diplomatic mission begin with a dangerous long-distance flight? Hess could just go to Sweden or Switzerland by train and walk into the British embassy.

3. Against Hitler's supposed belief Britain was a "natural ally" must be set Hitler's stated belief the #2 enemy of the Third Reich was the "pluto-democracies" (chiefly Britain and France), subordinate only to #1 = Bolshevism (except 1939-41 when the Third Reich allied with the USSR to destroy Poland. This created for diplomats what is nowadays called a "credibility problem." You have to be extra optimistic to suppose Hitler did not know this.)

From: Will Simmons (wsimmons@world.std.com)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 2000/08/26

The poster asked just in time to be presented with my latest theory for this round of what has become a staple thread. It is based upon reading Louis C. Kilzer's book, "Churchill's Deception," which suggests that Churchill had developed a sham around the well-known "fascist" faction in Britain -- the so-called "Cliveden Set" -- to the effect that there really was a "peace party." This illusory bunch "leaked" a plan to replace Churchill with some who would make a deal with Hitler, freeing Germany to march eastward. Kilser theorizes that his belief in this fictitious "peace party" was one reason that Hitler cancelled the invasion of England.

If there's any truth to this Churchillian scheme, perhaps Hess fell for the ploy and flew to Britain to connect with this phantasmal crowd. Or, perhaps Hitler sent Hess to test the waters, then disavowed his Vice Chancellor when he learned the truth. Or -- and this is truly far fetched -- perhaps there was even more to the exercise than we can guess and, as a result, Hitler continued to credit the "peace party" and proceeded to "do his part" by invading Russia.

My new thesis would also help explain why Stalin kept Hess in Spandau until he died. Stalin might have thought that British machinations somehow encouraged Hitler's invasion of Russia; and that if the British did in fact cover it up by killing Hess and substituting an imposter (as suggested by other books quoted in this ng), keeping the imposter locked up would be unchallengeable revenge, as well as amusing in a suitably macabre way.

Of course, as with s o much about WWII (and other things) these days, we shall likely never know the whole truth of the matter.
-- Will �

From: Andrew Clark (aclark@cedar-consultancy.co.uk)
Subject: Re: Rudolf Hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 2000/08/27

Will Simmons <wsimmons@world.std.com> wrote

> ... Louis C. Kilzer's book, "Churchill's Deception," which suggests that
> Churchill had developed a sham around the well-known "fascist" faction in
> Britain -- the so-called "Cliveden Set" -- to the effect that there really
> was a "peace party."

I think you are confusing two distinct political groupings:

There was a fairly minor Fascist movement in 1930's Britain. It attracted tens of thousands of supporters in the first half of the 1930's, and was quite a popular notion in the chattering classes. However, unlike Italy and Germany, British fascism existed not in political chaos but in a strong and well-governed democratic nation. Accordingly, as an anti-democratic movement, it was infiltrated, intercepted and squashed by legal means. But British fascism even at its height was not anti-British; on the contrary many fascists were extreme British naturists who actively wanted war with
Germany. Only a tiny proportion of British fascists wanted links with international fascism, and only a handful (such as William Joyce) were disloyal to Britain. This is why there was an outcry at the internment without trial of all fascists on the outbreak of WW2, and why 95% of them were released during the war.

The "Cliveden Set" was a loose grouping of mainly aristocratic and upper-middle class intellectuals and political figures who were mildly fascist in outlook. They met at the home of the Astors, Cliveden, on the banks of the Thames. There seems to be little evidence that any of them were disloyal to Britain, but many of the fascist contingent certainly admired Hitler and Mussolini and believed in some of the techniques used by both, such as extreme nationalism, public works to stimulate economic growth, and a resurgence of national pride.

Now, Goering in particular was strongly in touch with members of the Cliveden group, and his office papers prove that he certainly honestly thought that a good part of the British establishment admired Hitler and would follow the Fuhrer's guidance and avoid war. Goering was himself completely dedicated to Hitler, and it was therefore easier for him to
assume that others would share his devotion. Goering reported this back to Hitler and his entourage, including of course Hess. So much is fact. What we do not know (yet) is whether British intelligence managed this flow of information to Goering to deliberately mislead Hitler about the extent of British determination to fight Germany. As you point out, it was clearly in Britain's best interests from September 1939 onward to delay any German attack on Britain by holding out false hopes of capitulation or accommodation.

There was also a tremendously strong pacifist movement in Britain during
the 1930s. Pacifists won elections to Parliament on "Peace Party" platforms,
organised immense referenda against war or armaments, and even persuaded the
Oxford Union not to fight for "King & Country". But again, the overwhelming
majority of pacifists were not anti-British; they merely espoused co-operation and peace between nations rather than war, and thus tended to back appeasement of Germany rather than armed confrontation. Here events proved a hard educator: pacifism largely died a natural death in 1939/39 when even arch-appeasers like Chamberlain realised that Nazi Germany was not a force with which there could be any co-operation.

However, despite the actual demise of British pacifism in 1938/39, it is well-known that captured papers indicate the Nazi high command believed in the presence of a strong British pacifist movement even as late as 1941. On the one hand, this is difficult to credit as even in 1938 the British newspapers were reporting on the sudden lack of support for pacifist meetings, referenda and the Peace Party. But there is also lot of credible evidence that, in this instance, British intelligence went to considerable lengths to persuade German personalities and agents in Britain that pacifism was alive and kicking. An aristocratic member of Hitler's inner circle, Putzi [can't recall surname] was the main conduit of this misinformation. Again, however, any objective observer could have made a fair judgement that pacifism was dead in Britain - as indeed did Canaris in both December 1939 and March 1940.

The whole picture presented is of woefully inadequate intelligence by the Nazi leadership - they did not realise that neither British fascists nor pacifists were likely to turn traitor; they did not appreciate the demise of these movements before the war; they did not even read the newspapers reporting these facts. It also reveals the usual blind willingness to believe their own predictions in the face of objective reality - Hitler and Goering in particular deceived themselves on this and many other issues. British intelligence undoubtedly did something to aid this process of self-deception, but IMO their role was minor and not fundamental in establishing Nazi opinions.

> This illusory bunch "leaked" a plan to replace
> Churchill with some who would make a deal with Hitler, freeing Germany to
> march eastward.

It is, I think, fairly well-proven that in immediately after the Fall of France and Dunkirk, the British Political Warfare Executive asked a Swedish agent to inform Goering (whose wife was Swedish and had close family links with Stockholm) that only Churchill was in favour of fighting on and that a "Cabinet coup" backed by the King was imminent. The conclusion of the story was that a new PM would want to seek honourable terms with Germany based on a troop withdrawal from France and Belgium/Holland, French disarmament, Western recognition of German supremacy in the East, and the retention of the British Empire. The British hoped this ploy, which Goering reported to Hitler, would delay any immediate invasion of Britain while Hitler waited for the coup to happen. We have no real idea how much this ploy influenced Hitler in his national policy, but it probably tended to confirm his innate belief that everyone would fall into line with his wishes because he was a mythic genius.

> Kilser theorizes that his belief in this fictitious "peace
> party" was one reason that Hitler cancelled the invasion of England.

Nope. Hitler cancelled Sealion because the operation had no hope of success. I'm quite sure Hitler would have preferred to invade Britain and call on the peace party in person.

Admittedly, Hitler later in the war (from 1943 onwards) ordered lots of operations which had no chance of success, but in 1940 Hitler had a little more sense and had rather less ascendancy over the armed forces. Hitler never thought about invading Britain until *after* he beat France surprisingly quickly. More rashly, the Wehrmacht also failed to do any sort of forward planning for this obvious contingency. That meant that Germany could not physically invade Britain with even a remote chance of success until September, when air superiority had been obtained and the necessary
shipping was collected. In the event, of course, neither condition was achieved.

> If there's any truth to this Churchillian scheme, perhaps Hess fell for the
> ploy and flew to Britain to connect with this phantasmal crowd.

This is entirely possible. Hess knew of all the delusional thoughts of Hitler and Goering, and of the small amount of British misinformation.

> Or, perhaps
> Hitler sent Hess to test the waters, then disavowed his Vice Chancellor
> when he learned the truth.

The account of those present when the news of Hess's flight reached Hitler tends to suggest that Hitler did not know in advance. Hitler was struck dumb with astonishment for several minutes, then went into a uncontrollable
rage, literally biting the carpet and shrieking abuse at Hess.

> Or -- and this is truly far fetched -- perhaps
> there was even more to the exercise than we can guess and, as a result,
> Hitler continued to credit the "peace party" and proceeded to "do his part"
> by invading Russia.

Um. The existence of a peace party in Britain was of no practical importance to Hitler after September 1940. Germany could not invade Britain and Britain showed no signs of making peace or asking for terms. After September 1940,
if the peace party did not gain power in Britain on its own, it was useless to Hitler.

> My new thesis would also help explain why Stalin kept Hess in Spandau until
> he died.

Stalin was a cruel bully. Isn't that enough reason?

> Stalin might have thought that British machinations somehow
> encouraged Hitler's invasion of Russia

Stalin certainly not only thought this but said it publicly several times, insisting to Churchill in person that Hess was the negotiator between Churchill and Hitler for a separate peace. Even Stalin ought to have twigged that Britain did not in fact ever make peace with Germany, or cease fighting with Germany at any time. Remember, Stalin was paranoiac.

From: KM (km.wpafb@usaf.8k.com)
Subject: Re: Rudolf hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 2001-08-30 05:22:31 PST

Hello Jan,

Rudolf Hess in his early years served as Hitlers personal secretary
inspite of having no official post in the Nazi party.

In 1932, Hitler appointed him Chairman of the Central Political
Commission of the Nazi Party and *"SS General"* as a reward for his
loyal service. On April 21, 1933, he was made Deputy F��hrer, a
figurehead position with mostly ceremonial duties.

He was granted titles such as Reich Minister without Portfolio, member
of the Secret Cabinet Council, and member of the Ministerial Council
for Reich Defense. In 1939 Hess was even designated to be Hitler's
successor after G��ring.

But Hess lacked the political acumen to volley for power and lost out
his preeminence to Martin Bormann. Later he tried the ridiculous peace
jump into Scotland and was imprisoned.

From: Andrew Clark (aclark@cedar-consultancy.co.uk)
Subject: Re: Rudolf hess
Newsgroups: soc.history.war.world-war-ii
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Date: 2001-09-10 02:39:25 PST

"KM" <km.wpafb@usaf.8k.com> wrote

> But Hess lacked the political acumen to volley for power and lost out
> his preeminence to Martin Bormann.

Bormann did not rise to power until *after* Hess flew to
Scotland. He replaced Hess as Head of the NSDAP Party Chancellery
and was the gate-keeper of power. He who controlled Hitler's
access to information and people controlled Hitler, and much of
Hitler's policy in the late war was governed by Bormann's ideas.
On the other hand, even Bormann wanted to reach a negotiated
peace with the Western Allies in December 1944.