In 1940, one of the Nazi founding fathers, Rudolph Hess, climbs into an airplane in Germany and heads for England. His avowed purpose is to negotiate an end to the war with Great Britian. Needless to say he is caught by the British, imprisoned and subsequently tried at Nuremberg as a war criminal. He lives out the remainder of his life in Spandau prison in Berlin. His death is still a matter of contention. Question: Was Hess a War Criminal ?
thanks
DJ

hmm that was a sctrange case, 46 years in prison because he wanted to end the war

Any Nazi is a war criminal. Doesnt matter what they wanted, you are affiliated with a group of egotistical(spell check?) maniacs that wanted world domination at that time and will do anything to get it. The Nazis were slaughtering hundreds of people even in 1941 and Im guessing Hess didnt do anything to try and stop it because he was a Nazi.

he landed not far away from were I used to live (eaglesham) but yes I think he was correctly tried as a war crimminal, because as Zack says we has in the higher echelons of the german goverenment at the time of the cristal-night and the closing down of jewish business and expelling them from their jobs ect and also what of the euthenasia program
?that was only stopped in '41 due to protests by the church and what of the excuction of the
polish army officers( which Russia also took part in) and the intillectual classes he had to know about that and what about the planning of war there is just no way he didnt know what was going on.
But what does interest me what really happened to Hess I don't think the man who "died" in prison was him there was no sign of the bullet wound to his chest which he got in the 1st ww and there is spectulation that he didn't hang himself either I think he either died in a flying accident in the UK along with a member of the royal family or was bumped off before the end of the war I've read a few articles on this and appartenty he used to frequently vist a local pub but the royal story is more plausable to cut a story short a royal was on a plane it crashed no were near were it should have been but it could have landed at another airstrip in scotland the soliders who found the crash site claimed to have found x number of bodies but offically the government claimed that the total amount was one less than the soldiers claimed.
And there is also a book in which some one claimed to have been on a mission to rescuce martin borman in the final days of ww2 the book does make interesting reading and claims he was pulled out so he could tell the aliies were the vast amounts of gold/monies were hidden he was supposed to have seen out the rest of his
days in the UK under a false name
heres a link to the hess enigma hess

Hess was a war criminal, however I think he got scr#*ed with the lifetime sentence. If I remember correctly, he was sort of in the backwaters of the German Hierarchy. He was supposedly like an American VP. We all know how clueless they are when it comes to things. He was gone by '40 so he missed out on most of the atrocity stuff in the extermination camps of Auschwitz and Buckenwald. Hess was present at the Nuremburg trails, so any speculation of his death pior to that is bogus. Afterwards..... who knows.

Interesting. I have either read or discussed several of the points raised. Was it really him in Spandau. The point about the war wounds is mentioned in several books and articles. The biggest controversy is over his death by "suicide." Here he is one of the most closely guarded human beings in the world and he manages to go into the garden gazebo, find an extension cord, place it over a rafter and hang himself. All, mind you, as a 90 year old man. Causes my cynical nature to question the whole deal.

He only stayed in Spandau as long as he did due to the Russians. All the others had their sentences shortened/commuted (except for the 10 that were hung). Which causes one to pause and with the medical reports of inconsistencies does indeed make one wonder if perhaps he was eliminated years earlier and a coverup became necessary

I am not a big conspiracy believer, but the facts and circumstances surrounding Hess cause me to re examine his imprisonment and death. The inconsistencies are striking. I do not think we'll ever know what really happened to him. Tragic end to a tragic creature.
DJ

Well Blaster for the most tthis is right but the one time the Russians agreed to his releas the British vetoed it? So that is where lots of the speculation comes from. Seems the Russians were looking to make a statement and were saying he could be released and the Brits said no. So folks saw the dreded conspiracy in this? I think they all just wanted him to serve a well deserved sentence.
HTH
Jeff aka beachbm2

Jeff--appreciate your response about his extended imprisonment, but for a guy who was basically out of World War II--he took a big fall. Here's Albert Speer and several others spending five years in the can then out. The proportionality escapes me. Be that as it may, what about his death? Does that raise questions with you?
thanks
DJ

Hi all

This really is one of those cases where the "conventional" history just does't add up. The fact that fellow Nazis disowned "Hess" at Nurenburg hardly helps convince anyone that the man in Spandau was him... bullet wound or otherwise...

We'll never know

Rowan

Rowan-- while we may never know truth from fiction, I trust that one of our contributors can offer a plausible explanation as to why someone would keep him imprisoned.....those who did worse (Speer) got off with a few miserable years in the can. What do you think?
DJ