Twenty years ago, a man who during the Second World War was described as Britain’s public enemy number two, committed suicide at the age of 93. Top Nazi Rudolph Hess had been incarcerated in Spandau Prison for more than forty years but prior to his trial at Nuremberg, he was also held captive amidst the tranquil beauty of the Welsh countryside. And his three years spent here is but one episode that links the Deputy Fuhrer with Wales.

Prior to the outbreak of war, Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess had met the Duke of Hamilton at the infamous 1936 Berlin Olympic Games. Hamilton obviously left an impression on Hess, for five years later he recalled their meeting and apparently decided the British aristocrat was the ideal channel through which he could reach the British war cabinet to secure a peace with Germany. So it was, at 5.45 pm on 10th May, 1941, Hess boarded a Messerschmitt 110 plane at Augsburg airfield apparently intent on brokering a treaty that would leave Germany free to concentrate on an attack on Russia.

There are many conflicting theories to explain Hess’s flight. Some say the whole escapade was one instigated by Hitler, who promptly washed his hands of it when things went wrong. Others maintain it was an effort by Hess to raise his flagging profile with the Führer. Yet another explanation has it that Hess was merely putting space between himself and the  increasingly irrational and irate Nazi leader.

Certainly if, as many believe, Hitler supported Hess in his bold but foolhardy escapade, he made little attempt to equip his deputy for his perilous flight. Hess, it was said, had little more than a dog-eared school atlas with his route simply marked out by scribbled notes in the margin...

 

The full article is published in Cambria print magazine. The downloadable version of the full magazine including this article can be purchased and downloaded here (see right column).