Hess, Rudolf (1894-1987), served as deputy leader of the Nazi Party in Germany during the 1930’s. In addition, he was German dictator Adolf Hitler’s private secretary and one of his most loyal followers. In May 1941, during World War II, Hess piloted a plane to Scotland to persuade Britain to get out of the war and leave Europe to the Germans. Hess said that Hitler had no knowledge of Hess’s plan. Hess was imprisoned in Britain until after the war ended in 1945. Later, at Nuremberg, Germany, Hess was tried and sentenced to life imprisonment for war crimes (see Nuremberg Trials). He died in Spandau Prison in Berlin on Aug. 17, 1987, at the age of 93. Prison officials reported that Hess had hanged himself in his cell.
Hess was born on April 26, 1894, in Alexandria, Egypt. He served in the German Army in World War I (1914-1918). He became a Nazi in 1920, while a student at the University of Munich. He joined the Nazi Party after hearing its leader, Adolf Hitler, speak. Hitler was imprisoned in 1923 after a failed attempt to overthrow the German government. Hess began serving as Hitler’s secretary while the imprisoned Hitler was writing Mein Kampf (1925), a book about his life and political ideas. In 1933, after Hitler became head of Germany, he appointed Hess deputy leader of the Nazi Party.
