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Im a bit of a WWII buff myself and I'm always disappointed no one talks more about Rudolf Hess.. Like the dude was actually adolf hitler's vice president for lack of a better word (deputy fuhrer) and his right hand man since the early days of Nazi Germany.
He wound up defying Hitler, stealing a plane, and flying into enemy territory in an attempt to end hostilities and negotiate a peace. How is such a huge event always left out of talks about WWII...
I'm not saying the guy is a hero, and obviously im glad we toppled the Nazi regime rather than just make peace. But its still a remarkably interesting piece of the story that always seems to get swept under the rug.
A very interesting period of the war and I think the character of Hess fascinating from the perspective of the politicisation of events. This is particularly the case when we look at events after the war.
During the Nuremberg Trials, the court found Hess guilty on two counts: crimes against peace (planning and preparing a war of aggression), and conspiracy with other German leaders to commit crimes. He was found not guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Although the Soviet member of the tribunal, Major-General Iona Nikitchenko, discented from the panel and thought the death penalty warranted, Hess was sentenced to prison and spent the rest of his life there (dying in 1987).
This contrasts with Albert Speer who was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity. Though he avoided the death penalty by an even closer margin (three of the eight judges advocated for the death penalty - two Soviet and one American) he was sentenced to prison. After serving only one term, was released in 1966.
While I am sure there is much legal nuance to explain this, one can't help but think strong Soviet opposition to the release of Hess, because they deemed him to have known about the German invasion of the USSR before the fact (and prima facie blamed him for it), is more the cause of his life long incarceration than his crimes.
Contrast and compare with Speer who, following support from Charles de Gaulle, US diplomat George Wildman Ball and Willy Brandt (West German Chancellor from 1969 to 1974), was released from prison and went on to have something of a celebrity life after the war. I have never been a supporter of conspiracy theories, but episodes like this do lead me to see how some of them get their traction.
From what I've read the soviets were absolutely the main opposition to releasing Hess earlier, though the reason is multifold.
I think during the trials itself the reason is as you stated because he had prior knowledge of the invasion and withheld it. Combined with the fact that while Hess viewed the Britains in a good light he generally viewed soviets as an inferior race, so clearly Hess wasnt a very friendly figure to them.
After the war spandau prison was one of the main reasons that allowed the soviets to retain control over berlin. So they had added motivation to keep it populated and running so they could prolong their occupation there. Hess was a prime target for that as they didnt like him anyway.
@freemo Pretty sure that I never learned about this in Canadian history classes, but there's a good chance I wasn't paying enough attention in Grade 9/10. I'll have to keep an eye out for the name from now on. I wonder if the War Museum mentions him at all.
@rw @design_RG