Text/Feng Xuanyi
Who was Hitler's most trusted person? Before 1941, who could rank second outside of Nazi Germany and Hitler? Is it Himmler? Or Goebbels? Or Goering? None of them, the correct answer is Rudolf Walter Richard Hess.
Who is this person? What happened next? And listen to the editor slowly Xiaobian slowly.
One evening in 1920, a young man with a leg injury listened to Hitler's speech in Munich. It was the first time he had heard Hitler speak. After the speech, the young man was impressed by Hitler's eloquence and knowledge, and admired Hitler to the ground. After that speech, he joined the Nazi Party, became acquainted with Hitler, and became a close friend, private secretary, and loyalist of Hitler. This young man was Hess.
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess was born on 26 April 1894 to a family of German wholesalers in Alexandria, Egypt. He spent his time in Egypt until the age of 14 and returned to school in the Rhineland after the age of 14. He studied at the German Ecclesiastical School in Alexandria, the Bad Godisberg Institute of Education in Germany, the Neuchâtel Business School in Switzerland, and the University of Munich in Germany.
Hess was one of the first members of the Nazi Party, and he was the sixteenth member of the party. Because of his high education and profound knowledge, he quickly gained Hitler's trust and value after joining the Nazis. From then on, Hess followed Hitler closely and became his closest companion and comrade-in-arms. He was involved in many important moments of Hitler's life. In November 1923, Hitler launched the famous "Beer Hall Riot", and Hess was one of the important followers. The rebellion ended in failure, and Hitler was captured and imprisoned. Hess and Hitler went to jail together. In prison, it was Hess who helped Hitler record the famous book Mein Kampf. In 1925, after the reorganization of the Nazi Party, Hess became Hitler's personal secretary, and the two had a very close relationship, and Hitler trusted him. Since then, he has been the most trusted person around Hitler, not one of them.
In December 1932, Hess was appointed chairman of the Political Commissar of the Nazi Party by Hitler. In the same year, Hess became a member of the Nazi Party in the German Reichstag and was promoted to SS general. Following Hitler's appointment as Chancellor of Germany and the Nazi Party's rise to power, on April 21, 1933, Hess was appointed Deputy Head of the Nazi Party, becoming the Second Person in the Nazi Party after Hitler. Hitler also designated Hess as heir in 1939. This shows the degree of trust and importance hitler had in Hess.
Hess was a scholar-type official who specialized in political geography. For reasons of character, he was not a politician who was good at power, but a man who buried his head in work, and he was conscientious and loyal to Hitler. Due to his personal character, although he occupies a high position and occupies an important position, he does not cover the sky with one hand, and he is more like a scholar and professor than a politician.
Just when Hess was having a smooth political ride, he made a surprising move. After the outbreak of World War II, Germany and Britain were sworn enemies, and the two families fought each other. At this time, on May 10, 1941, Hess flew alone to England, where he claimed to negotiate peace with Britain and complete a peace mission. However, the British did not negotiate peace with him, and after he landed, they imprisoned him. This level was closed until the end of World War II in 1945. At the Nuremberg trials, he was tried alongside other German Nazi war criminals and was eventually sentenced to life in prison.
After his sentencing, Hess was imprisoned in the Spandau Military Prison in West Berlin, guarded on a rotating basis by American, Soviet, British, and French soldiers. After years of detention, Hess remained in custody, although some of the Nazi heavyweights he was tried with, such as Dönitz and Speer, were released. That's 46 years. In this long prison life of nearly half a century, Hess has lost hope of survival. On August 17, 1987, at the age of 93, Hess hanged himself in prison with unprepared guards. Hess was the longest-held and highest-ranking Nazi war criminal who started World War II.