Rudolf Walter Richard (Hess) Heß (1894 - 1987)

Born 26 Apr 1894 in Alexandria, Khedivate of Egypt, Ottoman Empire

Ancestors

Husband of Ilse (Pröhl) Heß — married 20 Dec 1927 in München, Bayern, Deutschland

Descendants

Died 17 Aug 1987 at age 93 in Spandau, West Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany

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NOT TO BE CONFUSED WITH RUDOLF HÖSS !

Biography

Rudolf (Hess) Heß is Notable.

Rudolf Walter Richard Heß, son of Johann Fritz Heß and Klara Münch, was born on 26 April 1894 in Ibrahimieh, Alexandria, British-occupied Khedivate of Egypt, nominally a province of the Ottoman Empire. His parents were both born in Germany. ^[1]

Rudolf belonged to the German community in Alexandria, where he frequented a German Lutheran school. He had little contact with the British living there, nor with the local native Egyptians.

In 1908 Rudolf was sent to the Otto-Kühne-Schule in Bad Godesberg bei Bonn and never returned to Egypt. Upon graduation at the École Supérieure de Commerce in Neuchâtel, Switzerland, he began commercial studies in Hamburg.

When World War I broke out, Rudolf Heß enlisted in the Infantery of the German Empire. He fought in Verdun, amongst other places, and was wounded several times during the war. From April to August 1915 he rose from the rank of enlisted man to Leutnant der Reserve (Reserve Lieutenant) and was awarded the Iron Cross, Second Class. In December 1918 he left the Armed Forces.

In 1919 Rudolf Heß enrolled in the University of München, where he studied geopolitics under Karl Haushofer.

In April 1920 Rudolf Hess met Ilse Pröhl, a fellow student at University. They married on 20 December 1927. They had one son:

1. Wolf Rüdiger Hess, born in 1937. ^{[2] [3] [4]}

On 1 July 1920 Rudolf Heß joined the Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei, abbreviated as NSDAP, and commonly referred to in English as the Nazi Party.

In 1933 Rudolf Heß was appointed Deputy Führer to Adolf Hitler, a position which he held until 10 May 1941, when he secretly flew to Scotland in a vain attempt to negotiate peace with the United Kingdom. Enraged, Adolf Hitler relieved Heß of his position as Deputy Führer and expelled him from the Nazi Party. Rudolf Heß spent the years from 1941 to 1945 in captivity in the United Kingdom. In 1945 he was handed over by the British to the International Military Court at Nürnberg.

On 1 October 1946 Rudolf Heß was convicted by the Court at Nürnberg of crimes against peace and conspiracy with other German leaders to commit crimes; he was however absolved of the two graver charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes. He was given a life sentence. From then until his death in 1987 he was incarcerated in an allied military prison at Spandau, Federal Republic of Germany (then commonly known as West Germany).

Rudolf Walter Richard Heß died - presumably by his own hand - on 17 August 1987 in Spandau prison, Berlin-Wilhelmstadt, Federal Republic of Germany. ^[5] He was buried at the Protestant parish cemetery of Wunsiedel. On 5 October 2011 the Protestant parish council of Wunsiedel announced that the burial contract would not be renewed. They thereby hoped that the interest of Neonazis in organizing marches to Wunsiedel would wane. With permision of Heß's heirs, his gravestone was torn down on 20 July 2011, and his remains were dug up, burnt and scattered at sea. ^[6]

Sources

1. ↑ Wikipedia:Rudolf_Hess
2. ↑ Wolf Rüdiger Heß
3. ↑ Find A Grave Wolf Rüdiger Heß
4. ↑ Institute for Historical Review Wolf Rüdiger Hess, A Son's Struggle for His Father's Honor - The Life and Death of My Father, Rudolf Hess
5. ↑ Find A Grave: Memorial #10006016
6. ↑ Wikipedia Rudolf Heß

• Wikidata: Item Q75866