When he refused he wanted to use his royal prerogative to appoint Lord Halifax as prime minister. Halifax refused as he feared this act would have brought the government down and would put the survival of the monarchy at risk.
On 10th September , Karl Haushofer sent a letter to his son Albrecht. The letter discussed secret peace talks going on with Britain. Violet Roberts was living in Lisbon in Portugal, Spain, Sweden and Switzerland were the four main places where these secret negotiations were taking place. Karl Haushofer was arrested and interrogated by the Allies in October The British government has never released the documents that include details of these interviews.
However, these interviews are in the OSS archive. Karl told his interviewers that Germany was involved in peace negotiations with Britain in When my son returned, he was immediately called to Augsburg by Hess. A few days later Hess flew to England.
On 10th May, , Hess flew a Me to Scotland. In fact, Hamilton lived close to where Hess landed Dungavel House. I have an important message for him. After the war Daniel McBride attempted to tell his story of what had happened when he captured Hess.
This story originally appeared in the Hongkong Telegraph 6th March, Nor was the plane plotted at the anti-aircraft control room for the west of Scotland. This story was picked up by the German press but went unreported in the rest of the world. Karlheinz Pintsch , Hess adjutant, was given the task of informing Hitler about the flight to Scotland. James Leasor found him alive in and used him as a major source for his book, The Uninvited Envoy.
He did not seem surprised, nor did he rant and rave about what Hess had done. Hitler then went onto read the letter that Hess had sent him. He read the following significant passage out aloud.
Simply say I was out of my mind. However, at the time, Hitler at least, still believed that a negotiated agreement was possible. In his autobiography, Good Evening he explained: "After the meal, the Prime Minister invited me to take a walk with him in the garden. This turned out to be the occasion for an unexpected and, I must say, somewhat disconcerting exposition to me of the terms on which Britain at that time could make a separate peace with Nazi Germany.
The gist of the terms was that Britain could retain its empire, which Germany would guarantee, with the exception of the former German colonies, which were to be returned.
The timing of this conversation seemed to me significant. Rudolf Hess, the number-three Nazi, had landed by parachute in Scotland less than two months before, where he had attempted to make contact with the Duke of Hamilton, whom the Nazis believed to be an enemy of Mr. Churchill and his policies Churchill said nothing to me about Herr Hess. But he expounded to me the advantage of the German terms; and he seemed to be trying to arouse in me a feeling that unless the United States became more actively involved in the war, Britain might find it to her interest to accept them.
I may be ascribing to him intentions he did not have. Later I was to learn that Hitler himself had proposed broadly similar terms to Britain before the war actually began. But I was under the impression that the allurements of peace had been recently underlined by Rudolf Hess But it troubled me to have him give me his exposition, which must have lasted a full twenty minutes.
For my part, I believed that the United States's interests made our entry in the war imperative. But I did not believe it would spur the country to come in to be told that if it did not, Winston Churchill would make a separate peace with Hitler and put his empire under a Hitler guarantee of safety. Eventually Adolf Hitler became convinced that Winston Churchill would refuse to do a deal. Karlheinz Pintsch was now a dangerous witness and he was arrested and was kept in solitary confinement until being sent to the Eastern Front.
Hitler also issued a statement pointing out that "Hess did not fly in my name. It was not until 27th January that Winston Churchill made a statement in the House of Commons about the arrival of Hess. If that was the case, were the Duke of Kent and the Duke of Hamilton part of this plot? In September, , Anthony Eden , the foreign secretary, admitted in the House of Commons that Hess had indeed arrived in Scotland to negotiate a peace settlement. However, Eden claimed that the British government had been unaware of these negotiations.
In fact, he added, Hess had refused to negotiate with Churchill. Eden failed to say who Hess was negotiating with. Nor did he explain why Hess Hitler was willing to negotiate with someone other than the British government.
We also know that MI6 was monitoring these negotiations. If Hamilton was truly a traitor, surely Churchill would have punished him. This did not stop journalists speculating that the Duke of Hamilton was a traitor.
The article claimed that Hamilton had been involved in negotiating with Nazi Germany and knew that Hess was flying to Scotland. Had this information come from Kim Philby? The case was settled when the Communist Party issued a public apology. Clearly, they could not say where this information came from. However, recently released documents show that this was not all it seemed.
The Communist Party threatened to call Hess as a witness. This created panic in the cabinet. A letter from the Home Secretary, Herbert Morrison , to Sir Archibald Sinclair , dated 18th June , shows that the government was extremely worried about Hess appearing as a witness in this libel case.
Morrison asks Sinclair to use his influence on Hamilton to drop the libel case. The publisher had to promise that future editions of the book would have to remove the offending passage. However, he did not have to recall and pulp existing copies of the book.
However, it is the third case that tells us most about what was going on. The solicitor later reported that Norris appeared willing to print a retraction. While the discussion was taking place Lord Beaverbrook , the proprietor of the newspaper, arrived.
He overruled his editor and stated that the newspaper would stick to its accusation. Beaverbrook added that he could prove that Sir Archibald Sinclair lied when he claimed in the House of Commons that Hamilton had never met Rudolf Hess. Understandably, the Duke of Hamilton withdrew his threat to sue the Daily Express.
What is clear about these events is that Churchill and Sinclair made every attempt to protect the reputation of the Duke of Hamilton following the arrival of Hess.
However, Beaverbrook, who like Hamilton was a prominent appeaser before the war, let him know that he was not in control of the situation. After the war the Duke of Hamilton told his son that he was forced to take the blame for Hess arriving in Scotland in order to protect people who were more powerful than him. The son assumed he was talking about the royal family.
It is possible he was also talking about Winston Churchill. There are other signs that Hess had arrived to carry out serious peace negotiations with the British government..
On the very night that Rudolf Hess arrived in Scotland, London experienced its heaviest German bomb attack: 1, people were killed and some 12, made homeless. Many historic landmarks including the Houses of Parliament were hit. The Commons debating chamber — the main symbol of British democracy — was destroyed.
American war correspondents based in London such as Walter Lippmann and Vincent Sheean , suggested that Britain was on the verge of surrender. Yet, the 10th May marked the end of the Blitz. It was the last time the Nazis would attempt a major raid on the capital.
Foreign journalist based in London at the time wrote articles that highlighted this strange fact. James Murphy even suggested that there might be a connection between the arrival of Hess and the last major bombing raid on London.
This becomes even more interesting when one realizes at the same time as Hitler ordered the cessation of the Blitz, Winston Churchill was instructing Sir Charles Portal , Chief of the Air Staff, to reduce bombing attacks on Nazi Germany. Is it possible that Hitler and Churchill had called off these air attacks as part of their peace negotiations? Is this the reason why Hess decided to come to Britain on 10th May, ? The date of this arrival is of prime importance.
Hitler was no doubt concerned about the length of time these negotiations were taking. We now know that he was desperate to order the invasion of the Soviet Union Operation Barbarossa in early Spring. Leopold Trepper , The Great Game , , page However, for some reason the invasion was delayed. Hitler eventually ordered the invasion of the Soviet Union on 22nd June, It would therefore seem that peace negotiations between Germany and Britain had come to an end.
However, is this true? One would have expected Churchill to order to resume mass bombing of Germany. Roosevelt a scheme developed by Ernst Hanfstaengl. He suggested that Hanfstaengl should be allowed to fly to England and meet with Hess. Roosevelt contacted Winston Churchill about this and then vetoed the scheme.
In World War One, Hess was wounded twice, then later became an airplane pilot. After the war, Hess joined the Freikorps, a right-wing organization of ex-soldiers for hire, involved in violently putting down Communist uprisings in Germany.
At the University of Munich, Hess studied political science and came under the influence of the Thule Society, a secret anti-Semitic political organization devoted to Nordic supremacy. Hess was also influenced by Professor Karl Haushofer, a former general whose theories on expansionism and race formed the basis of the concept of Lebensraum increased living space for Germans at the expense of other nations. After his first meeting with Hitler, Hess said he felt "as though overcome by a vision.
At early Nazi Party meetings and rallies, Hess was a formidable fighter who brawled with para-military Marxists and others who often violently attempted to disrupt Hitler's speeches.
Hess was arrested and imprisoned along with Hitler at Landsberg prison. While in prison, Hess took dictation for Hitler's book, Mein Kampf, and also made some editorial suggestions regarding Lebensraum, the historical role of the British Empire, and the organization of the Nazi Party. After his release from prison in , Hess served for several years as Hitler's personal secretary in spite of having no official rank in the Nazi Party.
Hess was a shy, insecure man who displayed near religious devotion, fanatical loyalty and absolute blind obedience to Hitler. He acted as a delegate in negotiations with industrialists and members of the wealthier families. This was the second-highest SS rank.
His friend Karl Haushofer and his family were subject to these laws, as Haushofer had married a half-Jewish woman. Hess thus issued documents exempting them from this legislation. Hess did not seek power or prestige, he was simply motivated by his loyalty to Hitler and a desire to be useful to him. He lived in a modest house in Munich. This, coupled with the concern that Germany would fight on two fronts as plans progressed for Operation Barbarossa, forced Hess to take action.
He thought of bringing Britain to the negotiating table by travelling there. He asked for advice from his friend and former teacher Albrecht Haushofer. Haushofer suggested several potential contacts in Britain. Hess settled and decided to talk to D. Douglas Hamilton, a fellow aviator and the Duke of Hamilton, a man whom he had never met. Hamilton was chosen because of the mistaken belief that he was one of the leaders of the opposition party opposed to war with Germany.
In spite of not receiving a reply from Hamilton, Hess proceeded with his plan and began training on the Messerschmitt Bf He took off on 10 May He remained largely undetected by British forces, but was still discovered. Although intercepting forces were sent to find him, he evaded them and disappeared again. Though he was once again detected, he remained low and was forced to parachute himself out of the plane.
Before his departure, he had given a letter to his adjutant Karlheinz Pintsch, which was addressed to Hitler and detailed his intentions to open peace negotiations with the British. For this reason, he ordered the German press to brand Rudolf Hess as a madman. If Hess was truly mentally ill, it would reflect badly on them since he held a very important position in the government. Imprisonment Hess landed by parachute in Scotland and was apprehended by the authorities.
For a time, he lied about his name, but shortly after he confessed who he was and started stating he had come with peace proposals. When the war was over, Hess went to court for the Nuremberg War crimes trial. Worse for Hess, he denied from the start that Hitler knew anything of his mission, which meant that the British afforded him none of the diplomatic respect to which he thought he'd be entitled.
Instead he was imprisoned, and by the night of June 16, the obvious failure of his mission left Hess so mentally shattered that he attempted suicide by hurling himself down a flight of stairs. Hess spent the war in British hands, confined in various locales including briefly the Tower of London and a military hospital at which he was even allowed guarded drives in the country. He was visited frequently by intelligence officers eager for secrets and by psychiatrists eager to plumb the Nazi mind—which in Hess's case increasingly showed serious signs of mental illness.
The psychiatric examinations were rooted less in concern for Hess's mental health than in the hope that this fanatically devoted Nazi could provide them valuable insights about how the criminals ruling Germany , including Hitler himself, thought.
Hess was transferred back to Nuremberg for the post-war trials in October, , where he escaped the hangman but was sentenced to life in prison. He spent the rest of his long life, 46 years, as Prisoner Number 7 in Spandau where he lingered long after the other Nazis were freed. Hess was the facility's only prisoner for more than 20 years, his term ending only when the year-old was found hanging from a lamp cord in a garden building in August The suicide was denounced as a murder by those, including Hess's own son, who suspected he'd been silenced.
But Hess's death didn't end the questions. Had he really come alone? Had someone sent him to Scotland or had someone sent for him? News of Hess's flight was a bombshell in Berlin, and Nazi authorities quickly moved to disassociate him from the regime. The German public was quickly told that Hess suffered from mental disturbance and hallucinations.
Joseph Goebbels, the Nazi propagandist who knew much about such tactics, feared that the British would use Hess as part of a devastating campaign targeting German morale. But the furor gradually died down. Though Hess held a powerful title, his actual influence in the Nazi hierarchy had waned dramatically by , so much so that some have speculated that his flight was born of hopes to regain Hitler's favor by delivering him an agreement with the British.
Instead his departure simply consolidated the power of his ambitious and manipulative former deputy Martin Bormann.
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