The Hess 'peace mission' to Scotland debate: The Führer did not know

Rudolf Hess, right,with his geopolitics professor Karl Haushofer in 1920. Karl's son, Albrecht, who was acquainted with the Duke of Hamilton, became Hess's personal advisor on British politics.

By Carolyn Yeager

THE PURPOSE OF THIS ARTICLE is to make the case that Adolf Hitler did not help plan and approve of his deputy Rudolf Hess's “peace mission” night-flight to Scotland on May 10, 1941. There are many who want to believe that he did. I use the word “believe” because any evidence they come up with is extremely flimsy – at best, indirect. This subject came up again on an Unz Review comment & discussion thread where, as usual, it was not possible to reach anything close to a consensus due to the free participation of any and all voices, and no moderation. I announced that I would write an article on my own website and allow comments there, but they would be moderated. And so I have and this is it.

I'll begin by asking what is it that makes so many that are interested in Adolf Hitler believe the romantic fantasies such as that Hitler 'escaped the bunker' and found freedom and happiness in Argentina, Brazil or the Arctic? These are the same people, I think, who tend to believe that Rudolf Hess had Hitler's blessing to fly to Scotland, and specifically to the estate of the 14th Duke of Hamilton whom he had never met or spoken to. It's a form of wishful thinking (wishes come true?) or “confirmation bias,” which has no place in historical enquiry.

This is a good time-place to review what “history” is. A common  definition is “a narrative of events; a chronologial record of events; the branch of knowledge that records and analyzes past events.” From the Greek. If the written record of a known event is spotty or non-existent, we can be sure egoic prejudices will enter in to distort the narrative to suit the needs or desires of those egos. How then can we reach an accurate historical record on this matter? By not ignoring objective, real facts and authentic human nature in our reconstruction. Romantic ideas, airy-fairy, pie-in-the-sky “beliefs” cannot be accepted. So let's start with the facts we know.

Rudolf Hess was well-born and well-educated. As a youth he excelled in maths and science. Later he studied history and economics at the University of Munich. He served courageously through WWI on the battlefield, and toward the end learned to fly. Because Germany lost, his well-to-do father's business was taken over by the British and his family bankrupted. Hess was a demoralized young German male when he attended a rally in Munich and heard Adolf Hitler say that the only reason Germany lost the war was because it had been stabbed in the back. Hess immediately took the words to heart and the two men became best friends.

Hess took part in the Munich Putsch and stayed in jail with Hitler when he was imprisoned in 1923. As everyone knows, he took down Hitler's dictation of Mein Kampf.

The Thule Society

Thule Society was more of an ancient Germanic studies organization. It's full name was “Study Group for Germanic Antiquity” which kept alive German mythology with a sort of “occult” veneer. Occult simply means “hidden' or 'secret.' Dietrich Eckart, whom Hitler greatly admired, and Rudolf Hess were both members at one time and attended some meetings. Hitler did not, and did not want any association between his National Socialist party and Thule. Hess, though he dropped all those associations, had a temperament for the language of dreams, and other-worldly messages.

Hitler's sense of loyalty and friendship kept Hess on as Deputy Fuehrer and party secretary, even though he was having doubts about Hess's psychological state of mind. Hess's choices for diet and health care providers, for example, were increasingly not in the mainstream that Hitler considered worthy of use. A glimpse into Hitler's mind can be learned from an October 1940 lunch meeting with his architect Hermann Giesler, as recorded in this reminiscence in Giesler's memoir:

It was certainly the word ‘party’ that turned his thoughts.

He worries a great deal about Rudolf Hess. He knows he can talk about it with me. Hess’s nearly occult, airy behavior, his hypochondria and what he is doing for it. He is certainly not against homeopaths and alternative medical practitioners, but strongly against all those Hess trusts with his confidence. He should by all means find a physician with rank. Hitler is really worried, not only because of Hess’s position and tasks, but simply because he is sincerely fond of him. That I keep him in such high esteem, that I feel an obligation, well, he is the “Faithful” since the beginning of the National Socialist struggle. (The Artist Within the Warlord: An Adolf Hitler You’ve Never Known, Yeager and Kriessmann, p. 76.)

This reveals important information. Seven months before the Hess flight, Hitler was expressing to a trusted party member with whom he often shared confidential information, that he did not, could not have full faith in his old friend & deputy Rudolf Hess. He said: I keep him in place because of the past, but his current behavior does not inspire confidence. “I am worried about him.”

Would the man responsible for all of Germany in this terrible time of war place his confidence in such an other man to carry out the extremely difficult mission that Hess sought to carry out? You have to believe that Hitler was both irresponsible and incompetent to believe that. Those who say they do believe it are carried away with the romantic side of the story, and sympathy for the Hess family. They are looking for easy answers. Perhaps there is not much going on in their heads.

Martin Bormann began acting as Hitler's personal secretary on 12 August 1935. After Hess's solo flight to Britain on 10 May 1941, Bormann assumed Hess's former duties as Head of the Parteikanzlei -- Party Chancellery. The office of Deputy Fuehrer was abolished.

John Wear's “argument” for Hitler's pre-knowledge

On Unz Review, John Wear [https://www.unz.com/runz/why-everything-you-know-about-world-war-ii-is-wrong/?showcomments#comment-6006289] argued thus:

“My response: There is no definitive proof that Hitler did or did not know that Rudolf Hess was going to fly to Scotland. It is a greyish area of history.”

However, here is some 'evidence' he assembles:

“Churchill and other British leaders [had] rejected all of Hitler’s numerous peace offers. Hitler continued to search for a way to end the war with Great Britain.” [Did he? -cy]

“On May 5, 1941, Hitler and Hess met for four hours in the Reichschancellory—alone.Waiting in the antechamber was Hess's adjutant Alfred Leitgen, who said he overheard bits and snatches of conversation. Example: “No problems at all with the airplane” and the names “Albrecht Haushofer” and “Hamilton.” Source: Hack writer Louis Kilzer, Churchill's Deception: The Dark Secret that Destroyed Nazi Germany.

John admits that Hitler and Hess both denied that Hess flew to Scotland with Hitler’s knowledge and approval. John then makes two assumptions: Hess would not have undertaken such an important step without first informing Hitler becuse “they were so close.”

Second, that a gag-order was imposed on Hess by the British because ”he knew things that, if publicly known, would be embarassing to the Allied governnents. [These assumptions come from a book by Wolf Rudiger Hess, “The Life and Death of My Father, Rudolf Hess.” Wolf Hess was 3½ years old at the time of the flight. -cy]

"Many other people have concluded that Hess flew to Scotland with Hitler’s full knowledge and approval," Wear writes and gives these two examples:

1. Georg Bernhard wrote in The New York Times: “It is now apparent to everybody that Rudolf Hess flew to England with the full consent of Adolf Hitler. It was his job to bring peace between Germany and England.” (Source: Kilzer, Louis C., Churchill’s Deception: The Dark Secret that Destroyed Nazi Germany, 1994

2. Willis Carto wrote, “The evidence is strong that Hess risked his life for peace under orders from Adolf Hitler.” (Source: Melaouhi, Abdallah, “Rudolf Hess: His Betrayal and Murder,” The Barnes Review, 2013.

John writes in another comment that it was Wolf Rudiger Hess who wrote in his book, the following:

“No one knows for sure whether my father undertook his flight with the knowledge and blessing of Adolf Hitler. Both men are now dead. All the available evidence, though, suggests that Hitler knew in advance of the flight:

"First: Just a few days before his flight, my father had a private meeting with Hitler that lasted four hours. It is known [by whom? Leitgen? -cy] that the two men raised their voices during portions of their talk, and that when they were finished, Hitler accompanied his Deputy to the ante-room, put his arm soothingly around his shoulder, and said: “Hess, you really are stubborn.”

"Second: The relationship between Hitler and Hess was so close and intimate that one can logically assume that Hess would not have undertaken such an important step in the middle of a war without first informing Hitler. [He did inform Hitler and Hitler said no. Hess decided to risk it w/o Hitler's approval and accept the consequences. -cy]

"Third: Although Hess’ adjutants and secretaries were imprisoned after the flight, Hitler intervened to protect Hess’ family. He saw to it that a pension was paid to Hess’ wife, and he sent a personal telegram of condolence to Hess’ mother when her husband died in October 1941. [This proves nothing because it was typical behavior for Hitler. -cy]

"Fourth: Among the papers released in June 1992 by the British authorities are two farewell letters my father wrote on June 14, 1941, the day before he tried to commit suicide in Mytchett Place, in England. The letters were written after he realized that his peace mission had definitely failed. One was addressed to Hitler and the other to his family. Both clearly confirm that his close relationship with Hitler still existed. If he had undertaken his now-obviously failed mission without Hitler’s prior knowledge, his relationship with Hitler clearly would no longer still have been one of trust. [This makes no sense. We don't hear anything from Hitler, only Hess. Why should his feelings for Hitler have hardened? It was Hitler who suffered the injury. Plus Hess was not allowed to know anything that was being said in Germany, or anywhere for that matter. -cy]

"And, fifth: Gauleiter Ernst Bohle, the Hess confident and high-ranking official who had helped my father to translate some papers into English, remained convinced until his death that all this was done with Hitler’s knowledge and approval.” [Because this is what Hess had told him. cy]

(Source: Hess, Wolf R., “The Life and Death of My Father,” The Journal of Historical Review, January/February 1993, p. 31). http://www.ihr.org/jhr/v13/v13n1p24_Hess.html

My own view

My position is more like the following. From Wolf Hess's book:

The Hess papers that were released in Britain with great fanfare in June 1992 proved to be disappointing. Among these approximately two thousand pages was absolutely nothing of real substance about the secret contacts that existed between Britian and Germany, about the British peace group (which was thought to include members of the royal family) and its peace feelers to Germany, or about the role played by the British secret service prior to the flight.

It's now known (since 2004 - https://www.scotsman.com/news/world/secret-papers-finally-tell-the-truth-of-hesss-flight-2508821) that there were no secret contacts between Britain & Germany; no British peace group; no peace feelers to Germany; no role played by British secret service. The whole thing was nothing but a scam operation conducted solely out of the highly secretive Special Operations Executive (SOE), formed in 1940. Hess was completely fooled, but by what? Neither the Duke of Hamilton nor any member of the royal family were ever involved in communications with Rudolf Hess. Even Winston Churchill did not know about this particular operation! He had no “need to know.”

There was never any real opposition to Churchill in Britain, although Germans were led to believe there was, including Hitler.There is no question that the Germans were outsmarted by the British in this entire affair. And why? Because the Germans, led by Hitler, wanted peace so badly and wanted to believe it could come about. Desire for a certain outcome left them more susceptible to being fooled. But Hitler was smart enough to realize there was not enough basis for Hess's risky plan. Hess, however, had more than the desire for peace involved; he had the hope of regaining the special place he once held in the Fueher's esteem. This flight and successful negotiations were a last chance, as he saw it. Hess may not have been so consciously aware of these influences, but unconciously he was acting on them. Dreams and fortune-tellers held more sway with him than they should have.

Albert Speer's recollections

Albert Speer actually wrote in his book titled in English, Inside the Third Reich, that he discussed the flight with Hess himself 25 years later when both were incarcerated in Spandau.

“Hess assured me in all seriousness that the idea had been inspired in him in a dream by supernatural forces – 'We will guarantee England her empire; in return she will give us a free hand in Europe.' "

https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/will-we-ever-know-why-nazi-leader-rudolf-hess-flew-scotland-middle-world-war-ii-180959040/

From the same article, Speer reported in Inside the Third Reich that he was waiting outside Hitler's office the morning of May 11 when the Leader received the letter from Hess. He described that he heard “an inarticulate, almost animal out-cry” of rage. 

“What bothered Hitler was that Churchill might use the incident to pretend to Germany's allies that Hitler was extending a peace feeler,” Speer wrote. “'Who will believe me when I say that Hess did not fly there in my name, that the whole thing is not some sort of intrigue behind the backs of my allies? Japan might even alter her policy because of this,'” he quotes Hitler, while also noting Hitler's hope that Hess might luckily crash and die in the North Sea.

In addition to this strong evidence from a very close working associate (Speer) at the time, we have the former Foreign Secretary Lord Simon, the highest-placed person known to have met with Hess, who interviewed him on June 10 a few days before Hess's first suicide attempt:

"Hess has come on his own initiative,”  Simon wrote of the meeting.“He has not flown over on the orders, or with the permission or previous knowledge, of Hitler. It is a venture of his own.” [ibid., smithsonianmag.com]

This is important because this information was being gathered for Winston Churchill himself, who was extremely worried that Hess was on a mission representing the official Reich government. If that were the case, it meant there was a traitorous group in Britain communicating with the Germans. After several interrogations, Churchill and his team were confident this was not the case. But they decided to keep Rudolf Hess locked up for life anyway.

The background story

The background story is thus: According to some newly released documents in 2004 by the British government, in September 1940  Albrecht Haushofer sent a letter to the 14th Duke of Hamilton, who was then commander of RAF Turnhouse in Edinburgh, suggesting a meeting in Lisbon (where Samuel Hoare was British ambassador) in the interests of achieveing a peace settlement between Britain and Germany. The letter was intended to determine whether there was any interest within the Duke's circle for such a meeting. If it had reached the Duke the matter could have been settled right then – in the negative. But the letter was intercepted by the British secret srvices, and never seen by Hamilton. No one knew that Rudolf Hess was behind the proposition, either, until he crash landed in Scotland in May '41.  MI5 investigated and decided they had no interest in the letter; thus it was simply dropped.

However, it was picked up by the highly secretive, newly-formed Special Operations Executive (SOE), which began an entrapment operation to try to lure the person(s) behind the letter to a meeting. Hess fell for it. He deluded himself into thinking that he could broker a peace deal that Hitler and his special ambassadors had not been able to achieve.

Of course, his intentions were faultless; his mission pure; but he was deluded nevertheless. Hitler was right. Hess was not equipped to go up against the big boys in wartime. And once again, Hitler's loyalty to old friendships, his Germanic values of honor and faithfulness, cost him in the greater international arena. He could not be ruthless enough.

Concluding thoughts

Although this unauthorized flight by Hess did not do any lasting damage to Germany's war effort or reputation (it has enhanced the latter), it certainly harmed Hess and his family. In the end, both the tragedy and the heroism is part of the legacy of Rudolf Hess, which he bears on his own. He paid the full price for his actions, never causing it to fall on anyone else, never complaining about his fate, never blaming any fellow German. Rudolf Hess lived the life of a true Stoic, and reaps the reward of becoming almost a cult figure, admired by millions and even adulated by some. A hero. Aren't the most beloved heroes always tragic heroes?

Adolf Hitler played no role, and knew almost as little as did Winston Churchill about what his deputy was secretly up to. Remember, the Thule organization dealt with hidden matters. Rudolf Hess had a natural connection and “feel” for the hidden, while at the same time was as open and honest as any man. This is the riddle of Rudolf Hess. And honestly, to me, it personifies the riddle that the German people are to the rest of Europe, and maybe even mankind. It takes a special kind of mind to see and understand the German idea of gestalt, but that is a clue to understanding the German Weltanschaaung, their point of view from the very middle of Europe.