Rudolf Hess: The Last Prisoner of Spandau

Rudolf Hess had been deputy leader of Nazi Germany just one place behind Adolf Hitler from 1933 to 1941. Hess, the World War I infantryman and pilot, had been complicit in all actions taken by the Nazis against their enemies. , this included the enactment of racial laws against Jews and other groups in German society and German territorial expansion plans leading to World War II, but on May 10, 1941, Hess flew a twin-engine Messerschmitt one 1o fighter to Scotland and landed by parachute, he said he had come. on a peace mission arrested and imprisoned by the British Hess was tried in Numeron Burg in 1946 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 1947 he was transferred to the austere Spandau prison in Berlin where he would remain for the rest of his long life initially he had six other inmates as companions , including senior Nazis such as Albert Speer, Hitler's minister of armaments, and Grand Admiral Karl Dönitz, commander of the Navy and

last

leader of Nazi Germany, but one by one, the other six

prisoner

s were released after having served their sentences. or released early due to health problems.

Deputy Führer Hess remained a

prisoner

in a prison designed to hold 600 people. He was guarded by four countries that took turns. Spandau Prison was under the powers agreement signed in 1945, meaning it was under the joint control of the four victorious Allied powers. United States Great Britain France and the Soviet Union, which in turn occupied parts of Germany, the four occupying powers alternated control of the prison monthly each of them ran it for three months of each year, they flew their flag on the prison building the Allied Control Authority every month A handover ceremony was held outside the prison as a naked nationality of soldiers arrived to protect the building and its lone prisoner.

The guard detachment consisted of 37 soldiers and one officer, in addition there were four dozen cleaning women, a foster cook, a chaplain and other German personnel. In total, in 1985 it was estimated that guarding Hess cost six hundred and seventy thousand US dollars each year, a cost borne entirely by West German taxpayers from 1966 to 1987. Hess was the only inmate in the enormous building, but each time When the British or Americans raised the idea of ​​releasing Hess or moving him to a different facility, the Soviets vetoed it. Spandau prison was in the British sector of West Berlin and Hesse alive meant Soviet access to West Berlin, something the KGB was eager to maintain to the end.

Prisoner Number 7 of the 1980s, as Hess was officially called, was allowed a more relaxed lifestyle than before; He could move freely around the ward according to his own routine and do what he liked for entertainment, such as reading, gardening, watching movies or watching television, when he became very old and Curiously, he was assigned more computing from 1982. His Daily routine remained remarkably unchanged throughout more than 40 years of imprisonment. Hess got up at 6:45 a.m. m. He had breakfast an hour later, at 7:45, walked 28 laps around the garden at 10:30, had lunch at 11:45, walked around the garden again at 2:30, had dinner at 5:00 and retired to sleep at 7:45. 10:00 p.m.

Hess was allowed to write one letter a month and receive one letter a month in return. He was given four censored newspapers each day, but was prohibited from reading anything about the Nazis for security reasons. His cell was constantly changed and there were many empty cells to choose from. Since he fell ill or for routine medical checks, he was taken in a heavily guarded convoy to the British military hospital, where an entire wing was sealed off. On August 17, 1987, Rudolf Hess was found dead inside a summer house in the prison garden. He was 93 years old, a lamp extension cord was hanging from a window latch and around his neck and the British judged that Hess had committed suicide.

Many historians and Hess's own family have stated that Hess was assassinated by British intelligence; They doubt such an ancient age. and a frail man could have committed suicide in this way whatever the truth about Hess's death was the British were no doubt in a hurry to get rid of the Spandau prison the British acted quickly to demolish the prison it was turned into a car park and a center fishing for the British Army The Britannia Spandau center nicknamed ESCO after the British hypermarket Tesco The case of Rudolf Hess, the

last

prisoner in Spandau, continues to generate debate and conspiracy theories even today, more than 30 years after his death.

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