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(suspenseful music)
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Hitler's right-hand man,
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the deputy fuhrer who believed that thoughts
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could move objects
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and that Britain would make peace with Hitler.
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Hess somehow was really a myth.
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Rudolf Hess is undoubtedly one of the most interesting
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historical figures of the 20th century.
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Rudolf Hess was on a ride that ended
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in a spectacular fall.
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He rubbed shoulders with the Nazi elite
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yet abandoned the Reich at the height of its power
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on a secret quest to strike a deal with the enemy.
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If Hess would have succeeded,
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this is absolutely clear,
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the whole course of the war would have been different.
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Hitler's deputy flew a grueling,
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dangerous 1000 mile secret flight to Britain
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in the middle of the blitz.
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He would spend the rest of his life behind bars,
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the last inmate in Spandau prison.
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An old man pacing the yard alone,
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mystery and intrigue continues to swirl
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around his life and death.
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{\an8}How can a man at that age, you know, commit suicide?
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{\an8}Many believe he didn't,
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{\an8}that he was murdered in order to try and stop secrets
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that he might have.
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He died more than 25 years ago,
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and yet his name is still celebrated by a hateful,
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racist, and violent minority.
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(men shouting and chanting)
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{\an8}(speaks in foreign language)
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{\an8}Rudolf Hess is revered by neo-Nazis
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{\an8}as a martyr, as a so-called peace aviator.
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There are rumors that his flight
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to Scotland served to end the so called
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brother-on-brother war with England.
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As such, he is an old time Nazi character who fits perfectly
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into today's Neo Nazi ideology.
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This footage was secretly recorded
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at underground Neo Nazi concerts in Germany and Austria.
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(speaks in foreign language)
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If I had been discovered with my hidden camera,
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I would most likely have been beaten
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up by many of the Nazis.
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And it's not impossible for you to end up
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beaten to death.
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It's the kind of intimidation
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and violence committed by Nazi thugs in the '20s and '30s,
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and Rudolf Hess was one of them.
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{\an8}Hess, of course, played a part.
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{\an8}He, if he didn't organize violence,
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{\an8}he certainly knew about it and tolerated it.
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Rudolf Hess was a devotee,
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one of the first to join the party.
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Anyone who looks at the film of him can see
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this glowing fanaticism and total adoration of Hitler
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that Hess displays.
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It's almost frightening how much one man
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can adore another man for political reasons.
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(speaks in German)
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He was also the man who, who really promoted this idea
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that Hitler was more than just a man,
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that he was a man brought to Germany
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by providence, by fate, to achieve greatness.
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Like Hitler, it was in Munich that Hess
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became engulfed in the politics of racism and violence,
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but it wasn't on the streets,
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but in university lectures that a key future
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Nazi policy took shape in the mind of Rudolf Hess.
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The idea of lebensraum, or living space,
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was brought in through Hess from his teacher at university,
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Karl Haushofer, who was a geopolitical theorist.
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Now lebensraum doesn't mean, or didn't mean,
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the idea that the Germans are so squashed up together
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and there's just so many of them
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that they need more living space.
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It's a specific doctrine which Hitler then developed
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on the basis of Haushofer's theories that Germany
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has to conquer living space in eastern Europe,
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Hitler turned it into this aggressive murderous policy
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of exterminating the Slavs.
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(shouting in German)
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Hess was one of the first of millions
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enthralled by Hitler's theatrical rants.
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Like Hitler, he was born in a foreign land.
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From Egypt, the wealthy merchant's son was sent
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back to Germany and rode into radical politics.
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You find in the early 1920s all kinds
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of far right wing groups are emerging in Munich,
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holding meetings as a ferment
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of ultra right antisemitic politics.
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Rudolf Hess followed Hitler everywhere,
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including prison, when they were jailed
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for attempting to overthrow the government in 1923.
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They were undoubtedly very close,
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I mean, remember they shared a cell when Hitler
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was writing "Mein Kampf," you know,
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Hess was effectively his secretary and
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by all accounts did a lot of the typing.
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Some people argue he did some of the writing too.
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He carried out his orders absolutely slavishly.
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People in the party mocked Hess and the brown mouse,
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you know, because he was so devoted
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and would scurry anywhere at Hitler's behest.
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But there was another side to the brown mouse.
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SS stormtroopers raided the home of his old university
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lecturer, Karl Haushofer.
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His wife Marta was considered a half Jew.
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Their salvation was recorded in the family diary.
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Their powerful friend, the deputy fuhrer,
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intervened and forbade any more raids on the house.
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(speaking in German)
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{\an8}He was a friend of the family
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{\an8}and every time, every time, he was really always helpful.
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And yet Hess could be ruthless.
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He played a key role in Hitler's bloody crackdown
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on Ernst Röhm and his SA brownshirts.
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When Hitler had the leaders of the brownshirts,
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the storm troopers, shot, arrested,
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he arrested the chief of the stormtroopers, Ernst Röhm,
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who was getting too big for his own boots,
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put him in prison.
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Hess offered to shoot him twice.
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He said, "It's me, I have to do the shooting."
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The first concentration camps
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and so-called Jewish ghettos were established
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when Hess was deputy.
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Segregation and the stripping of property and human rights
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would eventually lead to the industrial murder of millions
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in the death camps.
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(man speaking in German)
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Antisemitism, the idea of getting rid of the Jews somehow
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by pushing them out of Germany,
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by making life unbearable for them there,
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eventually during the war, by exterminating them,
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was absolutely central to national socialism,
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and Hess shared that in full measure.
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(speaking in German)
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He was undoubtedly antisemitic.
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He helped draft the race laws.
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The race laws signed by minister Hess
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banned Jews from official jobs
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and from marrying other Germans.
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(speaking in German)
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{\an8}All the leading Nazi figures made exceptions.
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{\an8}Goring, for example, his brother saved Jews,
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and Goring knew that.
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Hess, for example.
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When it involved friends of his, he made exceptions.
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Two key friends of his, Karl Haushofer,
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and his son Albrecht Haushofer.
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Karl Haushofer was married to a woman who was half Jewish.
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It made his children quarter Jewish,
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which meant that they were subject to the race laws.
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He remained close to the part Jewish family
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of his old Munich university professor.
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Albrecht even worked in the Nazi foreign office.
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Hess issued so-called writs of protection for them.
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He gave them an exemption effectively
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branding them honorary Aryans.
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Yet was the same man who urged the Nazi mob to
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swear allegiance to Hitler at mass rallies.
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The other interesting thing about Hess
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was after Kristallnacht when there was so much violence
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against Jewish businesses,
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Hess issued a statement and issued an order
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that there was to be no more looting of Jewish shops.
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Rudolf Hess became mired in party politics,
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managing regional leaders, issuing orders,
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and punishing transgressions.
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But keeping in step with the Nazi hierarchy was vital,
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even for someone as powerful as the deputy fuhrer.
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Maintaining Hitler's favor was a balancing act.
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Hess was sidelined.
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Other cronies rushed in to take his place.
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Hitler was the center of the power.
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Once you lost that relationship, the game was over.
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There was a rivalry and they always tred to get the access,
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the special access to Hitler, to the fuhrer.
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Hess was out.
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While the keen amateur pilot indulged
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his love of flying,
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his fuhrer was pursuing a different passion.
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Hitler had his sights set on war.
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The only flying he was interested in was the kind that would
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bomb the rest of Europe into submission.
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Himmler and Goring were saying what Hitler wanted to hear,
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while faithful party comrade Hess was bothering him
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with petty politics.
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He had been viewed as Hitler's right-hand man
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during the rise of the Nazis.
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But when war broke out,
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that position had really been taken away.
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Hitler famously said that when he spoke to Goring,
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he said he felt like he had been bathed in steel,
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that he made him feel so good about himself.
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And then he said that with Hess
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all he brought to him was problems and troubles.
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The deputy fuhrer was out of step,
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reduced to delivering speeches at political rallies.
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There's no doubt that Hess was a rather peculiar man.
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Hess became very deeply upset when he began to realize
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he was being sidelined in the decision-making process.
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By 1939, Hitler had left his deputy behind.
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Rudolf Hess developed a range of ailments
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like stomach cramps and palpitations.
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As war loomed, the deputy fuhrer was in the background.
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By 1939, Hess times was definitely over.
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I mean he had no influence on military affairs
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and foreign affairs, on domestic politics.
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The deputy fuhrer became withdrawn.
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He was a minister without portfolio and had no specific job.
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Rudolf Hess walked a lonely path, immersing himself in
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alternative therapies and the paranormal.
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(speaking in German)
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{\an8}Rudolf Hess tried to keep
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{\an8}this chair in balance.
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{\an8}And whenever he tried to do that,
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he was staring at this chair,
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which when he took his hands away,
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invariably toppled either forwards or backwards.
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Now I thought that was very strange.
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And I asked my father about it.
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And he said, yes, that really is a little strange.
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Herr Hess believes in telekinesis.
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{\an8}He is devoted to bizarre practices.
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{\an8}He is devoted to quasi-medicine, bizarre diets,
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and he's not alone.
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In some ways that sums up the entire Nazi elite.
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They are surrounded by irrational charlatans.
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Hitler's washed up deputy
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turned to alternative therapy.
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He'd welcome delegates to an international conference
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on homeopathic medicine.
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He believed that electrical currents could revive him.
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The Austrian clinic that Hess visited
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is still sparking today.
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Clients can have the same kind
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of high-frequency therapy that seemed
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to have fixed the deputy fuhrer.
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{\an8}(speaking in German)
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{\an8}He was exhausted and he was looking
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for peace and relaxation, as one would put it today.
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A thank you note from Hess
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for the "regaining of my health" still survives.
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It was around this time that the deputy fuhrer's
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bright idea took shape.
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He would reach out to Britain, make peace,
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and reestablish himself as a bright spark in the Nazi elite.
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It's interesting to see,
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and when the war started in September '39,
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he was still the third person off stage.
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So Hitler announced officially,
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when I'm going to be killed in this war,
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Goring will be my successor, and if Goring will be killed,
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Hess will be his successor.
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So, so theoretically Hess was quite important.
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So was in the inner circle, but in praxis, he was not.
261
00:15:11,920 --> 00:15:14,360
Hess plotted a course that would place him
262
00:15:14,360 --> 00:15:17,420
back at the heart of Hitler's inner circle,
263
00:15:17,420 --> 00:15:19,563
to negotiate a deal with Britain.
264
00:15:20,640 --> 00:15:22,023
But was he working alone?
265
00:15:23,500 --> 00:15:26,470
The British army in France was hopelessly surrounded
266
00:15:26,470 --> 00:15:29,970
at Dunkirk when Hitler suddenly ordered a halt,
267
00:15:29,970 --> 00:15:32,090
allowing it to escape.
268
00:15:32,090 --> 00:15:34,080
Was this part of secret preparations
269
00:15:34,080 --> 00:15:35,813
for an Anglo-German pact?
270
00:15:39,726 --> 00:15:41,960
{\an8}There's no evidence that there was any deal in preparation
271
00:15:41,960 --> 00:15:46,050
{\an8}between the British and the Germans at the time of Dunkirk.
272
00:15:46,050 --> 00:15:49,550
The real reason why Hitler stopped the troops
273
00:15:49,550 --> 00:15:52,840
while the British got away was because Goring
274
00:15:52,840 --> 00:15:55,240
had assured him that Luftwaffe, the German air force,
275
00:15:55,240 --> 00:15:57,420
would destroy the British troops on the beaches.
276
00:15:57,420 --> 00:15:59,930
And there were long arguments between the generals
277
00:15:59,930 --> 00:16:04,063
who wanted to regroup.
278
00:16:05,610 --> 00:16:08,790
In fact, Hitler and his generals were planning
279
00:16:08,790 --> 00:16:13,190
an invasion of Britain, but in the mind of Rudolf Hess,
280
00:16:13,190 --> 00:16:15,783
the enemy did not lie across the English channel.
281
00:16:18,230 --> 00:16:22,110
He was very much a man within the Nazi ideology.
282
00:16:22,110 --> 00:16:27,110
So he perceived the world through the glasses of racism,
283
00:16:27,510 --> 00:16:29,200
antisemitism, and so on.
284
00:16:29,200 --> 00:16:32,160
And if you're a racist, then I mean,
285
00:16:32,160 --> 00:16:36,700
Britain and Germany are yeah, somehow together,
286
00:16:36,700 --> 00:16:38,060
somehow a super race.
287
00:16:38,060 --> 00:16:40,773
And no, I mean, you don't fight against your brother.
288
00:16:42,350 --> 00:16:45,570
Like his fuhrer, Rudolf Hess had also served
289
00:16:45,570 --> 00:16:46,733
in the first World War.
290
00:16:47,870 --> 00:16:51,250
He really saw, well, there was a major problem
291
00:16:51,250 --> 00:16:54,800
that German had to fight on on two or even on three fronts.
292
00:16:54,800 --> 00:16:56,840
And that Germany was defeated.
293
00:16:56,840 --> 00:16:59,560
So let's make peace in the west.
294
00:16:59,560 --> 00:17:01,770
Let's have, Britain has its empire.
295
00:17:01,770 --> 00:17:04,480
We are the masters of the continent and we are going,
296
00:17:04,480 --> 00:17:06,680
for Europe, for a better future,
297
00:17:06,680 --> 00:17:09,320
we are going to defeat the arch enemy
298
00:17:09,320 --> 00:17:10,710
of the civilized world.
299
00:17:10,710 --> 00:17:13,610
And we have this crusade against the Bojnicks in the east.
300
00:17:15,260 --> 00:17:17,330
But Hitler had other ideas
301
00:17:17,330 --> 00:17:20,700
to fight and win on two fronts.
302
00:17:20,700 --> 00:17:22,830
The planned invasion of the Soviet Union
303
00:17:22,830 --> 00:17:24,370
was brought forward.
304
00:17:24,370 --> 00:17:26,550
He brought it forward because he saw that
305
00:17:26,550 --> 00:17:28,860
as the best way of bringing Britain to terms.
306
00:17:28,860 --> 00:17:31,250
He had decided already in the summer of 1940
307
00:17:31,250 --> 00:17:32,120
that this is going to happen,
308
00:17:32,120 --> 00:17:34,810
because Britain had refused to make peace.
309
00:17:34,810 --> 00:17:36,930
So if the Soviet Union was conquered,
310
00:17:36,930 --> 00:17:38,850
then Britain will be completely isolated
311
00:17:38,850 --> 00:17:40,520
and will be forced to come to terms.
312
00:17:40,520 --> 00:17:44,250
Hitler had to hope to come to in separate piece
313
00:17:44,250 --> 00:17:47,340
was Britain in summer 1940.
314
00:17:47,340 --> 00:17:49,580
But after that, he realized, no, I mean,
315
00:17:49,580 --> 00:17:53,050
we have to wage a war, possibly not too harsh,
316
00:17:53,050 --> 00:17:57,610
but somehow a war to somehow persuade Britain to make peace.
317
00:17:57,610 --> 00:17:59,210
So yes, we have to bomb Britain.
318
00:18:02,533 --> 00:18:04,820
But the blitz that wore on day after day,
319
00:18:04,820 --> 00:18:08,423
night after night, only hardened British resolve.
320
00:18:13,140 --> 00:18:17,563
Churchill has no interest in peace with Germany at all.
321
00:18:19,370 --> 00:18:22,060
Churchill believes that Britain is going to
322
00:18:22,060 --> 00:18:24,790
win the second World War.
323
00:18:24,790 --> 00:18:29,150
He already has plans about how that's going to happen.
324
00:18:29,150 --> 00:18:31,240
I suppose there are two elements to those plans.
325
00:18:31,240 --> 00:18:33,920
One is an alliance with the United States,
326
00:18:33,920 --> 00:18:38,660
so you have a global coalition of the two most
327
00:18:38,660 --> 00:18:42,580
powerful democratic nations fighting Germany.
328
00:18:42,580 --> 00:18:46,770
And the second is the belief that the British war machine
329
00:18:46,770 --> 00:18:49,940
can in fact generate enough military power
330
00:18:49,940 --> 00:18:51,433
to defeat Germany.
331
00:18:52,330 --> 00:18:54,630
Warned that his official country residents
332
00:18:54,630 --> 00:18:56,540
at Chequers might be bombed,
333
00:18:56,540 --> 00:18:59,260
Churchill held several war cabinet meetings
334
00:18:59,260 --> 00:19:02,270
at Ditchley Park in leafy Oxfordshire.
335
00:19:02,270 --> 00:19:04,570
By that time, the Luftwaffe was losing
336
00:19:04,570 --> 00:19:06,040
the battle of Britain.
337
00:19:06,040 --> 00:19:08,560
Hitler called off his planned invasion,
338
00:19:08,560 --> 00:19:11,000
and time was on Churchill's side.
339
00:19:11,000 --> 00:19:13,410
If you are confident of victory,
340
00:19:13,410 --> 00:19:17,520
why would you be interested in peace feelers?
341
00:19:17,520 --> 00:19:22,270
In particular Churchill and those around him believe
342
00:19:22,270 --> 00:19:25,913
that Germany has to be utterly defeated.
343
00:19:27,260 --> 00:19:29,960
After his revival at the Austrian clinic,
344
00:19:32,530 --> 00:19:35,440
Hitler's deputy was fired up in the belief
345
00:19:35,440 --> 00:19:38,680
that the time was ripe to force Britain to make terms,
346
00:19:38,680 --> 00:19:40,773
by himself in secret.
347
00:19:42,680 --> 00:19:47,630
{\an8}I think there was a crucial period in end of May 1940
348
00:19:47,630 --> 00:19:50,960
where Churchill's position as the prime minister
349
00:19:50,960 --> 00:19:52,710
was not secured yet.
350
00:19:52,710 --> 00:19:56,270
But once this period was gone and they reached June,
351
00:19:56,270 --> 00:19:58,020
they'd reached July, 1940,
352
00:19:58,020 --> 00:20:01,270
there was absolutely no possibility
353
00:20:01,270 --> 00:20:02,680
of an understanding with Britain.
354
00:20:02,680 --> 00:20:07,680
So all these hopes then in 1941 from Hess
355
00:20:08,010 --> 00:20:10,720
and even before, this was just an illusion.
356
00:20:10,720 --> 00:20:13,460
Rudolf Hess turned to people he could trust.
357
00:20:13,460 --> 00:20:16,070
Albrecht Haushofer, the son of his old friend
358
00:20:16,070 --> 00:20:17,950
and university lecturer,
359
00:20:17,950 --> 00:20:20,060
Albrecht worked in the German foreign office,
360
00:20:20,060 --> 00:20:22,103
and had visited Britain many times.
361
00:20:24,130 --> 00:20:27,260
He tried to find pieces and bits of hope.
362
00:20:27,260 --> 00:20:29,720
So, yeah, that's a clear indication,
363
00:20:29,720 --> 00:20:31,707
yes, that there is a peace movement somewhere
364
00:20:31,707 --> 00:20:33,420
behind the curtain in Britain.
365
00:20:33,420 --> 00:20:37,823
And I'm going to fly to Britain and I am make contact, yes.
366
00:20:39,740 --> 00:20:41,600
Albrecht Haushofer had a possible
367
00:20:41,600 --> 00:20:44,960
contact for Hess, someone he would go on to believe
368
00:20:44,960 --> 00:20:48,610
could have influence in government and high society.
369
00:20:48,610 --> 00:20:52,060
A Scottish aristocrat and fellow aviator,
370
00:20:52,060 --> 00:20:53,183
the Duke of Hamilton.
371
00:20:55,540 --> 00:20:58,140
The Duke's son James wrote a book about the
372
00:20:58,140 --> 00:21:00,630
extraordinary events that unfolded.
373
00:21:00,630 --> 00:21:04,490
{\an8}Albrecht had explained to Hess that he did not think
374
00:21:04,490 --> 00:21:07,700
{\an8}the British would respond to any peace overture,
375
00:21:07,700 --> 00:21:10,160
because he said the British regarded Hitler
376
00:21:10,160 --> 00:21:15,160
as Satan's representative on Earth who had to be fought,
377
00:21:15,680 --> 00:21:20,680
and Hess asked him how a personal feeler
378
00:21:21,330 --> 00:21:25,310
could be opened up through a personal approach.
379
00:21:25,310 --> 00:21:28,520
But he said "The closest of my English friends is
380
00:21:28,520 --> 00:21:31,700
the young Duke of Hamilton who has access
381
00:21:31,700 --> 00:21:34,854
to all important persons in London, even
382
00:21:34,854 --> 00:21:37,690
to Churchill and the king."
383
00:21:37,690 --> 00:21:41,280
The Duke of Hamilton had been the head
384
00:21:41,280 --> 00:21:43,530
of the Anglo-German Friendship Society,
385
00:21:43,530 --> 00:21:46,363
and Hess had been misled into thinking
386
00:21:46,363 --> 00:21:49,060
that that was actually an important organization.
387
00:21:49,060 --> 00:21:51,780
We know that even Haushofer's perception
388
00:21:51,780 --> 00:21:55,330
of Britain and Lord Hamilton and all these connections
389
00:21:55,330 --> 00:21:56,630
was not very reliable.
390
00:21:56,630 --> 00:22:00,300
I mean, the whole perception of, of the German,
391
00:22:00,300 --> 00:22:04,500
of some parts of the German elites of Britain,
392
00:22:04,500 --> 00:22:06,063
was naive at this time.
393
00:22:07,620 --> 00:22:10,430
Albrecht Haushofer tried and failed
394
00:22:10,430 --> 00:22:13,253
to set up a secret meeting with Hamilton in Lisbon.
395
00:22:14,090 --> 00:22:15,560
His letter was intercepted
396
00:22:15,560 --> 00:22:18,050
by the British Secret Service.
397
00:22:18,050 --> 00:22:22,020
Yet Hess was still convinced the Scottish peer was his man,
398
00:22:22,020 --> 00:22:25,083
and finalized the plan to fly to his estate.
399
00:22:28,840 --> 00:22:33,840
{\an8}Hess's view was incredibly naive and very simple.
400
00:22:34,010 --> 00:22:37,630
In his mind, he would fly over to Scotland.
401
00:22:37,630 --> 00:22:39,840
He would meet with the Duke of Hamilton.
402
00:22:39,840 --> 00:22:42,110
Lay out his proposal and the Duke of Hamilton
403
00:22:42,110 --> 00:22:45,860
would round up the great landed gentry of Britain
404
00:22:45,860 --> 00:22:48,880
and together they would go en masse to the king,
405
00:22:48,880 --> 00:22:50,210
explain the situation,
406
00:22:50,210 --> 00:22:52,770
explain the error of Winston Churchill's ways,
407
00:22:52,770 --> 00:22:55,300
and the King would depose of the prime minister,
408
00:22:55,300 --> 00:22:57,670
put a new man in charge who would then
409
00:22:57,670 --> 00:22:59,660
do a peace deal with with Germany.
410
00:22:59,660 --> 00:23:04,430
That was his concept of how this mission would roll out.
411
00:23:04,430 --> 00:23:09,053
The reality of it was so far from what he'd, what he hoped.
412
00:23:10,260 --> 00:23:12,670
The deluded deputy fuhrer didn't have
413
00:23:12,670 --> 00:23:17,290
an influential contact in Britain, but he did have a plane.
414
00:23:17,290 --> 00:23:20,440
The shrewd manufacturer Willy Messerschmitt was more
415
00:23:20,440 --> 00:23:22,123
than willing to do him a favor.
416
00:23:24,540 --> 00:23:28,200
If Hess would have said was, give me a fighter,
417
00:23:28,200 --> 00:23:29,033
yes, of course!
418
00:23:29,033 --> 00:23:30,130
I mean, he's the minister.
419
00:23:30,130 --> 00:23:33,300
Willy Messerschmitt knew, "I have to contact the leading,
420
00:23:33,300 --> 00:23:35,040
some leading figures of the state,
421
00:23:35,040 --> 00:23:38,650
which is important for me because I want to make money."
422
00:23:38,650 --> 00:23:41,412
Hess was the deputy fuhrer.
423
00:23:41,412 --> 00:23:43,290
Very few people would say no to the deputy fuhrer
424
00:23:43,290 --> 00:23:44,473
if he had a request.
425
00:23:45,550 --> 00:23:48,570
Messerschmitt won lucrative military contracts
426
00:23:48,570 --> 00:23:52,013
through close relationships with senior Nazis like Hess.
427
00:23:53,600 --> 00:23:55,330
But there may have been another reason why
428
00:23:55,330 --> 00:23:58,230
the canny aircraft manufacturer was so willing to
429
00:23:58,230 --> 00:24:00,310
accommodate the deputy fuhrer's wishes
430
00:24:00,310 --> 00:24:03,763
at his factory and airfield in Augsburg, Bavaria.
431
00:24:06,580 --> 00:24:10,840
He owed him; he owed Hess a favor, because in the 1930s
432
00:24:10,840 --> 00:24:14,100
the local town council decided that Messerschmitt's factory
433
00:24:14,100 --> 00:24:16,220
would be the perfect place for a tram depot.
434
00:24:16,220 --> 00:24:17,977
The plan was that it would be taken over
435
00:24:17,977 --> 00:24:20,170
and trams would end up there.
436
00:24:20,170 --> 00:24:22,528
And it was Hess who was one of the people who insisted
437
00:24:22,528 --> 00:24:24,453
that it stay in place.
438
00:24:25,700 --> 00:24:27,310
This was the machine
439
00:24:27,310 --> 00:24:29,960
that could get Rudolf Hess to Scotland.
440
00:24:29,960 --> 00:24:34,930
The sleek powerful Messerschmitt BF110 fighter bomber.
441
00:24:34,930 --> 00:24:37,050
Most were destroyed in the war.
442
00:24:37,050 --> 00:24:39,343
This one survives in the Berlin Museum.
443
00:24:40,297 --> 00:24:42,550
(speaking in German)
444
00:24:42,550 --> 00:24:44,480
When he realized during a visit
445
00:24:44,480 --> 00:24:47,490
to Augsburg that the Messerschmitt 110 was equipped
446
00:24:47,490 --> 00:24:50,310
with two additional 900 liter tanks.
447
00:24:50,310 --> 00:24:53,777
{\an8}He realized "This could be the ideal airplane for me."
448
00:24:54,850 --> 00:24:57,183
He also needed specific radio equipment.
449
00:24:58,410 --> 00:25:00,550
The Messerschmitt 110 had enough room
450
00:25:00,550 --> 00:25:02,210
for this radio equipment.
451
00:25:02,210 --> 00:25:05,669
And he knew that he could reach England in this plane.
452
00:25:05,669 --> 00:25:08,752
(speaking in German)
453
00:25:15,004 --> 00:25:16,550
When you have just one person
454
00:25:16,550 --> 00:25:19,663
flying the plane, a few alterations had to be made.
455
00:25:21,120 --> 00:25:22,910
The radio equipment is very important
456
00:25:22,910 --> 00:25:24,980
for a flight over long distances
457
00:25:24,980 --> 00:25:27,530
and had to be operated from the front seat.
458
00:25:27,530 --> 00:25:30,030
So they had to install a kind of operating frame
459
00:25:30,030 --> 00:25:32,260
to the front so that the equipment
460
00:25:32,260 --> 00:25:33,810
could be controlled from there.
461
00:25:34,652 --> 00:25:37,485
(speaking German)
462
00:25:39,100 --> 00:25:40,770
With Hitler busy preparing
463
00:25:40,770 --> 00:25:43,180
for the invasion of the Soviet Union,
464
00:25:43,180 --> 00:25:47,530
the deputy fuhrer could indulge in his passion for flying,
465
00:25:47,530 --> 00:25:49,890
planning and taking training flights
466
00:25:49,890 --> 00:25:51,493
without raising suspicions.
467
00:25:56,320 --> 00:25:58,160
He researched the route.
468
00:25:58,160 --> 00:26:00,490
He did all he could in order to get information
469
00:26:00,490 --> 00:26:02,790
about the weather reports and weather systems.
470
00:26:04,480 --> 00:26:06,300
Hess made his first attempt
471
00:26:06,300 --> 00:26:09,380
just before Christmas 1940.
472
00:26:09,380 --> 00:26:11,880
Three times he took off for Scotland,
473
00:26:11,880 --> 00:26:14,453
but was forced to turn back to Augsburg.
474
00:26:19,477 --> 00:26:20,660
He had a number of attempts,
475
00:26:20,660 --> 00:26:22,831
but had to turn back through mechanical problems
476
00:26:22,831 --> 00:26:24,531
and issues to do with the weather.
477
00:26:26,770 --> 00:26:28,340
Probably the only other person
478
00:26:28,340 --> 00:26:31,530
in his entourage who knew about his peace flight
479
00:26:31,530 --> 00:26:34,913
was his trusted adjutant, Karlheinz Pintsch.
480
00:26:40,330 --> 00:26:42,970
The deputy fuhrer dictated the deal he believed
481
00:26:42,970 --> 00:26:45,203
would lead to Britain's capitulation.
482
00:26:54,090 --> 00:26:57,300
Hess believed he was offering a very generous deal.
483
00:26:57,300 --> 00:26:59,741
The deal was that that Britain could keep
484
00:26:59,741 --> 00:27:02,240
most of its colonies, but the key point was
485
00:27:02,240 --> 00:27:05,660
that Germany would have total dominance of Europe.
486
00:27:05,660 --> 00:27:07,703
The British government were aware that
487
00:27:07,703 --> 00:27:11,070
any deal with Hitler would basically involve
488
00:27:11,070 --> 00:27:12,533
his boot on your throat.
489
00:27:15,050 --> 00:27:18,300
Misinformed and misdirected about the enemy territory
490
00:27:18,300 --> 00:27:22,433
he was heading for, the deputy fuhrer pushed on regardless.
491
00:27:26,060 --> 00:27:28,530
He made his last speech at the factory
492
00:27:28,530 --> 00:27:29,980
from where he would take off.
493
00:27:31,910 --> 00:27:35,500
In front of the BF110, the same model
494
00:27:35,500 --> 00:27:38,290
Willy Messerschmitt gladly gave him to fly,
495
00:27:38,290 --> 00:27:40,203
unaware that he'd never get it back.
496
00:27:42,030 --> 00:27:45,300
Nine days later, Hess was back at Augsburg
497
00:27:45,300 --> 00:27:46,673
with his trusted adjutant.
498
00:27:47,830 --> 00:27:49,083
In case of capture,
499
00:27:54,401 --> 00:27:56,924
he would fly under the alias of Captain Horn.
500
00:27:56,924 --> 00:27:57,757
Interception by fighter planes from both sides
501
00:27:57,757 --> 00:27:58,590
was a real risk.
502
00:27:59,700 --> 00:28:03,240
Hess had to be aware of the dangers of his flight.
503
00:28:03,240 --> 00:28:07,020
It was an exceptionally difficult flight to pull off.
504
00:28:07,020 --> 00:28:09,970
In fact, afterwards when Hitler was told about it,
505
00:28:09,970 --> 00:28:11,727
he asked them, the Luftwaffe,
506
00:28:11,727 --> 00:28:14,580
"Is this possible, can Hess pull this off?"
507
00:28:14,580 --> 00:28:15,830
And they assured him, no.
508
00:28:17,340 --> 00:28:19,970
Hundreds of German bombers also took off
509
00:28:19,970 --> 00:28:21,653
on the 10th of May, 1941,
510
00:28:22,500 --> 00:28:25,630
but they weren't carrying offers of peace.
511
00:28:25,630 --> 00:28:29,350
London suffered one of the most savage raids of the blitz.
512
00:28:29,350 --> 00:28:32,890
Well, the reality is the bombing makes people
513
00:28:32,890 --> 00:28:37,420
extremely angry, and it couldn't have been a worse time
514
00:28:37,420 --> 00:28:41,253
for any Nazi leader to launch appease initiative.
515
00:28:42,730 --> 00:28:45,380
Hess took off in the afternoon
516
00:28:45,380 --> 00:28:47,160
and didn't turn back.
517
00:28:47,160 --> 00:28:49,640
His fourth attempt would be a marathon feat
518
00:28:49,640 --> 00:28:51,743
of navigation and flying skills.
519
00:28:56,530 --> 00:28:58,420
In some sense it's really a miracle
520
00:28:58,420 --> 00:29:00,212
that he reached Scotland.
521
00:29:00,212 --> 00:29:02,846
I mean, he had no navigator in his plane,
522
00:29:02,846 --> 00:29:05,680
and it was quite a, quite a demanding flight
523
00:29:05,680 --> 00:29:08,580
in terms of navigation at this time of the year.
524
00:29:08,580 --> 00:29:12,610
So, so the real surprise is that he really hits
525
00:29:12,610 --> 00:29:15,033
almost exactly that point he wanted to reach.
526
00:29:19,083 --> 00:29:20,260
It took him five and a half hours
527
00:29:20,260 --> 00:29:22,460
to reach the Scottish coast
528
00:29:22,460 --> 00:29:24,963
and the deadly threat of British air defenses.
529
00:29:25,850 --> 00:29:28,610
It's often reported that Hess got a free pass,
530
00:29:28,610 --> 00:29:31,310
that no fighters were sent up to intercept him,
531
00:29:31,310 --> 00:29:33,710
that people turned away when the plane entered
532
00:29:33,710 --> 00:29:35,780
British airspace, but that's not the case.
533
00:29:35,780 --> 00:29:38,010
We know that it was recognized.
534
00:29:38,010 --> 00:29:39,240
It was tracked.
535
00:29:39,240 --> 00:29:41,113
We know that spitfires were sent up.
536
00:29:43,910 --> 00:29:45,460
According to one account,
537
00:29:45,460 --> 00:29:48,653
Hess saw spitfires on his tail before he bailed out.
538
00:29:49,510 --> 00:29:53,160
He'd almost made it to the Duke of Hamilton's estate
539
00:29:53,160 --> 00:29:56,783
and parachuted out near the rural village of Eaglesham.
540
00:30:02,500 --> 00:30:04,270
Nobody expected it.
541
00:30:04,270 --> 00:30:07,330
Literally Hess drops out of the sky,
542
00:30:07,330 --> 00:30:11,820
{\an8}and the British are utterly confused about what's going on.
543
00:30:11,820 --> 00:30:14,440
{\an8}It takes them some time to actually be clear
544
00:30:14,440 --> 00:30:17,450
that it is Rudolf Hess.
545
00:30:17,450 --> 00:30:20,560
A young boy kicking a football with his dad that evening
546
00:30:20,560 --> 00:30:22,410
is one of the few eyewitnesses
547
00:30:22,410 --> 00:30:25,070
still able to tell the compelling tale.
548
00:30:25,070 --> 00:30:29,390
{\an8}We suddenly heard the sound of a German plane
549
00:30:29,390 --> 00:30:32,893
{\an8}coming from the east back here.
550
00:30:33,970 --> 00:30:35,840
And it was unmistakably German,
551
00:30:35,840 --> 00:30:38,683
because we knew the sound of the unsynchronized engines.
552
00:30:40,010 --> 00:30:42,017
My father shouted, "It's a Jerry!"
553
00:30:42,860 --> 00:30:45,050
I was mystified.
554
00:30:45,050 --> 00:30:48,980
Anyway, plane passed over this huge tree
555
00:30:48,980 --> 00:30:53,883
which was then here and went exactly in that direction.
556
00:30:58,070 --> 00:31:02,163
So this is the very spot where Rudolf Hess landed,
557
00:31:03,650 --> 00:31:07,470
and his plane crashed only very,
558
00:31:07,470 --> 00:31:11,503
very short distance away from there.
559
00:31:12,610 --> 00:31:17,003
He was seen by plowmen in the cottage which is just here,
560
00:31:18,380 --> 00:31:21,530
and the plowmen, David McLean and his friend
561
00:31:21,530 --> 00:31:24,790
John Tweedy, came out of the house
562
00:31:24,790 --> 00:31:26,480
and helped to release Rudolf Hess
563
00:31:26,480 --> 00:31:30,350
from his harness and helped him into the cottage,
564
00:31:30,350 --> 00:31:33,727
meanwhile shouting to the owner of the farm,
565
00:31:33,727 --> 00:31:35,357
"We've got a German prisoner!"
566
00:31:37,180 --> 00:31:38,540
Hess fell short of the
567
00:31:38,540 --> 00:31:41,130
Duke of Hamilton's country estate.
568
00:31:41,130 --> 00:31:43,400
His Messerschmitt was wrecked,
569
00:31:43,400 --> 00:31:45,493
but he escaped with an injured ankle.
570
00:31:46,660 --> 00:31:50,640
The mystery pilot calling himself Captain Horn was taken
571
00:31:50,640 --> 00:31:53,290
to the local headquarters of the home guard,
572
00:31:53,290 --> 00:31:54,793
now a Masonic hall.
573
00:31:58,480 --> 00:32:01,090
My father went into this room where
574
00:32:01,090 --> 00:32:05,397
the prisoner was in bed and he explained that,
575
00:32:05,397 --> 00:32:07,500
"I don't know whether you recognize me,
576
00:32:07,500 --> 00:32:10,440
but I am Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy.
577
00:32:10,440 --> 00:32:14,550
I'm on a personal unauthorized mission of humanity."
578
00:32:14,550 --> 00:32:18,083
And of course my father was absolutely astonished.
579
00:32:18,970 --> 00:32:23,640
He had not expected the prisoner to be a person
580
00:32:23,640 --> 00:32:28,640
of any great seniority, but it was quite clear now
581
00:32:28,880 --> 00:32:32,320
that this man was probably Rudolf Hess,
582
00:32:32,320 --> 00:32:37,320
because Albrecht Haushofer had described Hess to him
583
00:32:37,350 --> 00:32:40,830
as a man with eyes sunken into his head.
584
00:32:40,830 --> 00:32:45,310
And dark, swarthy complexion, and the prisoner expression,
585
00:32:46,880 --> 00:32:50,423
demeanor, and looks, answer that description.
586
00:32:51,440 --> 00:32:53,970
It was Hitler's deputy,
587
00:32:53,970 --> 00:32:57,470
and he would soon find out how wrong he'd been.
588
00:32:57,470 --> 00:33:00,100
The Duke of Hamilton was not a conduit to some kind
589
00:33:00,100 --> 00:33:04,030
of pro German anti Churchill alliance in Westminster.
590
00:33:04,030 --> 00:33:06,780
The Duke of Hamilton had the shame in many ways
591
00:33:06,780 --> 00:33:09,890
{\an8}of having the deputy fuhrer believe that you were the man,
592
00:33:09,890 --> 00:33:14,303
{\an8}the go-to man, to organize peace with Britain.
593
00:33:15,690 --> 00:33:17,190
The deputy fuhrer did not
594
00:33:17,190 --> 00:33:18,913
get the welcome he expected.
595
00:33:19,980 --> 00:33:22,910
Churchill had just visited London streets
596
00:33:22,910 --> 00:33:25,543
bombed to ruins by Nazi raiders.
597
00:33:26,390 --> 00:33:29,300
He was at the Ditchley Park country estate
598
00:33:29,300 --> 00:33:31,350
when the Duke of Hamilton told him
599
00:33:31,350 --> 00:33:33,087
who had dropped out of the sky.
600
00:33:33,087 --> 00:33:36,910
"Do you mean to tell me that the deputy fuhrer
601
00:33:36,910 --> 00:33:39,890
of Germany is in our hands?"
602
00:33:39,890 --> 00:33:42,010
And he looked at my father as though
603
00:33:42,010 --> 00:33:44,090
he was having hallucinations
604
00:33:44,090 --> 00:33:46,200
and the war had been too much for him.
605
00:33:46,200 --> 00:33:49,100
And my father said, "That he is who he said it was."
606
00:33:49,100 --> 00:33:52,480
And Churchill replied, "Well Hess or no Hess,
607
00:33:52,480 --> 00:33:55,270
I'm going to see the Marx brothers."
608
00:33:55,270 --> 00:33:56,260
I think he meant it.
609
00:33:56,260 --> 00:33:58,130
He'd arranged to go and see a funny movie.
610
00:33:58,130 --> 00:34:01,200
And what could he do at that point about Hess?
611
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:02,780
Was it to be taken seriously?
612
00:34:02,780 --> 00:34:03,613
Clearly not.
613
00:34:03,613 --> 00:34:05,870
It was a way of Churchill actually saying
614
00:34:05,870 --> 00:34:07,590
{\an8}I'm not going to pay any attention to this.
615
00:34:07,590 --> 00:34:09,020
{\an8}This is not serious.
616
00:34:09,020 --> 00:34:12,653
{\an8}We are not going to take this as a way of making peace.
617
00:34:16,120 --> 00:34:21,120
Why would you want to meet a possibly insane deputy fuhrer
618
00:34:22,270 --> 00:34:24,740
who had just dropped out of the sky?
619
00:34:24,740 --> 00:34:26,793
The thing is so bizarre.
620
00:34:30,210 --> 00:34:32,880
British views on peace with Germany.
621
00:34:32,880 --> 00:34:34,710
They don't want it.
622
00:34:34,710 --> 00:34:37,910
In Churchill's view, in the view of his government,
623
00:34:37,910 --> 00:34:40,830
and the view of most of the British people,
624
00:34:40,830 --> 00:34:44,310
there are only two types of good German,
625
00:34:44,310 --> 00:34:45,953
dead or groveling.
626
00:34:46,960 --> 00:34:49,440
The Hess episode was a four-day wonder
627
00:34:49,440 --> 00:34:53,490
in my father's life, but it was a great shock to him,
628
00:34:53,490 --> 00:34:57,300
because he was not the equivalent of Hess in Britain.
629
00:34:57,300 --> 00:35:01,090
He was a wing commander, a station commander,
630
00:35:01,090 --> 00:35:03,575
who was very busy fulfilling his duties
631
00:35:03,575 --> 00:35:05,503
in the second World War.
632
00:35:06,910 --> 00:35:08,510
Hitler had been busy planning
633
00:35:08,510 --> 00:35:10,953
a surprise attack on the Soviet Union.
634
00:35:11,930 --> 00:35:14,450
Surely a deal with Britain would have suited him,
635
00:35:14,450 --> 00:35:17,760
saving him from a war on two fronts.
636
00:35:17,760 --> 00:35:20,330
Perhaps he had known about his deputy's bizarre plan
637
00:35:20,330 --> 00:35:22,823
all along and even sanctioned it.
638
00:35:24,740 --> 00:35:28,310
That's exactly what Rudolf Hess' adjutant told Soviet
639
00:35:28,310 --> 00:35:31,673
interrogators after he was captured on the eastern front,
640
00:35:33,610 --> 00:35:36,330
but his version was recorded under pressure,
641
00:35:36,330 --> 00:35:38,100
possibly torture.
642
00:35:38,100 --> 00:35:40,940
When Karlheinz Pintsch was eventually released,
643
00:35:40,940 --> 00:35:43,810
his hands were so disfigured he could no longer
644
00:35:43,810 --> 00:35:45,210
hold a knife and fork.
645
00:35:45,210 --> 00:35:48,980
He really suffered, clearly, while in Soviet captivity.
646
00:35:48,980 --> 00:35:51,810
So we do not know exactly what happened to him,
647
00:35:51,810 --> 00:35:54,040
{\an8}but it's very, very likely that they
648
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:57,780
{\an8}at least to put it politely put very much pressure on him.
649
00:35:57,780 --> 00:36:02,133
I think it's very unlikely that he really said the truth.
650
00:36:03,970 --> 00:36:06,430
Once he was out of German airspace,
651
00:36:06,430 --> 00:36:09,010
Hess had ordered his adjutant to report
652
00:36:09,010 --> 00:36:10,643
his mission to Hitler.
653
00:36:11,490 --> 00:36:13,660
According to the 28 page report
654
00:36:13,660 --> 00:36:16,100
he wrote for his Soviet interrogators,
655
00:36:16,100 --> 00:36:18,860
Hitler was unsurprised and reacted calmly,
656
00:36:18,860 --> 00:36:22,150
but others at the fuhrer's mountain retreat
657
00:36:22,150 --> 00:36:25,623
at the time had a very different version of events.
658
00:36:26,610 --> 00:36:31,610
Hitler was shocked and reacted with fury and outrage.
659
00:36:31,880 --> 00:36:34,060
People said Hitler was crushed.
660
00:36:34,060 --> 00:36:36,970
They'd never seen him so upset.
661
00:36:36,970 --> 00:36:38,920
But why would the Soviets force Pintsch
662
00:36:38,920 --> 00:36:40,720
to say otherwise?
663
00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:43,610
Historians suggests Stalin wanted evidence
664
00:36:43,610 --> 00:36:46,690
of a possible Anglo-German deal to discredit
665
00:36:46,690 --> 00:36:48,750
and put pressure on the west.
666
00:36:48,750 --> 00:36:52,210
Hess and his unfortunate adjutant became pawns
667
00:36:52,210 --> 00:36:53,883
in a geopolitical game.
668
00:36:55,160 --> 00:36:58,810
It was quite clear that Pintsch delivered what
669
00:36:58,810 --> 00:37:01,740
the intelligence authorities wanted to hear.
670
00:37:01,740 --> 00:37:05,100
Stalin, for his part, wanted to sow doubt
671
00:37:05,100 --> 00:37:07,630
and dissension in the west.
672
00:37:07,630 --> 00:37:10,640
He always had this lingering feeling that
673
00:37:10,640 --> 00:37:13,970
because the British and the Germans are both capitalists,
674
00:37:13,970 --> 00:37:18,583
they somehow would make a separate deal between themselves.
675
00:37:23,090 --> 00:37:24,840
But there was no deal.
676
00:37:26,196 --> 00:37:28,360
And the Nazi propaganda minister had a
677
00:37:28,360 --> 00:37:30,890
PR disaster on his hands.
678
00:37:30,890 --> 00:37:34,263
The fuhrer's deputy had landed on the enemy's lap.
679
00:37:35,590 --> 00:37:38,990
Hitler's loyal party comrade was suddenly branded
680
00:37:38,990 --> 00:37:40,380
a deluded fool.
681
00:37:40,380 --> 00:37:43,940
The idea that they eventually had, pushed my Goebbels,
682
00:37:43,940 --> 00:37:47,080
the propaganda minister, of claiming that Hess had gone mad,
683
00:37:47,080 --> 00:37:50,710
of course, wasn't actually a very favorable comment
684
00:37:50,710 --> 00:37:53,410
on the nature of their regime.
685
00:37:53,410 --> 00:37:54,360
The Germans in Berlin who kept
686
00:37:54,360 --> 00:37:56,360
on inventing these wonderful jokes.
687
00:37:56,360 --> 00:37:59,300
Well, imagine Hess is brought before Churchill
688
00:37:59,300 --> 00:38:01,430
and Churchill says, "So you're the madman."
689
00:38:01,430 --> 00:38:03,947
And Hess says, "No, I'm only his deputy."
690
00:38:05,980 --> 00:38:08,880
The regime did not tolerate being laughed at.
691
00:38:09,950 --> 00:38:13,793
Those associated with the deputy fuhrer paid a heavy price.
692
00:38:17,548 --> 00:38:20,715
(speaking in German)
693
00:38:24,320 --> 00:38:27,950
The unfortunate adjutant Karlheinz Pintsch was arrested
694
00:38:27,950 --> 00:38:30,860
and kept in solitary confinement before being sent
695
00:38:30,860 --> 00:38:33,143
to the eastern front in 1944.
696
00:38:34,370 --> 00:38:36,705
Rudolf Hess' part Jewish friends,
697
00:38:36,705 --> 00:38:39,320
the Haushofers, were exposed.
698
00:38:39,320 --> 00:38:41,630
Their writs of protection now carried
699
00:38:41,630 --> 00:38:43,153
the signature of a traitor.
700
00:38:44,050 --> 00:38:46,100
It was the beginning of the end for Hess'
701
00:38:46,100 --> 00:38:49,320
old university lecturer, Karl Haushofer,
702
00:38:49,320 --> 00:38:50,563
and his son, Albrecht.
703
00:38:52,430 --> 00:38:55,810
Albrecht supported the resistance against Hitler
704
00:38:55,810 --> 00:38:58,083
and was executed in 1945.
705
00:38:59,290 --> 00:39:02,710
His father, Karl and half Jewish mother Martha
706
00:39:02,710 --> 00:39:04,513
committed suicide a year later.
707
00:39:11,420 --> 00:39:13,890
As for Rudolf Hess, there was no meeting
708
00:39:13,890 --> 00:39:17,290
with the king or influential politicians.
709
00:39:17,290 --> 00:39:19,933
He was locked away in the Tower of London.
710
00:39:20,940 --> 00:39:23,970
The Soviet Union was not yet in the war.
711
00:39:23,970 --> 00:39:27,180
Perhaps Hess was silenced in a bid to provoke
712
00:39:27,180 --> 00:39:28,603
Stalin into action.
713
00:39:30,840 --> 00:39:35,840
So it's a way of Churchill just keeping the lid on Hess,
714
00:39:36,500 --> 00:39:40,060
not allow him to say anything, dropping a few hints
715
00:39:40,060 --> 00:39:42,800
that there was a separate piece being negotiated.
716
00:39:42,800 --> 00:39:45,630
And that would prod Stalin into invading Germany
717
00:39:45,630 --> 00:39:47,300
before Britain pulled out.
718
00:39:47,300 --> 00:39:49,200
If you let Hess say something,
719
00:39:49,200 --> 00:39:51,360
you could see that he was bonkers
720
00:39:51,360 --> 00:39:55,203
and the whole plot would be completely unraveled.
721
00:39:56,470 --> 00:39:59,180
From the tower, Hess was incarcerated in
722
00:39:59,180 --> 00:40:01,350
more opulent surroundings,
723
00:40:01,350 --> 00:40:03,563
a country house to the west of London.
724
00:40:05,250 --> 00:40:07,150
{\an8}He's an interesting freak,
725
00:40:07,150 --> 00:40:09,093
{\an8}as far as the British are concerned.
726
00:40:10,010 --> 00:40:11,500
They want to prod him.
727
00:40:11,500 --> 00:40:13,340
They want to analyze him.
728
00:40:13,340 --> 00:40:16,770
They want to understand what's going on
729
00:40:16,770 --> 00:40:20,953
which led to this utterly bizarre incident.
730
00:40:22,120 --> 00:40:24,530
Churchill didn't need Hess to stoke
731
00:40:24,530 --> 00:40:25,853
unease in the east.
732
00:40:26,730 --> 00:40:31,080
Six weeks later, Hitler invaded the Soviet union,
733
00:40:31,080 --> 00:40:34,113
and the fuhrer's former deputy was all but forgotten.
734
00:40:35,998 --> 00:40:37,080
That was the best it was ever going to get
735
00:40:37,080 --> 00:40:39,500
for Rudolf Hess, I mean a country house
736
00:40:39,500 --> 00:40:41,500
where he got to walk around the grounds.
737
00:40:42,600 --> 00:40:43,700
It was also the scene
738
00:40:43,700 --> 00:40:45,693
of a first attempt at suicide.
739
00:40:47,160 --> 00:40:50,933
He survived a leap from a first floor with a broken leg.
740
00:40:52,090 --> 00:40:55,950
In his suicide note, he declared his loyalty to Hitler,
741
00:40:55,950 --> 00:40:58,993
even though the regime considered him a deluded traitor.
742
00:41:01,410 --> 00:41:03,710
After his fuhrer's crushing defeat,
743
00:41:03,710 --> 00:41:06,860
the diehard Nazi was hauled before the international
744
00:41:06,860 --> 00:41:09,093
criminal court at Nuremberg.
745
00:41:10,400 --> 00:41:12,683
It seemed that Goebbels was right after all.
746
00:41:13,570 --> 00:41:17,073
Party member Hess seemed to have lost it completely.
747
00:41:18,650 --> 00:41:22,820
At Nuremberg he pretended to be suffering from amnesia,
748
00:41:22,820 --> 00:41:25,090
{\an8}but when the commandant challenged him
749
00:41:25,090 --> 00:41:28,120
{\an8}with behaving in a not very manly fashion
750
00:41:28,120 --> 00:41:29,840
and he owed it to his family
751
00:41:29,840 --> 00:41:32,440
and to his country to make a clean best of it,
752
00:41:32,440 --> 00:41:34,910
he, the day he stood up and said
753
00:41:34,910 --> 00:41:37,290
his memory was responding perfectly,
754
00:41:37,290 --> 00:41:40,083
and he wished to stand trial with his colleagues.
755
00:41:41,560 --> 00:41:44,570
He was sentenced to life in prison for his role
756
00:41:44,570 --> 00:41:46,883
in the early crimes of the Nazi regime.
757
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:51,880
The Holocaust was revealed to the world,
758
00:41:51,880 --> 00:41:54,200
yet Hitler's former deputy still
759
00:41:54,200 --> 00:41:56,463
declared himself a proud Nazi.
760
00:41:59,165 --> 00:42:02,582
(man speaking in German)
761
00:42:13,890 --> 00:42:16,380
Rudolf Hess was sent to Spandau Prison
762
00:42:16,380 --> 00:42:17,803
on the outskirts of Berlin.
763
00:42:18,760 --> 00:42:22,750
Fellow inmates, like Hitler's architect Albert Speer,
764
00:42:22,750 --> 00:42:25,360
and the Hitler youth leader Baldur von Schirach
765
00:42:25,360 --> 00:42:26,343
came and went.
766
00:42:27,230 --> 00:42:30,880
The former deputy fuhrer was there to stay.
767
00:42:30,880 --> 00:42:34,060
Compared to a normal prisoner in a normal prison,
768
00:42:34,060 --> 00:42:36,293
he had considerable freedom of movement,
769
00:42:37,870 --> 00:42:41,420
choice of food and that sort of thing,
770
00:42:41,420 --> 00:42:44,560
which a prisoner in a normal prison would never get.
771
00:42:44,560 --> 00:42:48,660
{\an8}And so he had quite a free life within those confines.
772
00:42:48,660 --> 00:42:51,310
{\an8}He was remarkably fit for his age.
773
00:42:51,310 --> 00:42:54,027
{\an8}He was kept there because that was the sentence.
774
00:42:54,027 --> 00:42:55,940
{\an8}The sentence was a life sentence.
775
00:42:55,940 --> 00:42:58,480
There was a campaign to free him,
776
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:00,610
but it was a neo-Nazi campaign.
777
00:43:00,610 --> 00:43:02,610
Had he been released, he would have become the center
778
00:43:02,610 --> 00:43:05,140
of Neo Nazi adulation.
779
00:43:05,140 --> 00:43:07,470
Not to mention, of course the adulation of old Nazis
780
00:43:07,470 --> 00:43:10,120
who still looked him as a deputy fuhrer of the Reich.
781
00:43:11,200 --> 00:43:15,020
In June, 1987, the West German president
782
00:43:15,020 --> 00:43:17,750
made a historic visit to Moscow.
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An apparent thaw in relations led to speculation that the
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Soviets might agree to release Rudolf Hess.
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{\an8}Yes, I told him,
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{\an8}and he said to me "That's good."
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Others refute the idea that Russia
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would ever agree to release the unrepentant Nazi,
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who was once Hitler's deputy.
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Why would Russia not want him released?
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I think the answer for that is that look at the death toll
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of the second World War.
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Look what it inflicted on Russia as a nation.
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It was vast.
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On the 17th of August 1987,
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Hitler's former deputy sought his own final release.
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Hess' suicide was a total surprise.
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There was no indications lead up to it whatsoever.
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Hess was found in the prison's summer house.
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Officials claimed the frail, partially blind 93 year old
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hanged himself with an electrical cable.
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A child could have done it really.
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It was just one over knot.
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It wasn't anything elaborate,
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just a twist in the cable.
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00:44:36,530 --> 00:44:38,950
There were no witnesses,
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00:44:38,950 --> 00:44:41,570
but conspiracy theories emerged that Hess
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was assassinated to stop him revealing embarrassing secrets.
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His carer claimed to have seen two suspicious
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people standing over the body.
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They were standing there like murderers,
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very relaxed, so not like actors,
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but really like proper professional killers.
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There's no reason why anyone should
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want to kill Hess at all.
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He was an old, isolated, lonely man.
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There was no hint anywhere during all the decades
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that he was in Spandau prison
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that he was going to reveal any secrets of any sort.
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Hess' son Wolf was among those
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who suspected foul play.
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The family ordered a second autopsy.
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The purpose of the second opinion
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was to investigate if there really had been
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a trauma to the neck, how this had happened,
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And the question was, is hanging or strangulation
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{\an8}a viable theory?
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An important aspect of this question
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is the so-called rope mark.
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The report came to the conclusion
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that the death corresponds to the compression
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of the neck through a rope-like implement.
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The report did not voice an opinion
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whether this was down to hanging or strangulation.
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The second autopsy sparked
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more questions than answers.
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Some body parts were not available
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for the private examination.
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The so-called neck entrails,
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including the larynx, the wind pipe, or large parts of it,
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the thyroid gland and the carotid artery,
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00:46:45,890 --> 00:46:47,033
they were all missing.
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00:46:48,700 --> 00:46:50,900
The body parts weren't missing.
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00:46:52,070 --> 00:46:54,123
There was a logical explanation.
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00:46:55,880 --> 00:46:58,390
Those parts wouldn't have been given to the family
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at that stage, because they still hadn't
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been finished being examined.
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That type of examination takes days.
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And we certainly wanted to get rid of the body.
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So we handed it back.
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Rumor and speculation followed Rudolf Hess
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in life and death.
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00:47:20,240 --> 00:47:23,703
The second unofficial autopsy was inconclusive.
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00:47:24,780 --> 00:47:28,123
Conspiracy theories of murder were very much alive.
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00:47:29,670 --> 00:47:31,640
The family believes that this was
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00:47:31,640 --> 00:47:36,483
a death resulting from strangulation by a third party.
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00:47:40,759 --> 00:47:45,759
But we had to say that that is one possible scenario,
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00:47:45,990 --> 00:47:48,483
but not necessarily the correct one.
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00:47:54,670 --> 00:47:56,460
For prison authorities,
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00:47:56,460 --> 00:47:59,473
there was no mystery surrounding the death of Rudolf Hess.
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I think that these other theories, et cetera,
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are absolute rubbish.
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Anything else is just pure speculation.
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Hitler's former deputy died knowing
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he would never be pardoned.
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He realized from the rejection note
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00:48:17,560 --> 00:48:19,040
coming back from authorities
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that there was no chance of him being released.
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He was there for life and that was it.
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00:48:25,340 --> 00:48:28,430
And he realized that and accepted it this last moment.
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And thought, well, I'll do something about it and did it.
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00:48:31,960 --> 00:48:33,820
His ill-fated flight
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00:48:33,820 --> 00:48:35,793
led to a life in captivity.
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Death was the only release.
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00:48:40,470 --> 00:48:43,850
He is still celebrated by an extreme minority,
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00:48:43,850 --> 00:48:46,990
ignorant of the terror he once represented.
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00:48:46,990 --> 00:48:50,030
There are two points which should never be forgotten
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00:48:50,030 --> 00:48:51,750
about Rudolf Hess.
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The first is he signed all the antisemitic legislation.
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So he helped provide a framework in which those of
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00:49:02,450 --> 00:49:07,450
Jewish origin could be openly discriminated against.
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00:49:08,010 --> 00:49:11,800
And the second point about him is that he supported
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00:49:11,800 --> 00:49:15,580
Hitler in word, thought, and deed,
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00:49:15,580 --> 00:49:17,250
and that he did not want peace.
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00:49:17,250 --> 00:49:21,210
He wanted war against Russia, but what he did want
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00:49:21,210 --> 00:49:23,950
in order to make that war successful
887
00:49:23,950 --> 00:49:27,950
was Britain to be removed from the conflict
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before the onslaught on Russia began.
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00:49:30,930 --> 00:49:32,423
And in that he failed.
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00:49:34,000 --> 00:49:36,580
His deluded flight to Britain was not made
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00:49:36,580 --> 00:49:40,773
to serve peace, but Hitler's ambitions for total war.
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00:49:42,020 --> 00:49:44,543
Both were a spectacular failure.
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00:49:47,369 --> 00:49:50,369
(suspenseful music)
71017
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