D. D. Desjardins
I was in Ohio on August 17,
1987 when news came of the death of Rudolf Hess at Spandau Prison. Within
several days, it was reported that Hess had committed suicide, a version
endorsed several weeks later by his Allied jailers (the United States, the
Soviet Union, Great Britain, and France) in official communiques:
Rudolf Hess hung himself from
the bar of the window of a small building in the prison garden, using the
electric cord of a reading lamp. Efforts were made to resuscitate him. He was
rushed to the British Military Hospital, where, after several further efforts,
he was pronounced dead at 4:10 p.m. local time.
A note addressed to the Hess
family has been found in his pocket: „Thanks to the directors for addressing
this message to my home. Written several minutes before my death.“
It was then only a passing
thought that Hess might have been a victim of foul play rather than a man who
would willfully take his own life. The Hess I'd learned about through reading
Eugene K. Bird's Prisoner No. 7 or G. Gordon Liddy [1] did not seem the
sort of man who would leave this world voluntarily, but rather as a man true to
his ideas and idols, defiant to the end.
It was not until May, 1989,
while in Paris during a short stay, that I happened across an article in Le
Figaro Magazine (No. 13871) written by Jean-Pax Méfret which suggested
Hess's death was something other than suicide. Had it been a matter of some
tabloid announcement, a Gallic version of our National Enquirer, that
would have been easy to dismiss, but here it was in one of France's most prestigious
weeklies.
The twists and turns of
Jean-Pax Méfret's year-long investigation led him through various clandestine
contacts and secret rendezvous, often with persons who, knowing his profession,
were careful about their identity and what they said.
A chance meeting in March,
1988 between Méfret and an Allied officer stationed in Berlin, for example,
gave a lead which helped spark further investigation when the officer suddenly
confided: „Rudolf Hess ... he did not commit suicide“ (and again after a
momentary pause), „Hess did not commit suicide.“ The officer met Méfret again
the following day and, under a guarantee of anonymity, revealingly hedged his
earlier statement:
Forget what I told you the
other evening. In any event, this matter can't leak out: everything has been
perfectly arranged. The outbuilding was burned down within 48 hours. Even the
cord which Hess supposedly used to hang himself has gone up in smoke. No one
will ever be able to prove that this old Nazi didn't kill himself.
What the Allied officer said
about proof, seven months after Hess' death, would soon be contradicted by
several key testimonies. One of these was by Abdallah Melaouhi, Hess' medical
attendant at Spandau since August, 1982. Broadcast in an interview over B.B.C.
news February 28, 1989, Melaouhi stated categorically that he did not accept
the official suicide thesis. On the day of Hess's death he described how his
normal visit time of 11:20 was changed to have him arrive 40 minutes earlier,
and how later that day when he entered the room where Hess was supposed to have
hanged himself, „ ... everything was topsy-turvy, yet the cord was in its
normal place and still plugged into the wall.“
A more telling testimony is
the report of Professor Dr. Wolfgang Spann, the medical expert hired by the
Hess family to perform a second autopsy, which had not yet been made public at
the time of Méfret's article. Spann's detailed examination of the neck failed
to corroborate the autopsy of the Four Powers' pathologist, J.M. Cameron, who
reported a suicide: Spann found that Hess had died from strangulation, not
hanging. [2]
Through the services of an
anonymous Spandau employee, Jean-pax Méfret obtained a copy of a letter written
by Rudolf Hess dated 27 October, 1984 to the „governments of the four powers of
allied military protection of Berlin-Spandau.“ In this letter, Hess, at age 90,
describes his state of health as part of a request for liberty. This
description, predating Hess' alleged suicide by almost three years, starkly
contrasts with that of a man who could, with very little time and under the
surveillance of his guard, noose an electric cord, tie it to the bar of a
window and hang himself. Here is a translation of the letter:
Until recently, I was
three-fourths blind. Yet part of my left eye was still in perfect condition.
Since the morning of Friday, 17 August, it has meanwhile developed that I was
no longer able to read normal sized letters of newspaper text. Even certain 4
centimeter characters printed in the title of a paper were no longer visible.
There is nothing left in their place but empty space ... The detachment of the
retina will continue until such time as I become totally blind ... Within the
time of twenty minutes while I walk in the prison garden I experience heart
problems. This forces me to sit down and to rest so as to take up my activity
for a short period ... I have oedema of the legs which only goes away on condition
I elevate my legs both day and night. I also have weakness in my thighs of
which the muscles no longer control bending of the knees, so much so that I can
no longer raise myself, not even with the use of my cane. It is necessary for
another person to help me get on my feet ... My intestines are displaced to the
right, forming a large lump below the abdomen. A few steps suffice to provoke
extreme pain.
Is this the description of a
man who could hang himself? Not unless it can be supposed Hess's condition improved
dramatically in the course of the three-year interval.
Another telling document
obtained by Méfret is the letter Rudolf Hess wrote to Mr. Keane, the American
Director of Spandau. Dated 4 April, 1987, (just four months prior to Hess's
death), it reads as follows:
As motive for my previously
submitted request concerning the dismissal of the American guard Jordan
[emphasis added]: he is of poor upbringing, yes, very overbearing and harmful
toward me. All the others are amicable, polite and helpful in my regard. Even
the directors are of the highest manners. Mr. Jordan has now become a danger to
my health. I pass my two hours with him with great difficulty, with a
continuous elevation of my blood pressure of 120 beats per minute (125 can be
fatal). To repeat, the strain of his presence accelerates my heart rate. As you
have told me, Mr. Jordan is here as a guard employed by the Senate and held
accountable to Civil Service regulations. The Senate must therefore approve his
dismissal. I sincerely implore the Senate to do this, for the sake of the state
of health of a 93-year-old man.
The prison log for 17 August,
1987, the day Rudolf Hess died, contains two very interesting entries. The
lesser of the two is that at 10:20, Hess put in a request for 30 packets of
tissue paper, two sheets of writing paper, a ruler, and three rolls of toilet
paper; hardly the request of a man intending suicide just a few hours later.
Second are the entries for 14:10 and 14:30. The entry for 14:10 states Hess
went for a walk in the garden accompanied by Jordan, the American guard
mentioned in the above letter. Twenty minutes later (although there is some
question in that the time of 14:30 has been visibly altered from the original
entry), Jordan reports that „an incident“ has occurred. The French guard Audoin
arrives on the scene and tries to resuscitate Hess, apparently without avail,
as is the case with trying to find Mr. Keane. Hess does not arrive at the
British Military Hospital until 15:50, a full hour and 20 minutes after the „incident.“
The foregoing evidence
obviously raised some very serious questions about the death of Rudolf Hess:
Was Jordan hired as part of a plot to assassinate Hess? Why was the American
Director, Mr. Keane, unwilling to entertain Hess's concern regarding Jordan's
behavior? Why was Spandau fortress destroyed within 48 hours of Hess's death,
particularly the outbuilding where he died and the alleged suicide instruments?
It is true that Hess had
apparently attempted suicide at least once, in February, 1946, and it is also
true there were no known Allied attempts on his life during the 41 years prior
to August, 1987. On the other hand, costs to maintain Spandau Prison, with its
600 cells, 100 full-time employees and guard detachments for the Four Powers,
had soared to over 100 million dollars annually. Rudolf Hess, the last
remaining prisoner at Spandau since the release of Albert Speer and Baldur von
Schirach in 1966, has incontestably become the most expensive prisoner in the
world. This is only one of several plausible motives, however.
In August 1990, supported by
the above information, I contacted Congressman Earl Hutto, requesting an
official investigation into the circumstances surrounding Hess' death. Within a
month I received a cordial reply stating there were no current plans for such
an effort, although my comments would be kept on hand „ ... should Congress
hold hearings on this matter.“ Mr. Hutto forwarded a copy of my letter and
article (which included important photostats from the Figaro article),
to the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and International Law within the
House Committee on the Judiciary. As a follow-up, I sent a second copy of the
article in October, 1990 directly to New York committee member Hamilton Fish,
Jr.
It is strongly urged that
those interested in the Hess affair and our nation's responsibilities to truth
and honor to write the Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees and International
Law requesting an official investigation into the death of Rudolf Hess. Not only
was Spandau prison under U. S. control at the time of his death, but as I have
pointed out, there is reasonable concern that an American guard by the name of
Jordan may have played a role.
Notes
1. See Parade, February, 1981, pg. 6, „G. Gordon Liddy: Why Hess Will
Never Break.“
2. See Mord and Rudolf Hess?, by Hess' son Wolf Rüdiger (Leoni am
Starnberger See, Germany: Druffel, 1989), pp. 191-229 for Cameron's and Spann's
autopsies and Spann's official report to the author. ( Mord an Rudolf Hess?
and its English translation, Who Murdered My Father, Rudolf Hess? are
available from the Institute for Historical Review.
3. Subcommittee on Immigration, Refugees, and International Law (Bruce A.
Morrison [D-CT], Chairman), B370B Rayburn H.O.B., Washington, DC 20515-6217.
Telephone: 1-202-225-5727.
4. Sources close to the Hess family tend at this time to doubt that Jordan
himself, who still lives in Berlin and is employed by the U. S. Army, carried
out the murder, but believe that he is a key witness. Their suspicion focuses
on the British. -- Editor
Source:
Reprinted from The Journal of Historical Review, vol. 11, no. 3, pp.
360-364.
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ReplyDeleteIt's time we started taking the lives of our enemy. We are soldiers in a war, it is a war not of our own volition, it is a war where we are being murdered, murdered in person and in spirit. Murdered are our children, our women and our art. If let go until it's conclusion, murdered will be our memory also. Not a single enemy has lost their life be it to my understanding. This must not go on. It is well past the hour that our enemy, who murders us, is murdered himself.
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