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Rudolf Hess | |
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| Born | Rudolf Walter Richard Hess 26 April 1894 Alexandria, Khedivate of Egypt |
| Died | 17 August 1987 (aged 93) Spandau Prison, West Berlin, West Germany |
| Cause of death | Suicide by hanging |
| Political orientation | Nazism |
| Political party | Nazi Party |
Rudolf Walter Richard Hess (German Rudolf Walter Richard Heß; 26 April 1894 – 17 August 1987) was a German soldier, war criminal, and prominent Nazi politician. Hess was fanatically devoted to Adolf Hitler and served as his deputy from April 1933 until May 1941 when he flew to the United Kingdom in an attempt to make peace.
A month before the German invasion of the Soviet Union, Hess flew to Scotland in order to negotiate peace with the United Kingdom without Hitler's prior knowledge or approval. Hess was arrested by British authorities soon after his arrival and held in British captivity until the end of the war. After the war was over, he was convicted of crimes of aggression along with conspiracy to commit crimes of aggression in 1946 during the Nuremberg trials and sentenced to life imprisonment in Spandau. Hess committed suicide by hanging himself with an extension cord on 17 August 1987 at the age of 93.