by Scott Christmas

Created on: June 20, 2008

On May 10, 1941, Nazi Party Deputy Fhrer Rudolf Hess parachuted into Scotland, apparently in the hopes of negotiating peace with the British in light of the coming war with the Soviet Union.

Hess had been born to German parents in Alexandria, Egypt, but returned to the Fatherland as a young teenager. He wanted to be an astronomer, but his business-minded father insisted that he attend school in Switzerland at a business college. Already 20 at the outbreak of World War I, Hess took the opportunity to escape the rule of his tyrannical father and joined the infantry. He served at the battle of Ypres in 1915, and later in Romania. He was wounded twice, earning an Iron Cross 2nd Class. He later transferred to the air service and flew Fokker D.VII's for JG 35 in the last few weeks of the war, though he was not credited with any kills.

After the war, Hess, like so many other embittered German veterans, joined the Freikorps, a right wing paramilitary outfit that sprang up in post-war Germany, fighting, among other things, to put down Communist uprisings. He was also reputed to be a member of the Thule Society, an anti-Jew and anti-Communist occult group that later gave Hitler the basis for such Nazi ideas as the primacy of the Aryan race, the use of the swastika as a party symbol, and Jewish extermination.

Hess first met Adolph Hitler in 1920, after hearing Hitler speak. He soon joined Hitler's budding organization, officially as the 16th member. He took part in the Bier Hall Putsch of 1923, and served 7 and a half months in prison as a result. About this same time, he began serving as Hitler's secretary, and was the primary editor for Hitler's book "Mein Kampf." He very quickly rose to become Deputy Fhrer of the Nazi Party and third in command after Hitler and Hermann Gring. Gring, of course, was another former World War I aviator.

Although he maintained his high position in Hitler's inner circle, he grew increasingly disenfranchised during the 1930's as others began to grow more powerful within the Nazi hierarchy.

Be that as it may, by May of 1941, Hess was still a right hand man to Hitler and a devoted Nazi to the core. To this day, the exact circumstances surrounding Hess's flight on May 10th of that year are unknown. Ostensibly, Hess decided, on his own, to solve the problem of the coming 2-front war for Germany by flying to England to negotiate peace. This, he apparently believed, would help to restore his influence within the Nazi hierarchy. His plan was to meet

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