Britain 'tried to get Hess released'

Hess (r) was sentenced at Nuremberg

Britain tried desperately not to have Hitler's deputy Rudolph Hess returned to Spandau Prison midway through his life sentence, newly released documents reveal.

The Western Allies, most notably Britain, wanted Hess released in 1970 because his continued incarceration as the only prisoner in Spandau was becoming an embarrassing humanitarian issue.

Documents released by the Public Records Office (PRO), under the 30 year rule, show the British tried to thwart Russian demands that Hess should remain in Spandau for the rest of the life.

By 1970 Hess, who was sentenced under the Nuremberg trials, was suffering from a variety of ailments including ulcers, an enlarged prostate and bronchial pneumonia and was treated in the British military hospital in Berlin.

Confidential telegram

A confidential telegram from the Foreign Office dated January 1970 showed the Allies' dilemma.

They wanted to keep Hess out of Spandau without offending the Russians.

The telegram reads: "We should therefore consider alternative means to securing his release which need not be based exclusively on humanitarian grounds, since on past experience this cut no ice with the Russians."

It continues: "His return to Spandau would expose the Allies to severe public criticism. It was therefore best to concentrate on keeping Hess in hospital."

However, their attempts to keep Hess in hospital indefinitely failed.

Hess was returned to Spandau and committed suicide in the prison at the age of 93 in 1987.

From 1966 on, Hess was the only prisoner left in Spandau, where he was known until his death as Prisoner Number 7.

Attempts to have him released were led by his son, Wolf-Rudiger Hess, who maintained that the treatment of his father was barbaric.

Soviet demands

The three Western Allies, Britain, France and the US, wanted Hess released, but the Soviet Union were adamant that he die in Spandau as a powerful symbol of the Nazi defeat.

The release of the papers comes just weeks before the 60th anniversary of Hess's ill-fated flight to Britain.

On June 10, 1941, Hess's plane crash-landed in Renfrewshire, Scotland, and he was quickly arrested.

He claimed to have been on a peace mission to end the conflict between Germany and Britain.

By negotiating with the Duke of Hamilton and a number of other members of the British establishment opposed to Churchill, he hoped to secure a peace which would allow Germany a free hand to attack Russia which she did in June 1941.

Mystery still surrounds Hess's flight, whether Hitler knew about his mission and even whether the man who landed was Hess at all.

His mission remains so controversial that official MI5 files on Hess will not be released until 2017.