Uploaded August 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 hour ago
As the Deputy Führer of the Third Reich, Rudolf Hess stood second only to Adolf Hitler himself in the hierarchy of Nazi Germany, his loyalty to Hitler unquestioned. As the war progressed however, he was increasingly sidelined by other Nazis like Martin Bormann, who incurred greater favour from Hitler.
On 10 May 1941, Hess made a solo flight across the North Sea to Scotland on an apparently unauthorised mission seeking peace with Great Britain. The British authorities immediately arrested him on his landing. He was destined not to succeed in his mission to make peace between Great Britain and Nazi Germany, but the circumstances around his flight leave many unanswered questions, and his suicide by hanging while at Spandau Prison in 1987 raised even more questions.
Note that this programme was made in 1996. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office did indeed release their papers on the Rudolf Hess case in 2017; they mostly detail the running of Spandau prison and the circumstances around his death in 1987. The catalogue of the files can be seen here, though they have not been digitised and are not viewable online: nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/files-released-foreign-and-commonwealth-office-and-cabinet-office/foreign-and-commonwealth-office-files/#FCO%20161%20(1-71)%20Office%20of%20the%20Governor%20(Spandau%20Prison),%20British%20Military%20Government,%20Berlin:%20Files
As the Deputy Führer of the Third Reich, Rudolf Hess stood second only to Adolf Hitler himself in the hierarchy of Nazi Germany, his loyalty to Hitler unquestioned. As the war progressed however, he was increasingly sidelined by other Nazis like Martin Bormann, who incurred greater favour from Hitler.
On 10 May 1941, Hess made a solo flight across the North Sea to Scotland on an apparently unauthorised mission seeking peace with Great Britain. The British authorities immediately arrested him on his landing. He was destined not to succeed in his mission to make peace between Great Britain and Nazi Germany, but the circumstances around his flight leave many unanswered questions, and his suicide by hanging while at Spandau Prison in 1987 raised even more questions.
Note that this programme was made in 1996. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office did indeed release their papers on the Rudolf Hess case in 2017; they mostly detail the running of Spandau prison and the circumstances around his death in 1987. The catalogue of the files can be seen here, though they have not been digitised and are not viewable online: nationalarchives.gov.uk/about/news/files-released-foreign-and-commonwealth-office-and-cabinet-office/foreign-and-commonwealth-office-files/#FCO%20161%20(1-71)%20Office%20of%20the%20Governor%20(Spandau%20Prison),%20British%20Military%20Government,%20Berlin:%20Files
