I always believe Hess went to England on Hitler’s orders.
Hess didn’t take a dump unless the Fuhrer told him to.
I always believe Hess went to England on Hitler’s orders.
Hess didn’t take a dump unless the Fuhrer told him to.
Perhaps Hitler put on an act when Hess' adjutants, Leitgen and Pintsch, went in to see Hitler ahead of Albert Speer, who had an appointment.
"I suddenly heard an inarticulate, almost animal, outcry. Then Hitler roared: 'Bormann, at once! Where is Bormann?' Bormann was told to get in touch with Goering, Ribbentrop, Goebbels, and Himmler by the fastest possible means. All private guests were confined to the upper floor [of the Berghof, Hitler's residence above Berchtesgaden]. Many hours passed before we learned what had happened: Hitler's deputy had flown to hostile England...
"...[Hitler:] 'Who will believe me when I say that Hess did not fly there in my name...?'...
[Bormann succeeded Hess as Deputy Fuehrer.]
"...At the time it appeared to [Speer] that Bormann's ambition had driven Hess to this desperate act...By his flight to England, Hess was probably trying...to win prestige and some success..."
Speer says Hess disclaimed having had Hitler's approval:
"Twenty-five years later, in Spandau prison, Hess assured [Speer] in all seriousness that the idea had been inspired in him in a dread by supernatural forces."
Or maybe Speer lied in his memoirs.
All quotes from Inside the Third Reich, Albert Speer, Macmillan, 1970, pp. 209-211. Typos, ellipses, and bracketed interpolations are mine.
Correction:
"...in a dream..."