Category: People Key figures: Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler, Duke of Hamilton
Rudolf Hess died on August 17, 1987, at the age of 93 in Spandau Prison, West Berlin. German authorities recorded the cause of death as suicide by hanging. From 1966 until his death in 1987, Hess had been the sole prisoner held at Spandau, the four-power Allied prison maintained jointly by the United States, the United Kingdom, France, and the Soviet Union. Following his death, the prison was demolished to prevent it from becoming a shrine for neo-Nazi sympathizers.
Hess had risen to become Deputy Führer of the Nazi Party, serving as Adolf Hitler’s deputy as party leader from April 1933. On May 10, 1941, he flew alone from Augsburg to Scotland and parachuted to the ground in an abortive, self-styled attempt to negotiate peace between Germany and Britain, believing he could open talks through the Duke of Hamilton. British authorities captured him immediately, and he remained in custody for the rest of his life.
After the war, Hess was tried at the Nuremberg trials for crimes against peace and conspiracy. The tribunal convicted him and imposed a life sentence, which he served entirely at Spandau Prison. The Soviet Union consistently blocked repeated efforts by family members and Western politicians to secure his early release on humanitarian grounds.
Hess’s death in 1987 ended the operation of Spandau Prison, the last surviving institution of four-power Allied cooperation in occupied Germany, which had functioned continuously since 1947 even as Cold War tensions divided Berlin. With no remaining prisoner, the prison was demolished and the four occupying powers ended their shared administration of the site.
His death also closed a direct human link to the senior leadership of Nazi Germany. The circumstances of his suicide at age 93, and the secrecy surrounding the four-power prison, fueled enduring conspiracy theories. In 2011 his remains were exhumed and cremated and his gravestone destroyed, again to prevent the site from becoming a destination for neo-Nazi pilgrimage.