HESS MISSION. A quixotic attempt by Rudolf Hess to broker a
negotiated peace with Great Britain, the Hess Mission began with
his dramatic solo departure from Augsburg in a Messerschmidt BF
110 bomber and his arrival by parachute in a field near Glasgow,
Scotland, on 10 May 1941. One of the earliest members of the Nazi
Party, Hess had risen to the position of deputy Führer, although his
influence within the inner circle had diminished significantly since
the outbreak of war. His plan—using the Duke of Hamilton as an
intermediary—was to bring about the rapprochement with Great
Britain that had eluded Adolf Hitler, stressing that Germany had no
designs against the British Empire and would confine its sphere of
influence to continental Europe. But Hess, posing as Captain Albert
Horn, was immediately captured and then interrogated by the Secret
Intelligence Service. Whereas Prime Minister Winston Churchill re-
acted with a certain bemused detachment, Hitler was stunned by this
display of insubordination and angrily attributed it to Hess’s mental
instability.
Various conspiracy theories circulated—one maintaining that Brit-
ish intelligence had helped to arrange this mission, another that it had
been authorized by Hitler in advance. Joseph Stalin, haunted by the
fear of imminent betrayal, was firmly convinced of such a scenario.
Yet all credible evidence—including the findings of Walter Schel-
lenberg—indicates that Hess acted alone, hoping that, if success-
ful, this act would help restore his high standing with the Führer.
Schellenberg nevertheless was convinced that Hess, in addition to
his predilection for astrology, had been influenced by the British
secret service and its collaborators. After spending the remainder of
the war in British captivity, Hess received a life sentence from the
International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg. He committed suicide
at Spandau Prison in August 1987. Three years later, the Soviet KGB
released several of its wartime files on Hess (labeled Black Bertha),
insisting that the mission bore Hitler’s imprimatur and that the British
secret service played a role as well.
HESSE, HORST (1922–2006). An East German double agent who
penetrated U.S. Army intelligence in the Federal Republic of Ger-
many, Horst Hesse was born in Magdeburg and trained as a me-
chanic. After being wounded and captured as an infantry corporal in
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