The Nazi Deputy Who Flew to Scotland to Negotiate a Secret Peace Deal

Countries & Cities · Published 29 September 2026 Swipe more like this →

In short: In 1941, Rudolf Hess, the second in line to succeed Adolf Hitler, vanished from the German political inner circle. He piloted a solo flight to Scotland, hoping to broker a peace agreement with the British government. His mission failed, leading to his lifelong imprisonment and a mysterious, enduring legacy.

Born in 1894 in Alexandria, Egypt, Rudolf Hess grew up under British rule, a background that fostered a unique, positive view of the British Empire among Nazi leadership. After serving as an infantryman in World War I and earning the Iron Cross, he became a fervent nationalist in the volatile atmosphere of post-war Munich. His devotion to Hitler began in 1920, and he was instrumental in the party's early growth, even assisting in the dictation of Mein Kampf while imprisoned with Hitler following the failed 1923 Beer Hall Putsch.

By 1933, Hess was appointed Deputy to the Führer, a role that placed him at the center of the Nazi state. He was responsible for signing significant legislation, including the 1935 Nuremberg Laws, which stripped Jewish citizens of their rights. Despite his high rank, Hess was increasingly sidelined as the war progressed. His influence waned as Martin Bormann supplanted him, and his eccentric behavior—including a preoccupation with astrology and hypochondria—led many in Hitler’s inner circle to question his sanity.

Driven by a fear of a two-front war, Hess undertook his unauthorized flight to Scotland on 10 May 1941. Captured immediately, he spent the remainder of the war in British custody before being sentenced to life at the 1946 Nuremberg trials. He remained the sole prisoner at Spandau Prison until his suicide in 1987 at age 93. His grave later became a site of neo-Nazi pilgrimage, prompting authorities to exhume his remains and destroy the site in 2011 to prevent it from serving as a shrine.

Hess’s life remains a study in fanatical loyalty and the internal power dynamics of the Third Reich. While he was once the gatekeeper for all legislation and a key architect of party ideology, his final years were defined by isolation and the persistent, unfulfilled hope of his own relevance. His death marked the end of a figure who had once been the primary enforcer of Hitler’s decrees.

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