Hess – Dull Friend But Faithful

Northern Advocate, 28 May 1941, Page 10

Hess - Dull Friend But Faithful

When Herr Hitler plunged Europe into war at the beginning of September he announced that he intended to take the field in person. He then nominated his successors, Reich-Marshal Herman Goering being the first and Herr Rudolf Hess the second. Herr Rudolf Hess is 44 years of age, two years younger than Goering. His personality is a betrayal of Herr Hitler’s own lack of true greatness, for he has succeeded in becoming the leader’s party deputy by being a faithful, unswerving sycophant. To a biographer, Herr Hess is a problem, for he appears to possess no exceptional gift of any kind apart from loyalty to the party and its head. His friendship with Herr Hitler began when they first met. Herr Hitler dictated “’Mein Kampf” to Herr Hess when they were in prison together after the abortive “beer hall” putsch of the Nazis in 1923. Herr Hess and Herr Hitler were inseparable during the years when the party fought for dominance. After the elimination of the brilliant Gregor Strasser, Herr Hitler appointed Herr Hess as the chairman of the “Political Central Commission” of the party in 1932.

Ideal Follower In Herr Hess, Herr Hitler felt he had found the ideal follower. “Mein Kampf” had been Herr Hitler’s political testament. Herr Hess had taken down every word of it. During the last 16 years Herr Hess has been nothing else but the executor of Herr Hitler’s will. Accordingly, his influence on all matters regarding the party, and to a lesser degree the administration, is very great. But he seems to be little prepared by education for his present or his future position. He was born in Cairo, where his father had a small import and export firm. Before the World War he went to several commercial schools. After the war he studied history and economics for a short time. Then politics swallowed him. “So far Herr Hess’ fate and his horizon seemed to be quite average.” said a recent writer in the “New York Times.” “He belonged to the disappointed layer of the middle-class people in Germany who had bitterly watched all chances of individual success dwindle away in the turmoil of defeat and the Ruhr invasion. Dry and Unimaginative “Today he still seems average, at least, when judged by his political utterances. His speeches are dry, unimaginative, ever drab. But he is an indefatigable worker. His is the drudgery of working out what can be realised of the visionary impulses of the leader. In doing so he judges by one moral standard only—the good of the party.” Herr Hess himself is regarded as absolutely incorruptible. He has not enriched himself, and he does not long for wealth or the amenities of life as other leaders do. While luxury grew among most of the powerful, Herr Hess effaced himself more and more. He is taciturn, frightening officials by listening to their reports for hours without showing the least emotion and then bidding them farewell. In build he is slim, with an athletic body, and dark. He has an unusually large head, and his nickname in the party is “The Mulatto” or “The Egyptian.” During the Great War he was, like Marshal Goering, a flying officer. He is retiring in character, genuinely modest, very popular, but rigorous and extreme in his anti-Semitic views. He is greatly interested in faithhealing, and founded a hospital in Dresden devoted to cures by means that scientific medicine does not recognise.