REPORT ON HESS’S STATEMENTS 1

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume 76, 19 May 1941, Page 5

REPORT ON HESS’S STATEMENTS 1

FURTHER VERSION BY NAZIS [British Official Wirelessl (Rec. 11.55 a.m.) Rugby, May 18. A full report on all the statements made by Herr Hess since landing by parachute in Scotland has been sent to Mr Churchill, Prime Minister. The examination of Hess has been carried out in German and a translation prepared. The contents of the report are being kept a close secret. Everything recorded is being carefully examined and minutely checked by intelligence officers to test the value and reliability of Hess’s statements. While the German radio for home audience still keeps silence, Goebbels appears at last to have decided on a version of the affair that he is going to hand out for foreign consumption. This version, which contradicts Goebbels’s previous accounts, is given in a talk by Dr. Gerhardt Dohm to Portugal. Contradicting the original official communique on Hess he said. “Hess is not a man of confused ideas. He is not the victim of hallucination. He is a fanatical idealist who believed he could persuade England to make peace and prevent the breakup of the British Empire and the elimination of the English nation.” Dohm further denied Hitler had appointed Hess his successor in a speech on Ist September, 1939. For this and other reasons it is clear why the German radio dare not give this account of the matter to their home listeners. The next point in Dohm’s talk is that the incident is now closed. “One cannot speak,” he said, “of any shock among the German people. This is proved by the fact that the affair is ne longer discussed.” That, in fact, the German authorities know the matter is by no means closed is shown by their attempts to discount in advance Hess’s statements. Thus a German commentator speaking to South America said: “We can expect sensational statements which the English radio will attribute to Hess, but you should all remember his status as a prisoner of war, and that his declarations cannot be tested. “In fact, as head of the organisation with agents everywhere, Hess knew more than anyone else of the condition of the Nazi party, and as Hitler’s confidant he is bound to be well acquainted with Germany’s plans.