English source-aligned edition
Rudolf Hess
Rudolf Hess served as Deputy to Hitler in the Nazi Party and Reich minister without portfolio.. The profile reconstructs the person’s function in German Reich through documented office, decisions, supervision or operational conduct. It does not assign every crime committed by an institution or region to one individual.
Confirmed findings
- He was born on 26 April 1894 in Alexandria and died on 17 August 1987 in Spandau Prison. (Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record)
- The Tribunal found that as Hitler's deputy he knowingly supported preparations for war, signed the 1935 conscription law, and signed measures connected with annexation and aggression in 1938 and 1939. (Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record)
- In 1946 he was convicted of conspiracy and crimes against peace but acquitted of war crimes and crimes against humanity; he died by suicide in prison on 17 August 1987. (Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record)
Place in the chain of responsibility
The profile confines responsibility to the Tribunal's findings on conspiracy and aggression and does not attribute conduct covered by the acquittals. (Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record)
Key events and mechanisms
- From 1933 to 1941, as Deputy to the Führer, he helped direct the Nazi Party and reviewed Reich legislation. (Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record)
- In 1946 the Tribunal convicted him on Counts 1 and 2 and acquitted him on Counts 3 and 4. (Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record)
The circle records authority, function and agency. Several profiles may describe different parts of the same persecution chain, so profile-level totals must not be added together.
Postwar accountability
In 1946 he was convicted of conspiracy and crimes against peace but acquitted of war crimes and crimes against humanity; he died by suicide in prison on 17 August 1987. (Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record)
Limits of the evidence
No portrait with licensing safe for publication was verified; the profile remains unillustrated. (Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record; Source: cited institutional or judicial record)
Sources
The source set combines institutional, archival, trial or scholarly material from at least two independent publishers.