Südwestdeutscher Verlag für Hochschulschriften Rudolf Hess - A Political Biography

Rudolf Hess [1894-1987] was indisputably according to rank 'The Second Man' of the Third Reich. Contrary to mainstream historical opinion he did prove himself as a skilled operator and manager of all party affairs. Hess represented Hitler as his 'Stellvertreter' [Personal Representative]and dominated the party bureaucracy,using his personal links to intellectuals, bureaucrats, diplomats and the SS-SD to establish his vision for a racial society. This Volume undertakes a thorough examination of Hess? career as an NSDAP politician in the years up to 1941. Hess develops as an intellectual anti-Semite. Such ambition leads to a clash with his 'mentor', Dr. Karl Haushofer, a fatherly figure in his life, whose aristocratic-reactionary ideals Hess rejects. He becomes Hitler's Private Secretary in 1925; in April,1933, 'Stellvertreter'. One sees Hess emerging as an independent figure vitalized with his own ideas for racial utopia. His influence on Hitler and his partnership with Joseph Goebbels characterize the dramatic events up to the Nazi 'seizure of power'. This study reveals Hess as a sophisticated anti-Semite not to be under- estimated. About the Author Stephen Graeme North was born in London in 1964. He read Russian and German History at the School of Slavonic & East European Studies, University of London and went on to study at the Technical University of Berlin under the supervision of Prof. Dr. Wolfgang Benz. His biography of Hess charts the years 1912 to 1941.