Hess, (Walter Richard) Rudolf

German Nazi leader. Imprisoned with Adolf Hitler 1924–25, he became his private secretary, taking down Mein Kampf from his dictation. In 1933 he was appointed deputy Führer to Hitler, a post he held until replaced by Goering in September 1939. On 10 May 1941 he landed by air in the UK with his own compromise peace proposals and was held a prisoner of war until 1945, when he was tried at Nürnberg as a war criminal and sentenced to life imprisonment. He died in Spandau prison, Berlin.

He was effectively in charge of the Nazi party organization until his flight in 1941. For the last years of his life he was the only prisoner left in Spandau.