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red hardbound 8vo. 8º (octavo). dustwrapper in protective plastic book jacket cover. fine cond. binding square & tight. covers clean. edges clean. contents free of markings. dustwrapper in fine cond. not worn or torn or price clipped. nice clean copy. no library markings or store stamps, no stickers or bookplates, no names, no inking , no underlining, no remainder markings etc ~. first edition. first printing ( FPu1979 & nap). 224p. glossy b&w photo illustrations. notes. bibliography. index. biography. world history. true crime. world war ii. nazi germany. british empire. conspiracy theory. ~ On the night of May 10th, 1941, a German parachutist landed in Scotland. He claimed to be Hitler's Deputy, Rudolf Hess ~ and from that time on both the man and his case have presented elements of disturbing mystery. What exactly was the peace mission on which he had come? Why was the reaction of the British Government so casual? Surely this defector, the second man in Hitler's Reieri. should have been used as the centre of a propaganda campaign to shatter German morale? Instead, he was locked quietly away in a country hospital, then sent back in J 945 to stand trial at Nuremberg. His incarceration in Spandau has aroused equal bafflement, this time tinged with indignation. What has really lain behind the inhuman refusal of the Russians to allow the release of this lonely octogenarian, the most expensively guarded prisoner in the world? And why the compliance of the Americans, British and French? In 1973, when surgeon to the British Military Hospital in Berlin, Hugh Thomas had the chance to make two examinations of the prisoner. What he found on the patient's torso ~ or rather, what he did not find ~ prompted questions in his mind that have led him finally to the uncovering of the most sensational imposture of the Second World War. The evidence for the skein of deceit which this book reveals is coolly, lucidly and methodically set out. Gathered over five years and tested at every step, it involves impossibilities in the details of the alleged flight, startling differences between the behaviour and personal habits of the pilot who landed in Britain and the politico who strutted in Germany, strange gaps in knowledge and suspiciously convenient memory lapses ~ and the extraordinary refusal of the prisoner to see Frau Hess for twenty~eight years or to receive the former Deputy Reichsfuhrer's devoted secretaries. There are mysteries in the case which may never now be cleared up ~ or perhaps certain people, who have so far remained silent, may decide at last to speak. But one thing is beyond dispute. If this book is right Prisoner No. 7 should never have been in Spandau Gaol, for he is NOT Rudolf Hess. "The Hess episode was one of the oddest in history; and the oddest thing about it is that is was not in character". ~ Sir Ivore Kirkpatrick, who examined the prisoner soon after his arrival in Scotland.
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