From the archives – a notable desertion

An obvious comparison can be drawn between Moussa Koussa and Rudolf Hess. It is intriguing but easily overextended. While Koussa’s sense of self-preservation is palpable, Hess’s flight at the high tide of Nazism remains unfathomable. Back in May 1941, a onetime prominent Nazi and man of letters called Dr Hermann Rauschning, a controversial oddity in his own right, analysed the Hess mystery for the Spectator. (Incidentally, the British secret service file on Hess will be released in 2016.)

The Rudolf Hess Mystery, 16 May 1941

The flight of Rudolf Hess to enemy country in the middle of the war is more than a lost battle for Hitler. It must be a desperate blow for him, at the zenith of his military development, not only to lose his most faithful and unselfish colleague, but to see him seek refuge with the enemies of National Socialism. For the German people, certainly not intoxicated with victory, but oppressed by doubt and fear, it is an event which reveals as a grim reality what has hitherto been feared – Germany on the edge of an abyss.