by Helen Fry
‘Hess caused such a commotion that we all knew he had arrived. Flanked by guards, he was still in Luftwaffe uniform stripped of insignia and wearing long black flying boots. In the corridor he passed Goering, also surrounded by guards. Hess gave the Hitler salute. Colonel Andrus reacted immediately and said to him: ‘Never do that in my prison again!’
Although Hess was in an agitated state and hyper alert, he was physically in good shape. Kelley was keen to examine him straight away, so he and Howard entered Hess’s cell.
Of all the defendants, Hess proved the most difficult and unbalanced. He spoke English quite well and was questioned by Kelley mainly in English. At other times, questions were directed to him in German, depending on the type of question and whether it required a detailed answer which would be best given in his native language. Hess cooperated during questioning, but frequently responded that he could not remember the answer. This applied, for example, to his date and place of birth, and the date he had left Germany for England. His minders in England, the British Secret Service (SIS), had found the same, i.e. that he was prone to periods of amnesia, paranoia and neuroticism.
Hess had flown alone to England in a Messerschmitt 110 on 10 May 1941 to negotiate peace. He had bailed out over Scotland and, on landing, was immediately arrested by the authorities. He was held in a number of secure places during his internment in Britain, including four days in the Queen’s House at the Tower of London. While in British custody, he became convinced that the authorities were trying to poison him and was frequently visited by army doctors and psychiatrists to assess his condition.
Hess was the highest ranking Nazi to be captured by the British during the war. It was considered quite a coup, except as time went by, it soon became clear that he could offer nothing substantial by way of intelligence about the Nazi war machine. Hess had been a key figure from the early days of the Nazi Party and, at that point, second only to Hitler in the Third Reich. He had been involved in Hitler’s failed Putsch in Munich in 1923, was arrested then and charged with seizing several Bavarian hostages. He served a prison sentence with Hitler in Landsberg jail where Hitler wrote his infamous anti-Semitic book, Mein Kampf. It was during their incarceration there that Hess acted as Hitler’s secretary and took down most of Mein Kampf while also influencing Hitler’s belief in a possible German conquest of Europe and even the world.
FEIGNED MADNESS?
‘By the time Hess came to us at Nuremberg,’ says Howard, ‘he was introverted and a bit of a nutcase. It was hard to penetrate him or build up any kind of rapport. He never said very much in his cell. He was a strong but quiet, non-descript person who looked at you with staring eyes. He turned out to be the quietest of all the defendants. When he did speak, it was to tell us why he had decided to fly solo to England under the false name Alfred Horn.’
Once in Nuremberg, it was Kelley’s job to assess whether the paranoia was genuine or feigned. Initially, it was thought Hess was faking madness to avoid the death sentence, but Kelley concluded that sometimes the paranoia was phoney, sometimes real. During the absences of amnesia, Hess displayed anger when asked about his internment in England and quickly became agitated by the frequent military questions which Kelley asked him.
‘Through all this,’ says Howard. ‘Hess remained a fervent supporter of Hitler. Nothing changed that. And he clung to a fundamental mistrust of both myself and Kelley.’
‘You are kind, yes,’ Hess told them, ‘But I do not know if you are a friend.’ When He was examined the day after his arrival at Nuremberg, again he appeared not to remember his capture, internment in England or arrival in the prison. He refused to take any medication or allow Kelley to undertake any hypnosis. Howard recalls:
‘Hess became depressed and morbid. It was a priority to keep him fit for trial so we spent many hours with him in those early days. Kelley had a difficult job with Hess, and not wanting to rely solely on his own judgment and findings, he requested further professional opinions. Colonel Andrus authorized Hess to be examined by ten visiting psychiatrists: three Russian, three British, one French and three American.’
The psychiatrists were unanimous in agreeing with Kelley’s diagnosis of amnesia. The focus shifted to keeping Hess as level as possible so he could take the stand in the courtroom. The American prosecutor, Justice Robert Jackson, advised Kelley against prescribing any drugs to Hess because if anything happened to Hess, it could be blamed on the treatment.
CLAIMS OF POISONING
While in the prison, Hess carried on the deluded belief that the authorities were trying to poison him via his food. On occasion, Howard went into the cell alone. He found Hess totally preoccupied with the issue of poisoning: ‘He was suspicious of everything and everyone around him, although generally he did not react too much to me. The guards let me into his cell and I found a vacant-looking Hess standing by his desk.’
On the desk were a handful of miniature parcels containing samples of cocoa, coffee, tea or part of a meal. Hess carefully wrapped the samples in envelopes and neatly labelled each one. He passed some of them to Howard and instructed him to have them analysed. On leaving the cell, Howard immediately went to Andrus’s officer and handed most of them over. Some parcels, Howard kept and took back to the United States in 1947, but over the years they have been lost.
‘The irony of the whole poisoning phobia’, says Howard, ‘was that Hess outlived all the defendants.’
At the earliest opportunity, Kelley carried out a series of psychological tests on Hess to assess his IQ. This included the Rorschach Ink Blot Test. On the day of the test, Howard followed Kelley into the cell. Hess was sitting on his bed. On this occasion, Kelley sat down on one side of him, Howard on the other. Kelley took out the cards and began to show them in a particular sequence. As Hess responded, Howard translated and Kelley took down copious notes. Howard recalls:
‘Hess seemed surprisingly relaxed as we carried out the test, eager to do his best. The test enabled Kelley to pay close attention to his reactions and behaviour. I remember that the cards showed Hess’s tendency towards introversion, morbidity and obsession.’
For all Hess’s instability, the result of the Rorschach Ink Blot Test was surprising. Kelley concluded that he was above average intelligence, with an IQ result between 115 and 120. Taking these results with the other intelligence tests carried out and his own observations, Kelley summarized his findings on Hess as suffering from: ‘a true psychoneurosis, primarily of the hysterical type, engrafted on a basic paranoid and schizoid personality, with an amnesia.’
While Hess was not deemed insane during the months Kelley examined him, he was certainly a possible candidate for an asylum. His displays of paranoia were frequently accompanied by childish and hysterical behaviour, causing Kelley to conclude that Hess lived in ‘the borderlands of insanity’.
FIT TO STAND TRIAL
As the trial progressed, the psychiatric team based in the prison was keen to assess the defendants’ reactions to the day’s evidence and legal proceedings. After returning to their cells, some defendants were immediately visited by Howard and the psychiatrist. Hess was one of the defendants that they kept under continuous, close surveillance. His behaviour called into question his fitness to stand trial and constituted a headache for the prosecuting Counsel.
In spite of episodes of delusion, amnesia and paranoia, Hess was deemed fit enough to stand trial. In the end, he entered the dock along with the other defendants. However, his behaviour in the prison ultimately affected his verdict.
On 30 November 1945, he entered the witness box and made his famous statement which confirmed Dr Kelley’s findings. Hess told the court, ‘my memory is in order again. The reason why I simulated loss of memory was tactical.’
As soon as word reached Kelley that Hess was back in his cell after that day’s proceedings, he and Howard headed straight to see him. Instead of finding him in his usual subdued state after a long day in court, he was ‘a bit like a zombie.’ Howard re
calls: ‘but on this day, he was very different. He was extremely alert and proud of his statement in court.’
Hess stared at Howard and Kelley and said: ‘How did I do? Good, wasn’t I? I really surprised everybody, don’t you think?’
Kelley shook his head and said, ‘not everybody.’ Hess had not fooled Kelley. It was as if he was playing a game with Kelley and knew exactly what he was doing. Hess’s condition ultimately caused Kelley to conclude, ‘if one considers the street as sanity and the sidewalk as insanity, then Hess spent the greater part of his time on the curb.’
Hess’s condition did not improve during Goldensohn’s period as psychiatrist in the prison. On one occasion, Goldensohn and Howard entered his cell to find him sat at his desk, scribbling in German. Goldensohn indicated to Howard to take a look. Hess didn’t seem to mind as Howard picked up the paper and read the page. It was Hess’s own rules for keeping himself healthy. With his known obsessions and paranoia, the notes reveal a preoccupation, even insecurity, with getting it right. They read in translation:
‘Eat little. Don’t take any sleeping pills. They will only lose the effect in case that you should really need them. Also take little other medicine [analgesics]. Instead of egg, ask for marmalade and bread. Don’t eat or drink in the morning in order not to get tired. Ask the doctor for orange or lemon juice every once in a while. Don’t eat salty food. Otherwise the cramps may become more frequent.’
In the end, Hess proved to be a total paradox – the Rorschach Test had shown that. The Hess affair made the job of the psychiatrists doubly difficult in trying assess or understand him. Uppermost in the mind of the Allied prosecutors was avoiding a diagnosis that would prevent Hess from seeing the trial through to its conclusion. In the end, the state of Hess’s mental health affected the verdict in court because he was sentenced to life imprisonment rather than death by hanging.
TWELVE
THE POLITICAL MEN
THE POLITICAL MEN in Adolf Hitler’s regime found themselves unexpectedly indicted on charges of war crimes. In the weeks leading up to Germany’s crushing defeat in 1945, they did not expect to be high on the list of wanted war criminals. In their own eyes, they were nothing more than administrators who carried out orders from above, and as such, could not possibly be implicated in mass murder. They were proved wrong. The Allies saw it differently, hunted them down and brought them to Nuremberg. They were: Joachim von Ribbentrop, Wilhelm Frick, Walther Funk, Hans Fritzsche, Alfred Rosenberg, Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Franz von Papen, Fritz Sauckel, Albert Speer, Baldur von Schirach, Fritz Sauckel, Konstantin von Neurath, Hjalmar Schacht and Artur Seyss-Inquart. These men left less of an impression on Howard than Goering, Streicher and Höss. Nevertheless, the military men were on the list of regular visits from the prison psychiatrist and his interpreter, Howard.
VON RIBBENTROP
When Howard and Kelley first visited Joachim von Ribbentrop in his cell, they found him depressed, uncontrolled and in a helpless state. Kelley attributed this to emotional instability caused by the lack of communication with his wife and family, as well as the loss of his Fuhrer. Life was not supposed to be easy for these war criminals. Many missed their families, and prison visits from the wives were severely restricted. Yet in spite of outward display of restlessness and torment, von Ribbentrop displayed no remorse. As Germany’s foreign minister, he had moved in the highest social circles abroad. His affair with American divorcée Wallis Simpson, mistress of Edward VIII and future bride for whom Edward relinquished his throne, caused controversy and concern in British royal circles. Von Ribbentrop knew how to charm, particularly the ladies, and could hold court as the smart diplomat. His cell in Nuremberg was a world away from the glamour of socialite London that he had so enjoyed in the 1930s. the contrast could not have been starker.
During his imprisonment, von Ribbentrop’s appearance became slovenly and messy. Howard recalls, ‘his cell was the most untidy in the entire jail. He was totally disorganized, indecisive and in a muddle. When we visited him, he would be pacing the room, up and down, through a pile of crumpled papers strewn across the floor, and wringing his hands.’
The conversation frequently turned to Hitler and at this point von Ribbentrop became extremely fanatical. Howard said nothing as he sat on the bed beside him, while von Ribbentrop let off steam. Kelley, and later Goldensohn, furiously scribbled in the notebook. Like the other defendants, von Ribbentrop had invested all his belief and energy in the Führer whose regime had been disclosed to the world at Nuremberg in all its graphic and horrific detail. He, like the other defendants, found it difficult to face reality. During these times, he ardently repeated the words: ‘I have always stood behind the Führer and always will.’ This was quickly followed by a qualified remark that, although he followed Hitler on everything, he had nothing to do with his mass extermination program and as such was not guilty of any crimes. Howard recalls:
‘He took the same line as the other defendants in denying any guilt for the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. He told us that he had taken no part in the mass exterminations and murder in the concentration camps – these, he explained to us, were to do with Nazi domestic policy and not foreign policy. As Foreign Minister, he thought he could disavow any involvement in domestic affairs. That view would ultimately not convince the court that he was innocent. Von Ribbentrop remained fiercely loyal to Hitler to the end.’
In the last few visits which Howard made to von Ribbentrop’s cell, the defendant began to look a very sick man. ‘There was a tremendous change in him,’ says Howard. ‘He became pale and yellow skinned. Sometimes he looked quite ashen and unwell. He certainly did not behave like the former boisterous Foreign Minister.’
THE KILLING MACHINE
Sixty-nine year old defendant Wilhelm Frick, Minister of Interior for ten years from 1933 until 1943, faired no better than von Ribbentrop. Speaking in clipped German to the psychiatrist through Howard, he too disavowed himself of any guilt in the atrocities committed by the regime. In interviews, Goldensohn focused on Frick’s family background in an attempt to understand him.
In another cell was Walther Funk, former Minister of Economics. As such, he had been responsible for drawing up laws which allowed for the confiscation of Jewish businesses. Howard comments:
‘Funk told us that confiscating Jewish businesses was a very different matter from exterminating Jews. His claim to innocence was much harder to defend when it was known that one of the key Nazi witnesses at Nuremberg, Otto Ohlendorf, had worked for him for a year.’
On Ohlendorf’s own admission, he had worked in death squads and killed around 90,000 Jews. Funk always maintained to Howard and Kelley that he knew nothing of Ohlendorf’s killings nor of Nazi atrocities. This conviction motivated him to spend several hours a day in his cell at a type-writer, preparing his defence and disassociating himself from Ohlendorf and acts of atrocities by other Nazi leaders. When Howard and Goldensohn interviewed Funk in April 1946, he was still engrossed in typing up his defence. He tried to give them a coherent explanation of the elimination of Jews from economic life in Germany. And yet, as if to distance himself from war crimes, he claimed that he had nothing to do with the extermination of Jews. He even argued that some of his closest friends were Jews. As with the other prisoners, Funk knew nothing of Howard’s own Jewish background.
Funk was asked: ‘why did you stay on as Minister of Economics until the end of the war?’ His patriotic reply: ‘for the sake of Germany.’ For Funk it was that simple. He said: ‘I am guilty of one thing – that I should have cleared out and not had anything to do with these criminals in the first place.’ Today Howard reflects on Funk’s comment and says: ‘This was easy to say in hindsight in a jail cell with his life on the line.’
During January 1946, forty-six year old Hans Fritzsche was interviewed several times by Howard and Goldensohn. The interviews centred on questions about Fritzsche’s family background, in an attempt to construct of a biographical profile of him
. Like Funk, Fritzsche was also busy typing up his defence for the courtroom. When Howard and Goldensohn entered his cell, he was quite content to stop typing and talk. Like the other defendants, he searched the past to find something redeeming, as if it would erase the charges against him or lessen his sentence. For Fritzsche, the redemptive story in his life was when he helped a Jewish man from Pomerania. He recounted how one day a woman in distress had come into his office because her husband had been imprisoned by the Gestapo. Fritzsche explained how he battled for three or four months to secure his release from a concentration camp, and that the man was only part Jewish, having had a Jewish grandfather – as if that made it easier.
Fritzsche believed he had been duped by both Hitler and Goebbels. Like the others, he claimed he knew nothing of the war crimes and the mass murder of Jews. In typical fashion, he blamed those who were no longer alive. ‘Interestingly, Fritzsche had his own view of Hermann Goering,’ recalls Howard, ‘He told us that Goering was not responsible for the mass murders like the other leaders, but that he certainly knew about the crimes.’
Fritzsche found it hard to accept his incarceration. Neither could he settle into prison routine. Having had no news from his wife and child, he became depressed. Consequently, when Howard and Goldensohn visited him on 6 April 1946, he was pleased to have a reprieve from solitary confinement and his own morbid thoughts. They found him frustrated. but philosophical. He told them: ‘I have the feeling during this year of internment and half a year of trial that I have endured, a spiritual suffering and depression more terrible than death.’ The problem for Fritzsche was his failure to really understand why he was standing trial. He told Howard: ‘Sometimes I feel like screaming here in my cell. It isn’t just my life that’s ruined and frustrated. It’s the guilt to my family and to the German people as a whole.’
