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The Murder of Rudolf Hess
This book discusses the murder of Rudolf Hess.
224 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1979
2 people are currently reading
90 people want to read
About the author
Hugh Thomas
179 books161 followersLibrarian’s note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.
Hugh Swynnerton Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton, was a British historian and Hispanist.
Thomas was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset before taking a BA in 1953 at Queens' College, Cambridge. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. His 1961 book The Spanish Civil War won the Somerset Maugham Award for 1962. A significantly revised and enlarged third edition was published in 1977. Cuba, or the Pursuit of Freedom (1971) is a book of over 1,500 pages tracing the history of Cuba from Spanish colonial rule until the Cuban Revolution. Thomas spent 10 years researching the contents of this book.
Thomas was married to the former Vanessa Jebb, daughter of the first Acting United Nations Secretary-General Gladwyn Jebb.
From 1966 to 1975 Thomas was Professor of History at the University of Reading. He was Director of the Centre for Policy Studies in London from 1979 to 1991, as an ally of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He became a life peer as Baron Thomas of Swynnerton, of Notting Hill in Greater London in letters patent dated 16 June 1981. He has written pro-European political works, as well as histories. He is also the author of three novels.
Thomas's The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870 "begins with the first Portuguese slaving expeditions, before Columbus's voyage to the New World, and ends with the last gasp of the slave trade, long since made illegal elsewhere, in Cuba and Brazil, twenty-five years after the American Emancipation Proclamation," according to the summary on the book jacket.
Thomas should not be confused with two other historical writers: W. Hugh Thomas writes about Nazi Germany and Hugh M. Thomas is an American who writes on English history.
Hugh Swynnerton Thomas, Baron Thomas of Swynnerton, was a British historian and Hispanist.
Thomas was educated at Sherborne School in Dorset before taking a BA in 1953 at Queens' College, Cambridge. He also studied at the Sorbonne in Paris. His 1961 book The Spanish Civil War won the Somerset Maugham Award for 1962. A significantly revised and enlarged third edition was published in 1977. Cuba, or the Pursuit of Freedom (1971) is a book of over 1,500 pages tracing the history of Cuba from Spanish colonial rule until the Cuban Revolution. Thomas spent 10 years researching the contents of this book.
Thomas was married to the former Vanessa Jebb, daughter of the first Acting United Nations Secretary-General Gladwyn Jebb.
From 1966 to 1975 Thomas was Professor of History at the University of Reading. He was Director of the Centre for Policy Studies in London from 1979 to 1991, as an ally of Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher. He became a life peer as Baron Thomas of Swynnerton, of Notting Hill in Greater London in letters patent dated 16 June 1981. He has written pro-European political works, as well as histories. He is also the author of three novels.
Thomas's The Slave Trade: The Story of the Atlantic Slave Trade, 1440-1870 "begins with the first Portuguese slaving expeditions, before Columbus's voyage to the New World, and ends with the last gasp of the slave trade, long since made illegal elsewhere, in Cuba and Brazil, twenty-five years after the American Emancipation Proclamation," according to the summary on the book jacket.
Thomas should not be confused with two other historical writers: W. Hugh Thomas writes about Nazi Germany and Hugh M. Thomas is an American who writes on English history.
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
October 18, 2010
Far-fetched... The whole premise of the books is his lack of seeing a battle wound on the torso of Hess. He never gave him an examination and just briefly saw him undress.
January 14, 2021
An unusual book for me to just pick up and read but I always like to surprise myself. This is basically conveying the theory, that Rudolf Hess, Hitler’s Deputy Reichsführer was murdered before being caught parachuting into Scotland. Claiming that the man they caught, who was identical to Hess wasn’t Hess. And this same pretend Hess who is named Prisoner No. 7 was just a John Doe with an uncanny likeness to Hess and was planted by Heinrich Himmler.
Hugh Thomas the author of this crime non-fiction credentials are pretty good he was an actual surgeon, who twice examined Prisoner Number 7 and beyond doubt believe that Number 7 is an imposter. I am very doubtful that it is after this read and if you look further in this case you will see why, with our modern technology what they have found.
All in all an enjoyable and fascinating read but lacks real conviction.
Hugh Thomas the author of this crime non-fiction credentials are pretty good he was an actual surgeon, who twice examined Prisoner Number 7 and beyond doubt believe that Number 7 is an imposter. I am very doubtful that it is after this read and if you look further in this case you will see why, with our modern technology what they have found.
All in all an enjoyable and fascinating read but lacks real conviction.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 7, 2019
Nutso conspiracy theory that spawned a couple of investigations. I was mildly convinced until I read online that in January 2019 DNA shows that prisoner number 7 was Hess. So that's that. Nazi goes mental and does weird shit. Plus ca change. Good read though
October 16, 2021
Decent investigation of the case of Hess, but some of the information is contradicted by other sources close to the affair that had similar motivations.
April 7, 2016
You want a real mystery to think about. This effort at uncovering one of the great mysteries of World War II desires your attention. Nowadays we think little of history but many of us are concerned with the hidden policies of our government and other governments at work today. Reading about the possibility of a Hess double makes for interesting reading and shows the possible duplicity of our closest wartime ally, England.
October 20, 2012
Interesting book with interesting proposals and theories. True? I don't know, but if so, what a wonderful achievement on the behalf of the German military.
I once worked with a man who spent some time at Spandau as a US military advisor, and said that he saw the "Hess prisoner" many times, and in his humble opinion, it was the real Hess.
either way, a good and interesting mind tingling read.
I once worked with a man who spent some time at Spandau as a US military advisor, and said that he saw the "Hess prisoner" many times, and in his humble opinion, it was the real Hess.
either way, a good and interesting mind tingling read.
May 4, 2008
Based on apparent discrepancies in a routine medical examination of Rudolf Hess (being held in Spandau Prison), the author came to the conclusion that the man he examined was not the real Hess, but his double. A fun theory, but not particularly convincing.
April 18, 2017
Absolutely fascinating! But we'll never know for sure, unless someone invents a time machine, whether the man who flew over to England from Germany was really Hess or not. And was it suicide or murder? Intriguing!
November 25, 2017
Eindelijk uit. Maar vrij veel vragen en onduidelijkheden blijven achter.
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews