Hess and the Penguins: The Holocaust, Antarctica and the Strange Case of Rudolf Hess

A look at the most censored and least discussed personality in the Third Reich, one of the early members and deputy head of the Nazi party, and ghost writer for much of Hitler’s “Mein Kampf”: Rudolf Hess. A polyglot born in Alexandria, Egypt, and connected with the esoteric pre-Nazi Thule Society, he was the protagonist in 1941 of the strange solo flight to Britain – shown to be technically impossible without some backup network both in Germany and in Britain - to meet a Scottish aristocrat and propose a peace deal on the eve of the German invasion of Soviet Russia. The author’s take is that we have to ask the right questions to begin to unravel what he calls the “Hess Mess”, a quagmire of puzzling and contradictory information.For example, why has there been so much secrecy around the Hess affair? Many of the documents held by the National Archives in London were only released in July 2017, 76 years after the enigmatic flight to Scotland. Even more curiously, certain files are due for release as late as 2082, a century after the death of “Prisoner Number Seven” in Spandau Prison, Berlin.Dr. Farrell examines some of the cutting edge research on the Hess affair, pointing out that post-war historiography on the Allied side has depicted the Deputy Fuhrer as a deranged man of no political significance; thus being in highly suspicious agreement with Nazi propaganda which, after years of sycophantic adulation, suddenly announced that he was mentally unbalanced.Dr. Farrell reviews research suggesting that the man tried at Nuremberg and Prisoner Number Seven in Spandau may not have been the same man as the one that landed near the estate of the Duke of Hamilton in 1941. There are gaps and contradictions in the information available on the imprisonment of Hess by the British, and a reluctance for many years to discuss the powerful strain of opinion in British politics that opposed or had serious doubts about war with Germany.Other aspects include the untimely death in an air crash (in Scotland) of the younger brother of King George VI, the Duke of Kent, protagonist of a considerable amount of behind the scenes diplomacy.Hess, as the number two leader in the Third Reich, had a finger in every pie, including racial persecution, military and political strategy, and the expedition to Antarctica, a land that would curiously become the focus of esoterically inclined neo-Nazi literature after the war.If the official closure or "missing" documentation is anything to go by, some of these “pies” are evidently considered by some to be too controversial to discuss openly, even now in the 21st century.

A gripping page turner with a jaw-dropping bombshell near the end, Farrell just blows the smoke off his gun and walks off stage after he has skilfully lead you through the messy Hess affair and unleashed all of his heavy and well researched artillery on your sorry a** leaving you feeling somewhat speechless asking for what just happened. A Farrellian gem.

Another fascinating piece by Dr. Farrell. I highly recommend all his books to better understand the world around us; they are, without exception, a masterclass in dot-connecting and out the box thinking!

I must admit I expected this book to be far too speculative, and in a way it is. It is however really illuminating and a wonderful review of the Hess Affair. Highly recommended

As usual great information and read.

A great read if you want to know more about history that is not normally available. Dr Farrell has great talent of collecting documents from many sources and manages to extract a compelling thesis.

Fascinating work. Thoroughly recommend this book.

Something amiss some where