Rudolf Hess was the deputy Fuehrer, HitlerΓÇÖs No. 2 man. Nevertheless, HessΓÇÖs sense of having been removed from centers of policymaking power, coupled with his knowledge of the planned attack on the Soviet Union, evidently joined with other factors to prompt his bold decision to fly to England. Hess set out on his mission in early May 1941, hoping that Britain would be willing to make peace with Germany after the impending invasion of the USSR. To this day, it is not clear whether the initiative for the flight was purely HessΓÇÖs or whether it was inspired, albeit indirectly, by Hitler. In either case, Hitler repudiated HessΓÇÖs mission as soon as its failure became known. Hess was arrested when he landed in England and was held there until the end of the war. After the war, he was prosecuted along with the other surviving leaders of the Nazi regime at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg, and was held in Spandau prison after being found guilty. He committed suicide there in 1987.
