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40 Fascinating Facts About the Relatives of Nazis After WWII

Khalid Elhassan March 14, 2019 24 min

12. Wolf Rudiger Hess Spent His Life Trying to Prove His Father’s Innocence

When Hess flew to Britain, he left behind a 3-year-old son, Wolf Rudiger, who grew up believing his father was innocent and dedicated his life to trying to free him. He created the Committee to Free Rudolf Hess, and wrote multiple books trying to clear his father’s name, including My Father Rudolf Hess, and Rudolf Hess: No Regrets. Before his death in 2001, Wolf Rudiger remarked on his life: “I never had time for myself: I spent all my free time on my father“.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.