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Remains of former senior Nazi are exhumed

Remains of former senior Nazi are exhumed

The remains of Rudolf Hess, who was Hitler’s deputy, have been exhumed and the grave destroyed after neo-Nazis began using it as a pilgrimage site.

Hess, who killed himself in Berlin’s Spandau Prison in 1987 at the age of 93, had been buried in Wunsiedel, a small village in Bavaria in the south of Germany.

But since the burial far-right groups have regularly visited the grave and on the anniversary of the death each year the neo-Nazis have held a ceremony and laid flowers.

Despite a court imposed ban the groups have continued to hold their ceremonies and attempted to stage marches at the cemetery which is looked after by the local Lutheran Church.

Officals at the church decided the only way to deal with the issue was to end the Hess family’s lease on the grave. At first it looked as if the matter would end up in the courts but now the exhumation of remains has been completed and the grave completely destroyed.

Hess’s remains will now be cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.

The top Nazi had been arrested in 1941 when he parachuted into Scotland on what was claimed to be a peace mission authorised by Hitler. After the war he was jailed for life at the Nuremberg trials and had spent 40 years in Spandau Prison before committing suicide.

To view details of Rudolf Hess’s war crimes trial click here.

 

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