was so meticulously trained to imitate Hess, he certainly wouldn't make
factual mistakes as obvious as missing Hess's birthday, or eating meat
when Hess was a vegetarian. Would he?'
Natterman met his granddaughter's triumphant smile with one of his own.
'Actually, I've been thinking about that since I first translated the
papers. You're quite right: a trained double wouldn't make factual
mistakes like that-not unless he did so on purpose.'
Ilse's eyes narrowed. 'What do you mean?'
'Just this. Since the double remained silent for all these years, he
could only have done so for one of two reasons: either he was a
fanatical Nazi right up until the end, which I don't accept, or-and this
is supported by the papers-the fear of some terrible retribution kept
him from speaking out.
If we accept that scenario, Number Seven's mistakes' appear to me to be
a cry for help-a quiet but desperate attempt to provoke skeptics to
investigate his case and thus uncover the truth. And believe me, that
cry was heard. Hundreds of scholars and authors have investigated the
case.
Dozens of books have been written, more every year.'
Natterman held up an admonishing finger. 'The more relevant question is
this: Why would the real Hess make such mistakes?'
'Because he was crazy!' Ilse retorted. 'Everyone's known that for
years.'
'Everyone has said that for years,' Natterman corrected.
'Hitler and Churchill started that rumor, yet there's not one scrap of
evidence suggesting that Hess was unbalanced right up until the day he
flew to Britain. He trained months for that mission. Can you seriously
believe Hitler didn't know that? Hess was eccentric, yes. But mad? It
was the men he left behind who were mad!'
'Hess could have written those papers himself,' she argued. 'If Hess
didn't know Latin when he went into Spandau, he certainly could have
learned it during his years of imprisonment.'
'True,' Natten-nan admitted. 'But unlikely. Did you note the quote
from Ovid? High-flying language for a self-taught student. But that's
verifiable, in any case.'
Ilse tasted her tea. It had gone cold. 'Opa, you can't really believe
that the Allies kept the wrong man in prison all these years.'
'Why not? Ilse, you should understand something. These papers do not
exist in a vacuum. They merely confirm a body of evidence which has
been accumulating for decades.
Circumstantial evidence, testimonial evidence, medical evidence-' 'What
medical evidence?'
The professor smiled; he loved nothing more than a willing student.
'Evidence unearthed by a British army surgeon who examined Number Seven
while he was in Spandau.
He's the man who really cracked this case open. My God, he'll be
ecstatic when he finds out about these papers.
'What evidence did he discover?'
'A war wound. Or a lack of one, I should say. This surgeon was one of
Hess's doctors in Spandau, and in the course of his duties he came
across Hess's First World War record. Hess was wounded three times in
that war-the worst wound being a rifle bullet through the lung. Yet
when the surgeon examined Number Seven, he found no scars on the chest
or back where that wound should have been. And after looking into the
matter further examining the prisoner's X rays-he found no radiographic
evidence of such a wound. There should have been scarring of the lung,
caused by the force of the bullet and other organic particles tearin
through it. But the surgeon found none. He had quite a b of experience
with gunshot wounds, too. He'd done a tour of duty in Northern
Ireland.'
Natterman chuckled at Ilse's bewildered expression.
'You're surprised by my knowledge? You shouldn't be. Any German or
British historian could tell you as much.' He laughed. 'I could give
you twice as much speculation on who started the Reichstag fire!'
'But the details,' she said suspiciously. 'Dates, medical evidence ...
It's almost as if you were studying the case when I called you.'
The professor's face grew grave. 'My dear, you have obviously failed to
grasp the monumental importance of this find. These papers could shake
the world. The time period they describe-the forty-four days beginning
with Rudolf Hess's flight to Britain and ending with Hitler's invasion
of Russia-represents the turning point of the entire Second World War,
of the entire twentieth century. In the spring of 1941, Adolf Hitler
held the future of the world in his hands.
Of all Europe, only England still held out against him. The Americans
were still a year from entering the war. German U-boats ruled the seas.
If Hitler had pressed home the attack against England with all his
forces, the British wouldn't have stood a chance. The Americans would
have been denied their staging post for a European invasion, and Hitler
could have turned his full might against Russia with his flanks
protected.' Natterman held up a long, crooked finger.
'But he didn't invade England. And no one knows why.'
The professor began pacing the kitchen, punctuating his questions by
stabbing the air with his right forefinger. 'In 1940 Hitler let the
British Army escape at Dunkirk- Why?
All through the fall of 1940 and the spring of '41 he delayed invading
Britain. Why? Operation Sea-Lion-the planned invasion of Britain-was a
joke. Hitler's best generals have admitted this.
Churchill publicly taunted Hitler, yet still he delayed. Why?
And then the core of the whole mad puzzle: On May tenth, Rudolf Hess
flew to Britain on a secret mission. Scarcely a month later'-Natterman
clapped his hands together with a crack-'Hitler threw his armies into
the icy depths of Russia to be slaughtered. Ilse, that single decision
doomed Nazi Germany- It gave Churchill the time he needed to re . arm
England and to draw Roosevelt into the war. It was military suicide,
and Hitler knew it! For twenty years he had sworn he would never fight
a two-front war. He had publicly proclaimed such a war unwinnable. So
why did he do it?'
Ilse blinked. 'Do you know?'
Natterman nodded sagely. 'I think I do. There are dozens of complex
