theories, but I think the answer is painfully simple: Hitler had no
choice. I don't believe he ever intended to invade England.
Russia was his target all along; his own writings confirm this.
Hitler hated Churchill, but he had tremendous respect for the English as
a people-fellow Nordics and all that. I think Hitler put off invading
Britain because he believed-right up until it was too late-that England
could be neutralized withoutfiring a shot. I think certain elements of
the British government were prepared to sign a peace treaty with Hitler,
so that he would be free to destroy Communist Russia. And I believe
Rudolf Hess was Hitler's secret envoy to those Englishmen. The moment
Hess's presence in England was made public, Joseph Stalin accused the
British of conspiring with Hitler. I think Stalin was right.'
The professor's eyes blazed with fanatical conviction.
'But neither Stalin, nor all his spies, nor a thousand scholars, nor I
have ever been able to prove that! For nearly fifty years the truth has
lain buried in the secret vaults of the British government.
By law the relevant Hess files are to remain sealed until the year 2016.
Some will never be opened. What are the British hiding? Whom are they
protecting? A secret cabal of highly placed British Nazis?
Were there powerful Englishmen-even members of the royal family-who were
so afraid of communism that they were ready to climb into Hitler's bed
for protection, no matter how many Jews he slaughtered?'
Natterman punched a fist into his palm..'By God, if these Spandau papers
end up proving that, the walls of Parliament will be hard put to
withstand the firestorm that follows!'
Ilse stared at her grandfather with astonishment. His passion had
infected her, but it could not blot out the worry she felt for Hans.
Yet somehow she couldn't bring herself to confess her fears to the old
man. At least debating the fine points of conspiracy theories helped to
pass the time quickly.
'But if the prisoner was a double,' she.said, 'how could he fool his
Allied captors? Even an actor couldn't hold out under interrogation.'
Natterman snorted scornfully. 'The British claim they never
professionally interrogated him. And why should they? They knew Hess
was a double from the beginning.
They held him incommunicado in England for the first four years of his
captivity, and they've been playing this ridiculous game ever since to
cover up the real Hess's mission.
The American government supports Britain's policy right down the line.
And the French have never made a fuss about it. They have their own
skeletons to hide.'
'But the Russians,' Ilse reminded him. 'You said Stalin suspected a
plot from the beginning.'
'Perhaps the double didn't fool them,' Natterman suggested.
'Then why wouldn't they expose him!'
Natterman frowned. 'I don't know. That's the conundrum, isn't it? It's
the key to this whole mystery. There are reasons that the Russians
wouldn't have talked in the early years.
One is that certain alleged Anglo-Nazi intrigues-between Hess and the
Duke of Windsor, for example-took place on Spanish and Portuguese soil.
If such meetings did actually occur, Moscow would have known all about
them'Natterman grinned with glee-'because the mI-6 officer responsible
for the Spanish desk at that time was none other than Kim Philby. What
irony! The Russians couldn't reveal the Windsor-Hess connection without
exposing the PhilbyKGB connection! Of course that only explains the
Russian silence up until 1963, the year Philby fled England. The real
mystery is what kept the Russians quiet during the remaining years.'
Ilse was shaking her head. 'You make it sound so plausible, but it's
like a huge house of cards.... It's just too complex.'
'I'll give you something simple, then. Why did the British never use
'Hess' for propaganda during the war? They locked him away from the
world and refused even to allow him to be photographed. Think about
that. England and Germany were locked in a death struggle. Even if
'Hess' had refused to cooperate, the British could easily have released
statements criticizing Hitler that were supposedly made by Hess. Think
of the boost that would have given English morale. And the negative
effect on the German people! Yet the British never tried it. The only
possible reason I can see for that is that the British knew they didn't
have the real Hess.
They knew if they tried to use 'Hess' against the Nazis, Joseph Goebbels
could jump up and say, 'Fools! You've got a bloody corporal in your
jail!' or something similar.'
'If that's true, why wouldn't the Nazis have said that from the
beginning?'
Natterman smiled enigmatically. 'Hitler's reasons I cannot divine. But
as for the other top Nazis-Goring, Himmler-they were only too glad to be
rid of Hess. He was their chief rival for Hitler's favors. If the
Fuhrer, for his own reasons, was content to let the world believe that
his lifelong friend and confidant had gone insane, and was a prisoner of
the British, Hess's chief rivals would have been only too glad to go
along.' Natterman rubbed his hands together.
'Yes, it all ties up rather neatly.'
'So says the great professor,' Ilse said dryly. 'But you've missed one
thing. Even if the Allies had reasons to keep quiet, why in God's name
would the double@yen if he had agreed to such a mission-keep silent for
nearly fifty years?
What could anyone threaten him with? Solitary confinement in Spandau
Prison must have been a living death.
Natterman shook his head. 'You're a clever girl, Ilse, but in some ways
frighteningly naive. Soldiers aren't asked to agree to missions;
they're ordered. In Hitler's Reich refusal meant instant death. You
saw the word Sippenhaft in the papers?'
She nodded. 'What does it mean? 'Clan punishment'?'
'That's close enough. Sippenhaft was a barbaric custom that Himmler
borrowed from the ancient Teutonic tribes. It mandated that punishment
be visited not only upon a traitor, but upon his 'clan.' After Graf von
Stauffenberg's abortive attempt on Hitler's life, not only the count but
his entire family was executed. Six of the victims were over seventy
years old! That is Sippenhaft, Ilse, and a more effective tool for
