The remains of the Hitler right-hand man Rudolf Hess were exhumed and will be cremated. His grave has been destroyed to end neo-Nazi memoria
The grave and remains of Adolf Hitler’s top assistant, Rudolf Hess, were burned last week, according to a report published today (Thursday July 21) in the German Suddeutschen Zeitung newspaper.
The Nazi henchman’s descendants agreed to the destruction of their ancestor’s grave site, the newspaper reported, because it had become a pilgrimage point for neo-Nazis.
His remains were exhumed, the bones cremated and the ashes were scattered in a burial at sea.
Although the Nazi official’s granddaughter initially objected, she was persuaded by the Wunsiedel Evangelical Church board, which is responsible for the cemetery, to withdraw a lawsuit she had filed against the move.
Each year on the anniversary of his death, neo-Nazis have held a demonstration at the grave site, laying wreaths of flowerse, standing at attention and snapping the Nazi salute.
Hess was tried and convicted by the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg of crimes against peace and conspiracy to commit crimes with other German leaders in 1946 and sentenced to life in prison. He was incarcerated at Spandau Prison in Berlin, where he remained until he committed suicide at age 93 on August 17, 1987, the final surviving member of Hitler’s cabinet.
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