Customer Reviews

Prisoner #7: Rudolf Hess (The Thirty Years in Jail of Hitler's Deputy Fuhrer)

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The Late Eugene Bird, Lt. Colonel, United States Army was encouraged to put pen to paper and record for posterity the ideas, thoughts and facts about the Deputy Führer of the "Third Reich" or The German state from 1933 to 1945 under Adolf Hitler. He was encouraged by his superiors in the Army chain of command. Once written, he was ostracised by some members of the civilian political chain of command and was forced to end his military career. All of this did not deter Gene Bird, whom I was priviledged to know and interview during my tour of duty at AFN Berlin, the Armed Forces Radio & TV outlet in the "divided city" 1984-90. This book is well-documented and illustrates what went on in the mind of Hess, a dedicated supporter of Hitler and National Socialism. It gives you insight into what the NAZI's wanted to accomplish and how they went about it. It was people like Gene Bird that gives us historical facts of the past that provides us lessons for the future and how to hopefully avoid the bad decisions of the past, so we won't repeat them in the future.
Was Hess murdered or did he commit suicide? Read the book and see if it gives you clues...read between the lines and see if you're as good a detective as you think you are.....

Lt.Col Gene Bird was a friend of mine. He was encouraged by military higher ups to write an accurate historical piece because he had gained the confidence of Rudolph Hess over a long period of time. When he finally wrote it, State Department political types persecuted him for it, even though as a US citizen with freedom of speech, he had a right to do it. He was ostricized and forced to resign his military position and forced into retirement. I did an interview with Gene in his Berlin home several years ago before he passed away. He told me he was proud of this book because he was confident of its accuracy. The Soviet Union never allowed the prevailing idea in the 1960's to let Hess go. They did it for Albert Spear, but Hess was another matter. We progress as a society by applying mercy equally. If Spear was finally let go, Hess should have been let go. The Soviet Union was not of that mind and we blindly followed along with the communist logic. For telling the truth and allowing society to make its own mind up, Gene Bird was persecuted and forced to prematurely end a military career that he cherrished. The book is thought-provoking. If you are an historian of any level, you'll appreciate the book. Read it and make your own opinion.

I am very satisfied with my used book purchase. The book was in excellent condition and I will look for good bargains like this in the future.