The Case of Rudolf Hess
- Author:
Rees, M.D.,
F.R.C.P. William Heinemann. 12s. 6d.
This book gives a most detailed account of the behaviour and mental outlook of Rudolf Hess from the time of his arrival in England until the end of the Nuremberg trial. Written, as it is, by the several psychiatrists who attended him, it naturally contains a full record of the symptoms which made him one of the most talked of personalities of the war ; and it provides a convincing exposition of his abnormalities. But although it gives an excellent psychological case-study, the bulk of it is written in terms which will also hold the interest of the layman. Its style is lucid, light and enlivened by flashes of humour. It is illustrated by several excellent photographs which themselves throw much light on Hess:s mentality.
Apart from psychopathology, most interest will lie in the side lights of the other Nazi leaders given by the account of the Nuremberg trial. Even now we are still surprised at their own eccentricities. It is noteworthy that their reactions to Hess’s behaviour were one of the strongest arguments to counter the theory which was at one time fashionable, that Hess had hoaxed the psychiatrists?an opinion whose death-knell is sounded by this book.
We cordially recommend it to all our readers, lay and medical, whose interest still remains either in the personality of Hess, or in the society in which such a character could achieve the prominence which he reached. R.F.T.
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