The Lonliest Man in the World : Rudolph Hess in Spandau by Eugene Bird

Author: Eugene Bird
Published: 1976 Sphere Books First Edition Paperback
Format: Paperback
Pagination:288
Condition:Excellent, no damage, v,slight handling wear to cover, slight tanning to page edges.

Eugene K. Bird (11 March 1926 – October 28, 2005) was US Commandant of the Spandau Allied Prison from 1964 to 1972 where, together with six others, Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess was incarcerated. In March 1971, Bird’s superiors at the US Mission in Berlin became officially aware of the Bird/Hess manuscripts and other documents relating to the proposed book. Bird was interrogated in great detail, placed under house arrest, and eventually made to resign his position as Commandant of Spandau Prison. This episode, in effect, also ended his military career. Bird and his family relocated to Germany permanently. This book about Hess: The Loneliest Man in the World, was published in 1974 in London. In the Epilogue, Bird describes in detail his interrogation and, indirectly, accuses his superiors and brother officers of gross hypocrisy. Many of them knew of his labors, he wrote, and some had even read the manuscripts and encouraged him with the project. After the publication of the book, Bird campaigned to have Hess released from what had effectively become permanent solitary confinement after Albert Speer and Baldur von Schirach were released on October 1, 1966.