One of Adolph Hitler's most ardent followers, Rudolph Hess was with Hitler through most of the dictator's political milestones. (Hess is sometimes confused with the infamous commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Rudolph Hoess.) In The Rise and Fall of the Third Reich , William Shirer described Hess: "Until nearly the end, he would be one of Hitler's most loyal and trusted followers and one of the few who was not bitten by consuming personal ambition." Hess's fanaticism is revealed in a 1934 speech: "We believe that the Führer is obeying a higher call to fashion German history. There can be no criticism of this belief."

Hess was born in Alexandria, Egypt, on April 26, 1894, and lived there until 1904, when he went to live in Germany. Following military service during World War I, Hess studied political science at the University of Munich, where he was attracted to a secret...