Ilse Hess

Ilse Pröhl came from a conservative and nationalist family. She was one of three daughters of the wealthy physician and doctor Friedrich Pröhl and his wife Elsa (née Meineke). Her father was killed in May 1917 during the First World War. Her mother then married artist Carl Horn, director of the Bremen Art Museum.

Ilse met Rudolf Hess in April 1920 in Munich. She was one of the first women to study at the Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München. In 1921, she joined the NSDAP (Nazi Party) for the first time, and rejoined in 1925 (member number 25,071) after the party had been banned. She felt drawn to Rudolf Hess from the beginning, but Hess was reluctant to enter into a relationship. Ilse introduced Hess to Adolf Hitler, who liked to travel in the circles of well-to-do ladies. Hitler finally gave the impetus to the marriage, which took place on 20 December 1927 in Munich. Hitler was also the godfather of her only child, Wolf Rüdiger Hess, who was born on 18 November 1937. After Rudolf Hess's flight to Scotland, Ilse left Munich with her son to live in Hindelang.

On 3 June 1947, Ilse Hess, like all the wives of the war criminals condemned or executed during the Nuremberg trials, was arrested and transferred to the internment camp in Augsburg-Göggingen. On 24 March 1948 she was released and settled down in the Allgäu, where she opened a pension in 1955. Ilse Hess was a dedicated Nazi. Until her death, she remained loyal to Hitler and his views, and supported the Stille Hilfe after the war. Her 1952 book England – Nürnberg – Spandau. Ein Schicksal in Briefen was published by the far-right Druffel-Verlag. She maintained correspondence with, among others, Winifred Wagner, who also continued to admire Hitler.