Witness History: Archive 2012 - The Psychiatrist and Rudolf Hess

Download The Psychiatrist and Rudolf Hess

In 1941, the deputy fuhrer, Rudolf Hess, flew out of Nazi Germany and landed in Scotland.

Keen to study the psychology of the Nazi leadership, the British government sent a psychiatrist called Henry Dicks to examine Hess at a safe house in Surrey.

Professor Daniel Pick, author of "The Pursuit of the Nazi Mind", retraces the encounter using BBC archive recordings and Dr Dicks' personal papers.

The programme is adapted from "The Psychiatrist and the Deputy Fuhrer", first broadcast on BBC Radio 4.

(Photo: Rudolf Hess, German politician and wartime deputy of Adolf Hitler, during a public speech in 1937)
(Credit: Central Press/Getty Images)

Published on Wednesday, 9th May 2012.

Available Podcasts from Witness History: Archive 2012

Subscribe to Witness History: Archive 2012

We are not the BBC, we only list available podcasts. To find out more about the programme including episodes available on BBC iPlayer, go to the Witness History: Archive 2012 webpage.