Relationship With Rudolf Hess
Over the years, and after many hundreds of hours of discussion between the two, there developed a relationship of friendship between them and they began a surreptitious collaboration on a book about Hess and his enigmatic flight to Scotland in 1941. Both Bird and Hess saw this as an opportunity to set the record straight, as far as possible, about Hess's historic flight.
Bird’s main interest was to learn from Hess information about whether or not Hitler knew about Hess’s mission, and whether or not Hess knew about the plans for Operation Barbarossa when he took off on his flight to Scotland.
In March 1971, Bird’s superiors at the U.S. 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.
Read more about this topic: Eugene K. Bird
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