Rudolf Hess - World War I

World War I

Hess joined the Hamburg trading company Feldt, Stein & Co. as an apprentice in 1912. At the outbreak of World War I he enlisted in the 7th Bavarian Field Artillery Regiment, becoming an infantryman, and was awarded the Iron Cross, second class. He saw heavy action both on the Western Front (at Ypres and Verdun) and in the Carpathian Mountains. After being wounded on several occasions —including a chest wound severe enough to prevent his return to the front as an infantryman – he transferred to the Imperial Air Corps (after being rejected once). He underwent aeronautical training and was a pilot in an operational squadron, Jasta 35b (Bavarian), with the rank of lieutenant from 16 October 1918. He won no victories; the war ended on 11 November 1918.

In autumn of 1919, Hess left his job and enrolled in the University of Munich where he studied political science, history, geography, and geopolitics under Professor Karl Haushofer, whom he had first met in the summer of 1919 in a social setting. From their first meeting, Hess became a disciple of Haushofer: the two became close friends, and their families also become close, with Hess and Haushofer's son Albrecht developing a strong friendship.

After World War I, the successful Hess family business collapsed. Hess went to Munich, and took a job at a textile importing firm. He joined the Freikorps. He also joined the Thule Society, a right-wing völkisch occult-mystical organization. After the end of the war, Bavaria witnessed frequent and often bloody conflict between right-wing groups and left-wing forces, some of which were Soviet-backed.

On 20 December 1927, Hess married 27-year-old Ilse Pröhl (22 June 1900 – 7 September 1995) from Hannover. They had one son, Wolf Rüdiger Hess (18 November 1937 – 24 October 2001).