C
20 November 1945
MEMORANDUM TO: Brigadier General Wm. L. Mitchell,
General Secretary for the International
Military Tribunal.
In response to request of the Tribunal that the Defendant Rudolf Hess be
examined, the undersigned psychiatrists examined Rudolf Hess on 15 and
19 November 1945 in his cell in the Military Prison in Nuremberg.
The following examinations were made: physical, neurological, and
psychological.
In addition, documents were studied bearing information concerning his
personal development and career. Reports concerning the period of his
stay in England were scrutinized. The results of all psychological,
special psychometric examinations, and observations carried out by the
prison psychiatrist and his staff were studied. Information was also
derived from the official interrogation of the defendant on 14 and 16
November 1945.
(1) We find, as a result of our examinations and investigations, that
Rudolf Hess is suffering from hysteria characterized in part by loss of
memory. The nature of this loss of memory is such that it will not
interfere with his comprehension of the proceedings, but it will
interfere with his response to questions relating to his past and will
interfere with his undertaking his defense.
In addition there is a conscious exaggeration of his loss of memory and
a tendency to exploit it to protect himself against examination.
(2) We consider that the existing hysterical behavior which the
defendant reveals, was initiated as a defense against the circumstances
in which he found himself, while in England; that it has now become in
part habitual and that it will continue as long as he remains under the
threat of imminent punishment, even though it may interfere with his
undertaking a more normal form of defense.
(3) It is the unanimous conclusion of the undersigned that Rudolf Hess
is not insane at the present time in the strict sense of the word.
/s/ DR. JEAN DELAY
Professor of Psychiatry at the Faculty
of Medicine in Paris
/s/ DR. NOLAN D. C. LEWIS
Professor of Psychiatry, Columbia University
/s/ DR. D. EWEN CAMERON
Professor of Psychiatry, McGill University
/s/ COL. PAUL L. SCHROEDER
A.U.S. Neuropsychiatric Consultant
REPORT OF PRISON PSYCHOLOGIST ON
MENTAL COMPETENCE OF DEFENDANT HESS[18]