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weight so he could still wear it.

His sartorial obsessions seemed to

imbue his inkblot response to Card III. In this, Göring saw“ two caricature figures

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“ His suicide, shrouded in mystery and emphasising the impotency of the American guards, was a skilful, even brilliant, finishing touch, completing the

with high collars” whom he said resem-

edifice for Germans to admire in time

bled his much-disliked parliamentary

to come.”

predecessor, Hjalmar Schacht.“ But the red spots … I can’ t figure that out,” he added, flicking at the red

Rudolf Hess

When Dr Kelley first met Rudolf Hess,

blots on the card.

he encountered a thin, hysterical man

For the psychologist Dr Gilbert, this

who suffered sporadic memory loss and

gesture caught his attention, less for any

hoarded globs of marmalade he believed

insight it offered through Rorschach inter-

had been poisoned by his captors.

pretation but for its Shakespearean quality.

But five years earlier, Hess had been

“ You tried to flick it off with your finger,

Deputy Führer of the Nazi Party and one

as though you thought you could wipe away

of Hitler’ s oldest friends. He had helped

the blood with a little gesture,” Dr Gilbert

approve the Nuremberg racial laws, was

later said to Göring.

involved in the invasion of Poland and

“ You’ ve been doing the same thing

other military strategy, but by 1941, as the

all through the trial— taking off your

German military machine swept across

earphones in the courtroom, whenever

Europe, Hess found himself sidelined

the evidence of your guilt became too

from decision-making.

unbearable.

He was also growing depressed over

“ And you did the same thing during

his seemingly incurable stomach prob-

the war too, drugging the atrocities out of

lems, which Dr Kelley later believed to be

your mind,” referencing Göring’ s former

psychosomatic.

‘ You thought you could wipe away the blood.’

It was in this mental state that he flew to the UK on his own secret mission, organised without Hitler’ s approval, to broker peace with the Allies. He piloted a Messerschmitt out of Berlin, crash landing on a farm south of Glasgow.

He was promptly arrested by a pitch-

morphine addiction.

fork-wielding local farmer who took him

“ You didn’ t have the courage to face

to his farmhouse before alerting the

it. That is your guilt.”

authorities.

Göring apparently glared at him and

But rather than being treated as an

remained silent for a while.

envoy as he expected, Hess was taken

“ Then he said those psychological

prisoner by the UK and interrogated for

tests were meaningless, and he didn’ t

the remainder of the war. Back in Ger-

give a damn what that double-crosser,

many, he was dismissed as a‘ deranged’

[ Albert ] Speer, said [ about him ].”

traitor.

No deep issues?

Dr Kelley, however, found Göring’ s Rorschach

responses largely normal. There were no deep pathological issues. They

Göring on the grounds of his villa, Carinhall, Germany, in 1937.

It was in custody in England that Hess’ paranoia around food poisoning and his apparent amnesia first appeared.

By the time he was under Dr Kelley’ s

were also indicative of high intelligence,

care, Hess was claiming he could not

Dr Kelley said.

conversations fascinating.

execution by swallowing a potassium

remember his own birthday or any of his

In the Rorschach test, such intelligence

“ He was a brilliant, brave, ruthless,

cyanide capsule.

duties while in the Nazi Party.

could be exhibited when the subject’ s

relentless and clever man of action,”

“ At first glance, his action may seem

At the same time, he began keeping

responses integrated the entirety of the

Dr Kelley later wrote.

cowardly— an attempt to escape the pun-

samples of his food to be‘ sent for test-

inkblot and identified movement within

At one point, Göring even offered one

ishment meted out to his compatriots,”

ing’ and requested a box of chocolates he

the blot.

of his huge rings to Dr Kelley as a part-

Dr Kelley later wrote in his book 22 Cells

received while in England be brought to

By this time, however, Dr Kelley had

ing gift. The psychiatrist refused. Göring

in Nuremberg.

Nuremberg as evidence the Allies were

been spending hours sitting on Göring’ s

instead gave him something which he

“ Careful examination of his actions,

poisoning him.

bed discussing the war and, it seems,

suggested was“ just as good”— a signed

however, reveals that here is the true

The Rorschach tests offered only partial

formed some kind of attachment— even

photo of himself.

Göring, contemptuous of all man-made

insight into Hess’ amnesia, apparently, with

admiration for him. While he acknowl-

Convicted on all counts and sen-

rules and regulations, taking his own life

the doctors finding his responses brief, flat

edged Göring’ s brutality and apathy

tenced to hang on 1 October 1946, Göring

at his own convenience and in a manner

and unimaginative.

towards human life, he found their

killed himself the night before his

of his own choosing.

In Card IX, Hess saw“ a technical

Rorschach Card II.

Rudolf Hess.