23-06-2025
I was clearing a relative's house when I found a photo of them with Hitler's deputy
I was clearing a relative's house when I found a photo of them with Hitler's deputy
Rudolf Hess, Hitler's deputy, lived for several years with relative freedom in Abergavenny, staying at a military hospital but regularly being seen out and about in the area
A patient, believed to be high-ranking Nazi Rudolf Hess, pictured in bed at Maindiff Court Military Hospital in Abergavenny
(Image: René Butler )
While clearing out a relative's house in Abergavenny I came across an old photograph that, to my eyes, looked like it could be Rudolf Hess, Hitler's infamous deputy, on a ward at Maindiff Court Military Hospital on the outskirts of Abergavenny.
Curious, I posted it to Abergavenny Voice Facebook group. Within hours the post sparked more than 200 reactions and a flood of memories passed down generations.
Hess was held at Maindiff Court from June 1942 until October 1945 following his bizarre solo flight to Scotland in May 1941 in an apparent attempt to negotiate peace with Britain.
He was arrested after parachuting into a field near Glasgow, briefly imprisoned in the Tower of London, and eventually transferred to Abergavenny, where he was placed under psychiatric care overseen by doctors such as Kurt Anthony Graf, the man on the right of the picture I found.
Hess had two rooms at Maindiff Court, knocked through to create his private living quarters, with another room next door for his guards.
He had access to a private compound, which was the size of a tennis court, where he would walk, write, and draw at a small outdoor table.
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Although technically a prisoner Hess enjoyed surprising freedom and this is where Abergavenny's collective memory really comes alive.
'He used to walk past my grandparents' house on the Mardy,' Abergavenny local Rebecca Cole recalled.
'He was flanked by two guards with rifles. They'd head into the fields at the top of Poplars Road. My dad remembered stopping to watch them as a boy.'
Simon Jones said: 'My grandad would take him out to paint the landscape when he worked at Maindiff.'
Another commenter added: 'Hess often trekked up Sugar Loaf Mountain and Skirrid Fawr to paint watercolours, always accompanied by guards.'
Emily Bailey said: 'My great-granny was one of the housekeeping staff at Maindiff when he was there.
'She used to talk of him lots – they'd have long conversations. After my grandparents passed we even found letters from him to her. I'm not sure what happened to them.'
Others spoke of him being escorted into town by armed guards for a quiet pint at the King's Arms or at the Old Mitre Inn in nearby Llantilio Pertholey.
One local's grandfather was Hess's dentist. Another said her great-aunt, a nurse at Maindiff, had been terrified to treat him at first but soon found him 'quiet, formal, polite – not what you'd expect'.
And the man in the photograph I found? It is hard to verify. On closer inspection I have doubts.
Historians are unsure too but that hardly matters. The post unearthed something far more enduring – shared memories passed down through generations of a time when global history brushed up against everyday life in a quiet Welsh town.
Maindiff Court is now part of the NHS. Many who pass by might not realise its unusual wartime past.
But framed by mature trees and rolling hills the grounds still look much as they did in the 1940s when one of Hitler's closest confidants was quietly living behind its gates.
The Abergavenny Museum holds several objects linked to Hess' time in the area including a signed beer mat he reportedly gave to a local brewery.
Whether it was a token of gratitude or something more peculiar is unclear but it remains one of the museum's most unexpected and talked-about exhibits.
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The British government always kept Hess' location a closely-guarded secret for security reasons but Abergavenny locals knew the truth: a high-ranking Nazi was living among them, walking openly through their town.
After leaving Wales Hess stood trial at Nuremberg where he was sentenced to life imprisonment. In 1947 he was transferred to Spandau Prison in Berlin where he remained until his death in 1987.
The Abergavenny Local History Society offers further details and accounts of Hess' time in the town.
