IMT01-T164
VolumeVolume I — Page 164
s/ J. R. REES19 November 1945.
M.D., F.R.C.P.
s / GEORGE RIDDOCH M.D., F.R.C.P.
s / MORAN
M.D., F.R.C.P.
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
