Rudolf Hess in Hospital--Has Pneumonia
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WEST BERLIN — Rudolf Hess, the 92-year-old former Hitler deputy who occupied Spandau Prison alone as a frail relic of Nazism, has been taken to a British military hospital with pneumonia, the family lawyer said today.
Andrew Purdon, spokesman for the British diplomatic mission in West Berlin, said Hess was taken to the hospital Sunday “simply for observation . . . because he said he wasn’t feeling well.”
Family lawyer Alfred Seidl said by telephone from Munich that Hess has pneumonia, but he would say nothing further about the former deputy fuehrer’s condition.
When asked about Seidl’s comments, Purdon replied: “We are not allowed to say anything about his condition.”
A U.S. Army medical expert in Heidelberg said pneumonia “is potentially life-threatening for the elderly.”
A report in the mass-circulation newspaper Bild said Hess has been comatose and mentally unstable on recent occasions, has become blind and was being given medicines for his heart and circulation.
It said the “Soviets took Hess to the British hospital and are keeping a black coffin for him.”
Hess’ daughter-in-law, Andrea, said the family learned he had been taken to the hospital but “we have no way of saying how serious the condition is.”
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