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Report: Remains of Hitler's deputy exhumed, grave destroyed

Report: Remains of Hitler's deputy exhumed, grave destroyed

The remains of Rudolf Hess, German Nazi dictator Adolf Hitler's deputy, were exhumed overnight and the grave is to be destroyed, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reported Thursday.

The remains are to be burnt and the ashes scattered at sea, according to the report.

The grave had become the site of demonstrations by far-right extremists and when the lease ran out on the grave, the evangelical church where he was buried refused to extend it, DPA reported.

After initial objections from the family, they agreed to let his remains, buried in the town of Wunsiedel in the southern state of Bavaria, be removed.

Hess was arrested when he flew to Scotland in 1941 to try to arrange a peace deal with Britain. After World War II ended he was tried for war crimes at Nuremberg and sentenced to life in prison.

He was held in Spandau prison, in north-west Berlin, until he committed suicide in 1987.