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German postal service says sorry after printing stamps of Nazi chief Hess
Last updated at 11:24am on 22.05.08
Germany's postal service Deutsche Post has apologised for printing stamps of Nazi wartime leader Rudolf Hess for a group of Hitler fanatics.
A new service allows customers to design their own stamps using Internet images.
Postal workers check for decency and taste - but admit something went badly wrong with the picture of Hess.
Gaff: Deutsche Post printed stamps of Nazi deputy Rudolf Hess, shown above with Adolf Hitler (left)
The stamps were sent out to members of the far-right NPD party which published a picture of them in their monthly magazine Deutsche Stimme (German Voice).
Hess is a hero among neo-Nazis.
He was Hitler's deputy until he flew to Britain in 1941 in a deluded bid to make peace, was found guilty of war crimes at the end of WW2 and sentenced to life in jail.
He died in 1987 aged 93 in Spandau Prison in Berlin.
Jailed: Hess pictured in Spandau Prison, West Berlin, where he died in 1987
Dirk Klasen of Deutsche Post said the company planned to review its oversight procedures as a result of the incident.
"It runs in most cases without difficulty," he said. "Only with the Hess image did something go awry. We are sorry."
Printing pictures of Nazi images, leaders or their slogans is forbidden under German law and first offences can carry a prison term of six months.
Right hand man: Hess, right, with Hitler wearing a traditional Alpine outfit while in Bavaria
Reader views (3)
Rudolf Hess was not mad or bad! The ones who were 'mad and bad' were the ones keeping this poor man in Spandau for 46 years. I agree with Fred above here that Hess came to the UK on a genuine mission for peace to end the second world war and this is how he was treated for it.
- Louise, London, England
Rudolf Hess was not deluded, he wanted peace, he wanted the war to end. The British and their allies were not willing to discuss peace terms. If they had, the war would have been over two-three years earlier, saving countless lives.
Postage stamps like these can be bought here in U.S from private companies, usually to celebrate the birth of a child.
- Fred Hoeck, Leonardtown, MD
I don't see the problem here. Rudolf Hess was sad, mad and bad, and paid for this by spending the last 46 years of his miserable pointless life in prison. That some neo-Nazis are dumb enough to put a picture of a pathetic idiot on postage stamps says a lot about their intelligence, politics and knowledge of history. Let them have their fun.
- Austen, London
