The son of Rudolph Hess wrote to President Éamon de Valera in 1968 asking him to support a campaign to release his father from Spandau prison in Berlin, according to files released from the National Archives in Dublin this week.
Hess, a prominent figure in Nazi Germany, parachuted into Scotland on the eve of war with the Soviet Union, in a vain attempt to negotiate peace. He was arrested, tried at Nuremberg and sentenced in life in prison. He died by suicide in 1987, aged 92.
His son Wolf Rüdiger Hess wrote to deValera in January 1968 asking him to lend his name to a petition calling for his father's release. "I know it would make all the difference if you would add the weight of your signature to the appeal," he said.
His father had served 27 years in prison at that time. Mr Hess attached a statement to the letter, seeking deValera's signature. It said the supporters of the appeal were not concerned with the legal aspects of the case. "It is on humanitarian grounds that they wish to express their very strong view that the punishment inflicted upon Hess has by now far exceeded any justifiable limits.
"They believe that that maintenance of a political prison by four major powers for the single purpose of watching the slow death of an aged man is not in keeping with the spirit of this age which is striving towards true humanity," it stated.
"Within the framework of world political affairs, to which the governments concerned must daily devote their attention, the case of Hess may appear to be insignificant - yet this flagrant defiance of the precepts of humanity may set a tragic precedent if no steps are taken to bring it to an end."
The Irish ambassador in Bonn was also sent a petition around the same time. He forwarded this to the Department of External [now Foreign] Affairs in Dublin, pointing out that no other heads of state had signed the appeal. "Nor does it carry the name of Dr Lübke, the president of the Federal Republic. It might be felt, in these circumstances, that it would be inappropriate to ask the President to sign," Mr Kennedy said.
The secretary of the Department of External Affairs responded, suggesting that the embassy write to Mr Hess, acknowledging that the letter had been received by the president's office. "No further action is considered necessary at present," he added.
The issue also arose in the Dáil a few weeks earlier, with deputies pressing the Minister for External Affairs, Patrick Hillery on whether the Irish government had expressed its views on the situation to the authorities responsible for it.
Dr Hillery said there had been no record of any such views having been communicated. "Britain has recently tried to have this man released and I do not see any prospect of our having any influence on the situation," he told the Dáil.
