(JTA) — The remains of Nazi leader Rudolf Hess were exhumed from his grave in Germany after it became a pilgrimage site for neo-Nazis.
On Wednesday, his body was taken from his grave in the northern Bavarian town of Wunsiedel and the headstone was removed, according to reports. It is slated to be cremated and his ashes scattered at sea.
Hess, who served as Adolf Hitler’s deputy and personal secretary, was buried in the same town where his parents are buried, at his request.
Hundreds of Nazis marched each year on Wunsiedel in honor of Hess on the anniversary of his death. The practice was banned in 2005. The Nazi visitors to his grave made the Nazi salute, according to reports.
Hess was put on trial at Nuremburg, where he was given a life sentence for crimes against peace and conspiracy to commit crimes. He was sent to the Spandau prison in Berlin and committed suicide there in 1987 at age 93.
