[1] In 1925 he joined the German Foreign Office as an Attaché and graduated from the state examinations for the consular and diplomatic service.

[2] From 1938 to 1945, Hess moved abroad into the private sector and was the representative of the Reemtsma tobacco company in Occupied Greece and neutral Turkey.

[4] Upon departing at Victoria Dock in Melbourne, Hess was greeted by a group holding placards calling him a Nazi, a charge echoed by Jewish representative groups in Australia, an allegation he vehemently denied: "I know that the German people under Hitler did great harm to the Jewish people.

[7] From 1959 to 1960, Hess was appointed as ambassador in Mexico City, and, from 1960 to 1962, he returned to Germany as Deputy Director-General of the Foreign Office, with special responsibility for international trade policy, in Bonn.

In retirement Hess returned to Australia, living in St Ives, New South Wales with his wife, until his death in 1986.