21 July 2011 Last updated at 12:49 GMT
Neo-Nazis attempted to hold rallies at the grave on the anniversary of Hess's death
The remains will be cremated and then scattered at sea.
Hess was captured after flying to Britain in 1941 and sentenced to life in prison. He killed himself in a Berlin jail in 1987 at the age of 93.
As he requested in his will, he was buried in the small Bavarian town of Wunsiedel, where his family had a holiday home and where his parents were already interred.
The local Lutheran church which supervises the cemetery gave its permission for the burial at the time, ruling that the wishes of the deceased could not be ignored, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reports.
But they and local people have since become concerned by the number of far-right groups visiting the grave. Each year on the anniversary of his death, neo-Nazis have attempted to stage a march to the cemetery, saluting the grave with its epitaph "I dared", and laying floral wreaths.
A 2005 court order banning such gatherings had little effect so the church decided to terminate the family's lease on the grave as of October 2011.
A granddaughter of Hess objected to the decision, the paper reports. She filed a lawsuit in an attempt to prevent it going ahead, but was eventually persuaded by the parish council to drop the case and allow the exhumation to go ahead.
Hess was one of Hitler's closest aides, but in 1941 he parachuted into Scotland in an apparently unauthorised solo peace mission, which was denounced by the fuhrer.
He was imprisoned by the British for the duration of the war, and jailed for life at the Nuremberg trials in 1946. He spent 40 years in Spandau Prison in Berlin.
He was the last remaining inmate at the prison when he was found hanged there in August 1987.
Top Nazi Rudolf Hess exhumed from 'pilgrimage' grave
Neo-Nazis attempted to hold rallies at the grave on the anniversary of Hess's deathContinue reading the main story
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The grave holding the remains of Adolf Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess has been destroyed to stop it being used as a pilgrimage site by neo-Nazis.
Hess's bones were exhumed at the graveyard in the town of Wunsiedel, southern Germany, early on Wednesday.The remains will be cremated and then scattered at sea.
Hess was captured after flying to Britain in 1941 and sentenced to life in prison. He killed himself in a Berlin jail in 1987 at the age of 93.
As he requested in his will, he was buried in the small Bavarian town of Wunsiedel, where his family had a holiday home and where his parents were already interred.
The local Lutheran church which supervises the cemetery gave its permission for the burial at the time, ruling that the wishes of the deceased could not be ignored, the Sueddeutsche Zeitung newspaper reports.
But they and local people have since become concerned by the number of far-right groups visiting the grave. Each year on the anniversary of his death, neo-Nazis have attempted to stage a march to the cemetery, saluting the grave with its epitaph "I dared", and laying floral wreaths.
A 2005 court order banning such gatherings had little effect so the church decided to terminate the family's lease on the grave as of October 2011.
A granddaughter of Hess objected to the decision, the paper reports. She filed a lawsuit in an attempt to prevent it going ahead, but was eventually persuaded by the parish council to drop the case and allow the exhumation to go ahead.
Hess was one of Hitler's closest aides, but in 1941 he parachuted into Scotland in an apparently unauthorised solo peace mission, which was denounced by the fuhrer.
He was imprisoned by the British for the duration of the war, and jailed for life at the Nuremberg trials in 1946. He spent 40 years in Spandau Prison in Berlin.
He was the last remaining inmate at the prison when he was found hanged there in August 1987.
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