Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höß (in English, Hoess without or Höss with the umlaut) (November 25, 1900 – April 16, 1947) was a senior Nazi official, member of the SS and Waffen-SS (with the rank of SS-Obersturmbannführer) and commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp where he was responsible for the murder of hundreds of thousands of people. The English language is a West Germanic language that originates in England. ... Ä ä Ö ö Ü ü The term umlaut is used for two closely related notions: a special kind of vowel modification and a particular diacritic mark. ... November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1900 is a common year starting on Monday. ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ... 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... The Nazi party used a right-facing swastika as their symbol and the red and black colors were said to represent Blut und Boden (blood and soil). ... SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop... Waffen-SS recruitment poster; Volunteer to the Waffen-SS The Waffen-SS was the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel. ... SS-Obersturmbannführer Rank Patch SA-Obersturmbannführer Rank Patch Obersturmbannführer was a paramilitary Nazi Party rank which was used by both the SA and the SS. The title was first created as an SA rank in 1932 after an expansion of the SA created the need for an additional officer rank... Auschwitz is the name loosely used to identify three main Nazi German concentration camps and 45-50 sub-camps. ...

Rudolf Höß

Höß was born on November 25, 1900 in Baden-Baden into a strict Catholic family. Despite his father's wishes that he would become a priest, he voluntarily joined the German army during World War I in 1915, right after his father's death; he was transferred to Turkey, where he rose to the rank of a sergeant until 1917 and garnered the 1st and 2nd class Iron Cross. Rudolf Höß The copyright status of this vintage image is undetermined; it may still be copyrighted. ... Rudolf Höß The copyright status of this vintage image is undetermined; it may still be copyrighted. ... November 25 is the 329th (in leap years the 330th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1900 is a common year starting on Monday. ... Map of Germany showing Baden-Baden Baden-Baden is a town in Baden-Württemberg, Germany. ... Ypres, 1917, in the vicinity of the Battle of Passchendaele. ... 1915 was a common year starting on Friday (see link for calendar). ... This article is about the rank of sergeant. ... 1917 was a common year starting on Monday (see link for calendar). ... The Iron Cross (German: Eisernes Kreuz) is a military decoration of Germany which was established by King Friedrich Wilhelm III of Prussia and first awarded on 10 March 1813. ...

After the end of the war, Höß became a fighter for the Freikorps Roßbach in Upper Silesia, in the Baltic area and in the Ruhr basin. He joined the NSDAP in 1922, and was sentenced to ten years in jail in 1923 after his involvement in the murder of Walter Kadow; his accomplice Martin Bormann received a mere one year in prison. Höß was released in 1928 again following a general amnesty and joined the völkisch Artamanen-Gesellschaft ("Artaman Society") in 1929. The designation of Freikorps (German for Free Corps) was originally applied to voluntary armies. ... Upper Silesia (Polish Górny Śląsk, German Oberschlesien, Czech Horní Slezsko) is the south-eastern part of Silesia, a historical and geographical region of Poland (Opole Voivodship and Silesian Voivodship) and of the Czech Republic (Silesian-Moravian Region). ... Baltic can refer to: The Baltic Sea Council of the Baltic Sea States - an intergovernmental organization Baltic sea countries - countries with access to the Baltic Sea The term Baltic countries is sometimes used more or less synonymously for Northern Europe (Russia not included) The Baltic region (Balticum) Baltic States - the... The Ruhr in Essen-Kettwig The Ruhr is a large river in western Germany (North Rhine-Westphalia) starting near the town of Winterberg in Sauerland and ending in the Rhine in the city of Duisburg. ... The Nazi swastika The National Socialist German Workers Party (German: Nationalsozialistische Deutsche Arbeiterpartei), better known as the NSDAP or the Nazi Party was a political party that was led to power in Germany by Adolf Hitler in 1933. ... 1922 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... 1923 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... Martin Bormann (June 17, 1900 – May 2, 1945) was a prominent Nazi who became head of the Party Chancellery (Parteikanzlei) and Private Secretary to Adolf Hitler. ... 1928 was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Volk is a German language word meaning people or folk. ... 1929 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Höß applied for SS membership in 1933 at a request from Heinrich Himmler and was accepted in 1934; he also became a member of the Totenkopfverband ("Death's Head Unit") on December 1. The same year, he was transferred to the Dachau concentration camp, where he was given the office of "Blockführer" ("block leader") in 1935. SS or ss or Ss may be: The Schutzstaffel, a Nazi paramilitary force Steamship (SS) (ship prefix) The United States Secret Service A submarine not powered by nuclear energy (SS) (United States Navy designator), see SSN A Soviet/Russian surface-to-surface missile, as listed by NATO reporting name Shortstop... 1933 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... Heinrich Himmler Heinrich Himmler (October 7, 1900 – May 23, 1945) was the commander of the German Schutzstaffel and one of the most powerful men in Nazi Germany. ... 1934 was a common year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... The SS-Totenkopfverbände (SS-TV) — the Deaths Head Formations — were made up of Nazi Germanys concentration camp guards. ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... SS Chief Heinrich Himmler inspects the Dachau concentration camp (1936) The Dachau concentration camp was a Nazi German concentration camp near the city of Dachau, north of Munich, in southern Germany. ... 1935 was a common year starting on Tuesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

In 1938, he received a promotion to SS-Hauptsturmführer and became an adjutant in the Sachsenhausen camp, and, after joining the Waffen-SS in 1939, finally overtook as the commander of Auschwitz in 1940, a position in which he stayed until he was ordered back on late 1943. During the time spent at Auschwitz, Höß organized the administrative side of the mass murders of the "Endlösung". 1938 was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... Hauptsturmführer was a Nazi rank of the SS which was used between the years of 1934 and 1945. ... Arbeit Macht Frei gate Sachsenhausen was a concentration camp in Germany, operating between 1936 and 1950. ... Waffen-SS recruitment poster; Volunteer to the Waffen-SS The Waffen-SS was the armed wing of the Schutzstaffel. ... 1939 was a common year starting on Sunday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1940 was a leap year starting on Monday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... The Final Solution (German Endlösung) refers to the German Nazis plan to address the Jewish problem through systematic relocation and later extermination through genocide during World War II. The term was coined by Adolf Eichmann, a top Nazi official who supervised the genocidal campaign. ...

After being replaced as the Auschwitz commander by Arthur Liebehenschel on December 1, 1943, Höß assumed Liebehenschel's former position as the chairman of Amt D I  in Amtsgruppe D of the SS Wirtschaftsverwaltungshauptamt (WVHA), where he introduced Zyklon B as a means to carry out the camp's mass murders; he also was appointed deputy of WVHA leader Richard Glücks. Arthur Liebehenschel (1901-1948) was the commandant of Auschwitz and Majdanek death camps during World War II. Liebehenschel was born in Posen (now Poznan) and studied economics and public administration. ... December 1 is the 335th (in leap years the 336th) day of the year in the Gregorian calendar. ... 1943 is a common year starting on Friday. ... Zyklon B label — Note that “Gift” translates as “poison” Zyklon B was the tradename of a pesticide ultimately used by Nazi Germany in some Holocaust gas chambers. ...

Rudolf Höß at the Nuremburg Trials

On May 8, 1944, however, Höß returned to Auschwitz at Heinrich Himmler's personal request to carry out the so-called "Aktion Höß" - the preparation of the death machinery in Auschwitz II Birkenau for the murder of the Hungarian Jews. Rudolf Höß at the Nuremberg trials The copyright status of this vintage image is undetermined; it may still be copyrighted. ... May 8 is the 128th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (129th in leap years). ... 1944 was a leap year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ...

Höß was captured on March 11, 1946 by British military police; during the Nuremberg trials, he appeared as a witness in the trials of Ernst Kaltenbrunner, Oswald Pohl and the IG Farben. On May 25, 1946, he was handed over to Poland and sentenced to death by hanging on April 2, 1947, a sentence which was carried out on April 16 in front of the entrance of the crematorium of the former Auschwitz I concentration camp. March 11 is the 70th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (71st in Leap year). ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... Military police (MPs) are the police of a military organization, generally concerning themselves with law enforcement and security. ... The Nuremberg Trials is the general name for two sets of trials of Nazis involved in World War II and the Holocaust. ... SS-General Ernst Kaltenbrunner Ernst Kaltenbrunner (October 4, 1903 - October 16, 1946) was a senior Nazi official during World War II. Born in Ried im Innkreis, Austria, he was the son of a lawyer. ... IG Farben (short for Interessen-Gemeinschaft Farbenindustrie AG) was a German conglomerate of companies formed in 1925 and even earlier during World War I. IG Farben held nearly a total monopoly on the chemical production, later during the time of Nazi Germany. ... May 25 is the 145th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (146th in leap years). ... 1946 was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... April 2 is the 92nd day of the year (93rd in leap years) in the Gregorian calendar, with 273 days remaining. ... 1947 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ... April 16 is the 106th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar (107th in leap years). ...

In his autobiography, which was published in 1958 as "Rudolf Höß - Kommandant in Auschwitz", he portrayed himself as having grown up with a "strong sense of duty" and avowed himself as a follower of the "high virtue of military obedience". In this book, he wrote: 1958 was a common year starting on Wednesday (link will take you to calendar). ...

–I reported the number of the Jews who were brought to Auschwitz to be killed as 2,5 million. This number comes from Eichmann, who gave it to Commander Glücks shortly before the destruction of Berlin. I myself never knew the real number, and I do not have possibilities to find out. I consider the number of 2,5 millon much too high. Even Auschwitz was not able to do that.

Höß was married and had five children.

Works

• Death Dealer: the Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz

External links

• Auschwitz.dk: Rudolf Höß, death dealer of Auschwitz (http://www.auschwitz.dk/hoess.htm)
• deathcamps.info: Rudolf Höß (http://www.deathcamps.info/Nazis/page_7.htm)
• Jewish Virtual Library: Rudolf Höß (http://www.us-israel.org/jsource/biography/Hoess.html)
• Modern History Sourcebook: Rudolf Höß, Commandant of Auschwitz: Testimony at Nuremberg, 1946 (http://www.fordham.edu/halsall/mod/1946hoess.html)
• Rudolf Höß - biography in German (http://www.bad-bad.de/gesch/hoess.htm)