Rudolf Höß

Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höß (also Hoess, Hoeß or Höss, 25 November 1901-16 August 1947) was the commandant of Auschwitz Birkenau.

Early Life
Höß was born into a Catholic family, the eldest of three children and the only male other than his father. He was baptised on the 11th of December 1901, and brought up on the principles of Catholicism and the rules of the military. Höß married Hedwig Hensel in 1921.

During World War I, Höß briefly served in a military hospital before joining the 21st Regiment of Dragoons. Becoming a sergeant-in-chief, Höß was wounded three times, caught malaria and was awarded the Iron Cross. Serving in Damascus, Höß discovered the Armistice had been signed and road all the way out of Syria, through Romania and all the way back to Germany rather than be arrested as a prisoner of war.

Nazism
After the war ended, Höß joined the Freikorps, a German volunteer military division, and participated in attacks on Polish and French nationals during the Silesian Uprising and the occupation of the Ruhr. Höß joined the Nazi Party in 1922 as member 3240, and the following year he and other party members who included Martin Bormann attacked Walther Kadow, a man who had betrayed a spy to the French and caused his execution, and beat him to death. Höß was sentenced to ten years imprisonment, whilst Bormann received a one year sentence. Höß was later released in a general amnesty.

After his release, Höß met Heinrich Himmler and joined the Schutzstaffel (SS). In May 1940, Höß was appointed commandant of Auschwitz Birkenau, a Concentration Camp in Oświęcim. In this position, Höß was in charge of the Genocide against the Jewish people perpetrated there. Höß was commandant for three years, during which time his deputy Karl Fritzsche persuaded him to use Zyklon B, a type of cyanide gas invented by Bruno Tesch, in the gas chambers after Himmler informed them that The Holocaust was about to take place. Höß' s opinion on the efficiency was that the killing was quick enough, but the burning of the bodies was harder as 2000 at a time were killed and it took time to burn 2000 corpses. Höß later supervised Operation Höß, named after him, in which 430 000 Hungarian Jews were sent to Auschwitz and had to be killed over a period of 56 days. Their bodies had to be burned in open pits to stop the Jews discovering them.

Capture
Höß was tracked down while in disguise after the war, and his wedding ring was found to contain his name, resulting in his arrest. Höß attempted suicide via cyanide capsule when he was arrested, but this was unsuccessful and he was charged with mass murder, genocide and Crimes against humanity. He was convicted, despite attempts to have his interrogators arrested for alleged torture, and affidavits he signed were used to prosecute Oswald Pohl and Adolf Eichmann. Höß was hanged at Auschwitz in 1947.