Who was Rudolf Höss? Everything You Need to Know

Quick Facts

German Celebrities Born In November

Also Known As: Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höß

Died At Age: 45

Family:

Spouse/Ex-: Hedwig Hensel (m. 1929)

father: Franz Xaver Höss

mother: Lina Speck

children: Annegret Höss, Hans-Rudolf Höss, Heidetraut Höss, Ingebrigitt Höss, Klaus Höss

Born Country: Germany

War Criminals Military Leaders

Died on: April 16, 1947

place of death: Oswiecim, Poland

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1

What was Rudolf Höss known for?

Rudolf Höss was known for being the longest-serving commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp during World War II.
2

How was Rudolf Höss captured?

Rudolf Höss was captured by British forces in 1946, after being on the run for several months.
3

What was Rudolf Höss's role in the Holocaust?

Rudolf Höss played a significant role in the implementation and management of the systematic mass murder of millions of people, primarily Jews, at Auschwitz concentration camp.
4

What happened to Rudolf Höss after his capture?

After his capture, Rudolf Höss was put on trial, convicted of war crimes, and sentenced to death. He was executed by hanging in 1947.
5

Did Rudolf Höss express any remorse for his actions?

Rudolf Höss did express some remorse for his role in the Holocaust, particularly towards the end of his life. He wrote an autobiography in which he reflected on his actions and expressed regret.

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Childhood & Early Life

Born on November 25, 1901, Baden-Baden, Grand Duchy of Baden, German Empire, Höss (also spelt Höß, Hoeß or Hoess) was the eldest of the three children of Lina (née Speck) and Franz Xaver Höss. He had two younger sisters.

Baptized Rudolf Franz Ferdinand on December 11, 1901, he was raised by his father, a former army officer who was once stationed in German East Africa, with strict religious principles and military discipline.

On August 17, 1929, Höss exchanged wedding vows with Hedwig Hensel. They had five children: Klaus Höss (born February 6, 1930), Heidetraud Höss (April 9, 1932), Inge-Brigitt Höss (August 18, 1933), Hans-Juergen Höss (May 1937), and Annegret Höss (November 7, 1943).

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Initial Military Career

At the advent of World War I, Höss worked at a military hospital for a short period. At the age of 14, he joined the German Army's 21st Regiment of Dragoons, with which his father and grandfather had served before him.

He took part in combat with the Ottoman Sixth Army at Baghdad, at Kut-el-Amara, and in Palestine. Progressing swiftly through the ranks, he became the Feldwebel (sergeant-in-chief). He suffered three injuries and contracted malaria and received the Gallipoli Star, the Iron Cross first and second class and other decorations.

Following the armistice, he and a few others did not want to become prisoners of war and travelled through Romania before reaching home in Bavaria.

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Becoming a Nazi

After he returned from the war, Höss finished his secondary education and enlisted in several emerging nationalist paramilitary groups, including the East Prussian Volunteer Corps and the Freikorps. In 1922, after listening to a speech by Adolf Hitler, he became a member of the Nazi Party.

On May 31, 1923, following the instructions of farm supervisor Martin Bormann, who later served as Hitler's private secretary, Höss and other Freikorps members beat local schoolteacher Walther Kadow to death in Mecklenburg.

Kadow was accused of informing the French occupational authorities that Nazi Party members were conducting sabotage operations against French supply lines. Höss was later caught and sentenced to ten years in prison in May 1924.

As part of a general amnesty, Höss was freed in July 1928. He then became a member of the Artaman League, a movement that advocated against urbanization. At some point after he got married, he met Heinrich Himmler.

Career in the Schutzstaffel

On April 1, 1934, Höss, following Himmler's effective call-to-action, became a member of Schutzstaffel and later began working with the SS-Totenkopfverbände (Death's Head Units). He was deeply influenced by Himmler, whose words were “gospel” to him. He even had a picture of him, and not that of Hitler’s, in his office.

In December 1934, Höss was sent to the Dachau concentration camp. In 1938, he was made SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain) and joined the Sachsenhausen concentration camp as adjutant to Hermann Baranowski.

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He became part of the Waffen-SS in 1939, following the invasion of Poland. He proved himself to be an extremely competent officer and was endorsed by several of his superiors for promotion and more responsibilities.

Auschwitz

On May 1, 1940, Höss received the appointment as the commandant of Auschwitz concentration and extermination camp in western Poland. During his first tenure there, he served for three and a half years and constantly added new structures to turn the original smaller facility into a spread-out complex that came to be known as Auschwitz-Birkenau concentration camp.

His initial orders were to set up a transition camp that could house ten thousand prisoners. He accepted the appointment believing that he could make Auschwitz a more efficiently-run camp than Dachau and Sachsenhausen. While he was serving there, he resided in the camp in a villa with his wife and five children.

Initially, the inmates who were placed in Auschwitz were either Soviet prisoners-of-war or Polish prisoners, including peasants and intellectuals. At one point, the facility had three divisions: Auschwitz I, Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz.

In June 1941, Höss travelled to Berlin to meet Himmler, who informed him that Hitler had issued the command for the “Final Solution” of the Jewish question.

He later revealed that Auschwitz, for its size and easy access by rail, was picked by Himmler for the extermination of Europe’s Jews. He was also informed by Himmler that he would receive orders from Adolf Eichmann.

On September 3, 1941, he started experimenting and improving mass killing techniques. Because of his tests, Auschwitz became the most efficiently murderous instrument of the “Final Solution” and the Holocaust's most potent symbol.

After experimenting with several substances, he was advised to use pesticide Zyklon B containing hydrogen cyanide by a subordinate named Karl Fritzsch, who had previously tested the substance on Russian prisoners. According to Höss, the victims died between three to 15 minutes after Zyklon B was administered to them.

In 1942, Höss was involved in an affair with Eleonore Hodys (or Nora Mattaliano-Hodys), who was imprisoned in Auschwitz for political reasons. She got pregnant and in 1943, had an abortion. The affair might have caused Höss’ removal from the Auschwitz command in 1943. He was briefly investigated before the case against him was dropped.

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Höss was substituted by Arthur Liebehenschel at Auschwitz, while he was made the head of Amt D I in Amtsgruppe D of the SS Main Economic and Administrative Office (WVHA), Liebehenschel’s previous position.

He was reassigned to Auschwitz on May 8, 1944, and oversaw Operation Höss, in which 430,000 Hungarian Jews were murdered in the span of 56 days.

Capture, Trial & Execution

As the war was coming to an end, Höss managed to evade the Allied forces for nearly a year. It was his wife who told his whereabouts to British soldiers in order to save her son, Klaus, who was being thrashed by the soldiers.

Höss was caught on March 11, 1946, in Gottrupel (Germany). At the time, he was pretending to be a gardener named Franz Lang. There were Jewish soldiers in the group that arrested him, and they beat him with axe handles.

Höss delivered a comprehensive statement at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg on April 15, 1946. Accused of killing three and a half million people, he stated that they had killed “only two and one half million—the rest died from disease and starvation”. Later, in an essay, he revised that number to 1.13 million.

Höss was prosecuted by the Supreme National Tribunal in Poland. He was found guilty and received the death sentence on April 2, 1947. His hanging took place on 16 April in Oświęcim (Auschwitz), Poland.

Facts About Rudolf Höss

Rudolf Höss was known for his meticulous record-keeping, maintaining detailed logs and statistics on the prisoners at Auschwitz concentration camp.

Despite his role in the Holocaust, Höss displayed a surprising interest in beekeeping and was known to keep bees at his home.

Höss had a reputation for being a strict disciplinarian, enforcing rules and regulations with precision and consistency.

In his personal life, Höss was reported to be a loving father to his five children, showing a different side to his character outside of his duties at Auschwitz.

Höss was known for his intelligence and organizational skills, traits that contributed to his rise within the SS ranks.

Rudolf Höss Biography

You wanted to know

What was Rudolf Höss known for?

How was Rudolf Höss captured?

What was Rudolf Höss's role in the Holocaust?

What happened to Rudolf Höss after his capture?

Did Rudolf Höss express any remorse for his actions?