EntityQ76975· pop 55· linked from 609 articles

Rudolf Höss

German war criminal, commandant of Auschwitz (1901–1947)

AI overview

Rudolf Höss was a high-ranking Nazi officer who served as commandant of Auschwitz, the largest Nazi concentration and extermination camp during World War II. He is significant as a key figure in the Holocaust whose testimony and records have been crucial to historical understanding of the genocide and Nazi crimes against humanity.

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Person · Open Library

Born: 25 November 1901
Died: 16 April 1947
Works: 4

Top works

Αυτοβιογραφία Η ζωή και η δράση του στο Νταχάου, στο Ζαξενχάουζεν και στο Άουσβιτς
Yo, comandante de Auschwitz
Commandant of Auschwitz
KL Auschwitz seen by the SS
Kommandant in Auschwitz

via Open Library + Wikidata

Music · MusicBrainz

Type: Group
Country: DE
Active from: 2004

via MusicBrainz · CC0

Listeners · Last.fm

Listeners: 4
Total plays: 6

Article

Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also Höß, Hoeß, or Hoess; German: [hœs]; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was a German SS officer and the commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp. After the defeat of Nazi Germany and the end of World War II, he lived under a false name until discovered by the British, who then turned him over to Polish authorities. Höss was convicted in Poland and executed for war crimes committed on the prisoners of the Auschwitz concentration camp and for his role in the Holocaust.

Höss was the longest-serving commandant of Auschwitz Concentration Camp (from 4 May 1940 to November 1943, and again from 8 May 1944 to 18 January 1945). He tested and implemented means to accelerate Hitler's order to systematically exterminate the Jewish population of Nazi-occupied Europe, known as the Final Solution. On the initiative of one of his subordinates, Karl Fritzsch, Höss introduced the pesticide Zyklon B to be used in gas chambers, where over a million people were killed.