On the 13th December 1945, Franz Hossler at the age of 39 made his way to the gallows of Hamelin
Prison. He had been found guilty of being one of the most sadistic and brutal war criminals
that worked inside of the concentration camp systems of World War 2. He was a man who was
happy to execute and take the lives of others and also administer torture, but he would be executed
by British executioner Albert Pierrepoint. He was one of a number of former SS guards who was
captured at Bergen-Belsen Concentration Camp, and inside here there were number of female and
male guards who remained at the camp and were then arrested. They were accused of being involved in
the mass slaughter of people inside of the camp as the bodies were left littered around Belsen.
But Franz Hossler developed a reputation for being a brutal and barbaric guard,
who almost acted as a hitman and as an executioner himself. But what is the story of his execution?
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Franz Hossler was born in February 1906 inside of Oberdorf in Germany in Bavaria the lands where the
Nazis would originate. As a young man he wanted to become a photographer and work in the fledgling
photography industry, but he would leave this dream behind him as he would become a warehouse
worker and during the 1930s he was hit like many others were by the Great Depression. At this time,
there was a huge wave of unemployment and suffering across Germany and Hossler would
be forced to leave his job, and it was within this circumstance that the Nazi Party rose.
Adolf Hitler and the Nazis promised to reboot the economy and to get people
back to work and to get them money in their pockets and to bring food onto the table.
With this millions saw the appeal of the Nazis and Hiotler, and Hossler was one of
those who joined the Nazis in November 1932 and he would then within a few months join the SS,
the paramilitary group led by Heinrich Himmler. He was a married man and he had three children, but
inside of the SS Hossler was seen as a talented man who was rather interested in promotion.
Franz Hossler became a Obersturmfuhrer and then he would also join the Waffen-SS the military
wing of the SS, and he would become a reserve officer meaning that during times of war he could
be called upon to serve in the army. But it would be inside of the concentration camps that Hossler
would make his brutal impact on history, as following Hitler’s rise to power and the opening
of Dachau Concentration Camp, he worked there as one of the first guards. In this role he worked as
a cook until the Second World War broke out, and he would see the large expansion of Dachau to a
camp where thousands would be held, and then as the Germans invaded Poland and other lands they
sought to expand the concentration camp systems and they would open these in different lands.
In June 1940, Hossler was transferred to the newly opened Auschwitz camp. This was a site located
in Poland which would become the deadliest of the Second World War, and it was opened
following Rudolf Hoss’ recommendation to build a camp there. Hoss would become the commandant,
and throughout its time in operation over 1 million people would be killed and exterminated
inside of Auschwitz’ barbed wire fences. Hossler was seen as trustworthy by the SS, and he would
continue to work inside of the camp’s kitchens and he then became the supervisor of a sub camp,
but by 1941 he had become the head of the labour department of Auschwitz I. In this role,
he would be responsible for assigning work for the prisoners and making them work incredibly hard.
Those who suffered would be executed often in public to inspire fear inside of the camp.
But Hossler would also accompany prisoners who were going to be executed and exterminated.
In July 1941 he went with a detachment of 575 prisoners of Auschwitz who were sent
to Sonnerstein Castle where they were executed and murdered as part of the Action T4 program,
where those who were considered not fit enough to work were exterminated.
In June 1942, he also was involved in the slaughter of 168 people who had been involved in
an Uprising inside of the punishment section, and Hossler would himself execute many prisoners with
his bare hands. He would oversee other projects including the building of an SS retreat and
holiday resort nearby, but following the expansion of Auschwitz into a huge concentration camp,
capable of handling hundreds of thousands of prisoners Hossler had a number of jobs.
He would in September 1942 he responsible for a detachment of prisoners known as the
Sonderkommando who would take part in hiding the crimes of the SS, in which they would burn
the bodies of those who were killed inside of the camp and inside of the gas chambers.
Hossler’s detachment which was named after him would exhume 107,000 bodies from mass graves at
Auschwitz, and they would then taken them to the newly opened crematoriums of Auschwitz II
Birkenau, where they were then burned inside of these. Following this action, all of Hossler’s
men were executed themselves inside of the gas chambers to cover up their knowledge.
But Hossler was also in charge of the crematorium of Auschwitz I,
the first main camp and he would also oversee many gassings inside of bunkers.
Each day many prisoners were being sent to Auschwitz and Hossler following the selections
would send hundreds to their deaths inside of his gas chamber. One former SS doctor wrote
of Hossler’s actions, ‘“Regarding the gassings written in my diary dated November 12 , 1942,
I note that day that about 1,600 Dutch people were gassed. This is an approximate figure,
which I wrote following the statements of others. The action was led by SS officer
Hößler. I remember he tried to lead the whole group into one bunker. Having failed
to bring in the last man, Hoßler shoots him in cold blood with his revolver. That's why
I wrote in the diary: "Dreadful scene before the last bunker! (Hößler!)”.’
He would also then in 1943 be involved in recruited many women and men to work inside
of Auschwitz, and he then worked inside of the women’s camp of Auschwitz Birkenau alongside
Maria Mandel who became known for her brutality and evil. He would be in charge of executing and
gassing women inside of the female camp, and he would often give the speech to the inmates to
convince them into the gas chambers and of course the inmates believed they were going for a shower.
One of the witnesses to Franz Hossler’s speech recounted it and said it went like this,
‘“On behalf of the camp administration, I welcome you. It is not a holiday resort but
a labor camp. Just like our soldiers risking their lives at the front to achieve victory
for the Third Reich , you will have to work here for the welfare of a new Europe. How
you approach this task is entirely up to you. Luck is on your side. We will take care of your health
and we will offer you a well-paid job. After the war, we will assess each of you on your merits
and treat you accordingly. Now would you all take your clothes off. Hang your clothes on the hooks
provided and remember your [hook] number. After your bath, there will be a bowl of soup, coffee
or tea for everyone. Oh yes, before you forget, after your bath, take your certificates, diplomas,
school reports and any other documents so that we can employ everyone according to their training
and ability. Diabetics not eating sugar will report to the service staff after their bath.”
Following this, he continued to become a brutal executioner and he would then be sent to Dora
Mittelbau as the Soviet Red Army advanced towards Auschwitz and many prisoners were also sent there.
Hossler was appointed the chief guard of the camp behind the commandant Richard Baer,
and it showed how evil he was but also how he was obsessed with promotion. He would then following
a short time at Dora be sent to Bergen-Belsen where he arrived on the 8th April 1945 shortly
before the site was liberated by the British Army. Belsen had become a site which had fallen into a
huge camp of devastation. Disease was sweeping through the overcrowded site to the camp where
hundreds were dying each day, and thousands of corpses lay unburied around the camp.
Following the liberation of the inmates, Hossler was discovered trying to pass
himself off as a prisoner, and because of this he was then arrested and alongside the other SS
guards he was forced to bury the thousands of disease ridden corpses inside of mass graves.
But after this he was then brought to the Belsen Trials, and the full extent of his crimes at
Auschwitz and other sites came to light. He was one of 45 people who was tried at the
Belsen Trial, and he was a defendant alongside evil guards such as Josef Kramer the beast of
Belsen and commandant, and Irma Grese who became known for her notorious beatings and killings of
female prisoners inside of Auschwitz. But during the trial, a number of witnesses confirmed that
Hossler was someone who would be involved in the selections of Auschwitz, and he would play
god with people’s lives and would be involved in driving prisoners into the gas chambers.
For this alongside other former guards he was sentenced to death,
and he was then deported to Hamelin Prison to await his death sentence.
Whilst he was at Hamelin, he would wait for his execution, but a day before he was visited by
British executioner Albert Pierrepoint who would take his height and weight and would work out the
drop needed to snap his neck instantly. But on the 13th December 1945, Franz Hossler was
summoned from his small cell on death row, and he was led by Pierrepoint into the gymnasium of
the prison where the gallows was set up, and he was led up the stairs onto the scaffold.
Pierrepoint following the death sentence being read out and confirmed then placed
a cap over his head, and then the noose and following this he quickly released
the trapdoor and one of the most evil guards of Auschwitz plunged through to his death.
Franz Hossler was an experienced SS man who was an ardent and devoted Nazi who was responsible for
the deaths of thousands of people inside of the various camps that he worked at.
Inside of Auschwitz for some time he had become a deadly guard who was directly involved in
executing and exterminating as many people as he could. This led to him becoming a trusted
member of Rudolf Hoss’ staff at Auschwitz and it’s most probable that at some point
he would have become the commandant of his own concentration camp if the war had continued.
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