One of the most evil men of the Second World War was the commandant of Auschwitz, Rudolf
Hoss. Hoss was in charge of the largest concentration camp inside of the Third Reich, and he was
a man who would pride himself on the fact he oversaw the deaths of over 1 million people
inside the camp he expanded on a huge basis. But it was inside of his own camp, that after
a war crimes trial Hoss was condemned and executed upon. He was taken out to his execution
on the 16th April 1947 on a specially built gallows to administer justice to a man who
had committed such crimes against so many people. Hoss was a man who would brag about
Auschwitz and what he believed he managed to achieve there, but he was also a man who
would return home to his family and children almost as if he has a normal day at work.
However what isn’t as well known is what happened to his remains after his death. There
were accounts after the war of a number of executed SS war criminals such as Irma Grese
and Josef Kramer being buried in the prison yard where they were executed, and they were
then exhumed. But what is the story of the missing remains of the commandant of Auschwitz?
Join us today as we find out, and remember to support our channel, please make sure to
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Rudolf Hoss was sent initially to Asuchwitz to establish a concentration camp, and he
then commanded the camp for three and a half years, turning it from a small modest site
into a huge death camp in which over 1 million people would be killed within the barbed wire
fences. Inside his camp were terrifying torture blocks such as Block 11 where inmates were
tortured on a daily basis, and also were structures such as the death wall which formed a firing
squad where thousands were killed. It was a site which expanded to a colossal extend
with the implementation of the final solution and Hoss was the one who began to trial and
test the best way of killing large amounts of prisoners on a daily basis. It was he who
brought in the gas chambers and the crematoria to the site. He later went on to claim that,
‘Technically [it] wasn't so hard—it would not have been hard to exterminate even greater
numbers.... The killing itself took the least time. You could dispose of 2,000 head in half
an hour, but it was the burning that took all the time. The killing was easy; you didn't
even need guards to drive them into the chambers; they just went in expecting to take showers
and, instead of water, we turned on poison gas. The whole thing went very quickly.’
He was later sacked as the Commandant of Auschwitz and it was believed he had an affair with
a political prisoner of the camp, who then became pregnant. This woman was then imprisoned
in the standing cell, and Hoss would lose command of Asuchwitz it’s believed for this.
However he would return in May 1944, as he supervised Operation Hoss, in which 430,000
Hungarian Jews were killed in 56 murderous days at the camp. Hoss’ camp could not keep
up with the killing capacity, and because of this there were thousands of bodies being
burned in open pits around Auschwitz. Around 10,000 people a day were being gassed, and
mass execution pits were established to work alongside the chambers, with firing squads
being also used. However in the final days of the war after working at Ravensbruck, Rudolf
Hoss sought to hide out as Franz Lang, posing as a gardener in Gottrupel. His family were
arrested, but he avoided arrest for a year. He was later captured following his wife’s
confession, and was beaten badly by the British guards who seized him. They battered the former
commandant with axe handles, and the captain in control then decided to tell his men to
stand down. He later recalled his treatment saying, During the first interrogation they
beat me to obtain evidence. I do not know what was in the transcript, or what I said,
even though I signed it, because they gave me liquor and beat me with a whip. It was
too much even for me to bear. The whip was my own. By chance it had found its way into
my wife's luggage. My horse had hardly ever been touched by it, much less the prisoners.
Somehow one of the interrogators probably thought that I had used it to constantly whip
the prisoners. After a few days I was taken to Minden on the Weser River, which was the
main interrogation center in the British zone. There they treated me even more roughly, especially
the first British prosecutor, who was a major. The conditions in the jail reflected the attitude
of the first prosecutor. Compared to where I had been before, Imprisonment with the International
Military Tribunal was like staying in a health spa.
But despite being captured, Rudolf Hoss was called to the nuremberg trials, not as a defendant
but as a witness. He was a defence witness for Ernst Kaltenbrunner, and during his time
at the trial he said, ‘ I commanded Auschwitz until 1 December 1943, and estimate that at
least 2,500,000 victims were executed and exterminated there by gassing and burning,
and at least another half million succumbed to starvation and disease, making a total
of about 3,000,000 dead. This figure represents about 70% or 80% of all persons sent to Auschwitz
as prisoners, the remainder having been selected and used for slave labor in the concentration
camp industries. Included among the executed and burnt were approximately 20,000 Russian
prisoners of war who were delivered at Auschwitz in Wehrmacht transports operated by regular Wehrmacht officers
and men. The remainder of the total number of victims included about 100,000 German Jews,
and great numbers of citizens (mostly Jewish) from The Netherlands, France, Belgium, Poland,
Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Greece, or other countries. We executed about 400,000 Hungarian
Jews alone at Auschwitz in the summer of 1944.’
He later changed his estimated death toll, and said, ‘I myself never knew the total
number, and I have nothing to help me arrive at an estimate. I can only remember the figures
involved in the larger actions, which were repeated to me by Eichmann or his deputies.
From Upper Silesia and the General Gouvernment 250,000 Germany and Theresienstadt 100,000
Holland 95,000 Belgium 20,000 France 110,000 Greece 65,000 Hungary 400,000 Slovakia 90,000
I can no longer remember the figures for the smaller actions, but they were insignificant
by comparison with the numbers given above. I regard a total of 2.5 million as far too
high. Even Auschwitz had limits to its destructive capabilities.’ However Rudofl Hoss was then
placed on trial himself. He was sentenced to death for his crimes, and then former prisoners
of Auschwitz petitioned to the court to allow that his execution should take place inside
of the former camp that he oversaw. This was allowed, and a specially built gallows was
made for his execution.
Four days before his execution, he realised what he had done and he wrote, ‘My conscience
compels me to make the following declaration. In the solitude of my prison cell, I have
come to the bitter recognition that I have sinned gravely against humanity. As Commandant
of Auschwitz, I was responsible for carrying out part of the cruel plans of the 'Third
Reich' for human destruction. In so doing I have inflicted terrible wounds on humanity.
I caused unspeakable suffering for the Polish people in particular. I am to pay for this
with my life. May the Lord God forgive one day what I have done. I ask the Polish people
for forgiveness. In Polish prisons I experienced for the first time what human kindness is.
Despite all that has happened I have experienced humane treatment which I could never have
expected, and which has deeply shamed me. May the facts which are now coming out about
the horrible crimes against humanity make the repetition of such cruel acts impossible
for all time.’ So he had realised the magnitude of his crimes, and he shortly before his execution
returned to the Catholic Church.
He was given the sacrament of penance, and then was administered Holy communion before
he had a date with the executioner. In a farewell letter to his wife he wrote, ‘Based on my
present knowledge I can see today clearly, severely and bitterly for me, that the entire
ideology about the world in which I believed so firmly and unswervingly was based on completely
wrong premises and had to absolutely collapse one day. And so my actions in the service
of this ideology were completely wrong, even though I faithfully believed the idea was
correct. Now it was very logical that strong doubts grew within me, and whether my turning
away from my belief in God was based on completely wrong premises. It was a hard struggle. But
I have again found my faith in my God.’ He also wrote to his eldest son saying, ‘Keep
your good heart. Become a person who lets himself be guided primarily by warmth and
humanity. Learn to think and judge for yourself, responsibly. Don't accept everything without
criticism and as absolutely true... The biggest mistake of my life was that I believed everything
faithfully which came from the top, and I didn't dare to have the least bit of doubt
about the truth of that which was presented to me. ... In all your undertakings, don't
just let your mind speak, but listen above all to the voice in your heart.’
German prisoners of war had made the gallows with a trapdoor to hand Rudolf Hoss, and they
finished the job at dawn that day. On the 16th April 1947, the 45 year old Rudolf Hoss
would be transferred to Auschwitz. His execution had actually been delayed as it was worried
that polish people would seize him and then Lynch him. However he was taken into Auschwitz
at 8am and he was taken to the building which housed his office. He asked for a cup of coffee
and after he had finished he was taken to a cell in Block 11, the Death Block of the
camp. At 10 o clock he was then led out to his execution. He strolled calmly and confidently
throughout the camp he once oversaw, and he walked to the gallows. His arms had been secured
and restrained behind his back, and the executioners (once of whom wore a mask) helped him up the
stairs of the gallows and onto a stool which had been placed above the trapdoor and below
the wooden gallows structure. A priest, Father Zaremba walked towards Hoss who was stood
on the stool, and the prosecutor then read out the death sentence. The executioner placed
the noose around Rudolf Hoess’ neck, and it was then adjusted by Hoss with a movement
of his head. Following this the hangman then pulled out the stool from Hoss and he crashed
through the trapdoor and his body hit the door when it opened. The execution took place
at 10:08am, and by 10:21am he had been declared dead.
However what happened to the remains of Rudolf Hoss after this? As mentioned, there were
many former executed Nazi guards whose remains were buried and interred in specific places.
Those SS guards who were executed at Hamelin Prison, including Irma Grese, Johanna Bormann,
Elisabeth Volkenrath, Josef Kramer the Beast of Belsen, a close friend of Hoss were actually
buried and were not cremated. These were interred inside of coffins which were buried inside
of the courtyard a stones throw from the execution chamber where they died. But many other SS
guards were cremated, and it is not entirely completely known what happened to Rudolf Hoss’
remains after his death. This is due to the fact there was a reporting blackout of his
execution, and newspapers were forbidden to print statements from those who witnessed
his death. But it is considered that Rudolf Hoss’ body was cut down from the gallows
in Auschwitz, and he was a then placed inside of a coffin which had been placed next to
the gallows. There were many people who saw what happened that day, but little was known
about what happened after this. His remains were then it’s believed taken away and could
very easily have been taken into Auschwitz’ Crematorium 1 which was very close and next
to the gallows where he was executed. This crematoria would have dealt with the remains
of thousands during Auschwitz’ time in operation.
It’s believed that Rudolf Hoss’ remains were then probably burned inside of the crematoria
in Auschwitz. Which was in a sense justice, that it would be the same ovens that he sent
thousands of people to after their deaths, and he would be the final person cremated
in the camp where he oversaw such horror. But after the cremation of the commandant
of Auschwitz, what happened to the ashes or remains? It’s unlikely that they would have
been given to his wife, and she later would start a new life for herself inside of America.
The remains of high ranking Nazis or SS guards were often scattered in nearby rivers so that
in the future they would not become relics or be worshipped by nazi groups. However it
has been claimed that Rudolf Hoss’ ashes were instead scattered very close to the camp.
It’s believed his ashes were scattered shortly after his cremation in the Auschwitz Forest
somewhere that surrounded the camp. This was to prevent them becoming a relic and being
venerated. However this as mentioned is not concrete, and there are very little pieces
of evidence available and to completely say what happened to Rudolf Hoss’ remains. It’s
unlikely he would have been buried, as there would have been a danger that his grave would
become a site of pilgrimage like Rudolf Hess’ grave would later become.
Rudolf Hoss was the commandant of Auschwitz who met his end inside of the very concentration
camp that he oversaw. He was a brutal man who had very little regard for the prisoners
that he held captive, and he was a man who employed SS guards to display and exhibit
immense brutality. He would brag at the nuremberg trials about his deadly escapades, and how
evil and huge the killing process was at the camp. But his remains were allegedly cremated
and were then scattered nearby the very place that he oversaw.
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