File:Rudolf_Hoess,_Auschwitz._Album_Höcker_(cropped)(2).jpg · Wikimedia Commons · See Wikimedia Commons
Rudolf Höss
Sign in to saveAlso known as Rudolf Hoeß, Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Hoeß
German war criminal, commandant of Auschwitz (1901–1947)
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.
AI-generated from the Wikipedia summary — may contain errors.
Wikidata facts
- Instance of
- human
- Given name
- Ferdinand
- Gender
- male
- Citizenship
- German Reich
- Place of birth
- Baden-Baden
- Place of death
- Auschwitz
- Spouse
- Hedwig Höß
- Political party
- Nazi Party
- Languages spoken
- German
- Religion
- Catholic Church
- Award
- Gallipoli Star
- Conflict
- World War II
- Military branch
- Waffen-SS
- Military rank
- Obersturmbannführer
- Image
- Rudolf Höß crop.jpg
- Number of children
- 5
- Work location
- SS Main Economic and Administrative Office
- Residence
- Auschwitz
- Convicted of
- crime against humanity
Show 17 more facts
- Commons category
- Rudolf Höß
- date of birth
- 1900-11-25
- place of burial
- Auschwitz I concentration camp
- birth name
- Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höß
- manner of death
- capital punishment
- different from
- Rudolf Hess
- allegiance
- Nazi Germany
- commander of (DEPRECATED)
- Auschwitz
- investigated by
- Georg Konrad Morgen
- date of death
- 1947-04-16
- start of work period
- 1934-00-00
- partner in business or sport
- Rudolf Mildner
- depicted by
- The Zone of Interest
- cause of death
- hanging to death
- P8168
- chilena
- place of detention
- Auschwitz
- end of work period
- 1945-00-00
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Encyclopedic overview
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.
Excerpted from Wikipedia’s “Rudolf Höss” article, available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 licence.