Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox.Articles from Britannica Encyclopedias for elementary and high school students. He tested and implemented means to accelerate Hitler's plan to systematically exterminate the Jewish population of Nazi-occupied Europe, known as the Final Solution.
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.Nazi official; longtime commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp"Höss" and "Hoess" redirect here. Even Auschwitz had limits to its destructive capabilities.In his memoir, he also revealed his mistreatment at the hands of his British captors:During the first interrogation they beat me to obtain evidence.
Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also Höß, Hoeß or Hoess; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was a German Schutzstaffel (SS) functionary during the Nazi era who was later convicted as a war criminal. His astrological adviser had recommended this date as most favorable for a journey in the interest of peace; six planets were in Taurus, and the moon would be full.
The killing itself took the least time. My conscience compels me to make the following declaration. They visited Germany often since 1900, staying at their summer home. In brief: Rudolf Hess (1894-1987), Deputy Führer and considered to be the number 3 man in Hitler's Germany after Göring.Hess was a somewhat neurotic member of Hitler's inner circle best known for his surprise flight to Scotland on May 10, 1941 in which he intended to negotiate peace with the British, but which resulted in his capture and long term imprisonment. The conditions in the jail reflected the attitude of the first prosecutor. Rudolf Hess was the oldest of three children, born on 26 April 1894 in Alexandria, Egypt, into the family of Fritz Hess, a prosperous merchant from Bavaria, and Clara Hess. The whip was my own.
Free download This was written by himself during his last months in a Polish prison prior to his execution, but his claims have been examined and have not been questioned on this point.
Rudolf Hess, German Nazi who was Adolf Hitler’s deputy as party leader.
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There they treated me even more roughly, especially the first British prosecutor, who was a major.
One gets the general impression of a man who is intellectually normal, but with the Four days before he was executed, Höss acknowledged the enormity of his crimes in a message to the state prosecutor:
Auschwitz; Inside the Nazi State.Hoess, Rudolph.
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. By chance it had found its way into my wife's luggage. 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. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree.... 51–52, free download at BBC History of World War II. Andrew Dollinger.
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.
Getty Images On October 1, 1946, Hess was sentenced to life in prison. But I have again found my faith in my God.The same day in a farewell letter to his children, Höss told his eldest son: 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. 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. The family lived in a villa on the Egyptian coast near Alexandria.
Rudolf Hess was the only one of the defendants from the International Military Tribunal in Nüremberg found guilty, to serve the full life term.
Rudolf Hess, deputy führer of Nazi Germany, awoke at his villa in the Munich suburb of Harlaching knowing that this was the day. I am to pay for this with my life. Commandant of Auschwitz: The Autobiography of Rudolph Hoess.
Many prisoners died as a result of being beaten or tortured.
Regarding Hess’s mission as unauthorized and doubting his sanity, the British government held Hess as a The son of a merchant, Hess served in the German army during Hess had a reputation for absolute loyalty to Hitler. "Commandant of Auschwitz : The Autobiography of Rudolf Hoess" , pp.
My horse had hardly ever been touched by it, much less the prisoners.