Rudolf Höss

This article is about the chief guard of Auschwitz. For the Deputy Führer of Nazi Germany, see Rudolf Hess.

Rudolf Höss Historical Figure Nationality: Germany (born in Grand Duchy of Baden) Year of Birth: 1901 Year of Death: 1947 Cause of Death: Execution by hanging Religion: Catholicism Occupation: Soldier, Terrorist, prison guard, Author of Non-Fiction Parents: Franz Höss, Lina Speck Spouse: Hedwig Hensel Children: Five Military Branch: Imperial German Army (World War I), Freikorps Rossbach, SS (World War II) Political Party: NSDAP Fictional Appearances: Worldwar POD: May 30, 1942 Appearance(s): Second Contact Type of Appearance: Direct Military Branch: SS (Race Invasion of Tosev 3)

Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also Höß, Hoeß or Hoess; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was an SS Obersturmbannführer and the longest-serving commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp in World War II. He tested and carried into effect various methods to accelerate Adolf Hitler's plan to systematically exterminate the Jewish population of Nazi-occupied Europe, known as the Final Solution. Höss introduced the pesticide Zyklon B, containing hydrogen cyanide, to the killing process, thereby allowing soldiers at Auschwitz to murder 2,000 people every hour. He created the largest installation for the continuous annihilation of human beings ever known.

Despite his youth, Höss served on the Ottoman Front in World War I, becoming a sergeant in the Imperial German Army by the age of 17. Following Germany's defeat, he fought with insurgents against the Weimar Republic. He joined the Nazi Party in 1922 (serving 1923-8 in prison as accessory to a murder) and the SS in 1934. From 4 May 1940 to November 1943, and again from 8 May 1944 to 18 January 1945, he was in charge of Auschwitz where more than a million people were killed before the defeat of Germany. He was hanged in 1947 following a trial in Warsaw.

Rudolf Höss in Worldwar

Rudolf Höss was the commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp from 1940 until 1942, when the Race captured the camp and liberated all its inmates.

In 1963, the Race's scientist Ttomalss interviewed Höss in Nuremberg, the German Reich's capital city. When Ttomalss asked him how could he do what he did, Höss replied that he was simply obeying his superiors' orders. Höss openly said that killing Jews for him was just an assignment like any other, something which Ttomalss found very disturbing.

See also

• Jefferson Pinkard, a fictional character in the Southern Victory series, whom Harry Turtledove has acknowledged is broadly based on Höss.