v Primary Sources v

Rudolf Walther Hess was born in Germany in 1900. He joined the German Army at the age of seventeen and in the First World War won the Iron Cross for bravery.

After the war he joined the Rossbach Freikorps where he fought with Martin Bormann. In 1922 Hess joined the National Socialist German Workers Party (NSDAP) but two years later he Bormann were both jailed for murdering a man in the French-occupied Ruhr.

Released in 1928, Hess joined the Schutzstaffel (SS) in 1934. Hess worked in the concentration camp in Dachau before being appointed as adjutant to the commander of Sachsenhausen in 1938. Two years later, in May 1940, he became commander of Auschwitz in occupied Poland.

In June, 1941, Heinrich Himmler ordered that Auschwitz be greatly increased in size and the following year it became an extermination camp. Bathhouses disguised as gas chambers were added. Hess introduced Zyklon-B gas, that enabled the Nazis to kill 2,000 people at a time.

Hess was promoted to Deputy Inspector General and took charge of the Schutzstaffel (SS) department that administered German concentration camps.

When Germany surrendered in April, 1945, Höss managed to avoid capture and worked on a farm. He was eventually captured and at his trial admitted that around 3,000,000 people were killed at Auschwitz. Rudolf Walther Hess was found guilty of war crimes and executed at Auschwitz on 15th April, 1947. His autobiography, Commandant of Auschwitz, was published in 1951.

^ Main Article ^

(1) In his autobiography Rudolf W. Hess wrote about how he felt when he was told he was to be the commandant of Auschwitz in Poland.

When in the summer of 1941 he (Hitler) gave me the order to prepare installations at Auschwitz where mass exterminations could take place, and personally to carry out these exterminations, I did not have the slightest idea of their scale or consequences. It was certainly an extraordinary and monstrous order. Nevertheless the reasons behind the extermination programme seemed to me right. I did not reflect on it at the time: I had been given an order, and I had to carry it out. Whether this mass extermination of the Jews was necessary or not was something on which I could not allow myself to form an opinion, for I lacked the necessary breadth of view.

(2) Rudolf Hess was cross-examined by Dr. Kauffman at Nuremberg on 15th April, 1946.

Dr. Kauffmann: Is it true that in 1941 you were ordered to Berlin to see Himmler? Please state briefly what was discussed.

Rudolf Höss: Yes. In the summer of 1941 1 was summoned to Berlin to Reichsfáhrer SS Himmler to receive personal orders. He told me something to the effect--I do not remember the exact words--that the Fáffrer had given the order for a final solution of the Jewish question. We, the SS, must carry out that order. If it is not carried out now then the Jews will later on destroy the German people. He had chosen Auschwitz on account of its easy access by rail and also because the extensive site offered space for measures ensuring isolation.

(3) Rudolf W. Hess, Commandant of Auschwitz (1951)

Before the mass extermination of the Jews began, the Russian politruks and political commissars were liquidated in almost all the concentration camps during 1941 and 1942.

In accordance with a secret order issued by Hitler, these Russian politruks and political commissars were combed out of all the prisoner-of-war camps by special detachments from the Gestapo. When identified they were transferred to the nearest concentration camp for liquidation.

It was made known that these measures were taken because the Russians had been killing all German soldiers who were partly members or belonged to special sections of the NSDAP, especially members of the SS, and also because the political officials of the Red Army had been ordered, if taken prisoner, to create every kind of disturbance in the prisoner-of-war camps and their places of employment and to carry out sabotage wherever possible.

The political officials of the Red Army thus identified were brought to Auschwitz for liquidation. The first, smaller transports of them were executed by firing squads.

While I was away on duty, my deputy, Fritzsch, the commander of the protective custody camp, first tried gas for these killings. It was a preparation of prussic acid, called Cyclon B, which was used in the camp as an insecticide and of which there was always a stock on hand. On my return Fritzsh reported this to me, and the gas was used again for the next transport.

(4) Rudolf W. Hess initially concentrated on killing Red Army prisoners-of-war. Later he was instructed to murder all the Jews sent to his camp.

The gassing was carried out in the detention cells of Block II. Protected by a gas-mask, I watched the killing myself. The Russians were ordered to undress in the anteroom; they then quietly entered the mortuary, for they had been told they were to be deloused. The doors were then sealed and the gas shaken down through the holes in the roof. I do not know how long this killing took. For a little while a humming sound could be heard. When the powder was thrown in, there were cries of "Gas!," then a great bellowing, and the trapped prisoners hurled themselves against both the doors. But the doors held. They were opened several hours later, so that the place might be aired. It was then that I saw, for the first time, gassed bodies in the mass.

The killing of these Russian prisoners-of-war did not cause me much concern at the time. The order had been given, and I had to carry it out. I must even admit that this gassing set my mind at rest, for the mass extermination of the Jews was to start soon and at that time neither Eichmann nor I was certain how these mass killings were to be carried out.

In the spring of 1942 the first transports of Jews, all earmarked for extermination, arrived from Upper Silesia.

It was most important that the whole business of arriving and undressing should take place in an atmosphere of the greatest possible calm. People reluctant to take off their clothes had to be helped by those of their companions who had already undressed, or by men of the Special Detachment.

Many of the women hid their babies among the piles of clothing. The men of the Special Detachment were particularly on the look-out for this, and would speak words of encouragement to the woman until they had persuaded her to take the child with her.

I noticed that women who either guessed or knew what awaited them nevertheless found the courage to joke with the children to encourage them, despite the mortal terror visible in their own eyes.

One woman approached me as she walked past and, pointing to her four children who were manfully helping the smallest ones over the rough ground, whispered: "How can you bring yourself to kill such beautiful, darling children? Have you no heart at all?"

One old man, as he passed me, hissed: "Germany will pay a heavy penance for this mass murder of the Jews." His eyes glowed with hatred as he said this. Nevertheless he walked calmly into the gas-chamber.

(5) Rudolf W. Hess, evidence at his trial in 1947.

I commanded Auschwitz up to 1st December 1943, and estimate that at least 2,500,000 victims were killed and disposed of there by gassing and burning; at least a further half million died of starvation and illness, which makes a total of 3,000,000 dead. The number represents about 70 or 80 per cent of all the people who were sent to Auschwitz as prisoners. Very young children, being incapable of working, were killed as a matter of principle. Often, women tried to hide their children under their clothes, but when they were found they were at once sent to their deaths.

(6) Rudolf W. Hess, Commandant of Auschwitz (1951)

This mass extermination, with all its attendant circumstances, did not, as I know, fail to affect those who took part in it. With very few exceptions, nearly all those detailed to do this monstrous "work," and who, like myself, have given sufficient thought to the matter, have been deeply marked by these events.

Many of the men involved approached me as I went my rounds through the extermination buildings, and poured out their anxieties and impressions to me, in the hope that I could allay them.

Again and again during these confidential conversations I was asked; is it necessary that we do this? Is it necessary that hundreds of thousands of women and children be destroyed? And I, who in my innermost being had on countless occasions asked myself exactly this question, could only fob them off and attempt to console them by repeating that it was done on Hitler's order. I had to tell them that this extermination of Jews had to be, so that Germany and our posterity might be freed for ever from their relentless adversaries.

There was no doubt in the mind of any of us that Hitler's order had to be obeyed regardless, and that it was the duty of the SS to carry it out. Nevertheless we were all tormented by secret doubts.