Rudolf Höss

Rudolf Höss was an SS officer who commanded Auschwitz from 1940 to 1943 and briefly again in 1944. He oversaw the camp’s expansion and the mass murder of its prisoners.

Heinrich Himmler: Heinrich Himmler was the head of the SS and a leading organizer of Nazi persecution and genocide. Himmler appointed Höss to command Auschwitz and directed the SS system he served.
Auschwitz concentration camp: Auschwitz was a Nazi concentration and extermination camp complex in occupied Poland, operating from 1940 to 1945. It was the camp complex Höss commanded and helped expand.
Schutzstaffel: The Schutzstaffel was a Nazi organization that expanded from Hitler’s bodyguard into a central instrument of repression and genocide. Höss’s authority came from his position within the SS.
Nuremberg trials: The Nuremberg trials were proceedings after World War II that prosecuted leading Nazi officials and organizations. Höss gave evidence at the International Military Tribunal in Nuremberg in 1946.
Adolf Eichmann: Adolf Eichmann was an SS official who organized the deportation of Jews to Nazi ghettos and killing centers. Eichmann coordinated deportations whose victims were sent to Auschwitz under Höss’s command.
Auschwitz II-Birkenau: Auschwitz II-Birkenau was the largest camp within the Auschwitz complex and its principal killing center. Höss oversaw Birkenau’s development into the complex’s main site of mass murder.
Nazi concentration camps: Nazi concentration camps were detention and forced-labor sites used to persecute and imprison people under German rule. Höss built his career within the camp system before taking command at Auschwitz.
International Military Tribunal: The International Military Tribunal was the 1945–1946 trial in Nuremberg of major Nazi leaders. Höss’s sworn testimony supplied evidence about Auschwitz and mass murder.
Josef Kramer: Josef Kramer was an SS officer who commanded several Nazi concentration camps, including Auschwitz-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen. Kramer succeeded Höss as commandant at Auschwitz in 1944.
Gas chamber: A gas chamber is a sealed space used to kill people with toxic gas. Under Höss’s command, SS personnel used gas chambers at Auschwitz to murder deportees.

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