On April 16, 1947, Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Hoss –the Kommandant of the famous Auschwitz-Birkenau death camp- was hung for “crimes committed against the Polish people,” (Paskuly 17). Before this, he testified about what exactly happened at Auschwitz which according to editor Yisrael Gutman of the book Anatomy of the Auschwitz Death Camp, was key to prosecuting many Nazi’s after the war. Yisrael said, “The critical importance of the Hoss testimony stems not just from Hoss 's unique knowledge of the details and overall picture of the camp. His testimony is crucial mainly because Hoss answers the question not only of who carried out the mass murders, but also when and how, who ordered the conversion of Auschwitz into a death camp, and who backed
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In the summer of 1941 I was summoned to Berlin to Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler to receive personal orders. He told me something to the effect – I do not remember the exact words – that the Führer 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,” (Stackleberg and Winkle 375). He accepted this reasoning without question and never asked himself why they were killing the Jews at all. In his memoirs, he wrote: “If the Fuhrer had himself given the order for the ‘final solution of the Jewish question,’ then for a veteran National-Socialist [i.e., such as himself] and even more so for an SS officer, there could be no question of considering its merits” (Hoess, 2000, p. 145). So, far from feeling guilty about obeying his orders to commit mass murder, it is more likely he would have felt guilt if he had refused to obey the orders he had been given. Indeed, it can be argued that Hoess acted as he did to avoid feeling guilty. He acted the way he did in order to impress those who were fundamental to maintaining his core role in life. This drastically influenced his actions. The way in which he maintained his core role was to try and carry out his orders to the
In the summer of 1941 I was summoned to Berlin to Reichsfuhrer SS Himmler to receive personal orders. He told me something to the effect – I do not remember the exact words – that the Führer 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,” (Stackleberg and Winkle 375). He accepted this reasoning without question and never asked himself why they were killing the Jews at all. In his memoirs, he wrote: “If the Fuhrer had himself given the order for the ‘final solution of the Jewish question,’ then for a veteran National-Socialist [i.e., such as himself] and even more so for an SS officer, there could be no question of considering its merits” (Hoess, 2000, p. 145). So, far from feeling guilty about obeying his orders to commit mass murder, it is more likely he would have felt guilt if he had refused to obey the orders he had been given. Indeed, it can be argued that Hoess acted as he did to avoid feeling guilty. He acted the way he did in order to impress those who were fundamental to maintaining his core role in life. This drastically influenced his actions. The way in which he maintained his core role was to try and carry out his orders to the