Commandant of Auschwitz

by Rudolf Hoess

  This was the construction of the prisoner-of-war camp for 100,000 prisoners. Himmler had already talked about this during our tour and had given a rough indication of the site. The Gauleiter raised objections and the administrative president tried to put a stop to it on account of the lack of water and drainage difficulties. Himmler dismissed these objections with a smile: “Gentlemen, it will be built. My reasons for constructing it are far more important than your objections. Ten thousand prisoners are to be provided for the IG Farben Industrie according to their requirements and to the progress made in the construction work. Auschwitz concentration camp is to be expanded to hold a peacetime establishment of 30,000 prisoners. I intend to transfer here afterward important branches of the armaments industry. The space for this is to be kept clear. In addition there will be the agricultural research stations and farms!” And all this was to be accomplished, when there was already an acute shortage of building materials in Upper Silesia. The Gauleiter drew Himmler’s attention to this and received the reply: “What have the SS requisitioned the brickworks for, and the cement factory, too? They will have to be made more productive, or the concentration camp will be forced to start some undertakings on its own account!

  “Problems of water supply and drainage are purely technical matters, which the specialists have to work out, but they cannot be raised as objections. Every means will have to be taken to accelerate the construction work. You must improvise as much as possible, and any outbreak of disease will have to be checked and ruthlessly stamped out!

  “The delivery of drafts to the camp, however, cannot, on principle, be halted. The actions, which I have ordered my security police to undertake, must go on. I do not appreciate the difficulties in Auschwitz.” Then turning to me, he said: “It is up to you to manage somehow.”

  Shortly before his departure Himmler found time to pay a visit to my family and gave me instructions to enlarge the house in view of its use as an official residence. He was once more genial and talkative, in spite of his abruptness and irritation during our conversations a little earlier.

  Glücks had been shocked by the way I had repeatedly raised objections to the pronouncements of the Reichsführer SS. He, too, could not help me. Nor was he able to arrange for any assistance by transferring personnel and so on. He had no better officers or junior officers available and he could not expect other camp commandants to exchange good material for bad.

  “You won’t find it so hard and you’ll manage all right,” were the words with which my interview with my superior officer ended….

  In the summer of 1941, Himmler summoned me to Berlin to inform me of the fateful order that envisaged the mass extermination of Jews from almost every part of Europe, and which resulted in Auschwitz becoming the largest human slaughterhouse that history had ever known….

  My next meeting with Himmler was in the summer of 1942 when he visited Auschwitz for the second and last time. The inspection lasted for two days and Himmler examined everything in great detail. There were present, among others, Gauleiter Bracht, Obergruppenführer Schmauser, and Dr. Kammler.

  After his arrival in the camp we went to the SS officers’ mess where I had to explain the layout of the camp with the aid of maps. Then we went to the architects’ office where Kammler produced designs and models with which to explain the construction work which had been proposed or which was already under way, but he did not pass in silence over the difficulties which stood in the way of these plans or which might even prevent their realization. Himmler listened with interest, inquired about some technical details, and expressed agreement with the scheme as a whole, but he showed no concern over the difficulties which Kammler had repeatedly brought to his notice. Afterward a tour was made of the whole of the camp’s sphere of interest. First an inspection was made of the agricultural areas and the work of reclamation, the building of the dam, the laboratories and plant-breeding establishments in Raisko, the stockbreeding centers and the tree nurseries. Then Birkenau was visited, including the Russian camp, the gypsy sector, and also a Jewish sector. He then climbed the gate tower and had the different parts of the camp pointed out to him and also the water drainage systems which were being built, and he was shown the extent of the proposed expansion. He saw the prisoners at work and inspected their living quarters and the kitchens and the hospital accommodation. I constantly drew his attention to the defects in the camp, and he saw them as well. He saw the emaciated victims of disease (the causes of which were bluntly explained by the doctors), he saw the crowded hospital block, he learned of the mortality among the children in the gypsy camp, and he saw children there suffering from the terrible disease called noma. He also saw the overcrowded huts and the primitive and insufficient latrines and washhouses. The doctors told him about the high rate of sickness and death and, above all, the reasons for it. He had everything explained to him in the most exact manner and saw it all precisely as it really was, and he remained silent. He took me back to Birkenau furious at my perpetual complaints of the miserable conditions in the camp and said: “I want to hear no more about difficulties! An SS officer does not recognize difficulties; when they arise, his task is to remove them at once by his own efforts! How this is to be done is your worry and not mine!” Kammler and Bischoff were told much the same sort of thing.

  After the inspection in Birkenau, he watched the whole process of destruction of a transport of Jews, which had just arrived. He also spent a short time watching the selection of the able-bodied Jews, without making any objection. He made no remark regarding the process of extermination, but remained quite silent. While it was going on he unobtrusively observed the officers and junior officers engaged in the proceedings, including myself.

  He then went on to look at the synthetic rubber factory. He inspected the buildings just as carefully as he did the prisoners and the work they were doing. He made inquiries concerning the health of these prisoners. Kammler then heard him say: “You complain about difficulties, but look at what IG Farben Industrie have done in one year, and under similar difficulties!” He never mentioned the quotas, or the more favorable opportunities, or the thousands of skilled workers (about 30,000 at that time) which IG Farben Industrie had at their disposal. Himmler made inquiries concerning the working capabilities of the prisoners, and received evasive replies on the part of the IG Farben Industrie. Whereupon he told me that I must by all means increase their efficiency! How this was to be done was, once more, to be my affair, in spite of the fact that earlier he had heard from the Gauleiter and the IG Farben Industrie that in a short time they would have to reckon with a serious cut in rations issued for prisoners, and that he had also seen for himself the general condition of the prisoners.

  From the synthetic rubber factory we went to the sewer gas installation, where progress had stopped owing to the impossibility of overcoming the shortage of materials.

  It was one of the worst spots in Auschwitz, and it affected everyone. The drainage water from the base camp was discharged, without any purification worth mentioning, directly into the Sola. The population was constantly exposed to the danger of infection, because of the diseases which were always rampant in the camp. The Gauleiter described the position with great clarity, and asked in unmistakable terms for assistance. “Kammler will apply all his energies to the problem” was Himmler’s reply.

  The Kok-Saghyz (natural rubber) plantation, which he visited next, was of far greater interest to him.

  Himmler always found it more interesting and more pleasant to hear positives rather than negatives. The SS officer counted himself lucky and enviable who had only positives to report, or who was skillful enough to represent negatives as positives!

  In the evening on the first day of the inspection a dinner was given which was attended by the visitors and by all the officers of the Auschwitz command.

  Before dinner, Himmler had everyone introduced to him. If a man interested him, he would talk with him about his family and work. During dinner he questioned
me about different officers whom he had noticed.

  I seized the opportunity to tell him about the troubles I had with my staff and how many of the officers were completely unfit to serve in a concentration camp or to command troops. I begged him to give me some replacements and to increase the strength of the guards.

  “You will be amazed,” he replied, “at the impossible officer material with which you will have to be satisfied in the end! I need every officer, junior officer, and man who is capable of serving in the front line. For the same reasons it is impossible to increase the strength of the guard. You will have to think up some technical ways of economizing in guards. You must use some more dogs for this purpose. I will get my expert in dog handling to call on you in a few days and explain the new method of using dogs as a substitute for guards. The numbers of escapes from Auschwitz is unusually high, and is unprecedented in a concentration camp. I approve of every means, I repeat every means, being used to prevent these escapes. This escape disease, which has become rampant in Auschwitz, must be eradicated!”

  After this dinner party the Gauleiter invited the Reichsführer SS, Schmauser, Kammler, Caesar, and myself to his house near Kattowitz. Himmler was to” stay there overnight, since he had some important matters concerning population registers and resettlement to discuss with the Gauleiter on the following morning.

  Himmler expressed a wish that my wife, too, should come to the Gauleiter’s house.

  Although during the day Himmler was occasionally very ill-humored and angry and even downright unfriendly, yet this evening, and among this small company, he was a changed person.

  He was in the best of spirits, took a leading part in the conversation and was extremely amiable, especially toward the ladies, the Gauleiter’s wife and my own wife. He talked on every possible subject which came up in the conversation. He discussed the education of children and new buildings and books and pictures. He spoke about his experiences with the front-line divisions of the SS, and about his visits to the front with the Führer.

  He deliberately avoided saying one word about day-to-day events or about service matters, and ignored the attempts of the Gauleiter to get him to do so.

  It was fairly late before the guests departed. Very little was drunk during the evening. Himmler, who scarcely ever touched alcohol, drank a few glasses of red wine, and smoked, which was also something he did not usually do. Everyone was under the spell of his good humor and lively conversation. I had never known him like that before.

  On the second day I called for him and Schmauser at the Gauleiter’s house, and the inspection was continued. He inspected the base camp, the kitchens, the women’s camp (which then included the first row of the block from the headquarters building up to block 11), the workshops, the stables, Canada and DAW, the butcher’s shop and the bakery, the lumberyard, and the troops’ supply depot. He inspected everything with care, observed the prisoners closely and made precise inquiries concerning the different types of confinement and the numbers involved.

  He refused to be guided, but on that morning requested to be shown first one thing and then another. In the women’s camp he saw the cramped quarters, the insufficient latrine accommodation, and the; deficient water supply, and he got the administrative officer to show him the stocks of clothing. Everywhere he saw the deficiencies. He had every detail of the rationing system and the extra allowances for the heavy workers explained to hirn.

  In the women’s camp he attended the whipping of a female criminal (a prostitue, who was continually breaking in and stealing whatever she could lay her hands on) in order to observe its effect. Before any woman was whipped, permission had to be obtained from Himmler personally. Some women were produced to him, who had been imprisoned for insignificant offenses, and he set them free. He talked with some female Jehovah’s Witnesses and discussed with them their fanatical beliefs.

  After the inspection, he held a final conference in my office and, in Schmauser’s presence, addressed me, more or less, in the following words:

  “I have now made a thorough inspection of Auschwitz. I have seen everything and I have seen enough of the deficiencies and difficulties and I have heard enough of them from you. I can, however, do nothing to alter them. You will have to manage as best you can. We are now in the middle of a war and we must learn to think in terms of war. The actions, which I have ordered the security police to carry out, will not be stopped under any circumstances, least of all because of the lack of accommodation and so on, which I have been shown. Eichmann’s program will continue to be carried out and will be intensified month by month. You must see to it that swift progress is made with the building of Birkenau. The gypsies are to be destroyed. The Jews who are unfit for work are to be destroyed with the same ruthlessness. Soon the labor camps at the armaments factories will absorb the first large contingents of able-bodied Jews, and that will give you some breathing space again. Armaments factories will also be built in Auschwitz camp, so prepare yourselves for that. Kammler will give you far-reaching support in matters connected with their construction.

  “The agricultural experiments will be intensively pursued, for the results are urgently required.

  “I have seen your work and the results you have achieved, and I am satisfied and thank you for your services. I promote you to Obersturmbannführer!”

  So ended Himmler’s great inspection of Auschwitz. He saw everything and knew what the ultimate results would be. Was his remark, “Even I cannot help,” intentional?

  After the conference in my office, I took him around my house and showed him my furniture, in which he took a great interest, and he spent some time in animated conversation with my wife and children.

  I drove him to the airport where he bade me a brief farewell and flew back to Berlin….

  On May 3, 1945, I met Himmler for the last time. What remained of the Inspectorate of Concentration Camps had been ordered to follow Himmler to Flensburg. Glücks, Maurer, and I duly reported to him there. He had just come from a conference with the surviving members of the government. He was hale and hearty, and in the best of humor. He greeted me and at once gave the following orders: “Glücks and Hoess are to disguise themselves as noncommissioned officers of the army and make their way across the green frontier to Denmark as stragglers, and hide themselves in the army. Maurer and what is left of the Inspectorate of Concentration Camps are to disappear into the army in the same way. All further matters will be dealt with by Standartenführer Hintz, the police president of Flensburg.” He shook each of us by the hand. We were dismissed!

  He had with him at the time Professor Gebhardt and Schellenberg of the Reich Security Head Office. Like Gebhardt, Glücks said that Himmler intended to go into hiding in Sweden.

  APPENDIX 3

  Eichmann

  SS Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann was head of the Jewish section IV B 4 in the Reich Security Head Office

  Eichmann originally came from Linz and was therefore on friendly terms with Kaltenbrunner during the time of the illegal SS activities in Austria. After the occupation he went to the SD and later to the Gestapo. Finally he joined Müller in Section IV of the Reich Security Head Office.

  Eichmann had concerned himself with the Jewish question since his youth and had an extensive knowledge of the literature on the subject. He lived for a long time in Palestine in order to learn more about the Zionists and the growing Jewish state. Eichmann knew all the places where Jews had settled and also their approximate numbers, which latter were kept a secret even from the Jews themselves. He also knew the habits and customs of the orthodox Jews, as well as the views of the assimilated Jews of the West.

  It was because of his special knowledge that he was made head of the Jewish section.

  I myself first got to know him after I had received from the Reichsführer SS the orders for the destruction of the Jews, when he visited me in Auschwitz to discuss the exact details of the extermination process.

  Eichmann was a vivacious, active man
in his thirties, and always full of energy. He was constantly hatching new plans and perpetually on the look out for innovations and improvements. He could never rest. He was obsessed with the Jewish question and the order which had been given for its final solution.

  Eichmann had to make continual reports to the Reichsführer SS, directly and by word of mouth, concerning the preparation and completion of the individual actions. He was the only person in a position to give the exact figures involved.

  He kept almost everything in his memory. His memorandums consisted of a few pieces of paper which he always carried with him, inscribed with signs that were unintelligible to anyone else. Even his permanent representative in Berlin, Günther, could not always furnish detailed information. Eichmann was constantly away on service matters and it was only rarely that he could be found in his Berlin office.

  The arrangements for an action against the Jews were made by members of Eichmann’s staff stationed in the countries concerned, who were thus fairly well acquainted with the country and able to prepare the necessary groundwork for him. Wisliceni, for example, operated in Slovakia, Greece, Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary. The negotiations with the governments of the countries concerned were conducted by the German diplomatic representatives, in most cases by specially commissioned delegates from the Foreign Office.

  Those governments which agreed to the extradition of the Jews appointed a department to organize their arrest and delivery. Eichmann then discussed the details of transportation direct with this department and gave them the benefit of his experience on matters connected with their arrest. In Hungary, for example, the action was carried out by the Ministry for Internal Affairs and the police. Eichmann and his colleagues supervised the operation, and intervened if it was being done too slowly or too carelessly. Eichmann’s staff also had to make transport available and arrange timetables with the Ministry of Transport.