by Rudolf Hoess
The door would now be quickly screwed up and the gas immediately discharged by the waiting disinfectors through vents in the ceilings of the gas chambers, down a shaft that led to the floor. This insured the rapid distribution of the gas. It could be observed through the peephole in the door that those who were standing nearest to the induction vents were killed at once. It can be said that about one-third died straight away. The remainder staggered about and began to scream and struggle for air. The screaming, however, soon changed to the death rattle and in a few minutes all lay still. After twenty minutes at the latest no movement could be discerned. The time required for the gas to have effect varied according to the weather, and depended on whether it was damp or dry, cold or warm. It also depended on the quality of the gas, which was never exactly the same, and on the composition of the transports which might contain a high proportion of healthy Jews, or old and sick, or children. The victims became unconscious after a few minutes, according to their distance from the intake shaft. Those who screamed and those who were old or sick or weak, or the small children, died quicker than those who were healthy or young.
The door was opened half an hour after the induction of the gas, and the ventilation switched on. Work was immediately begun on removing the corpses. There was no noticeable change in the bodies and no sign of convulsions or discoloration. Only after the bodies had been left lying for some time, that is to say after several hours, did the usual death stains appear in the places where they had lain. Soiling through opening of the bowels was also rare. There were no signs of wounding of any kind. The faces showed no distortion.
The special detachment now set about removing the gold teeth and cutting the hair from the women. After this, the bodies were taken up by elevator and laid in front of the ovens, which had meanwhile been stoked up. Depending on the size of the bodies, up to three corpses could be put into one oven retort at the same time. The time required for cremation also depended on this, but on an average it took twenty minutes. As previously stated, crematoriums I and II could cremate about 2,000 bodies in twenty-four hours, but a higher number was not possible without causing damage to the installations. Numbers III and IV should have been able to cremate 1,500 bodies in twenty-four hours, but, as far as I know, these figures were never attained.
During the period when the fires were kept burning continuously, without a break, the ashes fell through the grates and were constantly removed and crushed to powder. The ashes were taken in trucks to the Vistula, where they immediately drifted away and dissolved. The ashes taken from the burning pits near bunker II and crematorium IV were dealt with in the same way.
The process of destruction in bunkers I and II was exactly the same as in the crematoriums, except that the effects of the weather on the operation were more noticeable.
The whole of the work in connection with the extermination process was performed by special detachments of Jews.
They carried out their grisly task with dumb indifference. Their one object was to finish the work as quickly as possible so that they could have a longer interval in which to search the clothing of the gassed victims for something to smoke or eat. Although they were well fed and given many additional allowances, they could often be seen shifting corpses with one hand while they gnawed at something they held in the other. Even when they were engaged in the most gruesome work of digging out and burning the corpses buried in the mass graves they never stopped eating.
Even the cremation of their near relations failed to shake them.
When I went to Budapest in the summer of 1943 and called on Eichmann, he told me about the further actions which had been planned in connection with the Jews.
At that period there were rather more than 200,000 Jews from the Carpathio-Ukraine, who were detained there and housed in some brickworks, while awaiting transport to Auschwitz.
Eichmann expected to receive from Hungary, according to the estimate of the Hungarian police, who had carried out the arrests, about 3,000,000 Jews.
The arrests and transportation should have been completed by 1943, but because of the Hungarian government’s political difficulties, the date was always being postponed.
In particular the Hungarian army, or rather the senior officers, were opposed to the extradition of these people and gave most of the male Jews a refuge in the labor companies of the front-line divisions, thus keeping them out of the clutches of the police. When in the autumn of 1944, an action was started in Budapest itself, the only male Jews left were the old and the sick.
Altogether there were probably not more than half a million Jews transported out of Hungary.
The next country on the list was Romania. According to the reports from his representative in Bucharest, Eichmann expected to get about 4,000,000 Jews from there.
Negotiations with the Romanian authorities, however, were likely to be difficult. The anti-Semitic elements wanted the extermination of the Jews to be carried out in their own country. There had already been serious anti-Jewish rioting, and abducted Jews had been thrown into the deep and isolated ravines of the Carpathians and killed. A section of the government, however, was in favor of transporting unwanted Jews to Germany.
In the meantime Bulgaria was to follow with an estimated two and a half million Jews. The authorities there were agreeable to the transport, but wanted to await the result of the negotiations with Romania.
In addition, Mussolini was supposed to have promised the extradition of the Italian Jews and those from the Italian occupied part of Greece, although not even an estimate had been made of their numbers. But the Vatican and the royal family, and consequently all those opposed to Mussolini, wanted at all costs to prevent these Jews from being surrendered.
Eichmann did not count on getting these Jews.
Finally there was Spain. Influential circles were approached by German representatives over the question of getting rid of the Jews. But Franco and his followers were against it. Eichmann had little faith in being able to arrange for an extradition.
The course taken by the war destroyed these plans and saved the lives of millions of Jews.
Rudolf Hoess
Cracow
November 1946
APPENDIX 2
My meetings with Himmler
I already knew the Reichsführer SS, Heinrich Himmler, slightly during the years 1921 and 1922, when, as courier of my Freikorps I had a great deal to do with Ludendorff. General Ludendorff was the protector and secret head of all the nationalist movements with their disguised military or semi-military organizations, which were forbidden by the peace treaty. Himmler was also a member of a Freikorps in Bavaria and it was in LudendorfPs house that I got to know him.
Later on, in 1930, at an assembly of the Artamanen in Saxony (Himmler belonged to the association as Gauführer of Bavaria), I became more closely acquainted with him….
In 1940 Himmler suddenly arrived in Sachsenhausen concentration camp. Shortly before he reached the guard, he met a detachment of prisoners who passed him leisurely pulling a trolley. Neither the sentry nor the prisoners recognized the Reichsführer SS sitting in his car, and therefore did not take off their caps. Himmler drove past the guard and went straight to the protective custody camp. As I was just on the point of going into the camp (I was commander of the protective custody camp at the time), I was able to report to him at once on behalf of the camp. He was very irritated and his first question, after giving a curt greeting, was, “Where is the commandant?” After some time, the commandant, Sturmbannführer Eisfeld, appeared on the scene, but meanwhile Himmler had already entered the protective custody camp, snapping angrily that he, Himmler, had up to then been accustomed to another kind of discipline in the concentration camps, and that apparently prisoners were no longer required to salute.
He refused to listen to the commandant’s explanation and exchanged no further words with him. He made a brief inspection of the detention block, where some special prisoners had been placed, and then immediately drove
off again. Two days later Eisfeld was dismissed from his position as commandant of Sachsenhausen and Oberführer Loritz (formerly commandant of Dachau and then section leader of the General SS in Klagenfurt) was recalled to concentration camp service to replace him. Himmler had previously removed Loritz from Dachau because he was too severe with the prisoners, and also because he had not concerned himself sufficiently with the affairs of the camp.
In 1942 Loritz was once again, on the same grounds, removed from Sachsenhausen on Pohl’s suggestion….
My personal meetings with Himmler during my membership in the SS were as follows:
In June 1934, during an inspection of the Pomeranian SS, Himmler asked me whether I would like to join the active SS in a concentration camp. It was only after much deliberation with my wife (for we wanted to settle on the land) that I agreed to do this, because I wanted to be on active service once more. On December 1, 1934, I was summoned to Dachau by the Inspector of Concentration Camps, Eicke.
In 1936 Himmler held a grand inspection of the whole SS organization, including that of the concentration camp in Dachau, at which all Gauleiters, Reichsleiters, and all SS and SA Gruppenführer were present. I was Rapportführer at that time and deputized for the commander of the protective custody camp, who was absent. Himmler is in the best of spirits because the whole inspection has gone off without a hitch. The Dachau concentration camp is also going well at that moment. The prisoners are well fed, clean, and well clothed and housed. Most of them are busy in the workshops and the number of sick is hardly worth mentioning. The total strength of about 2,500 is accommodated in ten brick-built huts. The sanitary arrangements are ample. There is a plentiful supply of water. Underwear is changed once a week and bed linen once a month. One-third of the complement consists of political prisoners and two-thirds of professional criminals, asocials and forced labor prisoners, homosexuals and about 200 Jews.
During the inspection, Himmler and Bormann address me and both ask me if I am satisfied with my job and inquire after my family. In a short time I am promoted to Untersturmführer.
During this inspection, Himmler, following his usual practice, chose a few prisoners and in front of the assembled guests asked them the reasons for their arrest. There were some Communist leaders who admitted quite honestly that they were, and would continue to remain, Communists. Some professional criminals, however, considerably minimized their catalogue of punishments, and their memory had to be jogged by a rapid inspection of the prison record cards. These proceedings were typical of Himmler’s visits and I had repeated experience of them. Himmler punished those who had lied by giving them extra work for a few Sundays….
My next meeting with Himmler was in the summer of 1938 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
The Minister of the Interior, Dr. Frick, was inspecting a concentration camp for the first time. He was accompanied by various senior administrative officials and the chief constables of the larger cities. Himmler attended and gave a commentary on the organization.
At that time I was adjutant to the commandant, and during the whole inspection stood near to Himmler and was able to observe him closely. He was in the best of humor and obviously pleased that he was at last able to show the Minister of the Interior and his officials one of the secret and notorious concentration camps. He was overwhelmed with questions, all of which he answered calmly and amiably although often sarcastically. He gave evasive, but even more genial, answers to inconvenient questions such as those relating to the numbers of prisoners and so on (the total number of those held in concentration camps was kept secret in accordance with orders of the Reichsführer SS).
Sachsenhausen concentration camp then held, I believe, 4,000 prisoners, most of them professional criminals, who were accommodated in well-constructed wooden huts, divided into dormitories and living rooms. The food was acknowledged to be good and plentiful. The clothing was sufficient and always clean, for an up-to-date laundry had been installed in the camp.
The hospital building with its surgeries was exemplary. The number of sick was small.
Apart from the cell building, which in all camps was forbidden to be shown to unauthorized visitors, since it was mostly occupied by special prisoners of the Reich Security Head Office, all the buildings and the whole camp organization were thrown open to inspection. It is certain that nothing remained hidden from the critical eyes of those experienced officials of the government and the police. Frick showed great interest, and declared at dinner that it made him ashamed to think that he was then, in 1938, seeing a concentration camp for the first time. The Inspector of Concentration Camps, Eicke, gave a description of the other camps and their special characteristics.
Although there was little time to spare, and he was perpetually surrounded by questioners, Himmler still found an opportunity to speak to me personally and to inquire especially after my family. He never omitted to do this and one was given the feeling that it was not done merely out of politeness.
I have already described the next meeting, in January 1940. This was when the incident took place concerning the prisoners who failed to salute.
In November 1940 I made my first verbal report to Himmler about Auschwitz in the presence of Sturmbannführer Vogel from Department WV of the Economic Administration Head Office. I gave a detailed account and bluntly referred to all those grievances which were causing irritation at that time, but which were insignificant compared with the catastrophic conditions of the years to come. He scarcely referred to this, but only said that it was primarily up to me as commandant to arrange for assistance, but how I was to set about it was my own affair. Besides, there was a war on and a lot of things had to be improvised; and even in the concentration camp one must not expect to live under peacetime conditions. The front-line soldier also had to give up a great deal, so why not the prisoners as well?
My constantly expressed fears over the danger of disease arising from the inadequate sanitary arrangements, were curtly dismissed with the remark: “You look too much on the dark side of things.”
His interest was only aroused when I discussed the camp area as a whole and produced maps to illustrate what I was saying. His attitude changed at once. He talked with animation about future plans, and gave one directive after another or made notes about everything that was to be done with the land in question.
Auschwitz was to become the agricultural research station for the eastern territories. Opportunities were opened up to us, which we had never before had in Germany. Sufficient labor was available. All essential agricultural research must be carried out there. Huge laboratories and plant nurseries were to be set out. All kinds of stockbreeding was to be pursued there. Vogel was to take immediate steps to gather a force of specialists; to build fisheries and to drain the lands, and to construct a dam on the Vistula would present difficulties compared to which the grievances in the camp previously described would become insignificant. On his next visit to Auschwitz he wanted to see everything for himself.
He remained absorbed in his agricultural planning, down to the smallest details, until the adjutant on duty drew his attention to the fact that an important official had been waiting for a long time to see him.
Himmler’s interest in Auschwitz was indeed stimulated, but it was not directed toward remedying the evil conditions or preventing them from occurring in the future, but rather toward increasing them because of his refusal to acknowledge their existence.
My friend Vogel was thrilled by the bold design for constructing the agricultural research stations. I was too—as a farmer. But as camp commandant I saw all my plans for making Auschwitz a clean and healthy place begin to dwindle. Only his announced intention of making a further visit left me with a vague hope. I felt that a personal inspection would induce him to remedy the obvious deficiencies and grievances.
In the meantime I continued to construct and “improvise” in an attempt to avert the worst of the evils.
My efforts met with little success, for I could not
keep step with the rapid expansion of the camp or the constant increase in the numbers of the prisoners. No sooner was a building erected that could normally accommodate over 200 people than a further transport consisting of a thousand or more prisoners would be drawn up at the platform. Protests to the Inspector of Concentration Camps or the Reich Security Head Office or to the Chief of Police in Cracow were of no avail. “The actions ordered by the Reichsführer SS must be carried out” was the reply that was always given.
At last, on March 1, 1941, Himmler arrived in Auschwitz. He was accompanied by the Gauleiter Bracht, the administrative presidents, the SS and police officers of Silesia, high executives of IG Farben Industrie, and the Inspector of Concentration Camps, Glücks. The latter had arrived beforehand and constantly warned me against reporting anything disagreeable to the Reichsführer SS! And I had nothing to say that was not disagreeable. With the help of plans and maps I explained to Himmler the layout of the land that was being taken over and the extensions that had been made, and gave him an account of the present position. I could not, of course, describe to him, in the presence of all those strangers, the shortcomings which weighed so heavily on my mind. Nevertheless, during the tour which we afterward made of the district, when I was alone in the car with Himmler and Schmauser, I made up for this by telling him about them candidly and in detail. But it did not have the effect for which I had hoped. Even when we went through the camp and I drew his attention, in an indirect manner, to the worst of the grievances, such as the overcrowding and lack of water and so on, he hardly listened to me. When I repeatedly begged him to stop sending any more drafts, he snubbed me abruptly. I could not expect any kind of help from him. On the contrary, when we were in the canteen in the SS hospital block, he started to discuss in earnest the new tasks that he had for Auschwitz.
