Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss at Nuremberg

Video Description

Rudolf Höss at Nuremberg – Auschwitz Commandant Describes the Machinery of Mass Murder (Full Testimony, No Cuts) On the morning of 15 April 1946, Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss – former commandant of Auschwitz – took the stand at the Nuremberg Trial. In this video you hear his evidence in full, with nothing omitted and only minimal commentary to explain context and correct a few obvious errors in dates and terminology. The words are Höss’s; the opinions are his, not mine. In separate videos we will look critically at the reliability and contradictions in his statements. Höss was called as a defence witness, not for the Prosecution. Dr Kurt Kauffmann, counsel for Ernst Kaltenbrunner (head of the RSHA), wanted him to clarify who ordered the destruction of European Jewry, how that order was implemented, and what secrecy surrounded it. Höss explained his SS career from Dachau and Sachsenhausen to his appointment as commandant of Auschwitz in May 1940, where he oversaw the killing of hundreds of thousands of people and estimated that around 140,000 prisoners could be held at one time. He described Himmler’s 1941 order to turn Auschwitz into the main centre for the “final solution,” the role of Adolf Eichmann in organising transports, and the creation of extermination facilities at Birkenau: gas chambers and crematoria designed to kill thousands of Jews per day. He set out how transports arrived, selections on the ramp, the deception of victims with fake “showers” and “disinfection,” and the use of Zyklon B to murder men, women and children in sealed chambers. Höss also outlined the division of responsibility inside the Nazi system. Orders for extermination transports and special executions came through the RSHA and Eichmann, but day-to-day administration, feeding and discipline in the camps were handled by the SS Economic and Administrative Main Office (WVHA). This distinction was central to Kaltenbrunner’s defence, which tried to shift responsibility onto Himmler, Pohl and the camp inspectorate. Under cross-examination by US prosecutor Colonel John Amen, Höss confirmed his notorious 5 April 1946 affidavit: his estimate that about 2.5 million people were gassed and burned at Auschwitz and at least another half-million died of starvation and disease; the murder of around 400,000 Hungarian Jews in 1944; his visit to Treblinka to “study” killing methods; and the decision to use Zyklon B at Auschwitz as a more “efficient” technique of mass murder. He accepted that execution orders were signed by Gestapo chief Heinrich Müller “in Vertretung” – acting on behalf of Kaltenbrunner as head of the RSHA. The testimony ranges widely: the map of the concentration- and labour-camp system catastrophic overcrowding, epidemics and starvation in the final war years medical experiments at Auschwitz and Dachau (Clauberg, Schumann, Mengele, Rascher) the role of prisoner functionaries (“Kapos”), SS guards and drafted Army/Navy personnel evacuation orders, death marches and the collapse of the system in 1945 Judge Francis Biddle and the Tribunal then question Höss about numbers of camps and prisoners before the witness is dismissed. This channel presents original wartime documents and trial records in full, with clear signposting and context but without sensationalism. If you want more in-depth analysis of Höss’s contradictions, the wider Auschwitz system, or the roles of Kaltenbrunner, Müller, Eichmann and others, you will find related videos linked in the description and end screen. Rudolf Hoess,Rudolf Höss,Hoss testimony,Nuremberg Trial,Auschwitz commandant,Auschwitz concentration camp,Auschwitz Birkenau,final solution testimony,Nuremberg Holocaust evidence,Kaltenbrunner defence,Dr Kurt Kauffmann,Colonel John Amen,Francis Biddle,RSHA,WVHA,Heinrich Himmler,Adolf Eichmann,Heinrich Mueller,Muller Gestapo,Hoess affidavit 5 April 1946,Auschwitz gas chambers,Zyklon B,Holocaust history,Holocaust testimony,WW2 war crimes trials,international military tribunal,full testimony,no commentary,primary source history,original audio with subtitles #RudolfHoess #Nuremberg #Auschwitz #HolocaustHistory #NurembergTrial