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16 April 1947 | SS-Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of the German #Auschwitz camp was hanged after he was sentenced to death by the Supreme National Tribunal in Warsaw.
Rudolf Höss was born in Baden-Baden on 25 November 1901. He joined the Nazi Party in 1922 and the SS in 1934. He started his career in Dachau in December 1934, then he worked in KL Sachsenhausen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_H%… 2/9
In May 1940 Rudolf Höss was appointed by Heinrich Himmler as the commandant of a new concentration camp created in occupied Polish territory annexed to the Third Reich - #Auschwitz. 3/9
#Auschwitz was created at first as an important tool of terror against Polish leadership, intellectuals & resistance. From March 1942 it became one of the centers of mass extermination of European Jews. It was also a place of murder of European Roma. lekcja.auschwitz.org/en_1/ 4/9
Rudolf Höss lived in a villa 50 meters from the camp fence. He lived there with his wife Hedwig and his four children: Klaus, Heidetraut, Inge-Brigitt, and Hans. His fifth child, Annegret was born on 7 November 1943. 5/9
After the war, Rudolf Höss went into hiding. He was arrested by British troops on 11 March 1946. 6/9
On 15 April 1946, Rudolf Höss testified at the Nuremberg trial. 7/9
He was later extradited to Poland. His trial in Warsaw began on 11 March 1947. The verdict was given on 2 April 1947. Rudolf Höss was sentenced to death. 8/9
The execution of Rudolf Höss was carried out on 16 April 1947 at the site of the former Auschwitz I camp - the gallows stood at the remains of the camp Gestapo building, right next to the first crematorium of Auschwitz and 100 meters from the villa where he had lived. 9/9
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