Rudolf Hoess - Commandant of Auschwitz

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.