Rudolf Höß on the Gallows

[Michal78]

Here are 2 photos of Höß before the execution. In the background the the former camp gestapo building. (source auschwitz.org.pl)

G.

[Max Williams]

See also http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic. ... kommandant
Max.

[Max Williams]

In the first photo, the building in the background is the former SS infirmary with the earth covered crematorium/gas chamber 1 on the right. The SS infirmary position is significant as it forms a major point in the argument put forward by revisionists that the installation at crematorium 1 could not have been used as a gas chamber. The camp drainage system is linked between the two buildings with access from the gas chamber to the infirmary. The argument is that any prussic acid vapours would have seeped into the drainage tunnels and on into the infirmary, killing all the inhabitants. I believe this formed a part of the well known Leuchter Report.
The second photo shows the office of the camp Gestapo in the background. This was where Max Grabner administered the Gestapo organisation for the Auschwitz complex. It was a temporary building.
Max.

[Potsdamerplatz]

“When they were leading him to the gallows, Höss looked calm. I thought as he climbed to the gallows, up the steps—knowing him to be a Nazi, a hardened party member—that he would say something. Like make a statement to the glory of the Nazi ideology that he was dying for. But no. He didn’t say a word. And during the execution you thought: One life for so many millions of people, is that not too little?”

Stanislaw Hantz - Auschwitz survivor who witnessed the execution of Höß in an interview for "Auschwitz: The Nazis And The Final Solution"

Here are photographs today of the execution site where Höß was hanged. Both photographs obtained from his biography page at Wikipedia.





Best regards.

[Michal78]

Just wondering...When Höß was executed, did he stand on the chair or not?
Michal

[itaiv40]

Michal,

Notice the chair to the left of the platform. They probably brought it in after they strung Höß up.

[Michal78]

Thanks. I didn't see that chair on the picture...
Michal

[J. Duncan]

Am I missing something?...why does one photo show the executioner with rope already around Hoess's neck as he stands on the platform and then another with him standing on the chair but the rope not around his neck? An adjustment first? Itaiv40 says "they probably brought it in after they strung him up"..what is implied by this? Curious, as I am missing the point. Sorry, I'm having a dumb day.

[Michael Kenny]

Not an expert but a simple observation. Unless they stood him on the chair then they would have had to pull the rope taut and hold it to lift him of his feet.

Sequence:

Stand him on the scaffold.

put him on the chair.

Adjust rope length.

Kick away chair.

[itaiv40]

I think you're right. The first time (without the chair) is when the noose is measured and adjusted.To do that, the executioner must be abut Hoess' height. After that the rope length is adjusted. That obviously must be done with him standing on the chair.

[Michael Kenny]

http://en.auschwitz.org.pl/m/index.php? ... &task=view



German POWs erected the gallows, with a trap door, at dawn. It cannot be ruled out that they were also the hangmen. No one was admitted to the grounds without a special pass. Armed, uniformed guards stood everywhere. Hoess arrived at 8 a.m. and was taken to the building that had once housed the commandant’s office. There, he asked for a cup of coffee. Once he had drunk it, he was led to a cell in the “bunker,” the camp jail in Block no. 11, also known as the “Death Block.”

Hoess was led out punctually at 10 a.m. He was calm. With energetic steps, almost strutting, he walked along the main camp street. Since his hands were handcuffed behind his back, the executioners had to help him climb onto the stool placed above the trapdoor. A priest, whose presence had been requested by the condemned man, approached the gallows. This was Father Tadeusz Zaremba, a Salesian from Oświęcim.

A prosecutor read out the sentence. The hangman placed the noose on Hoess’s neck, and Hoess adjusted it with a movement of his head. When the hangman pulled the stool from under the former commandant, his body struck the trapdoor, which opened, leaving Hoess hanging. The priest began to recite the prayer for the dying. It was 10:08 a.m. A physician pronounced Hoess dead at 10:21. His remains were probably cremated.
There is a photo showing the trapdoor open and the body still hanging

[J. Duncan]

Thanks for explaining this.