Digital Marian Helper Winter_2019

By Marc Massery T hough the infamous commandant of the Aus- chwitz concentration camp, Rudolf Höss, oversaw the murder of millions of innocent people during World War II, in the end, even his horrific sins weren’t big- ger than the mercy of God. Höss was born in 1900 in Baden-Baden, Germany, to strict Catholic parents. His father wanted him to become a priest, but after his father’s death, Rudolf decided to join the German military instead. ‘The Final Solution’ In the early 1920s, after hearing Adolf Hitler speak in Munich, Germany, Höss renounced his Catholic faith and became one of the earliest members of the Nazi Party. First, he served a few years at the Dachau concentration camp. Having proved himself, in 1940 he was named the first commandant of Auschwitz, which he converted into what would become one of the largest death camps in world history. SS leader Heinrich Himmler put Höss in charge of carrying out in Auschwitz the “Final Solution,” the complete extermination of all Jews in Europe. Though Höss denied ever killing anyone by his own hand, he was responsible for streamlining the execution process by introducing the lethal poison Zyklon B, which enabled the murder of as many as 2,000 people per hour. A calm killer Despite overseeing the execution of millions, eyewitness accounts identified Höss as someone who always seemed calm and collected. He lived in a house with his family mere yards from the Auschwitz crematorium, kissing his wife each morning before work and tucking his five chil- dren into bed at night. After the war, Höss wrote: The gassing was carried out in the detention cells of D ivine M ercy and the commandant of A uschwitz Rudolf Höss tested and implemented various methods to accelerate Hitler’s “Final Solution.” This Jan. 27 marks the 75 th anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi concentration camp of Auschwitz. With that in mind, we have a powerful story to share. 26 M arian H elper • W inter 2019-20 • marian . org