HST 270 Chapter Notes - Chapter 7: Rudolf Höss, Zyklon, Killing Machine
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Rudolf Hoss
● Concentration camps were created to destroy all human qualities on both sides
● Not well known except in a small circle
● Surrendered his independence to total servitude
○ Renounced individual self-determination for totalitarian training in
obedience
● Felt at home in a world of commands, even at a young age
● At the beginning of his service he believed that he was not suited for
concentration camp service; he said it was extremely difficult to watch executions
and to be harsh
Who was Hoss?
● The commandant of the concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz
○ Had to go through a process of hardening until he was good enough to be
a leader in the regime
○ Said he never personally hated the Jews
○ Personally satisfied by his genius killing machine
■ Developed the various phases of extermination process
● Gassing, disposal of the body's, utilization of things left
behind
● Zyklon B was his invention
● Never recognized the contradictions of his own behaviors
○ Hated that those in the camps weren’t treated like people, but he was in
charge of making sure they weren’t treated like people
● Schizophrenic
○ Enabled Hoss to keep his sentimental reserves even in a brutal, murder
filled world
Outstanding characteristic of Hoss
● Strict attention to duty
● Unselfish
● Simple
Why Hoss was drawn to the regime?
● Simple formulas, uncomplicated schema of good and evil, hierarchy of normal
standard
○ For him it was utopia
Himmler’s Influence
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