What Happened Today

March 11 - 1946 - The Arrest of Rudolf Höss


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Rudolf Höss became notorious during World War II as the Commandant of the concentration and death camps at Auschwitz in Poland. After the war ended, this made him one of the key leaders among the Third Reich that was wanted by Allied leaders. While he managed to blend into the civilian population initially, Rudolf Höss was given up by his family less than a year after the fall of the Third Reich. What made Höss' capture so notable was that he seemed to have no issue with fully describing his actions during the War, including his system of extermination at the Auschwitz camps. Rudolf Höss was the most efficient leader of any Nazi concentration camp, and he personally oversaw the deaths of millions of people, mostly Polish Jews, but also gypsies and political prisoners. Under arrest, Rudolf Höss was able to give evidence against some of his fellow Nazis, but it did nothing to stop his own execution. In April 1947, Rudolf Höss was hanged at a specially constructed gallows at the former site of the Auschwitz gas chamber.
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What Happened TodayBy The Productive Leisure Network