Rudolf Höss

Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss was a Nazi lieutenant colonel in the Schutzaffel (SS) and longest serving commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp during WWII. Höss joined the Nazi party in 1922 and the SS party in 1934. From May 1940 - November 1943 and May 1944 - 1945 he was in charge of the Auschwitz concentration camp. On May 25, 1946, he was handed over and tried for murder in Poland. He was accused of murdering three and a half million people. In response he commented, "No. Only two and one half million- the rest died of diseases and starvation." He was sentenced to death by hanging on April 2, 1947 and the sentence took motion on April 16.