KL Auschwitz Seen by the SS [antikvár]

FOREWORD . Jerzy Rawicz M ' IVe present our readers with three documents in one selection, documents written by SS-men from the concentration camp at Auschwitz. And so we feel we should preface the selection with some information about all three authors: the first commandant of KL Auschwitz, Rudolf Hoss; Pery Broad, a functionary of the Political Section fPolitische Abteilungj, or camp Gestapo; and Johann Kremer, a physician. It is about Hoss that we know the most, thanks to his detailed autobiography, of which the section relating to Auschwitz can be found in the present book. If, despite this, we still give Hoss our closest attention, this is due both to his personal importance, and to the enormous significance of his memoirs. Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Hoss was born in 1900, the son of a retired colonel of the German army. His upbringing at home was strict, Roman-Catholic in spirit. It was the wish of his father to see the future commandant of Auschwitz ordained a priest. The young Hoss was sixteen when he volunteered for the army. He took part in the fighting in Turkey and Jerusalem during World War I, and at the age of seventeen became the youngest non-commissioned officer of the German army. He returned to his country after the defeat of the Central Powers and became active in the East Prussian Voluntary Corps fFreikorpsj, a reactionary organization which used all means to fight the opponents of German nationalism and militarism, particularly by attacking revolutionaries in Latvia and Germany, or the Polish insurgents in Silesia and in Great Poland. It was as early as 1922 that Hoss met Adolf Hitler and joined his party. The number of his party membership card—no. 3240—was a source of pride for the rest of his life. In 1923 Hoss was arrested and sentenced to 10 years' imprisonment for his participation in the Fememord or vengeance-killing of the teacher Kadow whom the members of the Rossbach Corps, Hoss's companions, considered to be a traitor. Discharged in 1929, Hoss took to farming in l^ecklenburg and married. Three of his children were born during his five years' stay there (the fourth ivas born at Dachau and the fifth at Auschwitz). In 1934 Hoss was persuaded by Himmler, whom he had met years before, to exchange his farmer's life for active service in the SS. He received training in the concentration camp at Dachau where he was employed at first in a subordinate position. He was transferred to the Sachsenhausen camp in 1938, ' Jerzy Rawicz (1914—1980), during World War 11, prisoner of KL Auschwitz and KL Mauthausen. After the war, journalist, contributor to many newspapers and magazines, interested first and foremost in Polish and German questions. Author of a number of books. Including Dno, a collection of Auschwitz stories, and Dzieh powszedni ludobôjcy, about the commandant of KL Auschwitz : also translated from German. In 1961—1965. head of the bureau of the secretariat of the International Auschwitz Committee. Was engaged in the work of the Central Commission for the Investigation of Nazi Crimes in Poland. The following foreword was written in 1970 to the first edition of this book.