16 April 1947 | SS-Obersturmbannführer Rudolf Höss, the first commandant of the German #Auschwitz camp was hanged after he was sentenced to death by the Supreme National Tribunal in Warsaw. [Thread - 1/9]
Rudolf Höss was born in Baden-Baden on 25 November 1901. He joined the Nazi Party in 1922 and the SS in 1934. He started his career in Dachau in December 1934, then he worked in KL Sachsenhausen. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rudolf_Hö… 2/9
In May 1940 Rudolf Höss was appointed by Heinrich Himmler as the commandant of a new concentration camp created in occupied Polish territory annexed to the Third Reich - Auschwitz. 3/9
Auschwitz was created at first as an important tool of terror against Polish leadership, intellectuals and resistance. From March 1942 it became one of the centers of mass extermination of European Jews. It was also a place of murder of European Roma. lekcja.auschwitz.org/en_1/ 4/9
Rudolf Höss lived in a villa 50 meters from the camp fence. He lived there with his wife Hedwig and his four children: Klaus, Heidetraud, Inge-Brigitt and Hans. His fifth child, Annegret was born on 7 November 1943. 5/9
After the war Höss went into hiding. He was arrested by British troops on 11 March 1946. 6/9
On 15 April 1946 Rudolf Höss testified at the Nuremberg trial. 7/9
He was later extradited to Poland. Hie trial in Warsaw began on 11 March 1947. The verdict was given on 2 April 1947. Rudolf Höss was sentenced to death. 8/9
The execution of Rudolf Höss was carried out on 16 April 1947 at the site of the former Auschwitz I camp - the gallows stood at the remains of the camp Gestapo building, right next to the first crematorium of Auschwitz and 100 meters from the villa where he had lived. 9/9
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March 24 - the anniversary of the murder of the Ulma family executed in 1944 for hiding Jews - is today in Poland the National Day of Remembrance of Poles who saved Jews during German occupiation. See this thread to learn 11 stories of Righteous linked with #Auschwitz. 1/13
Former #Auschwitz prisoners Władysław Bartoszewski and Zofia Kossak-Szczucka were honoured for their work in "Żegota" - the Polish Council to Aid Jews en.wikipedia.org/wiki/%C5%BBego… 3/13
12 March 1943 | 14-year old Polish girl Czesława Kwoka (camp no. 26947) was murdered in #Auschwitz with a phenol injection into the heart. She was deported by Germans from Zamość region as part of their plan of creating „living space” in the east. [a thread - 1/4]
According to the testimony of a survivor Wilhelm Brasse, who took the registration picture of Czesława Kwoka, just before it was taken, the girl was beaten by one of the guards. In the picture you can see the cut in her lip. 2/4
Czesława Kwoka was born on 15 August 1928 in Wólka Złojecka, a village in Zamość region. She arrived at #Auschwitz on 13 December 1942 in a transport of 318 women. Her mother Katarzyna was also deported. She received number 26949 & perished in the camp on 18 February 1943. 3/4