The Capture And Arrest of Rudolf Höss
The capture of Rudolf Höss, the notorious commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp, marked a significant moment in the post-war effort to bring Nazi war criminals to justice. Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss, a high-ranking SS officer, played a central role in the Holocaust, and his eventual capture involved months of painstaking work by British military units, including the efforts of Captain Victor Cross.
Before the war, Victor Cross worked in the family business, the British Chrome Tanning Company, based in Northampton. The company specialised in high-quality women’s shoes, and Cross travelled widely to purchase hides for their manufacture. His father sent him to Germany to deepen his understanding of the trade, where he became fluent in German, a skill that would later prove vital in his military career.
When the Second World War began in 1939, Cross enlisted in the British Army and later joined the Intelligence Corps, where his fluency in German made him a valuable asset. By the end of the war, as Allied forces closed in on Nazi Germany, Cross was in command of two Field Security Sections—92 and 95—tasked with tracking down escaped Nazi officials. Among their targets was Rudolf Höss, who had fled at the war’s end and was now in hiding.
Höss’s role in the Holocaust, particularly during his tenure as commandant of Auschwitz, made him one of the most wanted men in Europe. Auschwitz had become the epicentre of the Nazi campaign to exterminate the Jewish population of Europe, with approximately six million Jews perishing during the Holocaust. Under Höss’s command, Auschwitz became a factory of death, where it is estimated that 2.5 million people were gassed.
By the time Cross and his team were assigned the task of locating Höss, the former SS officer had disappeared into rural Germany, assuming a false identity. Cross’s official report, dated 15 March 1946, detailed the months of investigation that led to Höss’s capture. He described the relentless search, which involved numerous interrogations and the gathering of intelligence that eventually led them to Höss’s wife, Hedwig, who was working at a sugar factory in St Michaelisdonn, northern Germany.
Although Hedwig initially claimed that her husband had died in April 1945, Cross’s team suspected otherwise. After several days of interrogation, “she finally broke down” and revealed the address where Höss was hiding. Working in conjunction with another unit, Cross’s team surrounded the farmhouse near Flensburg on the night of 11 March 1946. Höss, who had been living under the alias Franz Lang, was found in his pyjamas.
Contrary to the expectations of Cross and his men, Höss did not put up a fight when captured. Though surprised by the sudden raid, Höss remained passive. He had armed himself with a vial of poison in case of capture, but he did not use it. When Cross and his team entered the farmhouse, they found Höss lying on a bed, pretending to be asleep. His façade was quickly shattered when, within 10 minutes of his arrest, he admitted his true identity, confirming that he was indeed Rudolf Höss.
Upon being pulled from his bed, Höss was physically restrained and immediately questioned by the soldiers. His demeanour during the arrest was described as cold and detached. He remained calm, offering no resistance as he was handcuffed. This lack of struggle allowed Cross’s team to take him into custody without incident.
Once in custody, Höss’s capture was significant not only for the Allied forces but also for the broader effort to document and understand the atrocities committed by the Nazi regime. In his initial statement, Höss spoke “in a very matter of fact way”, willingly providing information about his role in the extermination of millions. He confirmed his involvement in the implementation of the “Final Solution”, the Nazi plan to annihilate European Jews, recounting how he had received orders directly from SS leader Heinrich Himmler to oversee the gassing of two million people at Auschwitz between 1941 and 1943.
Cross’s report also revealed how Höss’s family, including his wife and 16-year-old son Klaus, had knowingly aided him in his escape and had lived with full awareness of the atrocities occurring at Auschwitz. In a chilling statement, Höss admitted that the smell of burning bodies from the camp’s crematoria was so pervasive that “no-one in any doubt” about the mass killings taking place.
After his arrest, Höss was handed over to Hanns Alexander, a British Army officer working on war crimes investigations, and was interrogated further. His testimony was key to the trials that followed. On 15 April 1946, Höss took the stand at the Nuremberg Trials, where his confession served as a damning confirmation of the Holocaust, especially at a time when other senior Nazi officials were denying or minimising their roles in the genocide. His detailed witness statement provided direct evidence of the atrocities committed at Auschwitz, and his testimony was crucial in establishing the magnitude of the crimes committed by the Nazi regime.
From his cell on 16 March 1946, Höss wrote: “I personally arranged on orders received from Himmler in May 1941 the gassing of two million persons between June/July 1941 and the end of 1943 during which time I was commandant of Auschwitz.” He recounted how he had watched women and children being led to their deaths, even describing an encounter with a woman who pointed at her children and asked him, “How can you bring yourself to kill such beautiful darling children? Have you no heart at all?” He would ride his horse to clear his mind after witnessing such events.
In March 1947, Höss was extradited to Poland to stand trial in Warsaw. On 2 April 1947, he was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to death. He was hanged on 16 April 1947 at Auschwitz, at the site of the camp’s former Gestapo building, near the first crematorium, and just 100 metres from the villa where he had once lived with his family.
The work of Capt Victor Cross and his team exemplifies the dedication of those tasked with bringing Nazi war criminals to justice. Through tireless investigation, they managed to track down one of the most notorious figures of the Holocaust, ensuring that Rudolf Höss faced the consequences of his actions.
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