Death Dealer: The Memoirs of the SS Kommandant at Auschwitz

There are number of editions of SS Kommandant Rudolf Hoess' memoirs out in a variety of formats. The best one is DEATH DEALER: THE MEMOIRS OF THE SS KOMMANDANT AT AUSCHWITZ edited by Steven Paskuly, translated by Andrew Pollinger. Pollinger is a concentration camp survivor and Paskuly "teaches German in the Buffalo Public Schools.
Even if this book has a foreword by Primo Levi, it's certainly modest in its origins given the importance of its subject matter.

Where are all those Oxford dons? Instead, we've got a book edited by a high school German teacher!

The proof, however, is in the pudding and Mr.Paskuly proves himself to be a careful, scholarly editor. Considering the fact that SS Commandant Hoess oversaw the murder of 1.1 million Jews by his own count, would Mr. Pollinger's translation of his memoirs be slanted? It didn't appear to be. I compared it to another translation and didn't see any significant differences.

Hoess' memoirs were written while he was in Allied captivity. Those who seek to deny that the Holocaust took place vigorously try to dismiss Hoess' memoirs as the result of "torture". Some even suggest that they were dictated by the NKVD since Hoess was transferred from British to Polish custody at a time when Stalin controlled post-war Poland.

While it is certainly good to be cautious about any document dictated in captivity, a careful reading of Hoess' memoirs doesn't support the assertion that torture influenced what Hoess wrote. For one thing he complains about how some of his captors treated him. In fact most of the information available about his alleged mistreatment at Allied hands comes from his own memoirs. No NKVD officer would have let something like slip by.

It's also significant that Hoess ignores the Soviet estimate that over 4 million people were murdered at the Nazi concentration camp he commanded. He estimates that 1.1 million were murdered, an estimate which most historians agree is accurate. Why would any Soviet officer worth his salt let something like that by?

The tone of Hoess' memoirs also strikes me as appropriate for an SS officer. He brags about being decorated by the Fuhrer for his tireless work. He describes his personal revulsion while observing mass executions at the gas chambers. And, on every page, he weaves into almost all his words his belief that he was just following orders. He repeats the old SS motto, "Fuhrer! You command and we obey!" Indeed, the SS dagger he carried had the SS motto "Loyalty is my honor", and the same thing appeared on SS belt buckles.

Maybe he saw that as a defense? A lot of other Nazis did.

There's another tone which underlies his narrative. Raised a Roman Catholic, he clearly seeks to confess and unburden himself of his transgressions, no matter how massive and horrible they were. Yet another reason to consider his memoirs genuine.

It is also significant that his observations coincide with those of other SS such as Dr. Johann Kremer and SS Corporal Pery Broad. They also coincide with those of such suvivors as Filip Mueller (EYEWITNESS AUSCHWITZ: THREE YEARS IN THE GAS CHAMBERS) and with the physical evidence of the camp itself. Those are well described by Professors Deborah Dwork and Robert Jan van Pelt in AUSCHWITZ.

Hoess didn't have access to any of his records when he wrote his memoirs and this is where Mr.Paskuly earns his editorial spurs with thorough annotations explaining some of the glitches and mistakes Hoess makes in his memoirs. He forgets some dates and gets names wrong, that sort of thing. The notes really help and the overall impression I had was that Hoess' memoirs were genuine and were substantially accurate making this a very valuable book for anyone interested in the Holocaust.

DEATH DEALER's value is further enhanced by its appendices. The most interesting and valuable of which (to me at least) were the minutes of the Wannsee Conference of January 20, 1942. Even this is enhanced by an introductory note quoting Adolf Eichmann's testimony at Jerusalem on July 24, 1961, about how he rephrased the finished draft of the conference eliminating such blunt terms as "killing, elimination, and annihilation." (pp. 371-372)

If you're interested in the Holocaust, you need this edition of this book. I gave it five stars.

To see what a person can do to another person(s) is amazing. To think he was thinking of becoming a priest and goes on to murder millions of people, saying it was his duty!
Whether it was all 100% accurate or not - is of no significance to me.
What i learned - was how a human being can hurt others the way he did.
No excuse - guilty!

Let's all pray - no madman like this ever gets this type of chance again

Terry

Great working with you. Came fairly quickly and in great shape. Would definately recommend.
Paige

The story of a bureaucrat who had no regard for human life. Despite his claim of trying to better the lives of prisoners, he reigned over a hell on earth. The lack of emotion in his description of the process of extermination of people from all over Europe is sickening. This book is not for the faint of heart.

I doubt there are any other books like this one out there. A 500 page long distance-runner by a massmurderer of biblical proportions gives you a detailed look at the mind and personality of the infamous Rudolph Höss. Why did he kill? How could he stand the killings? Did he regret any of his actions? The answers are quite absurd and although Höss tries to sound regretfull and sad it just comes of as trying to excuse breaking a window on purpose. But it's honest and therefor priceless history at it's "finest". Rudolph meens what he writes, although he seems to have been heavily confused at the time of writing, with the new allied "propaganda" colliding with his old nazi brainwashing. The two don't mix well and Höss weak mind and limited intellect gets all confused and his writing thereafter with answers that never really answers anything.