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max_power's review against another edition
dark
informative
fast-paced
Content Warnings
Graphic: Genocide and Antisemitism
Moderate: Death
liisp_cvr2cvr's review against another edition
3.0
I didn't know how to rate this book... I couldn't give it a 5 because I didn't enjoy this book too much.. naturally... then again I couldn't give it a 1 either, because it's history... At some stage I think I read this book as fiction and in the end I thought- "Golly, this is not fiction. A lot of people died."
tomesofourlives's review
I'm, um, not going to rate this for what I see as obvious reasons, but this is was a very interesting and somewhat easy read.
ashleysbooknook's review
5.0
It's been almost 10 years since I read this book, but it was eye opening. It was factual and so interesting on a moral level. I still felt as if he was a despicable man, but it was interesting to read about the camps from a different perspective. It was obvious he did not feel remorse for what he did and continued to claim that he was doing the right thing. But this isn't a repentant man admitting he was fooled into doing horrible things. He still believes what he did was right. This is an important piece of literature for any complete study of the Holocaust !!
bibliophiliadk's review
4.0
People who, according to Rudolph Höss, were to blame for the horrors at Auschwitz:
1. Heinrich Himmler
2. The Auschwitz guards
3. The prisoners themselves
People who, according to Rudolph Höss, were NOT to blame for the horrors at Auschwitz:
1. Rudolph Höss
WARNING! - sarcasm (on my part) may occur in the following!
Rudolph Höss believed himself to be an SS saint - he did what was expected of him, he was steadfastly loyal and he protected the Fatherland against all enemies, interior and exterior. He was not to blame for anything that went on at Auschwitz because the orders he gave were only those given to him by Himmler. And he could not possibly oversee all his guards at once to make sure that they carried out the orders correctly. Some of the guards were really just sadistic people who had no business being at a place like Auschwitz. But Höss was not to be blamed for their presence there either, those guards were assigned to him, he had no say in the matter. Additionally, the prisoners themselves were terrible towards one another, making their hellish conditions even worse with their sardonic back-stabbing and exploitations.
That is the defence of Rudolph Höss.
He uses an entire book to make himself a less guilty party in the murder of around 1.1 million people, who never left Auschwitz. He uses any opportunity he can to stress his own good intentions, his own ignorance of some of the things that were going on and his own innocence. He was only doing as he was told because he was unable to do anything else. He was indoctrinated, so to speak. It was only at the end of his own life that he experiences humanity and realised the error of his ways.
Oh please!
Written after his capture in 1946 and before his death sentence in 1947, this memoir offers an insight into the mind of the mand that has been personally responsible for the most human deaths in history. Rudolph Höss, the kommander of Auschwitz. The Death Dealer.
While this book seems most of all as one big excuse - an apologia, even - Höss rutinely gives away his true feelings and opinions. As when he speaks about the different kinds of prisoners at Auschwitz.
- The Russian POV's were weak and barbarous, frequently resorting to cannibalism in order to save themselves
- The Gyspies were carefree and happy, except for when their tempers took over and they fought amongst themselves. They were, however, Höss' favourite prisoners
- The Jews had it easy because they had money and had no scrouples with using this money to bribe the SS or each other. They were also quick to turn on each other and were the most cruel prisoners
I took the liberty of doing a psychopathy check for Rudolph Höss based on this book:
✔️ Grandiose estimation of self
✔️ Pathological lying
✔️ Lack of remorse or guilt
✔️ Shallow effect
✔️ Callousness and lack of empathy
✔️ Early behaviour problems
✔️ Irresponsibility
✔️ Failure to take acceptable responsibility for own actions
✔️ Juvenile delinquency
Of course this is in no way enough to confirm that he was in fact a psychopath and I am no psychologist so I should not be making assumptions, but still. Those are a lot of checkmarks.
Höss was trained from an early age by his fanatically, Catholic father to become a priest. After some startling realisations about the Catholic Church he renounced his faith, became a soldier in WWI, went to prison for murder (something he never regretted doing or felt guilty about) and joined the Nazi party. With the Nazis he found a new system of belief, a new order to join - a new way for him to plod along without having to make decisions for himself. His unfailing belief in Himmler (as a sort of Archbishop of nazism) and Hitler (representing the Pope) meant that he could lean back and deny responsibility for any of his actions. He was not meant to be a leader, in my opinion, he didn't have the strength or the intelligence for this. He should have been just one of the masses.
This book was horrible. Absolutely horrible. Because Höss recounts the death of millions with no feeling - the feelings he describe seem empty and contrived to me, something he feels he has to say, not something he actually felt. But it was also a necessary book to read. It is necessary to peek behind the curtain, to see the face of the persecutor, the know the personality of the twisted. Only then can we truly say that we understand what went on.
WATCH MY VIDEO ABOUT WWII MEMOIRS AND DIARIES ON MY BLOG
1. Heinrich Himmler
2. The Auschwitz guards
3. The prisoners themselves
People who, according to Rudolph Höss, were NOT to blame for the horrors at Auschwitz:
1. Rudolph Höss
WARNING! - sarcasm (on my part) may occur in the following!
Rudolph Höss believed himself to be an SS saint - he did what was expected of him, he was steadfastly loyal and he protected the Fatherland against all enemies, interior and exterior. He was not to blame for anything that went on at Auschwitz because the orders he gave were only those given to him by Himmler. And he could not possibly oversee all his guards at once to make sure that they carried out the orders correctly. Some of the guards were really just sadistic people who had no business being at a place like Auschwitz. But Höss was not to be blamed for their presence there either, those guards were assigned to him, he had no say in the matter. Additionally, the prisoners themselves were terrible towards one another, making their hellish conditions even worse with their sardonic back-stabbing and exploitations.
That is the defence of Rudolph Höss.
He uses an entire book to make himself a less guilty party in the murder of around 1.1 million people, who never left Auschwitz. He uses any opportunity he can to stress his own good intentions, his own ignorance of some of the things that were going on and his own innocence. He was only doing as he was told because he was unable to do anything else. He was indoctrinated, so to speak. It was only at the end of his own life that he experiences humanity and realised the error of his ways.
Oh please!
Written after his capture in 1946 and before his death sentence in 1947, this memoir offers an insight into the mind of the mand that has been personally responsible for the most human deaths in history. Rudolph Höss, the kommander of Auschwitz. The Death Dealer.
While this book seems most of all as one big excuse - an apologia, even - Höss rutinely gives away his true feelings and opinions. As when he speaks about the different kinds of prisoners at Auschwitz.
- The Russian POV's were weak and barbarous, frequently resorting to cannibalism in order to save themselves
- The Gyspies were carefree and happy, except for when their tempers took over and they fought amongst themselves. They were, however, Höss' favourite prisoners
- The Jews had it easy because they had money and had no scrouples with using this money to bribe the SS or each other. They were also quick to turn on each other and were the most cruel prisoners
I took the liberty of doing a psychopathy check for Rudolph Höss based on this book:
✔️ Grandiose estimation of self
✔️ Pathological lying
✔️ Lack of remorse or guilt
✔️ Shallow effect
✔️ Callousness and lack of empathy
✔️ Early behaviour problems
✔️ Irresponsibility
✔️ Failure to take acceptable responsibility for own actions
✔️ Juvenile delinquency
Of course this is in no way enough to confirm that he was in fact a psychopath and I am no psychologist so I should not be making assumptions, but still. Those are a lot of checkmarks.
Höss was trained from an early age by his fanatically, Catholic father to become a priest. After some startling realisations about the Catholic Church he renounced his faith, became a soldier in WWI, went to prison for murder (something he never regretted doing or felt guilty about) and joined the Nazi party. With the Nazis he found a new system of belief, a new order to join - a new way for him to plod along without having to make decisions for himself. His unfailing belief in Himmler (as a sort of Archbishop of nazism) and Hitler (representing the Pope) meant that he could lean back and deny responsibility for any of his actions. He was not meant to be a leader, in my opinion, he didn't have the strength or the intelligence for this. He should have been just one of the masses.
This book was horrible. Absolutely horrible. Because Höss recounts the death of millions with no feeling - the feelings he describe seem empty and contrived to me, something he feels he has to say, not something he actually felt. But it was also a necessary book to read. It is necessary to peek behind the curtain, to see the face of the persecutor, the know the personality of the twisted. Only then can we truly say that we understand what went on.
WATCH MY VIDEO ABOUT WWII MEMOIRS AND DIARIES ON MY BLOG
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