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Rudolf Höss: Auchwitz Family Villa (1940-43)


Figure 1.-- Rudolf Höss was the commondant of Auxgwutz, a camp that 'processed' up to 12,000 Jews a day but was described by his family as a calm and kind man. These are the four Höss children in the garden of their comfortable Auschwitz villa. Their mother knew that thiousands of women, childre, and the elderly were being murdered 100 yards from their villa and apparentlyb had no problem with it. The children apparently dud not kjniow, although we wonder about the older boy. Bridgett here describes 'My beautiful Auschwitz childhood'.

Rudolf Höss' daughter Ingebirgitte (Bridgitt) as only 6 years old when her father was appointed commandant of Auschwitz (1940). After killing thousands daily, he went home to his loving wife and children. The family was ensconced in a spaceous villa on camp grounds. His children remember his as strict, but loving. Bridgitt describes how her father once reprimanded the children for trying to to tear down the fence, removing the veil of the atrocities, during a game of cowboys and indians and told them that they should never hurt people. [Hall] In an interview Bridgitt relates how, "I did not know that, next door, these atrocities were taking place. I never asked why there were fences and watchtowers. When you are nine and ten years old, your mind is filled with other thoughts. And really, would it have made a difference if I had? As small as I was? One time we threatened to tear down the fence in a cowboy and indian game but dad was very angry. He scolded us and said we should never do harm to other people." The children may not have known, but their mother was fully informed. You have to wonder about a woman who would have no problem with raising her children within yards where a million people including many children were to be murrdered. The Höss children could see the prisoner blocks and old crematorium from an upstairs window. Brigitte recalls fondly visiting the horses and German shepherds at the camp. She recalls sleepwalking. And she remembereds noticing the smoke from the crematoria, but had no idea what was being purned--certainly not people. I forgot it as a fleeting nightmare. My mother was so worried that she left me a wet towel before the bed." This was occurring only 100 meters away from a balcony on the first floor of their villa. [Hall] Bridgette described her as, 'the nicest man in the world'. And she described her family life, "er father had an obsession with order, something she inherited, and she also talked of a strict upbringing. If I see a picture hung wrong on the wall, I have to get up and straighten it. I get high blood pressure adding that she also has a need to force her obsession with order on to others. 'Dad was strict when it came to etiquette." She describes how at the dining table, the children were allowed to speak only if they were asked. But their father was never angry. At the table he spoke of family things and what we would do on weekends for excursions. " But never something next door, because we never knew anything. Never." [Hall] There is no doubt that Höss valued his family. Höss inhis jailhouse memoirs wrote, "I always thought I had to be constantly in service. My wife has reminded me often and often: not only to do my duty but to remember your family." [Hall]

Sources

Hall, Allan. "'My beautiful Auschwitz childhood': Daughter of camp commandant Rudolph Hoess describes life growing up next to a concentration camp - and how she has hidden her identity for decades," MailOnline (June 1, 2015).







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Created: 4:40 PM 9/16/20200
Last updated: 4:11 PM 9/16/2020