Story Highlights
- Historical event:
- 11 March 1946
- It is interesting that Rudolf Höss managed to hide on German territory for as many as 11 months after the end of World War II.
The high-ranking Nazi and commander of the Auschwitz concentration camp, Rudolf Höss, was arrested on this day in 1946. It is interesting that he managed to hide on German territory for as many as 11 months after the end of World War II. He was arrested near Flensburg in northern Germany, and was allegedly disguised as a farmer, living under the name Franz Lang. He was arrested by British troops.
When he was interrogated, his captors accused him for the death of around 3.5 million people in his camp. Höss denied this, telling them that around 2.5 million were killed, while 500,000 died of starvation and disease. He was sentenced to death, and hung around 13 months after he was arrested, on the area once occupied by the very camp he commanded.
