Franz Hössler
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Franz Hössler (4 February 1906 - 13 December 1945) was an SS-Schutzhaftlagerführer who served at the Auschwitz Birkenau, Bergen-Belsen and Mittlebau-Dora concentration camps.
Biography edit
Hössler was born in 1906 in the town of Oberdorf, today Marktoberdorf, in the Schwabenland of the German Empire. The son of a foreman, he quit school early to become a photographer. Later employed as a warehouse worker, he was unemployed during the Great Depression of the 1930s. He joined the Nazi Party in early November 1932 (member no. 1,374,713) and the SS (member no. 41,940).
During his time in the SS, Hössler rose to the rank of SS-Obersturmführer and became a reserve officer in the Waffen-SS.[ After the establishment of the Dachau concentration camp in July 1933, he became the first member of the guard staff and worked later as a cook. He served at Dachau until after the outbreak of World War II.
Hössler was sent to Auschwitz in June 1940. On 28 June 1941 he accompanied a shipment of 575 inmates to a euthanasia clinic, where they were killed as part of Action 14f13. In June 1942 Hössler, Otto Moll and Hans Aumeier shot 168 survivors of a failed prisoner uprising.
After Auschwitz was officially made an extermination camp, Hössler assembled a Sonderkommando unit made up of Jewish prisoner functionaries that exhumed and burned the corpses of other Jews. The Sonderkommandos were invariably murdered in gas chambers after the action was complete. To conduct this disposal, Hössler and commandant Rudolf Höss visited the Chelmno camp to observe tests conducted by Paul Blobel.
According to camp doctor Johann Kremer, Hössler transported 1,703 Dutch Jews to the main camp from 30 August to 17 November 1942. During testimony at Hössler's trial Kremer recounted an incident in which Hössler transported around 1,600 Jews into a gas chamber. When he was unable to fit one of the Jews in he shot the man on the spot.
By 1943 Hössler had been promoted to one of the commanders of the Auschwitz women's camp, alongside Oberaufseherin Maria Mandel. In this role he was involved in selecting which Jews were to be sent to the gas chambers.
In January 1945 Auschwitz staff were evacuated to the Mittlebau-Dora camp in order to avoid being captured by the approaching Red Army. Under Richard Baer, Hössler was made camp leader of the Dora complex. On 5 April 1945, in order to escape from the advancing American army, Hössler and Hans Möser were ordered to evacuate the inmates to separate camps. Möser lead 3,000 prisoners to Ravensbruck whilst Hössler lead a death march to Belsen.
While at Belsen, Hössler worked directly in conjunction with Josef Kramer. He personally shot prisoners on numerous occasions. When Belsen was liberated on 15 April 1945, Hössler was arrested while trying to disguise himself as a prisoner. He was charged with crimes against humanity at the Belsen Trial alongside 44 other staff members. Hössler was convicted and sentenced to death by hanging. He was executed by Albert Pierrepoint on 13 December 1945.