SS

Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

-Obersturmführer

Obersturmführer

Obersturmführer was a paramilitary rank of the Nazi party that was used by the SS and also as a rank of the SA. Translated as “Senior Assault Leader”, the rank of Obersturmführer was first created in 1932 as the result of an expansion of the Sturmabteilung and the need for an additional rank in...

Franz Hössler (February 4, 1906 – December 13, 1945) was a German Nazi concentration camp officer, notorious for his crimes at Auschwitz concentration camp

Auschwitz concentration camp

Concentration camp Auschwitz was a network of Nazi concentration and extermination camps built and operated by the Third Reich in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany during World War II...

 and Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...

.

Early Life

Hössler was born somewhere in Oberdorf

Oberdorf

-Austria:*Oberdorf am Hochegg, in the district of Feldbach in Styria.*Oberdorf im Burgenland, in the district of Oberwart in Burgenland.- Switzerland :*Oberdorf, Basel-Landschaft*Oberdorf, Nidwalden*Oberdorf, Solothurn...

, Germany. During the The Great Depression in 1931 he joined the Nazi Party and the SS

Schutzstaffel

The Schutzstaffel |Sig runes]]) was a major paramilitary organization under Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party. Built upon the Nazi ideology, the SS under Heinrich Himmler's command was responsible for many of the crimes against humanity during World War II...

. During the early days of the Second World War

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, in 1941, he was assigned to select more than 500 disabled prisoners and to transport them to the gas chambers at Sonnenstein Euthanasia Centre, a euthanasia

Euthanasia

Euthanasia refers to the practice of intentionally ending a life in order to relieve pain and suffering....

 center for the disabled during the infamous T-4 Euthanasia Programme.

Auschwitz

At Auschwitz, Hössler held the title of Schutzhaftlagerführer. Together with Otto Moll

Otto Moll

Otto Moll was an SS-Hauptscharführer and part of the staff at Auschwitz. Born in Hohenschonberg, Germany on March 4, 1915 and was executed on May 28, 1946 in Landsberg am Lech....

 and Hans Aumeier

Hans Aumeier

Hans Aumeier was a Nazi war criminal, an SS-Sturmbannführer and the deputy commandant of Auschwitz concentration camp.-Life before the War:...

, he took part in the killing of the 168 survivors of the uprising of the punishment company in June 1942. He also participated in the gassings in the old crematorium in the Stammlager. During the same year, he supervised the disinterment of more than 100,000 corpses to empty the mass graves and incinerate them. This task took five months. Hössler was also responsible for the gassing of 1,600 Belgian Jews

Jews

The Jews , also known as the Jewish people, are a nation and ethnoreligious group originating in the Israelites or Hebrews of the Ancient Near East. The Jewish ethnicity, nationality, and religion are strongly interrelated, as Judaism is the traditional faith of the Jewish nation...

 in October 1942. The incident was described in the diary of Johann Kremer

Johann Kremer

Dr Johann Paul Kremer served in the SS in the Auschwitz concentration camp as a physician during World War II, from 30 August 1942 to 18 November 1942....

, a former SS physician

Physician

A physician is a health care provider who practices the profession of medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring human health through the study, diagnosis, and treatment of disease, injury and other physical and mental impairments...

.

Filip Müller

Filip Müller

Filip Müller was one of very few Sonderkommandos to have survived Auschwitz, the largest Nazi German extermination camp....

, one of the very few Sonderkommando

Sonderkommando

Sonderkommandos were work units of Nazi death camp prisoners, composed almost entirely of Jews, who were forced, on threat of their own deaths, to aid with the disposal of gas chamber victims during The Holocaust...

 members who survived Auschwitz, paraphrased Hössler's speech given to trick a group of Greek Jews in the undressing room at the portals of the gas chambers:

"On behalf of the camp administration I bid you welcome. This is not a holiday resort but a labor camp. Just as our soldiers risk their lives at the front to gain victory for the Third Reich Nazi Germany Nazi Germany , also known as the Third Reich , but officially called German Reich from 1933 to 1943 and Greater German Reich from 26 June 1943 onward, is the name commonly used to refer to the state of Germany from 1933 to 1945, when it was a totalitarian dictatorship ruled by... , you will have to work here for the welfare of a new Europe. How you tackle this task is entirely up to you. The chance is there for every one of you. We shall look after your health, and we shall also offer you well-paid work. After the war we shall assess everyone according to his merits and treat him accordingly." "Now, would you please all get undressed. Hang your clothes on the hooks we have provided and please remember your number [of the hook]. When you've had your bath there will be a bowl of soup and coffee or tea for all. Oh yes, before I forget, after your bath, please have ready your certificates, diplomas, school reports and any other documents so that we can employ everybody according to his or her training and ability." "Would diabetics who are not allowed sugar report to staff on duty after their baths".

In 1943, Hössler was transferred to the women's camp of Auschwitz and he was instructed to supervise the gassings.

Bergen-Belsen

After the liberation of Auschwitz on January 27, 1945, he moved to Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...

 on April 8. In Belsen

Bergen-Belsen concentration camp

Bergen-Belsen was a Nazi concentration camp in Lower Saxony in northwestern Germany, southwest of the town of Bergen near Celle...

, he directly shot prisoners until the liberation of the camp, which led to his arrest within the month. At the Belsen Trial

Belsen Trial

The Belsen Trial was one of several trials that the Allied occupation forces conducted against former officials and functionaries of Nazi Germany after the end of World War II...

, Hössler was found guilty of crimes against humanity and of perpetrating the Holocaust.