Rudolf Hoess Interviewed at Nuremberg
Rudolf Hoess Interviewed at Nuremberg
Those were my orders, and the way they came
Compelled belief and blind obedience.
I was to enlarge the camp, build workshops,
Drain the swamps, and establish farms. The camps
Already operating in the east
Were said to be too small, so I was sent
To learn from their mistakes, and make suggestions
That could improve the program’s execution.
We posted signs for them to read, and gave
Instructions, suggesting bathing was the purpose.
Attendants would accompany them inside,
And slip out just before the doors were shut.
This helped create a calm environment.
Yes, sometimes panic was a problem, but
Less and less so, as our technique improved.
The weather, wind, and temperature were factors.
The gas itself would vary in effectiveness.
Peek holes, installed in chambers I designed,
Eliminated any risk of finding
Signs of life when the doors were finally opened.
After the war, in hiding on that farm,
I would tend to the horses in the fields
Alone. I’d calm them with my touch, and feel
Their breath. Such peace I found in isolation.
The crematoriums were less efficient
Than the extermination chambers, and we
Fell behind. So we turned to open pits.
A layer of wood, a layer of corpses, alternating.
And when the fire was strong, we could omit
The wood, the other fuel was adequate
To keep it burning at the needed temperature.
But this was all a small part of my work.Rudolf Hoess was the commandant of Auschwitz. Captured too late to be indicted at Nuremberg, he was called as a witness, and later hanged by a Polish tribunal in 1947.
This poem is part of the series Interviews With Vampires. For more on Hoess, and the Nuremberg Trials, see Controlled Experiments on Social Pathology
If you like this poem, you might enjoy American Independence in Verse, now available for purchase.