Rudolf Höß, commandant of the German Auschwitz concentration camp, was extradited to Poland in May 1946. On the 11th of March 1947 he appeared before the Supreme National Tribunal.
Rudolf Höß, photo: Wikipedia
The process itself took about three weeks. The venue of the trial was the hall of the Polish Teachers' Union at ul. Smulikowski 6/8, where the trial of the Governor of the Warsaw District, Ludwig Fischer and his associates, took place earlier.
The chairman of the Supreme Court and the Supreme National Tribunal was Dr. Alfred Eimer, there were two prosecutors, Tadeusz Cyprian and Mieczysław Siewierski. 85 witnesses testified. The process was observed by, among others, many journalists and representatives of associations of camp prisoners from many countries.
During the trial, Höß explained how the camp was built and how the extermination process was created. He admitted that he was one of the people responsible for implementing the Final Solution and for the extermination of hundreds of thousands of Jews. However, he refused to show remorse, explaining that at that time he believed his actions were right.
On 2nd of April 1947, Rudolf Höß was sentenced to death. On 16th of April of the same year, the sentence was carried out in the Auschwitz camp, which was once subordinate to the criminal.
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