What a book

It was interesting to hear the point of view of someone like Rudolf Hoess... the book is based around his life, the letters to his family and the people that he interacted with.
he explains that his is no author, but it's hard to draw any conclusions from what he wrote... would recommend to people as it gives an overview of what it was like in the camps

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1 person found this helpful

Master of death

Frightened to think this atrocity allowed to happen in the 20th century not so long ago and so close to home

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A harrowing account

it's difficult to comprehend the scale of the killing. Hoess is at pains to tell the reader that he never mistreated prisoners. how he punished guards who abused those in their care. He then nonchalantly describes the murder of 2.5 million people, before repeating he tried his best to improve the lot if those prisoners who were needed for work. The book is very detailed and it makes one wonder how he remembered all those details while sat in a cell. that then begs the question to the authenticity to some or all of the book.

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3 people found this helpful

Sad as usual but insightful.

Every read regarding the holocaust is always sad and every book helps to offer more insight and this book captures the events very well.

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1 person found this helpful

haunting book

really enjoyed this book a real eye opener to how the Germans at that time worked

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story of a monster

First of all to be honest I skipped a few chapter when he was telling how other SS officers did not function well and actually hinderhis work and stopped him making things better for his prisoners. I felt sick to hear him sort of praising himself for wanting to make things better for the prisoners. I have read a lot about WW11 and have visited Aushwitz so have seen how 'better' things were. In fact I feel the only time he sounded a bit human were in the letters to his wife and children. The book is interesting partly because you wonder how someone can be a family man and still murder so many.

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23 people found this helpful

Fascinating

Be away that this is not entirely made up of memoirs but is elongated with interviews and associated documents etc. Still an fantastic listen and well worth it for anyone interested in history.

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Simply chilling!

Any additional comments?

Rudolph Hoess was a willing functionary in a system that intended to exterminate an entire ethnic group, but we must never forget that such functionaries require many, many more willing colleagues to complete their despicable task.

The lessons of the Holocaust have not been learnt sadly, so we need to keep revisiting our past so that eventually we learn to cease such barbarism.

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2 people found this helpful

brilliant a really good book

a must read book it was brilliant I could not put it down excellent a grate insight to the life of hoss

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Chilling, hugely historically important but not well narrated

To hear from the man who presided over the biggest killing factory the world has ever seen is quite chilling but incredibly important as a piece of history. But, if you’re going to have an Englishman speaking German names and places can you please, for the love of god, ensure he can pronounce them correctly?

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