Rudolf Höss

Rudolf Höss was a villain featured in the 2000 television movie Nuremberg. He was a Nazi who served as Commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp.

Höss was portrayed by Colm Feore, who also portrayed Giuliano della Rovere in The Borgias.

During the Nuremberg trials that followed the Second World War, Höss was brought in to testify by the defence. During cross examination by the prosecution Höss casually related how he studied execution methods, and how he figured out how to use Zyklon B to murder Jews at even a faster rate than the other camps were.

After giving his statement at the trial Höss was returned to custody. In part due to his testimony the Allied judges were able to convict some of the worst Nazi war criminals, sentencing many of them to either death or long prison sentences.

Trivia

 * The real Rudolf Höss was tried and convicted at the Supreme National Tribunal in Warsaw and hanged in 1947.