As the second world war came to an end the true crimes of the nazi regime would become unveiled as the allies would capture more territory and liberate many different concentration camps it would be the red army who would liberate the largest nazi concentration camp auschwitz on the 27th of january 1945.

within the walls over a million people have been murdered and over seven thousand prisons remain left behind at the camp the crimes that would be uncovered following auschwitz’s liberation and the other camps would shock the world and would cement the third reich as one of the most evil regimes ever to have existed after the second world war had drawn to a conclusion in europe a number of the perpetrators of the holocaust were brought to justice and one of these men was rudolf hearst the longest servant commandant of auschwitz he would finally succumb to justice himself in 1947 inside his own former camp join us today as we look at the justified execution of rudolf hurst the commandant of auschwitz remember to support our channel please make sure to subscribe rudolf hurst would join the nazi party in 1922 following hearing a speech from hitler in munich and he would participate in brutal acts under the guise of the party he would be part of a group who would beat a schoolteacher to death who martin bowman wished dead but hearst was tried as a ringleader and was sentenced to 10 years in prison he was known for being a rather violent man and after his release he married and had five children hearse had become acquainted with heinrich himmler and joined the ss on the 1st of april 1934 moving to the death’s heads unit hurts would idolise himmler and he even preferred the head of the ss to hitler himself hearth was first assigned to dachau concentration camp in december 1934 and would work there as a block leader after promotion within the ss to captain he would become an adjutant to hermann baranovsky at saxonhausen who was involved in the leadership of the camp at saxon housing he would lead the firing squad and it would be hers who led the execution of august stickman the first conscientious objector to be executed after the war began on the 15th of september 1939.

hearst even fired the finishing deadly shot from his pistol he would then transfer to the waffen-ss in 1939 after the germans invaded poland and he was rather fought off within this organization and recommended for promotion on the first of may 1940 hurst would begin the role in which he would be most famous for he was appointed commandant to a prison camp in western poland and the camp had been built around an old army barracks and was named auschwitz hurst would go on to command the camp for three years and he turned the camp into a huge expansive complex known as auschwitz-birkenau concentration camp he had been briefed to create a transition camp for ten thousand prisoners from the existing buildings but he had different ideas he wanted to create the most efficient camp he could certainly more efficient than what he had seen in the past hurst would even move into auschwitz himself inside a villa along with his wife and children and would despite his horrific work in organizing mass murder live a relatively normal home life auschwitz at its peak would be made up of three different facilities and it was served by many sub-camps the whole camp was built on around twenty thousand acres with auschwitz one being the main admin center auschwitz ii birkenau being the extermination camp and auschwitz-free monowitz being the slave labor camp for german industrial conglomerates hearth would secretly meet with him in june 1941 after hearing about the order for the final solution himmler had chosen hertz’s camp panschfitz for the extermination of europe’s jewish population due to its easy access by rail and also because of the huge site they’ve been set up the project was described as secret and hers began to develop and test different ways of massacring as many people as possible in the most efficient way auschwitz would become the most efficient instrument in the holocaust and the camp would develop further to become even more efficient in its method of killing hurst would experiment with different methods of gassing prisoners in order to kill the most people as quick as he could and during his reign as commandant he would oversee the deaths of hundreds of thousands after his arrest he would state i myself never knew the total number and i have nothing to help me arrive at an estimate i can only remember the figures involved in the larger actions from upper silesia in the general government 250 000 germany a hundred thousand holland ninety five thousand belgium twenty thousand france a hundred and ten thousand greece sixty five thousand hungary 400 000 and slovakia 90 000.

this brings his total of killings to 1.

1 million he would then say i can no longer remember the figures for the smaller actions i regard a total of 2.

5 million deaths as far too high even auschwitz had its limits to its destructive capabilities hertz would be removed from auschwitz in 1943 after he had an affair with an inmate and this could have resulted in him being relieved from command he would return on the 8th of may 1944 to oversee operation hearse in which 430 000 hungarian jews were transported to auschwitz and executed in just 56 days the sheer number and volume was so huge that the camp struggled logistically to deal with the genocide with thousands of bodies being burned in open pits hearts would then finish his career at ravensbrook organizing organising the gatineer prisoners within that camp he would be arrested in march 1946 despite attempting to bite a cyanide pill and he would be called to testify the nuremberg trials being called as a defense witness by the lawyer of ernst kartenbrunner he would reveal that he estimated two and a half million were executed at auschwitz during his time in command of the camp with the figure representing around 70 to 80 of all those who were sent to the camp whilst he was accused of murdering three and a half million people he said now only two and a half million the rest died from disease and starvation hearts would be handed over to the polish authorities who would try him for murder whilst in prison he would write about his experiences and he would write how he’d been mistreated by the british whilst held in captivity during his trial he was calm and controlled and he knew what fate would await him at the end of the trial he would ask to send his wedding ring to his wife and the court would announce its verdict sentencinghurst to death by hanging on april 2nd 1947.

the day after the verdict was passed former prisoners of auschwitz would ask the court for the execution of rudolph hearth to take place on the grounds of his own concentration camp it was scheduled for the 14th of april however had to be postponed as it was feared that local residents would attempt to lynch hearse when he was being taken to his site of execution instead the date of his execution was moved back to the 16th of april the gallows had been made by german prisoners of war with a trapdoor fitted into it hearst arrived at auschwitz for his execution at 8 am and was taken to the building that once housed his office he asked for a cup of coffee and after he’d finished this he was taken to a cell in block 11 the death block of auschwitz at ten o’clock he was led out to his execution he was calm and strolled confidently throughout the camp he had once oversaw and he walked towards the gallows his hands were handcuffed and restrained behind his back and the executioners had to help him climb onto a stall which the stool had been placed above the trap door a priest father zaremba approached hearse who stood on the stall and then the prosecutor read out the sentence the executioner then placed the noose around hurst’s neck her son adjusted it with a movement of his head and then the hangman pulled out the stall from below the former commandant of auschwitz his body struck the trap door which opened and hearst was left hanging the priest began to recite a prayer for the condemned and dying the execution occurred at 1008 am and at 10 21 he was pronounced dead by a physician curse was probably cremated with his remains being scattered in an unknown location hearse four days before his execution would realize the huge crimes he had committed writing as commandant of auschwitz i was responsible for carrying out part of the cruel plans of the third reich for human destruction it was this human destruction that was placed in the forefront of his mind when he came to expand and roll over one of the most inhumane and despicable places on earth auschwitz he was an intensely cruel man whose crimes and legacy would write him in the history books as one of the most evil men in the history of the holocaust rudolph hearst would finally get his comeuppance in the place in which he inflicted so much horror and suffering onto the world once again thanks for watching to support our channel please make sure to subscribe and once again thank you so much for watching