• The Master of Auschwitz:

  • Memoirs of Rudolf Hoess, Kommandant SS
  • By: Rudolf Hoess
  • Narrated by: Tim Dalgleish
  • Length: 13 hrs and 56 mins
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars (302 ratings)

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The Master of Auschwitz:  By  cover art

The Master of Auschwitz:

By: Rudolf Hoess
Narrated by: Tim Dalgleish
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Publisher's summary

The first-hand account of the life, career, and the practices of horror at Auschwitz, written by Auschwitz Kommandant SS Rudolf Hoss as he awaited execution for his crimes. Including his psychological interviews at Nuremberg.

©2016 Stephen R. Pastore (P)2016 Stephen R. Pastore

What listeners say about The Master of Auschwitz:

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The Banality of Evil…a Memoir

This is a tough book to review. It’s the personal story of the sociopath who ran Auschwitz and was the guy who dreamed up the gas chambers that were used in the annihilation of something over 2 Million people. I’ve read a lot of WWII material and probably more than is healthy around the Holocaust…I’ve even sat through all nine and a half hours of the documentary Shoa which is a mind twisting first person retelling of the holocaust. So I thought I’d heard much of the story of Auschwitz. Apparently not. Bear in mind that this is his story told by him whist waiting to be executed for war crimes. It reveals a great deal of his life story. He was clearly raised a sociopath with no ability to empathize (check out The Sociopath next door on Audible). He recalls how he devised, expanded and ran the death camp which started as a small barracks in the middle of nowhere and became perhaps the greatest stain on the soul of the twentieth century. Against this madness he portrays himself as a mild mannered family man who loved his wife and children and worked to ease the suffering of the prisoners in our care.

Although he oversaw the mass extinction and was present at many of the gassings he claims never to have raised his hand against a prisoner….which means either he is lying or Thomas Keneally (author of Schindler’s Ark) invented the sadistic fornicating monster who was the master of Auschwitz. His self-aggrandizing, self-exculpatory telling has him as the mild mannered would be farmer who was simply “acting under orders” and cared deeply for the wellbeing of his victims. Even through this filter the details of the breathtaking evil he presided over are painfully clear.

If you are a WWII or holocaust completest this is a must read. It’s horrifying but well performed. It’s actually quite compelling in many places. Perhaps the most horrifying aspect is the sheer banality of the entire process. Nobody seemed particularly at odds with the idea that entire groups of humanity should be obliterated and the Teutonic attention to the detail of mass homicide may rob you of sleep. There were five thousand Germans directly involved with the process at Auschwitz...yet nobody knew anything? Hearing him complain about the variable quality of the Zyklon-B they were given which meant that sometimes it took closer to 30 minutes to kill a room full of humans rather than the usual 10-15 minutes is just one hair raising example.

It’s hard to recommend something as disturbing as this book. It’s very good…but very dark. However some of the lessons it teaches about how evil thrives where the good do nothing is one which unfortunately has stood the test of time. So donate to the ACLU, Planned Parenthood and the Red Cross, then hug your children…then read this book.

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58 people found this helpful

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WOW

The mind- boggling insight into the head of a man who loves his wife and children .... yet send not tens of thousands .... but multiple MILLIONS OF FAMILIES to there death .... and feels justified in doing so is .... IM SHOCKED AND UNSETTLED ! Humans are NOT a civilized species !

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20 people found this helpful

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Hindsight. Not 20/20

If you are even looking at this title I assume you've had some background reading on ww2 the third Reich and the SS KZ System. The memoirs of Höss are valuable for two primary reasons: 1. he was among the closest to the atrocities of WW2 Germany and provides details and POV that only he can; 2. his account shows the flaws and self deception used to make tidy the horrors of genocide. It's very clear from reading other accounts that Höss wasnt just a victim of circumstance and patriotism. He was a leader and so admits it. He says he never personally abused an inmate and that he never knew of any institutional abuse. While he may not have whipped a prisoner he readily set up firing squads and built Zyklon B gas chambers to kill millions. That said it's hard not to have a modicum of sympathy for this perpetrator if not for the farewell made to his family.

This is a good listen. There are some mispronunciations of German but it's not too jarring.

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9 people found this helpful

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Deeply Disturbing, yet instructional tale

If you are squeamish, I would not recommend this book. But for those history buffs and psychology enthusiasts who want to, this book is for you. A deeply disturbing, yet instructional tale, it dives into the mind of the greatest mass murderer in history. Most of the Nazi mass murderers didn't leave writings. But this one did. And it's a fascinating look at how one man rationalized his role in the murder of millions.

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8 people found this helpful

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Music

The production music was incredibly awful. Good narration and great story, but for the love of God, ditch the music.

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7 people found this helpful

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Musical interludes

Horrific interesting memoir- musical interludes between each chapter unnecessary and incredibly annoying - annoying enough to make one grind their teeth!

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5 people found this helpful

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Difficult to listen to.

The narrator did a fantastic job. This book us a very important read. That being said, it is so very hard to listen. to without feeling so heartbroken for the victims. It's almost difficult to give a fair rating.

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4 people found this helpful

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Ramblings of a delusional sociopath

I wish I had the credit back. The narration was fine, could have done without the creepy music and bells that started, and abruptly cutoff, between chapters.
Hoss had an incredible memory for mundane and intricate details, yet had no emotion, no guilt, no remorse (other than "well, the war's over and we got caught and now I see that the world thinks we were wrong about the extermination camps, and the whole Jewish situation, but I was just following orders). And then he turns around and says he wouldn't mistreat a prisoner and he didn't like the conditions at the camp, but oversaw mass executions and burials and digging up bodies and burning them. But he considered himself a nice guy! I've read much better Holocaust memoirs than this.

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The Music! Oh My!

After studying the Holocaust for over 30 years, I was really interested in listening to this particular book because the perspective from the Kommandant of Auschwitz is obviously going to be quite different from survivor stories I usually read. Unfortunately, I usually listen to audio books while falling asleep & there's just no way for me to get through it. The music is more disturbing than the book cover!

Though the music at the beginning of each chapter does put you in the right mindset because it's so incredibly evil & creepy sounding, but I wish it wasn't played before each chapter because I kept waking up freaking out hearing something so disturbing!

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3 people found this helpful

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Wow

Bonechilling story. This audiobook was very long but well worth all of my time. I would recommend it to anyone interested in the subject matter.

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3 people found this helpful