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Franz Hößler (also known as Franz Hössler), born on February 4, 1906, in Oberdorf, German Empire (now part of Martinszell im Allgäu, Schwabenland), was an SS officer in Nazi Germany, holding the rank of SS-Obersturmführer. He was the son of a construction foreman, dropped out of school early to work as a photographer and warehouse worker, but was unemployed during the Great Depression in the 1930s. Hößler joined the Nazi Party (NSDAP, membership number 1,374,713) in early November 1932 and the SS (membership number 41,940) shortly thereafter. He was married and had three children. From 1933 to 1945, Hößler advanced through the SS ranks and became a reserve officer in the Waffen-SS.
Hößler’s path of crimes began at Dachau concentration camp in July 1933, where he was one of the first guards and worked as a cook until after the outbreak of World War II. By June 1940, he was transferred to Auschwitz I, receiving the first mass transports of prisoners. There, Hößler managed the camp kitchen and occasionally served as a sub-camp supervisor (Kommandoführer). In early 1941, he became the Labor Service Leader (Arbeitsdienstführer).
With the expansion of Auschwitz-Birkenau into an extermination camp in 1942, Hößler took on key roles, becoming the true “manager of hell.” From September to November 1942, he commanded a Sonderkommando brigade (special unit) of prisoners responsible for exhuming 107,000 bodies from mass graves around Auschwitz I to burn them in the new crematoria at Auschwitz II. Most prisoners in this unit were killed afterward. In preparation, Hößler visited the Chelmno extermination camp on September 16, 1942, along with Rudolf Höß and Walter Dejaco to observe Paul Blobel’s experiments. He also worked at the old crematorium in Auschwitz I, supervising gassings in bunkers. SS camp doctor Johann Kremer recorded in his diary on October 12, 1942, that Hößler led the gassing of about 1,703 Dutch Jews, attempting to cram them into a single bunker and shooting the last one who didn’t fit with a pistol; Kremer described the scene as “horrific” and emphasized Hößler’s role.
Hößler was deeply involved in selecting prisoners for the gas chambers, supervising forced labor in the crematoria, and mass killings. He witnessed and directed the cremation of bodies, systematically turning humans into ashes. In mid-1943, he recruited “Aryan” female prisoners for the newly opened camp brothel at Auschwitz I, promising better food and care. Promoted to Schutzhaftlagerführer (protective custody camp leader) at the women’s camp in Auschwitz-Birkenau in August 1943, he commanded alongside Oberaufseherin Maria Mandl, participating in selections and gassings. Survivor Filip Müller recounted Hößler’s deceptive speech to Greek Jews in the undressing room before the gas chamber, welcoming them to the “labor camp” and promising jobs, medical care, while instructing them to undress, remember hook numbers, and prepare documents after “showering.” Hößler also participated in the liquidation of ghettos and the deportation of Hungarians, contributing to the deaths of hundreds of thousands of victims.
From March 15 to May 15, 1944, Hößler served as camp commander (KZ-Kommandant) at Neckarelz, a sub-camp of Natzweiler-Struthof in occupied France. After the Allied invasion in June 1944, he returned to the main Auschwitz as Schutzhaftlagerführer until the camp’s evacuation in January 1945. As the Red Army approached, SS personnel evacuated to Mittelbau-Dora (Mittelwerk), where Hößler again served as Schutzhaftlagerführer under Richard Baer. On April 5, 1945, as the U.S. 3rd Armored Division approached, he led the prisoner evacuation by train to Bergen-Belsen, followed by a death march.
On April 8, 1945, Hößler arrived at Bergen-Belsen as deputy commander under Josef Kramer. There, he personally shot prisoners until the camp’s liberation. On April 15, 1945, he was discovered hiding among prisoners in disguise and captured by the British Army, along with other SS personnel forced to bury thousands of bodies in mass graves.
Captured by the Allies, Hößler was charged with war crimes at the first Bergen-Belsen Trial (Belsen Trial) by a British military court in Lüneburg from September to November 1945. Survivor Anita Lasker testified to his involvement in selections for the gas chambers. Convicted, he was sentenced to death by hanging on November 17, 1945. The sentence was carried out by British executioner Albert Pierrepoint on December 13, 1945, at Hamelin Prison in occupied Germany. Hößler’s death marked the end for one of the Nazi regime’s most brutal killers, but his legacy of crimes remains a reminder of the horrors of the Holocaust.