Rudolf Franz Ferdinand Höss (also
Höß,
Hoeß or
Hoess; 25 November 1901 – 16 April 1947) was
SS-
Obersturmbannführer and the longest serving
commandant of
Auschwitz concentration camp in World War II. He tested and carried into effect various methods to accelerate Hitler's plan to systematically exterminate the Jewish population of
Nazi-occupied Europe, known as the
Final Solution. Höss introduced pesticide
Zyklon B containing
hydrogen cyanide to the killing process, thereby allowing soldiers at Auschwitz to murder 2,000 people every hour. He created the largest installation for the continuous annihilation of human beings ever known.