In his own words - a vivid, horrific, and unflinching look into the mind of the Auschwitz commandant While awaiting execution after the war, Rudolf Hoess - the reviled SS commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp - wrote a lengthy account of his life and what some might call his approaches to management. Amoral, self-serving, and utterly without remorse, his words are still almost beyond belief today, Now, acclaimed writer Jurg Amann has distilled Hoess's memoir into an illuminating new work. The Commandant is a book Hoess would certainly not have approved - a chilling insight into Hitler's final Solution and the nature of evil itself. Ian Buruma's incisive afterword sets this frightening excerpt within a broader moral and historical context.