Himmler had selected Auschwitz for this purpose, he said, "on account of its easy access by rail and also because the extensive site offered space for measures ensuring isolation". ![]() Himmler told Höss that Hitler had given the order for the physical extermination of Europe’s Jews. In June 1941, according to Höss’s trial testimony, he was summoned to Berlin for a meeting with Reichsführer-SS Heinrich Himmler "to receive personal orders". Farbenindustrie AG, and later other German industries. Auschwitz I was the administrative centre for the complex Auschwitz II Birkenau was the extermination camp, where most of the killing took place and Auschwitz III Monowitz the slave labour camp for I.G. At its peak, Auschwitz was three separate facilities: Auschwitz I Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Auschwitz III-Monowitz, including many satellite sub-camps, and was built on about 8,000 ha (20,000 acres) that had been cleared of all inhabitants. The earliest inmates at Auschwitz were Polish prisoners, including peasants and intellectuals, and Soviet prisoners-of-war. In 1938 he was promoted to SS-Hauptsturmführer (captain) and was made adjutant to Hermann Baranowski in the Sachsenhausen concentration camp. In his autobiography, Höss claimed that he disliked the corporal punishment carried out by the guards of the camps on the prisoners, but when he saw his first execution it did not affect him as much he could not explain why that was.
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