Hanns and Rudolf

You are being taken to the mobile version of Hanns and Rudolf.

This is because you are either using a smaller screen or an older browser, to experience the full site, please use a modern browser on a larger screen.

✕
Hanns
and Rudolf
The German Jew and the Hunt for the Kommandant of Auschwitz

Welcome to hannsandrudolf.com, a digital collection of artefacts recounting the extraordinary true story of Hanns Alexander, the German Jewish investigator who pursued and captured Rudolf Höss, one of Nazi Germany’s most notorious war criminals. Featuring a wide range of exclusive material, including maps, audio and video files, and many previously unseen images, the website expands and augments the physical text in a unique and compelling way.

To use this site, simply click anywhere on the screen and drag. To view an image, click on it and when the ‘i’ appears, click on this to read more.
Explore
Explore the
Characters
  • All
  • Alfred Alexander
  • Anita Lasker
  • Ann
  • Bella
  • Cacilie
  • Elsie
  • Hanns
  • Hedwig
  • Henny
  • Kramer
  • Paul
  • Richard Glucks
  • Rudolf
" "
– submitted by {submitted_by}
►
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
►
i
►
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
i
Hanns
and Rudolf
The German Jew and the Hunt for the Kommandant of Auschwitz

Gauleiter Gustav Simon at a Luxembourg rally

August 1942

Gauleiter Gustav Simon at a Luxembourg rally. Simon joined the Nazi Party in its early days and quickly rose through the ranks. He was appointed regional leader ('Gauleiter') of Luxembourg after the German invasion of 1940.

Centre de Documentation et de Recherche sur la Res

Gauleiter Gustav Simon at a Luxembourg rally
August 1942
Gustav Simon was born in the city of Saarbrücken in 1900 to a railway bureaucrat father and a homemaker mother. He trained as a teacher, and joined the Nazi Party in 1925, rising rapidly through the ranks. He was appointed regional leader, or ‘Gauleiter’, of Koblenz by Hitler in 1931, and, following Germany’s invasion, regional leader of Luxembourg in 1940. Simon’s instructions were to dismantle the principality’s state apparatus, to ban the use of the French language, and to Germanise its people. Sometime in late 1940, Gustav Simon initiated a new programme: the deportation of the entire Jewish population of Luxembourg. Simon transported all Jews out of the country and declared Luxembourg to be Judenfrei. He was one of the only Nazi Gauleiters to claim his region had been 'cleansed'. Following the war’s end, Hanns successfully tracked down and arrested Simon.
Map
Return to all images

Subject filter
Mini-map ✕