An extraordinary & unique document Hoess was in charge of the huge extermination camp in Poland where the Nazis murdered some three million Jews from the time of its creation (he was responsible for building it) in 1940 until late in 1943 by which time the mass exterminations were half completed Before this he had worked in other concentration camps & afterwards he was at the Inspectorate in Berlin He thus knew more both at first-hand & as an administrator about Nazi Germany's greatest crime than did any save two or three other men Taken prisoner by the British he was handed over to the Poles tried sentenced to death & taken back to Auschwitz & there hanged During the period between his trial & his execution he was ordered to write his autobiography This is it Hoess repeatedly says he was glad to write the book He enjoyed the work & finally the most careful checking has shown that he took great pains to tell the truth Here we have painted by his own hand a vivid & unforgettable self-portrait of one of the great monsters of all time To this are added portraits of some of his more spectacular fellow-criminals The royalties from this macabre but historically important book go to the fund set up to help the few survivors from the Auschwitz camps