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40 Fascinating Facts About the Relatives of Nazis After WWII

Khalid Elhassan March 14, 2019 24 min

35. Rainer Hoess

Rudolf Hoess’ grandson, Rainer, holding up a family photo. The Telegraph

No grave marks Rudolph Hoess’ final resting place, but if there was one, his grandson Rainer Hoess has no doubt what he would do if he came across it: “I would spit on it“. Growing up, Rainer’s father and Rudolph Hoess’ son Hans-Jurgen had dismissed the allegations against the Auschwitz Kommandant as fake news and victor’s justice. Rainer became the only Hoess descendant to publicly denounce the family’s most infamous member. For that, he is viewed as a traitor by his relatives. Undaunted, Rainer speaks at dozens of schools each year, warning children about far-right parties and the kinds of people they produce – like his grandfather.

Written by

Khalid Elhassan

A lifelong history buff, I developed a particular passion for WW2 history as a child, when I spent hours listening to my grandfather, enraptured, as he recounted his wartime experiences in the British East African Campaign and with the British 8th Army in North Africa.

I graduated with a history BA from George Mason University, then went on to get a JD from the University of Virginia School of Law. After lawyering for a decade, I moved to sunny Rio de Janeiro and a less demanding career, opening a tourism agency in Copacabana.

A big chunk of my free time is spent blogging (you can follow me on Quora https://www.quora.com/profile/Khalid-Elhassan ) or freelance writing, mostly about my favorite subject, history.