Rudolf Hoess was the worst commandant of Auschwitz. After he was captured and sent to Poland for trial, he wrote an autobiography where he detailed his crimes. Hoess knew that he was going to be hung and wanted to go out as a "paragon of evil" rather than just another nameless Nazi bureaucrat. His autobiography is very interesting but a mixed blessing for historians. Rather than tell the simple truth (which was bad enough), Hoess exaggerated his crimes to make himself appear even more wicked (a major achievement). To this day no one knows exactly how many people were murdered at Auschwitz. Hoess would have us believe that it was about 3 million. However there is physical evidence such as the number of empty Zykon-B cans that would lead us to believe the number was smaller (roughly a million people). Neo-Nazis and Holocaust deniers have used this discrepancy to advance their own particular form of evil. Saddam's interrogation will no doubt reveal interesting information. However we should remain sceptical about anything he says.

Gary