Auschwitz and Absolution : The Case of the Commandment and the Confessor

Few people know that in the face of his execution, the notorious Rudolf Höss, the Commandant for Auschwitz, met with a Polish Jesuit priest, Fr. Wladyslaw Lohn. Höss made a confession to Fr. Lohn for approximately four hours, and from Fr. Lohn he received communion. This compelling account of a secret and sacramental meeting not only tells what happened, but offers what amounts to either a critical challenge to, or celebration of, Christian notions of forgiveness. We have access to Höss’s c...