Death Is My Trade

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Death Is My Trade (French: La mort est mon métier) is a fictionalized biographical novel about Rudolf Höß (renamed Rudolf Lang in the book), written by Robert Merle (French author) and published in 1952 in France.

Rudolf Höß was the commandant of the concentration and extermination camp of Auschwitz during the Second World War.

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[edit] Summary

The story begins in 1923, when Rudolf Lang is 13 years old. His parents give him a harsh catholic education, which is very badly accepted by Rudolf. His unstable father, with whom the young Lang has an awkward relationship, wants Rudolf to become priest. At the age of fifteen, Lang starts his military career which eventually leads him to the post of commandant of Auschwitz in 1943. At first a concentration camp, then an extermination camp, the town of Auschwitz became the place where “this slow and clumsy creation of a death factory” occurs. Lang works hard to achieve his mission: kill as many Jews as possible and get rid of the bodies in the most efficient way. § [1]

[edit] The author’s work

Robert Merle utilizes Rudolf Höss’s testimonies written in jail after his trial as well as the court records of the Nuremberg trials.

“Every act done by Rudolf, was done out of viciousness but rather out of duty, out of loyalty to his commander, as a submission to an order, out of respect for the State. In short, as a “man of duty”; and it is precisely for this behavior that he is horrendous”. (Robert Merle, 27 April 1972)

In his book, Robert Merle renamed Rudolf Höß as Rudolf Lang, which was his nickname after his demobilization from the SS. In the same way, Adolf Eichmann was renamed Wulfslang, but he keeps his rank of Obersturmbannführer (Lieutenant Colonel).

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[edit] Notes

  1. ^ According to the preface written by Robert Merle
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