Grandson of Auschwitz commander Rudolf Hoess, who criticized his family history, is a criminal, report claims

(JTA) — About a decade ago, Rainer Hoess began making media appearances to discuss the actions of his grandfather Rudolf, the longest-serving commander of the Auschwitz death camp.

Eloquent and unwavering, Hoess became a sensation, and outlets such as CNN and the Wall Street Journal prominently featured his reckoning with his family’s legacy. Eva Mozes Kor, a prominent Holocaust survivor who passed away in 2019 and preached forgiveness for Nazi war criminals, was particularly close with him. (Her son, Alex Kor, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that she cut ties with Hoess in 2015 because she had realized that “he had issues that were too complex.”)

According to an exposé published Friday in the Israeli paper Israel Hayom, Hoess, 55, has engaged in multiple fraud schemes over the years.