The passage below contains testimony from the commander of auschwitz, given at a war crimes trial in 1946.dr. kaufmann: is it furthermore true that eichmann stated to you that in auschwitz a total sum of more than 2 million jews had been destroyed? hãss: yes. dr. kaufmann: did you yourself ever feel pity with the victims, thinking of your own family and children? hãss: yes. dr. kaufmann: how was it possible for you to carry out these actions in spite of this? hãss: in view of all these doubts which i had, the only one and decisive argument was the strict order and the reason given for it by the reichsfã¼hrer himmler. how did rudolf hã¶ss defend his actions to the court?