Kai Hoss takes to the stage every Sunday in a small church in Germany to share the message of salvation and God’s grace and forgiveness.
He is the lead pastor at the Bible Church of Stuttgart, a non-denominational church that serves the English-speaking international community as well as American service members and their families who are deployed to the region.
He is also the grandson of former Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss, who was a Nazi official. observed mass murder An estimated 1.1 million people, the majority of whom were Jews, were held in the notorious extermination camp in southern Poland.
Rudolf Höss, right, former Auschwitz commandant, with, from left, Richard Baer, commandant of Auschwitz, and Dr. Josef Mengele, during a retreat outside the camp in 1944. (Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images)
Rudolf Höss during the extradition of German officers and former Nazi officials by the International Military Tribunal to Polish authorities at Nuremberg Airport. (Ulstein Bild/Ulstein Bild via Getty Images)
Hoss spoke with Fox News Digital today from his home in Germany to share his thoughts on anti-Semitism and how he connects his Christian faith to that of his grandfather nearly 80 years ago.
He was raised in a non-Christian home with unbelieving parents, but his grandmother Caroline was a believer who “understood Christ” and the gospel.
“I thought she was really weird,” Hoss admitted.
He graduated from school, trained as a chef, joined the army And then studied hotel tourism management. He worked abroad for nearly 20 years and spent most of his time in big-name hotel chains like Sheraton and Shangri-La.
He said, “I was a young urban professional, loved myself, you know, Rolex, Golden Amex, Mr. Cool, went to the club every night. That was my life.”
Pastor Kai Hoss preaches at the Bible Church of Stuttgart in Germany. (Credit: Kai Hoss)
It wasn’t until a medical operation went wrong that he changed his life. He found a Bible in the hospital room, initially telling himself he would not read it, but he continued reading book after book.
He was rescued in Singapore in 1989. Hoss said, “God saved a wretched person like me, you know? And that’s what he does. And it never stops. His grace is abundant.”
The father of four speaks openly about his family’s past and his salvation and visits schools to share his story Speak out against anti-Semitism,
Hoess was in the sixth or seventh grade when he learned that Rudolf Hoess was his grandfather, which left him feeling deeply embarrassed.
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Rudolf Höss on March 31, 1947. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone via Getty Images)
“I didn’t tell people, ‘Hey, you know, I’m the grandson of the greatest mass murderer in the history of mankind,'” he told Fox News Digital. “So, I kept it quiet.”
After becoming a Christian, he was forced to share his grandfather’s dark legacy and share a message of forgiveness, grace, and reconciliation. He shared his testimony at the American military retreat in Germany, where he was embraced by a Jewish military officer whose family was murdered at Auschwitz.
“I started thinking, ‘How can I give something back? How can I do something’ – I know I can’t undo it. I can’t reverse history, but I thought, you know, I can do something. All I can do is love them and all I can do is preach the truth from God’s Word to Christians,” Hoss said.
Through Jesus Christ, they believe that God’s grace is capable of bringing salvation to even the darkest past.
When speaking to students in Germany, Hoss addresses anti-Semitism by making connections between the past and present, With particular reference to the First World WarI, the role of his grandfather and the power of hatred.
He explains the concept of social Darwinism, which was used by the Nazis to justify their belief in racial superiority. He explains how Darwin’s theory of evolution was misapplied to humans, leading to the idea that some races were “stronger” and more “superior” than others and thus superior to “weaker” races. Had the right to dominate or eliminate.
Hoss emphasizes that this false ideology fueled much of the hatred against Jews as well as other marginalized groups during World War II.
The Nazis select prisoners on the platform at the entrance to the Auschwitz-Birkenau extermination camp on May 27, 1944. (Yad Vashem Archives/AFP via Getty Images)
He connects his presentations today to social media platforms and, for example, how TikTok can be highly influential, especially with its short, emotionally charged clips. He warns students about the danger of being influenced by superficial or biased material, emphasizing the importance of thinking critically and consuming information “hook, line and sinker” without considering deeper truths or questioning the narrative. Do not swallow.
“one of my friends it’s called tiktok mentalityTikTok brain, you know, you get these endorphins, you get these, you know, little hormone surges every time you watch a short clip. Boom, boom, boom, boom, boom. And then it becomes so addictive, right? And people are filled with wrong ideas. They do not seek deeper truth. They don’t analyze,” he told Fox News Digital.
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Protesters gather at the gates of Columbia University in support of anti-Israel protesters who locked themselves in Hamilton Hall in New York City on April 30, 2024. (Reuters/David de Delgado)
Hoss, reacting to the anti-Israel protests that erupted on American college campuses following Hamas’ October 7 attack on southern Israel, noted how much support for violence on campuses comes from people acting emotionally, often historically. And are without complete understanding of politics. Complexities of the situation.
Julia Wax, law student at Georgetown University, Told “Fox & Friends” In the wake of October 7 that college campuses are “hostile environments” for Jewish students.
“People are scared to go to class. You have to sit next to classmates who are posting anti-Semitic rhetoric, who are promoting rallies that spew anti-Semitic rhetoric. People are scared, and universities are not doing their role.” Acting, and they’re not stepping up, and they’re staying silent,” Wax said.
Hoss told Fox News Digital that he heard people chanting “From river to sea,” But if you ask them what that river or sea is, “they have no idea.” “They want to be a part of something. They feel good about it. They get the core message, the narrative. They’ve never really questioned both sides of the coin, so they don’t really have the full information. They’re not really interested because, again, it’s an emotional reaction.”
Anti-Israel protesters at Columbia University. (Fox News)
He criticized how people motivated by ideologies or emotional narratives can turn hatred into action, leading to harm and violence against others.
“We get infiltrated by thoughts, ideologies, thoughts, feelings. And then we start doing everything for it. We go right there, and we turn these thoughts into actions. And one of them is hate. And that’s exactly what hatred turns into bloodshed. we look at the campusesWe see that people are willing to go out and do bad things for this idea. I mean, [they] Don’t assume that this Jewish person is, you know, a normal person just like them,” Hoss said.
“He’s made of flesh and blood, right? He’s a student. He’s just a normal person. And here I am to hate someone because a government somewhere on the other side of the planet did something, you know? And what Whatever happened right? Probably not, you know, in that whole conflict there,” he said, referring to the Israel-Hamas war. “I’m hoping they’re going to come to a point now where this whole thing will slow down and people can help.”
Hoss pointed out how much support for violence on campuses comes from people who often act emotionally, without a full understanding of the situation. (Getty Images)
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Hoss and his father traveled to Auschwitz three years ago while they were filming the HBO documentary “The Commandant’s Shadow.” They meet Holocaust survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch in her home and learn about Rudolf Höss’s murderous past.
“We pray for him,” he said. “And I feel very privileged and grateful, humbled that we were allowed to go there and my father and I were allowed to go there and just see him and spend time with him. A person who lived in that concentration camp where my grandfather “Suffered a lot under the cruel, cruel system of.”
Hoss plans to speak at a synagogue in Freiburg, Germany, in January as part of memorial services for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.
,[It’s] An amazing opportunity to speak and be a part of something like that,” he told Fox News Digital.
