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New Documentary Traces Auschwitz Commandant’s Son as He Reckons With His Father’s Past
Hans Jürgen Höss (left), the 87-year-old son of Rudolf Höss, with his own son in a scene from “The Commandant’s Shadow.” Photo: YouTube screenshot
A trailer debuted on Monday for a new documentary about the son of the commandant of Auschwitz coming to terms with his father’s notorious legacy and his own childhood growing up next door to the Nazi death camp in Poland.
The Commandant’s Shadow follows 87-year-old Hans Jürgen Höss, whose late father, Rudolf Höss, was the camp commandant of Auschwitz during World War II and helped oversee the murder of over 1 million Jews during the Holocaust. Höss’s family life inspired the recent Academy Award-winning film The Zone of Interest, but while that film fictionalized the family’s story, The Commandant’s Shadow details the lives of the real people who lived on site at Höss’s death camp.
Hans Jurgen Höss says in the film that he had a “really lovely and idyllic childhood” growing up next door to the Auschwitz concentration camp, while Jews suffered in the extermination camp nearby. The film also introduces viewers to Jewish Auschwitz survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch and the historic moment, eight decades after the Holocaust, when she meets the son of the Auschwitz commandant face-to-face. The film additionally features original excerpts of Rudolf Höss’s autobiography, which was written not long before his execution.
The elder Höss was captured by the British after World War II, testified in the Nuremberg Trials, and sentenced to death. He was ordered to write his autobiography in the weeks between his trial and his execution, which took place in Auschwitz. He was hanged in 1947 in the courtyard next to the former gas chambers.
Filmmaker Daniela Völker spent four years writing, producing, and directing The Commandant’s Shadow, which she started developing during the COVID-19 lockdown in 2020.
The Commandant’s Shadow will be released in theaters across the US on May 29, with an encore presentation the following day, as part of a partnership between Fathom Events and Warner Bros. Pictures. Screenings will be available in more than 500 theaters. Tickets are on sale online from Fathom Events and participating theater box offices.
“This documentary is an incredible look at the reality of Auschwitz through the eyes of those who experienced it in very different ways,” said Ray Nutt, CEO of Fathom Events. “We are very pleased to again partner with Warner Bros. to bring this very important film to the big screen.”
Jeff Goldstein, president of domestic distribution at Warner Bros. Pictures, added: “We are always looking for opportunities to partner with our friends at Fathom, and The Commandant’s Shadow is especially worthy of this kind of event-ized theatrical release. This real and raw documentary tells not one but two truly moving stories that will connect to the hearts and minds of audiences, and we’re proud to be able to share it with them through our Fathom program.”
Watch the trailer for The Commandant’s Shadow below.
The post New Documentary Traces Auschwitz Commandant’s Son as He Reckons With His Father’s Past first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday
US President Donald Trump attends the Saudi-US Investment Forum, in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, May 13, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
US President Donald Trump’s order banning citizens of 12 countries from entering the United States goes into effect at 12:01 am ET (0401 GMT) on Monday, a move the president promulgated to protect the country from “foreign terrorists.”
The countries affected by the latest travel ban are Afghanistan, Myanmar, Chad, Republic of the Congo, Equatorial Guinea, Eritrea, Haiti, Iran, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and Yemen.
The entry of people from seven other countries – Burundi, Cuba, Laos, Sierra Leone, Togo, Turkmenistan and Venezuela – will be partially restricted.
Trump, a Republican, said the countries subject to the most severe restrictions were determined to harbor a “large-scale presence of terrorists,” fail to cooperate on visa security, have an inability to verify travelers’ identities, as well as inadequate record-keeping of criminal histories and high rates of visa overstays in the United States.
He cited last Sunday’s incident in Boulder, Colorado, in which an Egyptian national tossed a gasoline bomb into a crowd of pro-Israel demonstrators as an example of why the new curbs are needed. But Egypt is not part of the travel ban.
The travel ban forms part of Trump’s policy to restrict immigration into the United States and is reminiscent of a similar move in his first term when he barred travelers from seven Muslim-majority nations.
Officials and residents in countries whose citizens will soon be banned expressed dismay and disbelief.
Chad President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno said he had instructed his government to stop granting visas to US citizens in response to Trump’s action.
“Chad has neither planes to offer nor billions of dollars to give, but Chad has its dignity and its pride,” he said in a Facebook post, referring to countries such as Qatar, which gifted the U.S. a luxury airplane for Trump’s use and promised to invest billions of dollars in the U.S.
Afghans who worked for the US or US-funded projects and were hoping to resettle in the US expressed fear that the travel ban would force them to return to their country, where they could face reprisal from the Taliban.
Democratic US lawmakers also voiced concern about the policies.
“Trump’s travel ban on citizens from over 12 countries is draconian and unconstitutional,” said US Representative Ro Khanna on social media late on Thursday. “People have a right to seek asylum.”
The post Trump’s Travel Ban on 12 Countries Goes Into Effect Early Monday first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria
Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa speaks during a joint press conference with French President Emmanuel Macron after a meeting at the Elysee Palace in Paris, France, May 7, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Stephanie Lecocq/Pool
The Israeli military said on Sunday that it struck a member of the Palestinian terrorist group Hamas in southern Syria’s Mazraat Beit Jin, days after Israel carried out its first airstrikes in the country in nearly a month.
Hamas did not immediately comment on the strike.
Israel said on Tuesday it hit weapons belonging to the government in retaliation for the firing of two projectiles towards Israel for the first time under the country’s new leadership. Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz held Syria’s President Ahmed al-Sharaa accountable.
Damascus in response said reports of the shelling were unverified, reiterating that Syria does not pose a threat to any regional party.
A little known group named “Martyr Muhammad Deif Brigades,” an apparent reference to Hamas’ military leader who was killed in an Israeli strike in 2024, reportedly claimed responsibility for the shelling. Reuters, however, could not independently verify the claim.
The post Israeli Military Says It Struck Hamas Member in Southern Syria first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg
FILE PHOTO: Activist Greta Thunberg sits aboard the aid ship Madleen, which left the Italian port of Catania on June 1 to travel to Gaza to deliver humanitarian aid, in this picture released on June 2, 2025 on social media. Photo: Freedom Flotilla Coalition/via REUTERS/File Photo
Israeli Defense Minister Israel Katz told the military on Sunday to stop a charity boat carrying activists including Sweden’s Greta Thunberg who are planning to defy an Israeli blockade and reach Gaza.
Operated by the pro-Palestinian Freedom Flotilla Coalition (FFC), the British-flagged Madleen yacht set sail from Sicily on June 6 and is currently off the Egyptian coast, heading slowly towards the Gaza Strip, which is besieged by Israel.
“I instructed the IDF to act so that the Madleen .. does not reach Gaza,” Katz said in a statement.
“To the antisemitic Greta and her Hamas-propaganda-spouting friends, I say clearly: You’d better turn back, because you will not reach Gaza.”
Climate activist Thunberg said she joined the Madleen crew to “challenge Israel’s illegal siege and escalating war crimes” in Gaza and highlight the urgent need for humanitarian aid. She has rejected previous Israeli accusations of antisemitism.
Israel went to war with Hamas in October 2023 after the Islamist terrorists launched a surprise attack on southern Israel, killing more 1,200 people and taking 251 hostages back to the enclave.
Katz said the blockade was essential to Israel’s national security as it seeks to eliminate Hamas.
“The State of Israel will not allow anyone to break the naval blockade on Gaza, whose primary purpose is to prevent the transfer of weapons to Hamas,” he said.
The Madleen is carrying a symbolic quantity of aid, including rice and baby formula, the FFC has said.
FFC press officer Hay Sha Wiya said on Sunday the boat was currently some 160 nautical miles (296 km) from Gaza. “We are preparing for the possibility of interception,” she said.
Besides Thunberg, there are 11 other crew members aboard, including Rima Hassan, a French member of the European Parliament.
Israeli media have reported that the military plans to intercept the yacht before it reaches Gaza and escort it to the Israeli port of Ashdod. The crew would then be deported.
In 2010, Israeli commandos killed 10 people when they boarded a Turkish ship, the Mavi Marmara, that was leading a small flotilla towards Gaza.
The post Israel Orders Military to Stop Gaza-Bound Yacht Carrying Greta Thunberg first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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