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How the Auschwitz Commandant’s Infamous Home Has Been Turned Into a Center Against Antisemitism
British teens placed pictures of Israeli hostages seized by Hamas on the train tracks leading to Auschwitz-Birkenau, the notorious Nazi death camp. Photo: JRoots
It was the most jarring moment of last year’s Academy Awards: as Jonathan Glazer accepted the Oscar for “The Zone of Interest,” a harrowing film set in the shadow of Auschwitz, instead of using his speech to honor the victims of the Holocaust, he made a political statement that many saw as an astonishing trivialization of the very subject his film had purported to explore.
Rather than acknowledging the unfathomable suffering of the Jews murdered at Auschwitz in particular, and the dangers of pathological antisemitism in general, Glazer chose to equate the Holocaust with the ongoing war between Israel and Hamas, implicitly drawing a moral equivalence between Nazis and the Jewish state.
The setting made it all the more disturbing — delivered amidst the glitz and glamor of Hollywood, Glazer’s so-called virtue-signaling call for universal resistance to “dehumanization” felt less like a plea for moral clarity and more like a cynical weaponization of the Holocaust to delegitimize Jewish self-defense and undermine the fight against the malignant evil of antisemitism.
“The Zone of Interest” is a film about the chilling banality of evil, loosely based on the novel of the same name, centering on Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family as they go about their daily lives in a picturesque home just beyond the camp’s walls.
The film’s unsettling premise lies in its depiction of the Höss family’s mundane existence — gardening, swimming, and dining — while the machinery of genocide operates just out of sight. It is a study in complicity, yet it deliberately omits the suffering of Jewish victims, leaving their fate largely unseen and unheard.
And yet, somehow, Glazer’s acceptance speech managed to be even more disturbing than this conscious erasure. Instead of honoring those who perished, he co-opted the memory of the Holocaust to push a political agenda against Israel, without once mentioning the horrific evil perpetrated against Jews — fellow Jews! — on Oct. 7, 2023. Not a word about the deliberate murder, torture, and rape of 1,200 Jews, whose only sin was being Jewish in the land of their heritage, Israel.
While Hollywood — even, sadly, some within Jewish Hollywood — may be lost in its own navel-gazing world of self-righteousness, many Jews and Gentiles across the United States and beyond have been utterly shocked by the alarming resurgence of antisemitism in the 16 months since the Oct. 7 massacre.
Enter Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, who founded the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) in 2014. Recognizing the urgent need to push back against the normalization of Jew-hatred, he enlisted my good friend Elliott Broidy and fellow philanthropist Dr. Thomas Kaplan. Together they purchased Rudolf Höss’s former home in Oświęcim, just outside the Auschwitz compound, the very setting of “The Zone of Interest” — and created the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization (ARCHER) at House 88, whose goal is not just to remember the victims of the Holocaust but also to find the best ways to combat the spread of antisemitism and advocate for them.
Instead of allowing the Auschwitz commandant’s house to remain a grotesque relic of history, they are turning it into a global center dedicated to combating antisemitism and extremism, ensuring that the lessons of the past are neither distorted nor forgotten — by Hollywood directors or by anyone else.
This week, Elliott was in Poland for the 80th anniversary commemoration of Auschwitz’s liberation. As part of the events, Höss’s house at 88 Legionów Street was opened to visiting dignitaries for the first time since the Holocaust.
Just steps from the site where 1.1 million Jews, along with 20,000 Roma and tens of thousands of Polish and Russian political prisoners, were murdered, this house was once home to the man who orchestrated that industrial-scale slaughter: Rudolf Höss. But for nearly eight decades, the Polish family that occupied it since 1945 refused to let anyone inside, despite its profound historical significance.
And the macabre site is just the tip of the spear. A major fundraising campaign has been launched to support ARCHER at House 88’s mission to transform the Höss home into a global center for research, education, and advocacy against extremism and antisemitism. With comprehensive programming designed for college students and educational tools set to be used worldwide, the initiative aims to confront hate where it festers most.
This week, Ambassador Wallace emphasized the center’s crucial role as a global hub for combating hate, while former US Senator Norm Coleman called the project a direct and urgent challenge to antisemitism and extremism.
I spoke to Elliott while he was in Poland. “Rudolf Höss’s house stood untouched for decades, a silent witness to history’s darkest crimes,” he told me. “We refused to let it remain a relic of evil. House 88 will be transformed into a center for fighting antisemitism, extremism, and hate. The lesson of House 88 is so disturbing: a neighbor can be fanatically antisemitic, and the result is the death of millions of Jews — or 1,200 innocent Israelis on the border of Gaza.”
His words carry the weight of history and urgency. This project isn’t only about preserving the past — it’s about ensuring the world understands where unchecked hate leads, and giving future generations the tools to resist it.
One of ARCHER at House 88’s board members is another good friend of mine, George Schaeffer. “I’m a child of Holocaust survivors,” he told me, “and I know how important it is for us to never forget what antisemitism can lead to. The more we know about the past — the horrors of the past — the more we can correct the future, and change the future.”
George’s commitment to this project is deeply personal. “What we are constructing next to Auschwitz is an important way of teaching what the real dangers are,” he added. “The commandant and his family lived next door to Auschwitz as if it was normal — we need to make sure that it’s never normal to allow antisemitism to flourish, especially if it is on our own doorstep.”
In synagogues across the Jewish world, we are currently reading the Torah portions that recall the slavery and persecution of the Jews in ancient Egypt. One of the primary directives of Jewish tradition is incorporating the Hebrew phrase Zecher Li’yetziat Mitzrayim — a remembrance of the Exodus from Egypt — into our prayers and blessings. But this is not just an exercise in historical memory — it is a directive for vigilance.
A just society can only thrive and survive if persecution and hatred are identified, combated, and rooted out. We must never be lulled into a false sense of security, thinking the danger has passed. Antisemitism may have begun more than three millennia ago in Egypt, but it has reared its ugly head in every era and every location since.
And now, as we face yet another alarming resurgence, ARCHER at House 88 stands as a powerful new initiative to ensure that this latest iteration of Jew-hatred is confronted and defeated — just as Pharaoh was in Egypt, just as Hitler and Höss were in their time, and just as every other vicious antisemite throughout history has ultimately been overcome.
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Rashida Tlaib Introduces Resolution to Mandate Federal Recognition of Palestinian ‘Nakba’
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) addresses attendees as she takes part in a protest calling for a ceasefire in Gaza outside the US Capitol, in Washington, DC, US, Oct. 18, 2023. Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis
US Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-MI) on Wednesday introduced a resolution recognizing the 77th anniversary of the “nakba,” the Arabic term for “catastrophe” used by Palestinians and anti-Israel activists to refer to the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948.
“The nakba never ended. Today we are witnessing the Israeli apartheid regime carry out genocide in Gaza. It is a campaign to erase Palestinians from existence,” Tlaib said in a statement.
“War Criminal Netanyahu,” she continued, referring to Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, “has threatened to ethnically cleanse the entire Palestinian population in Gaza, annex the land, and permanently occupy it. As we mark the 77th anniversary of the nakba, we honor all of those killed since the ethnic cleansing of Palestine began, and the Palestinians who were forced from their homes and violently displaced from their land.”
Co-sponsors of the bill include Democratic Reps. André Carson (IN), Summer Lee (PA), Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (NY), Ilhan Omar (MN), Ayanna Pressley (MA), Delia Ramirez (IL), Lateefah Simon (CA), and Bonnie Watson Coleman (NJ).
The resolution does not mention the Jewish people’s millennia-long connection to the land of Israel or any instances of Palestinian terrorism against the Jewish state.
“Nakba refers not only to a historical event but to an ongoing process of Israel’s expropriation of Palestinian land and its dispossession of the Palestinian people that continues to this day, including the systematic destruction of Palestinian homes, the construction and expansion of illegal settlements, and the confinement of Palestinians to ever-shrinking areas of land,” the bill reads.
“It is the sense of the House of Representatives that it is the policy of the United States to commemorate the nakba through official recognition and remembrance; denounce the ongoing nakba of the Palestinian people; [and] reject efforts to enlist, engage, or otherwise associate the United States government with denial of the nakba.”
Tlaib, the only Palestinian American woman in Congress, further repudiated the US as being “an accomplice” in the alleged ongoing “ethnic cleansing of Palestinians” by supporting Israel’s defensive military efforts.
Since entering Congress in 2018, Tlaib has established herself as one of the most vocal critics of Israel. She has repeatedly characterized Israel as an “apartheid state” and accused the Jewish state of transforming Gaza into an “open-air prison.”
In the immediate aftermath of the Oct. 7, 2023, Hamas-led slaughters in Israel, Tlaib ramped up her condemnations of the Jewish state. She was initially hesitant to condemn the terrorist attacks in Israel, in which 1,200 people were murdered and 250 hostages were kidnapped. However, Tlaib was among the first US lawmakers to accuse Israel of committing “genocide in Gaza. In most of her public statements regarding the war in Gaza, she has omitted any mention of the Hamas terrorist group. Moreover, the lawmaker has sparked backlash by attending multiple pro-Palestine events connected to terrorists.
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No Diploma for NYU Senior After Unauthorized Anti-Israel Commencement Speech
Students and professors attend the New York University (NYU) graduation ceremony at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx borough of New York City, US, May 15, 2025. Photo: Eduardo Munoz via Reuters Connect.
New York University is withholding the diploma of a senior student at the Gallatin School of Individualized Study who lied to the administration about the content of his commencement speech to conceal its claim of a genocide taking place in Gaza, an anti-Israel falsehood propagated by neo-Nazi groups and jihadist terror organizations.
“My moral and political commitments guide me to say that the only thing that is appropriate to say in this time and to a group this large is a recognition of the atrocities currently happening in Palestine” the student, Logan Rozos, said, delivering the unauthorized remarks to a din of acclamation from the audience. “I want to say that the genocide currently occurring is supported politically and militarily by the United States, is paid for by our tax dollars, and has been live streamed to our phones for the past 18 months.”
He continued, “I want to say that I condemn this genocide and complicity in this genocide.”
Rozos drew a trenchant rebuke from a university that has enacted a slew of policies to reduce antisemitic discrimination on its campuses. Since Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, massacre across southern Israel, a bloody invasion that started the war in Gaza, NYU has issued policies which acknowledge the “coded” subtleties of antisemitic speech and its use in discriminatory conduct that targets Jewish students and faculty.
“NYU strongly denounces the choice by a student at the Gallatin School’s graduation today — one of over 20 school graduation ceremonies across our campus — to misuse his role as student speaker to express his personal and one-sided political views,” university spokesman John Beckman said in a statement. “He lied about the speech he was going to deliver and violated the commitment he made to comply with our rules. The university is withholding his diploma while we pursue disciplinary actions.”
He continued, “NYU is deeply sorry that the audience was subjected to these remarks and this moment was stolen by someone who abused a privilege that was conferred upon him.”
Jewish civil rights groups rebuked Rozos as well, with the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) saying he uttered “divisive and false comments about the current Israel/Hamas war.” The group added, “We are thankful to the NYU administration for their strong condemnation and rather pursuit of disciplinary action.”
End Jew Hatred (EJH), writing to The Algemeiner, called on NYU to impose the severest disciplinary measure possible on Rozos: withholding his diploma in perpetuity as punishment for using so high an honor to spread lies that have been used to justify antisemitic violence and discrimination.
“It was right to denounce his deception and abuse of the platform, and it was essential to affirm that hate speech masquerading as political commentary has no place at a graduation ceremony,” the group said. “But that cannot be where it ends. The diploma must be permanently withheld. The full process — from Rozos’s selection to speech approval to mic control — demands transparency. And NYU must do more than punish a student; it must confront the climate that made this outburst possible.”
The conclusion of the 2024-2025 academic year has seen other attempts to place anti-Zionism at the center of the public’s attention.
A group of pro-Hamas students at Yale University recently vowed to starve themselves inside an administrative building until such time as officials agree to their demands that the university’s endowment be divested of any ties to Israel as well as companies that do business with it. However, Yale officials are refusing to even meet with the students, who have been told that their demonstration, held in Sheffield-Sterling-Strathcona Hall, is “in violation of university policy.”
At the University of Washington, in Seattle, over 30 members of a pro-Hamas student group calling itself “Super UW” were arrested for commandeering the university’s Interdisciplinary Engineering Building (IEB) to protest and demand the termination of the institution’s partnerships with The Boeing Company, whose armaments manufacturing they identified as a resource aiding Israel’s war to eradicate Hamas from Gaza.
The illegal demonstration involved students establishing blockades near the building using “bike rack[s] and chairs,” burning trash — while setting off sizable fires — that they then left unattended, and calling for violence against the police. Law enforcement officers eventually entered the building equipped with riot gear, including helmets and batons.
University officials’ tolerance for such disruptions is depleting.
Earlier this month, George Washington University suspended its Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) chapter until Spring 2026, punishing the group for a series of unauthorized demonstrations it held on school property last month. The move marked one of the severest disciplinary sanctions SJP has provoked from the GW administration since it began violating rules on peaceful expression and assembly, as well as targeting school officials for harassment, following Hamas’s Oct. 7 massacre across southern Israel. Until next May, SJP is barred from advertising and may only convene to “complete sanctions or consult with their advisor,” according to a report by The GW Hatchet.
SJP will be placed on probation for one year after its suspension is lifted, the paper continued, during which it must request and acquire prior approval for any expressive activity. Additionally, members will be required to attend “teach-ins on university policy” for “ten consecutive semesters.”
Follow Dion J. Pierre @DionJPierre.
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Trump Announces $200 Billion in Deals During UAE Visit, AI Agreement Signed
US President Donald Trump shakes hands with Yousif Al Obaidli, director of Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, as he tours the mosque grounds in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, May 15, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Brian Snyder
President Donald Trump on Thursday pledged to strengthen US ties to the United Arab Emirates and announced deals with the Gulf state totaling over $200 billion and the two countries also agreed to deepen cooperation in artificial intelligence.
After Trump’s meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, the White House said he announced deals that included a $14.5 billion commitment from Etihad Airways to invest in 28 Boeing 787 and 777x aircraft powered by engines made by GE Aerospace.
The US Commerce Department said the two countries also agreed to establish a “US-UAE AI Acceleration Partnership” framework and Trump and Sheikh Mohamed attended the unveiling of a new 5GW AI campus, which would be the largest outside the United States.
Sources have said the agreements will give the Gulf country expanded access to advanced artificial intelligence chips from the US after previously facing restrictions over Washington’s concerns that China could access the technology.
Trump began a visit to the UAE on the latest stage of a tour of wealthy Gulf states after hailing plans by Doha to invest $10 billion in a US military facility during a trip to Qatar.
“I have absolutely no doubt that the relationship will only get bigger and better,” Trump said in a meeting with UAE President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan.
“Your wonderful brother came to Washington a few weeks ago and he told us about your generous statement as to the 1.4 trillion,” Trump said, referring to a UAE pledge to invest $1.4 trillion in the US over 10 years.
Trump was referring to Sheikh Tahnoon bin Zayed Al Nahyan, Sheikh Mohamed’s brother and the UAE’s national security adviser and chairman of two of Abu Dhabi’s deep-pocketed sovereign wealth funds.
The US president was met at the airport in Abu Dhabi by Sheikh Mohamed, and they visited the Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque, its white minarets and domes, impressive in the late-afternoon light.
“It is so beautiful,” Trump told reporters inside the mosque, which he said had been closed for the day.
“First time they closed it. It’s in honor of the United States. Better than in honor of me. Let’s give it to the country. That’s a great tribute.”
$200 BILLION IN NEW DEALS
A White House fact sheet said Trump had secured $200 billion in new US-UAE deals and accelerated the previously committed $1.4 trillion.
It said Emirates Global Aluminum would invest to develop a $4 billion primary aluminum smelter project in Oklahoma, while ExxonMobil Corp, Occidental Petroleum, and EOG Resources were partnering with the Abu Dhabi National Oil Company in expanded oil and natural gas production valued at $60 billion.
Sheikh Mohamed told Trump the UAE was “keen to continue and strengthen this friendship for the benefit of the two countries and peoples,” adding to Trump: “your presence here today, your excellency, the president, confirms that this keenness is mutual.”
Before his departure for the UAE, Trump said in a speech to US troops at the Al Udeid Air Base southwest of Doha that defense purchases signed by Qatar on Wednesday were worth $42 billion.
UAE has been seeking US help to make the wealthy Gulf nation a global leader in artificial intelligence.
The US has a preliminary agreement with the UAE to allow it to import 500,000 of Nvidia’s most advanced AI chips a year, starting this year, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
The deal would boost the UAE’s construction of data centers vital to developing AI models, although the agreement has provoked national security concerns among sectors of the US government.
The AI agreement “includes the UAE committing to invest in, build, or finance US data centers that are at least as large and as powerful as those in the UAE,” the White House said.
“The agreement also contains historic commitments by the UAE to further align their national security regulations with the United States, including strong protections to prevent the diversion of US-origin technology.”
Former US President Joe Biden’s administration had imposed strict oversight of exports of US AI chips to the Middle East and other regions. Among Biden’s fears were that the prized semiconductors would be diverted to China and buttress its military strength.
At the UAE presidential palace, Trump and Sheikh Mohamed could be seen in TV footage in conversation with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang.
Trump said he would probably return to Washington on Friday after a regional trip that began on Tuesday, although he said it was “almost destination unknown.” Trump had hinted he could stop in Istanbul for talks on Ukraine.
DEALS, DIPLOMACY
Other big business agreements have been signed during Trump’s four-day swing through the Gulf region, including a deal for Qatar Airways to purchase up to 210 Boeing widebody jets, a $600 billion commitment from Saudi Arabia to invest in the US and $142 billion in US arms sales to the kingdom.
The trip has also brought a flurry of diplomacy.
Trump said in Qatar that the United States was getting very close to securing a nuclear deal with Iran, and Tehran had “sort of” agreed to the terms.
He also announced on Tuesday the US would remove longstanding sanctions on Syria and subsequently met with Syrian interim President Ahmed al-Sharaa.
He urged Sharaa to establish ties with Syria’s longtime foe Israel.
Trump has made improving ties with some Gulf countries a key goal of his administration. If all the proposed chip deals in Gulf states, and the UAE in particular, come together, the region would become a third power center in global AI competition after the United States and China.
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