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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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Body of Mohammed Sinwar Recovered from Gaza, Taken to Israel
A screengrab shows according to the Israeli Army, Hamas Gaza chief Mohammed Sinwar, taken from a handout video, released Dec/ 17, 2023. Photo: Israeli Army/Handout via REUTERS
i24 News – During excavations carried out recently in the area of the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, several bodies were found – i24NEWS learned on Sunday that one belonged to late Hamas leader Mohammed Sinwar, which is now being held in Israel.
On Saturday night, the Israel Defense Forces published documentation from the underground space located under the European Hospital in Khan Yunis. The tunnels include a command and control complex from which the fighting was conducted by senior Hamas commanders. During the scans, several additional bodies of terrorists were found.
About three weeks ago, Israel heavily shelled the hospital area, targeting the underground space below it, where the terrorist organization’s headquarters was located. In recent days, Israeli forces have been operating in the area, with an emphasis on underground tunnels, and have located the body. The IDF’s recovery of Sinwar’s body contradicts a previous report, according to which Hamas recovered his body from the tunnel under the European Hospital in Khan Yunis, and buried it in a tunnel in the Deir al-Balah area.
Sinwar was one of the senior and veteran figures in Hamas’ military wing, and took a significant part in the planning and execution of the murderous massacre on October 7, 2023, in which he served as head of the operations headquarters. After the assassination of military commander Mohammed Deif, Sinwar was appointed by his brother, late Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, to the position. He was an influential and central factor in the organization’s decision-making, promoting Hamas’s effort to rehabilitate after IDF operations.
Now, Israel possesses the bodies of both Sinwar brothers, with much of the Hamas leadership eliminated in the more than 600 days since the war began.
The post Body of Mohammed Sinwar Recovered from Gaza, Taken to Israel first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Hamas Militants Kill Gaza Civilians, Publicly Asserting Brutal Control
A drone view shows buildings lying in ruins, following a ceasefire between Israel and Hamas, in Jabalia in the northern Gaza Strip, Jan. 19, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Mahmoud Al-Basos
i24 News – The Israeli army released footage from the Gaza Strip on Sunday showing a Palestinian brutally shot dead in public by what the military claims is a Hamas militant.
The Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories, General Ghassan Alian, released the footage via military channels. According to the official statement, the brutal execution took place last weekend in a Gaza City square, in front of witnesses. Israeli military authorities described the footage as “exceptional documentation” illustrating the Islamist movement’s methods against its own population.
General Alian addressed the residents of Gaza directly in a statement – “Hamas, terrorists, and criminals are killing you and do not care about your lives,” he said. “There is no difference between a dictator who kills in silence and a terrorist who massacres openly. Both are your enemies and the enemies of life.”
Alian described the act as “a desperate, further, and failed attempt to sow public fear in order to preserve Hamas’s rule, power, and governance, while cynically trampling on and exploiting the residents of Gaza for the survival of the Hamas terrorist regime and the preservation of its rule.”
Meanwhile, the IDF is intensifying its operations in key flashpoints in Gaza, particularly in Jabalia and Khan Yunis. Military forces continue to reach areas where they were not previously present.
The post Hamas Militants Kill Gaza Civilians, Publicly Asserting Brutal Control first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Two of Four Israeli Soldiers Killed in Gaza Building Collapse Identified
Tom Rothstein and the late Uri Jonathan Cohen / Photo: Israeli army spokesman
i24 News – Four Israeli soldiers were killed on Friday in the collapse of a building in Khan Younis during a military operation by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF).
The incident occurred during an offensive by the 98th Division targeting Hamas infrastructure in northern Khan Younis, near Bani Suheila.
The fallen soldiers were identified as Staff Sergeant Tom Rotstein, 23, from Ramat Gan; Staff Sergeant Uri Yehonatan Cohen, 20, from Neve Yarok; Reserve Staff Sergeant Chen Gross, 33; and Staff Sergeant Yoav Rovor, 19. All served in the elite Yahalom combat engineering unit.
According to IDF sources, the soldiers were part of a mission to secure a Hamas compound believed to contain underground tunnels. A powerful explosive device detonated during the operation, causing the structure to partially collapse and trap the soldiers inside.
Five additional soldiers were wounded—one seriously and four moderately. They were airlifted to hospitals, while search and recovery teams from the Home Front Command worked for hours to extract the bodies from the rubble.
This latest incident brings the total number of Israeli military fatalities to eight this week alone, raising the overall death toll to 424 since the start of the ground offensive in Gaza.
Earlier this week, three soldiers from the Rotem Battalion of the Givati Brigade were killed by an improvised explosive device in the northern Gaza Strip. Reserve Staff Sergeant Alon Perkas, 27, also died during separate combat in the Shejaiya neighborhood.
The IDF continues its operations in Gaza as military and political leaders navigate the high costs of an enduring conflict with Hamas.
The post Two of Four Israeli Soldiers Killed in Gaza Building Collapse Identified first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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