Overview
The Zone of Interest, an Academy-Award-winning film and one of the most riveting and talked-about cinematic releases of 2023, centered on Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss and his family, who made their home in chilling proximity to the site of atrocities. The Commandant’s Shadow follows the final reckoning of Hans Jürgen Höss as he struggles with his father’s horrific legacy. Hans, now 87, meets for the first time with Auschwitz survivor and renowned cellist Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, whose day-to-day struggle for survival eight decades ago unfolded in jarring dissonance to Höss’ happy childhood just on the other side of the barbed wire. Accompanied by their children in an intimate and fascinating encounter in Anita’s living room, the two recount their parallel stories with painful honesty, raising timeless and pertinent questions about guilt and forgiveness.