Irish Film Institute -THE COMMANDANT’S SHADOW

THE COMMANDANT’S SHADOW

Director: Daniela Volker

110 mins, USA-Germany, 2023, Digital. F-Rated

Daniela Volker’s eye-opening documentary follows Hans Jürgen Höss, the 87-year-old son of Rudolf Höss, as he faces his father’s terrible legacy for the first time. His father was the Camp Commandant of Auschwitz and masterminded the murder of over a million Jews; the life of Höss and his family was recently fictionalised in Jonathan Glazer’s Academy Award-winning The Zone of Interest. Now, The Commandant’s Shadow tells the story of the real people who lived on site at Höss’s death camp. The film shows how, eight decades later, Höss comes face-to-face with Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, who as a young Jewish prisoner survived the camp. They are joined by their children, Kai Höss and Maya Lasker-Wallfisch, as Rudolf Höss comes to grips with the horrifying repercussions of his father’s actions and generational trauma it has engendered.

There will be an Open Captioned screening at 18.10 on Wednesday 17th.

Book Tickets

Thursday 25th

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