The Höss family’s home was considered a “paradise” by Hedwig Höss and her five children, with its sandpit, slide, paddling pool, and team of home helpers. Despite her husband Rudolf being transferred to a more important post far away, she refused to leave the home, and he went alone. The film “The Zone of Interest”, directed by Jonathan Glazer, explores the shocking everyday life of the Höss family next to the Auschwitz concentration camp, where unspeakable horrors were perpetrated by Rudolf Höss, who committed mass murder of Jewish people in World War Two. The film depicts the family’s everyday activities and the proximity between their home and the camp. Rudolf Höss was well-known for his sadistic personality and was involved in many crimes, and his collaboration in these acts was revealed through his own words. Despite the atrocities happening nearby, the Höss family carried on with their lives. Rudolf Höss was eventually hung by the Polish authorities in 1947, after providing evidence for the Nuremberg military tribunal. His heroics would have been forgotten if it was not for the efforts of British-American journalist Thomas Harding and his great-nephew, who wrote a book about the events.
Children played in the garden at Auschwitz while their father worked in the gas chambers, shocking footage reveals.
