The Commandant’s Shadow

Two lives. Two stories. One wall that divided them. 

The Commandant’s Shadow 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 the Oscar-winning The Zone of Interest. Now, The Commandant’s Shadow tells the story of the real people. 

While Hans Jurgen Höss enjoyed a happy childhood in the family villa at Auschwitz, Jewish prisoner Anita Lasker-Wallfisch was trying to survive the notorious concentration camp. At the heart of this film is the historic moment – eight decades later – when the two come face-to-face in Anita’s London living room, together with their children, Kai Höss and Maya Lasker-Wallfisch. 

The Commandant’s Shadow has a 93% critics’ rating on Rotten Tomatoes, with Times (UK) calling it “rich and fascinating … resonant indeed for all families everywhere, and for the dubious stories they tell about themselves.”