Latest news with #Höss
Epoch Times
20-05-2025
- General
- Epoch Times
From Horror to Hope: Reflections from Dachau and Auschwitz
Commentary I've taken hundreds of international trips, visiting cultural and religious sites and observing natural wonders across the world. Yet None affected me like Dachau and Auschwitz-Birkenau. In Dachau I strode through wooden barracks where slave labor was housed without bedding and worked in the freezing cold without shoes or winter garments. The grisly gallows faced the crematoria where the last image presented to Jews before their necks were snapped was clouds of foul-smelling smoke generated by the burning bodies of their friends and fellow prisoners. Auschwitz featured bullet marks on a stone wall where countless innocents were shot. I stood in the actual gas chambers where 1.5 million of the 6 million Jews who perished were murdered. The fingernail scratches down the locked doors resemble a horror movie more than life. What happened at Nazi concentration camps is unfathomable. It's hard to grasp how the Germans could coldly and methodically load victims into cattle cars at gunpoint, starve, beat, enslave, and murder without qualms—the banality of evil symbolized by Adolf Eichmann in the words of Related Stories 3/3/2025 7/5/2024 Alongside me on this solemn pilgrimage were several weeping Jewish friends whose relatives were exterminated in the Holocaust. Evil is infinite. Saintliness is sharply rationed. It is frightening that notwithstanding 'never again' genocide endures. Think of the Uyghurs and Tibetans in China, the Rohingya in Myanmar, Darfur in Sudan, the Tutsi in Rwanda. Do we forget nothing and learn nothing? We need constant reminders from House 88 feels ordinary, big enough to accommodate the five Höss children who reportedly enjoyed carefree childhoods as Jewish children were mercilessly murdered just yards away. Rudolf's daughter, Brigitte Höss, But the house's garden wall was also the camp wall. The view through the second story windows: crematoria. Auschwitz shows you the scale of Nazi evil, while ARCHER proves its banality. Mass murderers can be loving fathers. Kids can remember a happy childhood under the shadow of a chimney reeking of burned flesh. Monsters can live anywhere, even next door. Auschwitz proves man's inhumanity to man. The appalling phenomenon is as old as the Bible. Auschwitz was not the evil handiwork only of Nazis. There were many eager collaborators in other countries, including Poland. Is seeing believing? It is shocking that Holocaust deniers endure despite the mountains of ocular evidence and more than 19,000 pages of Nuremberg trial transcripts and exhibits. More than 50 years later in 1997, the Polish Government began returning Jewish heritage sites like synagogues and cemeteries to the Jewish community. The president of Poland recently joined the president of Israel for the ' 'Never again hatred, never again chauvinism, never again antisemitism,' It is up to us to highly resolve that the 6 million victims of the Holocaust shall not have perished in vain by striving to make 'never again' a reality rather than an empty slogan. Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Euronews
27-01-2025
- Politics
- Euronews
House next to Auschwitz opens to public amid alarming international survey results on Holocaust
The house where German SS officer and commandant of the Auschwitz concentration camp Rudolf Höss lived with his family will open to the public for the first time today, to mark the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp. Through the efforts of the American non-profit Counter Extremism Project, in coordination with the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, the Polish foreign ministry and UNESCO, the villa will become the home of the 'Auschwitz Research Centre on Hate, Extremism and Radicalisation'. The New York-based NGO's mission since 2014 is to 'combat the growing threat posed by extremist ideologies'. Commandant Höss lived at the villa with his wife Hedwig and their five children for four years, a home which stood immediately next to the concentration camp, with their garden wall and the wall of the camp being one and the same. This is the same house the was immortalized in Jonathan Glazer's Oscar-winning film, The Zone of Interest, in which we observe the everyday domesticity of the family in the living space built next to a dying one. In 1942, Höss established and helmed the plans for the Auschwitz gas chambers and crematoriums, including the use of Zyklon B gas. Höss was arrested in 1946, tried by a Polish court and hanged in Auschwitz the following year. House 88 – named after its address 88 Legionow Street – was bought by a Polish family and it was only last year that the NGO Counter Extremism Project persuaded them to sell the property to transform it into centre to combat hate. The opening of House 88 coincides with an alarming international survey examining Holocaust knowledge and awareness. The Claims Conference conducted eight surveys across 10 countries – including the US, UK, France, Germany, Poland and Hungary – and while overall awareness about the Holocaust is high, Holocaust distortion is also alarmingly widespread. 'Overall, a majority of all populations surveyed did not know that 6 million Jews were killed during the Holocaust,' stated the research, adding that 20% or more respondents in seven out of the eight countries surveyed believe 2 million or fewer Jews were murdered during the Holocaust. Shockingly, many adults surveyed said that they had not heard or weren't sure if they had heard of the Holocaust prior to taking the survey. 'This is amplified among young adults ages 18-29 who are the most recent reflection of local education systems; when surveyed, they indicated that they had not heard or weren't sure if they had heard of the Holocaust (Shoah): France (46%), Romania (15%), Austria (14%) and Germany (12%).' The survey results also flagged up that while Auschwitz-Birkenau is the most well-known death camp, nearly half (48%) of Americans surveyed are unable to name a single camp or ghetto established by the Nazis during World War II. The majority of respondents in each country, except Romania, believe something like the Holocaust could happen again today, and Americans and Hungarians are most likely to report that Holocaust denial is common in their countries. In Hungary, 45% of all survey participants stated that denial is common in their country. This is followed by 44% in the US, 38% in France, 34% in Germany, 27% in Austria, 24% in the UK and Romania, and 20% in Poland. Additionally, the research show that nearly half of adults in the US (49%), Hungary (47%), France (44%) and Germany (44%) report that Holocaust distortion is common in their country – especially on social media. 'The alarming gaps in knowledge, particularly among younger generations, highlight an urgent need for more effective Holocaust education,' says Gideon Taylor, President of the Claims Conference. 'The fact that a significant number of adults cannot identify basic facts - such as the 6 million Jews who perished - is deeply concerning.' Equally troubling is the widespread belief that something like the Holocaust could happen again, underscoring the critical importance of educating people about the consequences of unchecked hatred and bigotry,' added Taylor. 'We are proud of the progress made by our partners worldwide, but this Index makes it clear: there is still much more work to be done.' The progress referred to is support for Holocaust education. Across all countries surveyed, nine-in-10 or more adults believe it is important to continue teaching about the Holocaust - 'in part, so it does not happen again'.
Yahoo
27-01-2025
- Yahoo
Anti-extremism center opens in former house of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss
OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — A U.S.-based organization is transforming the house of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss into a research center devoted to fighting extremism, and is introducing it to the public on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Monday. The house, which belonged to a Polish military family before Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland, lies next to the site of the former death camp, now the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. 'My dream, and those of our colleagues, is that every visitor, every fellow, every academic that comes here takes action to fight extremism and antisemitism wherever they come from," said Mark Wallace, the CEO of the Counter Extremism Project. See for yourself — The Yodel is the go-to source for daily news, entertainment and feel-good stories. By signing up, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Policy. His group bought the house from a private family and is creating the Auschwitz Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization in the house. It opened its doors to reporters on the eve of the anniversary commemorations, showing them the rooms in the three-story house that still need to be renovated. The project is being launched in partnership with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and under the patronage of UNESCO. Prominent architect Daniel Libeskind is also a collaborator. The house was featured in the Oscar-winning film 'The Zone of Interest,' which depicts the life of Höss, his wife Hedwig and their five children in the house just next to the concentration camp. As commandant from 1940 to 1944, Höss orchestrated the industrial-scale slaughter at the camp, where gas was used to murder Jews. He was tried by a Polish court and was executed by hanging at the site of the concentration camp in 1947. The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is holding observances on Monday for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp by Soviet forces.
Associated Press
27-01-2025
- Associated Press
Anti-extremism center opens in former house of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss
OSWIECIM, Poland (AP) — A U.S.-based organization is transforming the house of Auschwitz commandant Rudolf Höss into a research center devoted to fighting extremism, and is introducing it to the public on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz on Monday. The house, which belonged to a Polish military family before Nazi Germany's invasion of Poland, lies next to the site of the former death camp, now the Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum. 'My dream, and those of our colleagues, is that every visitor, every fellow, every academic that comes here takes action to fight extremism and antisemitism wherever they come from,' said Mark Wallace, the CEO of the Counter Extremism Project. His group bought the house from a private family and is creating the Auschwitz Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization in the house. It opened its doors to reporters on the eve of the anniversary commemorations, showing them the rooms in the three-story house that still need to be renovated. The project is being launched in partnership with the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and under the patronage of UNESCO. Prominent architect Daniel Libeskind is also a collaborator. The house was featured in the Oscar-winning film 'The Zone of Interest,' which depicts the life of Höss, his wife Hedwig and their five children in the house just next to the concentration camp. As commandant from 1940 to 1944, Höss orchestrated the industrial-scale slaughter at the camp, where gas was used to murder Jews. He was tried by a Polish court and was executed by hanging at the site of the concentration camp in 1947. The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum is holding observances on Monday for the 80th anniversary of the liberation of the camp by Soviet forces.
