After Jonathan Glazer’s acclaimed “The Zone of Interest,” which won accolades at Cannes, the Oscars, and the BAFTAs, Daniela Volker’s “The Commandant’s Shadow” delves into a similar theme. Both films explore the harrowing reality of living adjacent to a WWII concentration camp. However, while Glazer’s film is a fictional adaptation of Martin Amis’ novel, Volker’s work is a poignant documentary.
“The Commandant’s Shadow” traces the legacy of Auschwitz through the eyes of Hans-Joergen Höss, the son of commandant Rudolf Höss, and his grandson Kai. Their emotional journey leads them to meet Holocaust survivor Anita Lasker-Wallfisch, famously known as the ‘cellist from Auschwitz,’ and her daughter Maya. The documentary is enriched with previously unseen archival footage and insights from Rudolf Höss’s autobiography, penned shortly before his execution.
The film premiered at Israel’s Docaviv festival, where it received the Yad Vashem Award for outstanding Holocaust-related documentary. It is currently being showcased at the Mumbai International Film Festival, a platform dedicated to documentary films. Volker, along with executive producers Wendy Robbins and Sajan Raj Kurup, engaged in a discussion about the film at the festival.
Interestingly, “The Commandant’s Shadow” has ties to India. Volker and Robbins first met in Gwalior, central India, while working on a BBC documentary. After losing touch for 25 years, they reconnected to collaborate on this project. The film garnered support from Neil Blair, known for producing J.K. Rowling’s “Fantastic Beasts” series and the “C.B. Strike” series. Kurup, an entrepreneur and owner of Creativeland Studios, was moved by a trailer of the film at a fundraiser and decided to invest in it immediately.
Volker’s inspiration for the film came when Maya approached her. She believed that the stories of survivors and perpetrators are intertwined and must be told together. During her research, Volker discovered Rudolf Höss’s autobiography and was surprised that no documentary had been made about it before.
The house where the Höss family lived in Auschwitz still stands. Unlike “The Zone of Interest,” which had to recreate the house, Volker managed to film in the actual house, convincing the Polish family residing there to allow it. Robbins highlighted the significance of taking Rudolf Höss’s son back to his childhood home, where he could see the chimneys of the crematoria from his bedroom window.
Robbins also pointed out that while “The Zone of Interest” subtly hints at the horrors of the Holocaust, Volker’s documentary immerses viewers in the grim reality. The film features extraordinary archival footage, some of which has never been seen before, leaving no doubt about the atrocities that occurred.
Warner Bros. and HBO have acquired the rights to “The Commandant’s Shadow,” and it is currently being shown in over 700 theaters across the U.S. Volker emphasizes that the film, while ending on a hopeful note, carries important lessons. She believes that understanding the past is crucial to overcoming it. The film concludes with a powerful message of reconciliation, as a Holocaust survivor meets Rudolf Höss’s son, underscoring the importance of dialogue in resolving conflicts.
