The former Polish residence of the Nazi commandant at Auschwitz will soon open its doors to the public as a center dedicated to combatting antisemitism, extremism and hate.
The property at 88 Legionow Street, dubbed “House 88,” served as the family home to Rudolph Höss, the orchestrator behind the gas chambers and crematorium at Auschwitz, where approximately one million Jews were sent to their deaths. The upscale villa, once famously referred to by Höss’ wife as a “paradise” with its lush gardens and a swimming pool, was recently purchased by New York-based charity the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), with the intention of transforming it into a space for research, education and advocacy.
“I cannot imagine a more symbolic form of justice for the millions of lives lost at the hands of the Nazis than turning what was once a breeding ground for evil into a space that fights against those very ideals,” said entrepreneur and philanthropist Elliott Broidy.
Broidy, along with Dr. Thomas Kaplan, co-chairs The Fund to End Antisemitism, Extremism, and Hate, the organization launching the fundraising initiative for the new Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization (ARCHER) at House 88 in partnership with CEP, the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum and UNESCO.
“Elie Wiesel rightly said that ‘we must never forget’ the Holocaust to ensure the end of such hate and to prevent another genocide,” said Ambassador Mark D. Wallace, CEO and Founder of CEP at a recent event in Poland announcing the purchase of the commandant’s former home. “The ordinary house of the greatest mass murderer will now be converted into the extraordinary symbol of that fight.”
While Höss was instructed by Heinrich Himmler to set up the concentration camp in 1940, it was Höss who experimented with Zyklon B gas and built what became a mass extermination camp, while just beyond its perimeters stood his family’s upscale home.
After the liberation of Auschwitz in 1945, the home was purchased by a Polish family and remained mostly out of the public eye until it was featured in the 2023 Oscar-winning movie “The Zone of Interest.” With the film’s popularity came much unwanted attention to the three-story house and its owners, and eventually they decided to sell.
Repurposing the house and its surrounding grounds, which overlook the camp, will include a redesign of the interior as well as the addition of a new building. Famed architect Daniel Libeskind has been commissioned for the project. Libeskind, who is Polish American and the son of Holocaust survivors, is responsible for the iconic Jewish Museum in Berlin among other buildings.
Broidy and Kaplan officially announced the launch of the major fundraising campaign for ARCHER at House 88 on January 27th, International Holocaust Remembrance Day and the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz, calling it a future hub for scholarly research, policy development, and public education.
The ARCHER initiative is now actively seeking additional support to expand its programs, which will include a fellowship for leading scholars focused on extremism research, educational programs for policymakers, educators, and the public, as well as policy advocacy strategies to combat hate.
