The Zone Of Interest Flashcards
1
Q
Who is Rudolf Höss?
A
- Nazi officer in charge of Auschwitz
- Longest-serving commandant of the camp
- Responsible for killing millions of people
- Lived in a villa just outside the camp with his family
The Zone of Interest
2
Q
What is unique about the filmmaker’s approach in “The Zone of Interest”? Name him.
A
- Jonathan Glazer
- Focuses on the mundane daily lives of the Höss family
- Rarely shows the atrocities in the camp directly
- Uses suggestion and ambient sounds to convey horror
- Aims to show the perpetrators as ordinary humans
The Zone of Interest
3
Q
How does the film depict the Höss family’s complicity?
A
- Hedwig tries on a fur coat stolen from a murdered woman
- The oldest son examines false teeth from killed Jews
- Rudolf finds a human jawbone while swimming
- Family lives in luxury using goods taken from prisoners
The Zone of Interest
4
Q
What was the “zone of interest”?
A
- 16-square-mile area surrounding Auschwitz
- Administered by the SS
- About 9,000 locals were expelled from this area
- Isolated prisoners and hid atrocities from outsiders
The Zone of Interest
5
Q
What was Operation Höss?
A
- Deportation and murder of over 400,000 Hungarian Jews
- Occurred in less than two months in 1944
- Rudolf Höss returned to Auschwitz to oversee this operation
- One of the most intense periods of killing at Auschwitz
The Zone of Interest
6
Q
How did Rudolf Höss approach mass murder?
The specific method?
Rate?
A
- Used Zyklon B gas as the most efficient killing method
- Innovated in organizing the killing process
- Approached it with systematic, detached precision
- Auschwitz gas chambers could kill 2,000 people per hour at peak
The Zone of Interest
7
Q
What happened to Rudolf Höss after the war?
A
- Went into hiding under alias Franz Lang
- Captured by British forces in March 1946
- Testified at Nuremberg trials, confessing to his crimes
- Executed by hanging at Auschwitz on April 16, 1947
The Zone of Interest
8
Q
How does the film illustrate the “banality of evil”?
A
- Shows the Höss family living a normal, even idyllic life
- Contrasts domestic scenes with nearby atrocities
- Depicts perpetrators as ordinary people, not monsters
- Explores how ordinary humans can commit extraordinary evil
The Zone of Interest
9
Q
What were some key aspects of the Höss family’s life at Auschwitz?
A
- Lived in a villa with a flower garden
- Children played with pets and swam in a pool
- Used camp inmates as forced laborers
- Benefited from goods stolen from prisoners
The Zone of Interest
10
Q
How does the film differ from typical Holocaust movies?
A
- Doesn’t explicitly show camp atrocities
- Focuses on perpetrators rather than victims
- Uses subtle sounds and implications rather than graphic scenes
- Aims to make viewers contemplate their own capacity for evil
The Zone of Interest
