"Last summer, Ms. Jurczak agreed to sell her stake in the home to the Counter Extremism Project, a New York-based group that wants to open the house to visitors. She moved out in August, and in October the New York group completed its acquisition of the home and an adjacent house built after the war...

Mark Wallace, a lawyer and former U.S. diplomat who is the chief executive of the Counter Extremism Project, also declined to give the price, saying only that once other family members were paid for their stakes in the property, the total price was “significantly more” than what Ms. Jurczak had indicated. He also said his organization “wanted to do right” by Ms. Jurczak’s family but “did not want to pay a big premium for a former Nazi property, even if we could.""

"A three-story house overlooking an Auschwitz gas chamber, formerly owned by the camp's commander, Rudolf Hoss, has been purchased by the Counter Extremism Project (CEP) with the aim of opening it up to visitors, the New York Times revealed on Wednesday."

CEP Senior Advisor Edmund Fitton-Brown writes: "Iran’s 45-year trajectory from the Khomeini revolution to its current challenge to Israel, the West, and the Rules-Based International System (RBIS) led to developing and solidifying its “Axis of Resistance.” Tehran supports and coordinates this group of regional proxies, including Yemen’s Houthis, Hamas, and Lebanese Hezbollah, to challenge its enemies in various theaters. A key Iranian proxy is found among the Iraqi Shia, who have a history with Iran that goes back to the Saddam Hussein era but whose full value to Tehran only started to be realized after the 2003 US invasion made Iraq’s largest community dominant in that nation’s politics."

“Qatar's prime minister announces that a Gaza truce deal between Israel and Hamas has been agreed. Thousands of Gazans reacted to the news with jubilation. The deal will go into effect as of January 19. Phase 1 of the deal entails 33 hostages being released by Hamas over a six-week period. Israel says some issues are to be resolved with a vote expected on Thursday. Here are the latest developments from Israel, Gaza and the wider Middle Eastfrom January 15 into January 16… While the first phase of the ceasefire deal is not "a problem," the second one will be "tough," counterterrorism analyst Hans-Jakob Schindler told DW. "Because when you are in the second phase, you have to think about the third phase, that is sustainable ceasefire, the rebuilding of the Gaza strip," he said.”
 

CEP non-resident fellow Ari Heistein writes: "Yemen’s Houthis may be on a high from their success in keeping Israelis awake at night with their sporadic missile launches targeting the country’s center of gravity. Dealing with this threat will present considerable dilemmas and challenges to Israel. However, Israeli journalists’ defeatism is overwrought; in fact, less than one year and a half after their grand entrance onto the international stage, the Houthis strategic options are looking considerably worse than they were in October 2023. "

“Quiet, safe and surrounded by greenery. And a view of a gas chamber. The house where Rudolf Höss, commandant of the Auschwitz death camp, lived with his family will soon be open to visitors. The building, located just outside the camp, was made famous by the Oscar-winning film The Zone of Interest, directed by Jonathan Glazer. Until now it has been a private home. For the past 42 years, Grazyna Jurczak, now 62, has lived there with her husband, before he died, and their two children: 'It was a great place to raise the children', thanks to its proximity to nature and the river, and the absence of chaos. But after the release of Glazer's film, the decision to sell the house was reinforced by the streams of people who walked around the building, looking at it and remembering its connection to the tragedies of the Holocaust.”

“... The home in Oswiecim, Poland, was purchased in October by the NY-based Counter Extremism Project, which plans to open it to the public for the first time. Counter Extremism Project CEO Mark Wallace says the house and an adjacent property will ultimately become the newly formed Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism, and Radicalization, which will focus on combating modern-day extremism. "This house has been closed for 80 years. It was out of reach to the victims and their families. Finally, we can open it to honor survivors and show that this place of incredible evil is now open to all," Wallace said.”

“A house once owned by Rudolf Höss, the notorious commandant of the Nazi German Auschwitz concentration camp, has been purchased by the Counter Extremism Project (CEP), a US-based non-governmental organisation, and will soon open to visitors. Located at 88 Legionów Street in the southern Polish city of Oświęcim, the house sits near the former camp’s perimeter fence. The property became the focus of public attention after last year’s release of The Zone of Interest, a British-Polish-American film that depicted the domestic life of Höss and his family living in the shadow of Auschwitz from 1941 to 1944.”
 

“Last summer, Grazyna Jurczak, a 62-year-old Polish widow, decided to sell the house where she had lived for more than forty years with her husband and two children to the non-governmental organization Counter Extremism Project. Among the reasons that led her to sell it was that for a few months, more and more people had been wandering around the house: they were visitors to the Auschwitz concentration camp, a few meters away, and who had seen the film The Zone of Interest , directed by Jonathan Glazer, released in 2023 and set in her house.”

“As reported by Polish Radio, a centre for combating hatred will be established in the villa of the Auschwitz commandant. The villa where Rudolf Höß, the first commandant of the Auschwitz-Birkenau camp, lived, has been sold by its private owner to the New York-based foundation Counter Extremism Project. The building will serve as the Center for the Study of Hate, Extremism and Radicalization. The facility, located next to the former camp, is to become a center for education and prevention against hate speech and extremism. Piotr Cywiński, director of the Auschwitz-Birkenau Museum, emphasized in an interview with Radio Kraków that this is an innovative idea that can play a key role in the fight against hate and radicalization. The center will operate independently of the museum, becoming an important point on the educational map.”