2025 Holocaust in Film Series: “The Commandant’s Shadow” by Daniela Volker
Join the Alabama Holocaust Education Center for its 12th annual Holocaust in Film series in partnership with Sidewalk Film Center + Cinema and the UAB Department of History.
This year’s opening film, The Commandant’s Shadow, follows Hans Jürgen Höss, the son of Rudolf Höss, the Camp Commandant of Auschwitz, as he confronts his father’s involvement in the murder of over a million Jews during the Holocaust. Following last year’s screening of Jonathan Glazer’s Oscar-winning film, The Zone of Interest, this documentary will provide you with a new perspective on the infamous camp commandant and his family. This film screening will be particularly special, as it will take place only a day after the anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz 80 years ago.
Guests can participate in a discussion led by UAB Professor Michele Forman and AHEC Program Manager Haley Wells that will take place immediately following the film. Through a generous sponsorship by UAB Department of History and UAB Media Studies, students can attend this event for free. Use the link below to purchase your tickets today!
Purchase Tickets
Meet Our Panelists:
Michele Forman is a documentary filmmaker and AHEC board member who got her start as an executive in feature films. As Director of Development at Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks, she was responsible for the acquisition and development of new projects, including New Jersey Drive, Girl 6, Sula, The Jackie Robinson Story, and Summer of Sam. In addition, Forman served as associate producer on Mr. Lee’s Academy Award-nominated film 4 Little Girls, a feature-length documentary for HBO about the bombing of the Sixteenth Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, in 1963.
Michele co-founded the UAB Media Studies Program in 2003 with the aim of using new media technologies to connect students with crucial community issues in the Greater Birmingham area. She loves teaching media and film history, as well as using the methods of documentary filmmaking, digital storytelling, oral history, and multimedia-based research to give students the chance to connect what they learn in the classroom with real-world experience.
Though she loves arthouse and non-fiction films, you can often find her checking out the latest heist movie at the multiplex.
Haley Wells is the Program Manager of the Alabama Holocaust Education Center. A UAB alumni, she graduated in 2024 with a dual B.A. in English and history and a M.A. in history. Her undergraduate thesis focused on the history of Black hospitals in Birmingham, and her graduate thesis examined the work of Dr. James Montgomery, a Birmingham civil rights activist and the first Black doctor to practice medicine at UAB. Haley has presented her research at a variety of conferences, including several Phi Alpha Theta regional conferences, the 2023 National Conference on Undergraduate Research, the 2023 Symposium for History Undergraduate Research at Mississippi State, and the 2024 Southern Studies Conference. She is also the recipient of several college awards, including the 2024 Outstanding History Graduate Student Award at UAB. She is responsible for managing the Center’s general programs, including “Taking Action Together,” its Film Series, and all Holocaust Commemoration programs.
Thank You to Our Partners:
The Perlman Charitable Fund
The Alabama Holocaust Education Center would like to thank all of our sponsors and partners for helping us to make this year’s Holocaust in Film Series possible.