The Zone of Disinterest

Towards the end of Jonathan Glazer’s The Zone of Interest (2023), based on the books of the same name by Martin Amis, Rudolf Höss is given a promotion, for his mathematical efficiency in advancing the rate of killing at Auschwitz-Birkenau. By this two hour point of the film, the viewer has spent a year with the Höss family in their middle class home over the wall of the concentration camp. We see the children of commandants come over for play dates in the back garden pool; the girls try on dresses seized from those taken to the camps; Hedwig, Rudolf’s wife, tends to the flowers in the biodiverse garden. Being forced into this familial space, we bear witness to the shutting out of the horrific sounds that penetrate the home from over the 10-foot wall. The constant low hum of mechanical whirring; the rustling and clunking of coals being stoked; the occasional mortal scream of desperation all pervade the domestic activities of cooking dinner and playing dress up.

I see a parallel in the way the public is handling their response to the current genocide in Gaza. In some ways, we have no choice but to go ahead with our days “as normal”. We would lose our jobs if we didn’t go to work. We would quickly run out of money for food and heating and rent and soon we would be in an untenable situation. But as a result of Israel’s actions, our lives can’t be normal anymore.

Israel has been enacting colonial violence on Palestine since Israel’s first illegal settlements were established. However, the past year has seen such an unrelenting and targeted attack on the people of Palestine that there is no option but to intervene. It is clear that Israel is not acting alone, as the USA, Germany, Italy and the UK (among others) are providing them with masses of weaponry, effectively committing the genocide hand-in-hand Israel. It seems the least that can be asked for is to cease all trading of arms to Israel. They can’t enact nearly as much damage without blank cheque relationships with arms dealers. But no, the party line across all these Western nations is “Israel has a right to defend herself”— one that PM Kier Starmer is sticking to, steadfastly. The thing is, we elected him to represent us. I didn’t vote for him, but that’s how democracy turns out sometimes. I am not for one second going to be represented as someone who sees the bombing of hospitals as self defence. Yet I am. I don’t imagine a lot of people believe this self defence lie, but many are happy for it to act as a 10-foot wall, the 2,500 miles separating us from them, and carry on as normal. Maybe they are afraid their peers don’t see eye to eye with them. Maybe they are afraid they will be called racist (a common fear in people who, while they might be a little racist, are statistically not the most racist person in the room). Maybe they are afraid they will lose their job for speaking out. These are all valid social fears, but one must admit that they pale in comparison to the fears faced by your average 6 year old Gazan. So, get a grip and speak out, loudly.

I want to go back to Höss’ promotion. A celebration is thrown by the Nazi party. Höss shares news of his promotion with his wife over the telephone. He returns to the celebration from a viewing balcony, observing the huge numbers in attendance. He remarks that he could ‘gas every last one of them’, and ponders on the most efficient way to do so. He then leaves via an elaborate staircase.

The film ends with a metatextual passage that cross-cuts footage of janitorial staff at the Auschwitz museum and Höss stumbling down empty stairs at the party venue. After a while, Höss begins to wretch and gag, but cannot ‘complete’ the action and vomit. It is as if his body itself knows his actions to be so heinous, so anti-human that it tries to reject them, but Höss constructs a mindset so barren and evil that he manages to subdue his innate human compulsion.

We are often asked to hold impossibilities in our mind, such as remembering that “everyone has humanity within them”, “no one is all bad”. Such thoughts are difficult to hold in tandem with the knowledge we have of genocide, and how it is and has been carried out. I think what is key is what we do with that humanity. In the case of Höss, fictionalised version or not, he managed to find within him a way to shut out the truth that we are all human and should treat each other as such. It is imperative that in seeing the onslaught of artillery fire and growing invasion that Israel is wreaking on its neighbours, that we use our humanity, and don’t simply moralise about it. We are seeing a parallel with Kier Starmer in his wilful ignorance that Israel is not “defending herself”. We cannot stand for this rhetoric being our representation to the world and especially to the people being bombed, shot, maimed, starved, and displaced. We now need to amplify the voice in support of Palestine and Lebanon and make the pressure on the politicians unbearable to the point where they have to intervene and stop the genocide before it is completed.

We have to take control. Control of the language: nae euphemisms! Genocide is genocide, not “conflict”, not “war”, not “a humanitarian crisis”. Control of our representation— let them know we do not stand for any support of genocide. Control of our humanity— do the right thing.

Come on. Get a grip.