SS Camp Boss' House of Death

Project: 'Worst Extremist's' Home at Auschwitz Centre for Research

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Overlooking a gas chamber and a crematorium at Auschwitz, a large house inhabited by the Nazi death camp's commandant is to become a centre for the global fight against anti-Semitism and extremism.

The three-storey grey house, which connects to the camp via an underground tunnel, was shown to the media by project organisers for the first time on Monday, on the 80th anniversary of the liberation of Auschwitz.

"This is the house of the worst extremist in history," Mark Wallace, a former US ambassador to the UN and the founder of the Counter Extremism Project, said.

The house of Rudolf Hoess, who lived there with his wife and five children, is next to the wall of Auschwitz and has been in private hands until now.

Its rooms have been stripped bare and only a traditional Jewish mezuzah – a small case containing a tiny scroll of parchment inscribed by a prayer – has been added to the doorframe of the main entrance.