The mother lived for 42 years in a three-story house overlooking a former gas chamber and a gallows at Auschwitz, sometimes losing sleep at the thought of what had happened on the other side of her garden wall.

But the house in Oswiecim, southern Poland, once the home of the death camp’s wartime commandant, Rudolf Höss, was “a great place to raise children,” said Grazyna Jurczak, 62, a widow who raised two sons there.

The home, the subject of the Oscar-winning movie “The Zone of Interest,” had “safety, silence, a beautiful garden,” easy access to a river across the road and, in winter, space for an ice-skating rink for her two boys, she said.

Alone in the house after her husband died, she finally decided to leave. One reason, she said, was that she was disturbed by people who, after watching “The Zone of Interest,” were tramping through her garden, peering through her windows and reminding her of her home’s connection to the Holocaust.

Last summer, Ms. Jurczak agreed to sell 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.

“I had to get out of there,” Ms. Jurczak said at her new home in a modern apartment block in Oswiecim, a mile from her former house. She declined to say how much the house was sold for, but indicated that it was somewhat more than the property’s estimated value of around $120,000.

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 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.”

Now the house, at 88 Legionow Street, just outside the camp’s perimeter fence, is being prepared to receive visits by the public for the first time, as part of commemorations for the 80th anniversary of the Soviet Army’s liberation of Auschwitz.

The Auschwitz-Birkenau State Museum, a Polish institution in Oswiecim committed to the remembrance of Nazi victims, will be hosting dozens of world leaders on Jan. 27.

At the house, workers hired by the new owners have removed 14 dumpsters of debris and stripped away wallpaper and other postwar additions. That has left the property much as it was when the Höss family lived there from 1941 to late 1944, including the Nazi-era lock on the bathroom door reading “frei/besetzt.,” German for free/occupied.

A mezuzah, a parchment containing biblical verses, has been attached to the front door frame to honor Jewish tradition — and repudiate the fanaticism of its former occupant, the Auschwitz commander. After the war, Commandant Höss recalled how the successful experimental gassing of Russian prisoners in 1941 “set my mind at rest, for the mass extermination of the Jews was to start soon.”

He was hanged in 1947 at a gallows placed between his former home and a Nazi crematory.

On a table in a downstairs corner room that Commandant Höss used as a home office lies a heap of torn and crumpled Nazi-era newspapers and other wartime artifacts found after the house was sold. There is also a coffee mug, embossed with the seal of the SS, and German beer bottles.

Retrieved from the attic, where they had been stuffed to block a hole, were the striped trousers once worn by an Auschwitz prisoner. Researchers are trying to work out who wore them by deciphering a faded prisoner number, written next to a small red triangle signifying that the wearer was a political prisoner and a nearly vanished yellow star designating a Jew.

“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,” Mr. Wallace said.

The plan, Mr. Wallace said, is to turn the house, along with the adjacent property, into the Auschwitz Research Center on Hate, Extremism and Radicalization, a new organization that will work to expand the pledge of “Never Again” from historical memory to current action.

Piotr Cywinski, a Polish historian and director of the Auschwitz-Birkanau Museum since 2006, said his state-run institution wanted to preserve its core mission of remembrance but saw value in supporting a project focused on the present and future, as well as the past.

“Fighting against today’s reality is easier for an NGO than for a state institution,” he said, lamenting the rise across Europe of populism, which he calls “the cancer of democracy.”

The new center will encompass the entire territory of Commandant Höss’s wartime property, including a long sealed-off garden area where he met with Hitler’s security chief, Heinrich Himmler, Josef Mengele, the “angel of death” doctor, and other Nazi dignitaries tasked with exterminating Jews. Daniel Libeskind, an American architect, has been commissioned to redesign the property.

Mr. Libeskind said he had drawn up preliminary plans that envisage turning the interior of the house into “a void, an abyss” — the external walls are protected by a UNESCO preservation order — and the construction of a new partly buried structure in a garden area with meeting rooms, a library and a data center.

More than two million people visit the former Auschwitz camp each year and, the architect said, come away “horrified and mesmerized by death” but also need “to engage with contemporary antisemitism and other extremism in our political culture.”

Jacek Purski, the director of a Polish anti-extremism group, who is involved in the project, said he wants to use the house and the past Nazi horrors as a weapon against what he sees as a resurgence of extremist ideologies.

“A house is a house,” Mr. Purski said, looking out of a second-story window of the former Höss house toward the chimney of a former Nazi crematory. “But it is in uninteresting, regular houses like this where extremism is happening today.”

Ms. Jurczak, the former owner, said she still struggles to reconcile happy, ordinary memories of the house with its gruesome past.

Reminiscing about her family’s time there she suddenly stopped herself: “I worry that I sound like Ms. Höss,” she said, referring to the commandant’s wife, Hedwig Höss. In the movie, Ms. Höss gushes about her Polish home as “paradise” and is shown trying on a fur coat stolen from a prisoner sent to slaughter by her husband.

The commandant’s wife, Ms. Jurczak decided after watching the movie, “was perhaps even worse than her husband,” in her indifference to human suffering.

While awaiting execution in a Polish jail after the war, Mr. Höss, the former commandant, wrote an autobiography that Primo Levi, the Italian writer and Auschwitz survivor, described as the work of a “drab functionary” who “evolved step by step into one of the greatest criminals in history.”

The house where Mr. Höss lived was built between the two great wars of the last century by a Polish military officer serving in an adjacent army camp, which was seized by the Nazis after their 1939 invasion of Poland and turned into an extermination factory. At least 1.1 million men, women and children were murdered there, mostly in gas chambers.

Grabbed by the SS as a home for the Auschwitz commandant, who changed the street number to 88, a numerical code for Heil Hitler, the house was returned to its original owner after the war and later sold to the family of Mr. Jurczak’s husband, who owned it until last year.

Mr. Cywinski, the Auschwitz-Birkanau museum director, said he was eager to work with the Counter Extremism Project, in its efforts to combat extremism.

Extremism, he said, “is unfortunately not a mental illness; it is a method” that exploits widespread feelings of frustration.

Ordinary people with ordinary ambitions, he added, can turn into monsters.

Mr. Höss, he said, “was a wonderful father to his kids and, at the same time, the main organizer of the most brutal killings in the history of the world.”

Anatol Magdziarz contributed reporting from Warsaw.

Chartered flights have been canceled. Performances have been called off or postponed. Tour agencies have fielded requests from travelers who want to change their plans.

Chinese travelers have been scrapping trips to Thailand, frightened by the story of a Chinese actor who was abducted there, taken to Myanmar and forced to work in an online scam compound. The incident is a blow to Thailand’s tourism sector ahead of the peak Lunar New Year holiday at the end of this month, when many Chinese had been expected to visit.

The disappearance of the actor, Wang Xing, from the Thai border city of Mae Sot this month, has fanned public concerns about safety in Thailand. Mr. Wang was later rescued from a scam compound in Myanmar, but many travelers and event organizers were already rattled.

Eason Chan, a Hong Kong pop star, canceled a sold-out concert scheduled to take place next month in Bangkok’s Impact Arena, with organizers citing “safety concerns for Chinese citizens and fans around the world traveling to Thailand.” Zhao Benshan, a Chinese comedian known for his sketches in the Chinese state broadcaster’s Lunar New Year gala, also postponed an appearance in Bangkok next month.

Nuntaporn Komonsittivate, an executive at the low-cost carrier Thai Lion Air said on Wednesday that 20 percent of the company’s chartered flights between China and Thailand — serving routes to Chinese cities other than the six cities the airline normally operates in — have been canceled.

On Weibo, a Chinese social media outlet, people discussed travel refunds and whether Thailand was safe, using hashtags that rose in popularity on the platform. Travel agents in China said that they had received requests from travelers to cancel trips to Thailand or to change their destination.

Zhang Zhihong, a sales representative with Baochunguo Travel Agency, a company based in the southern city of Shenzhen focused on travel to Southeast Asia, said that a quarter of the Thailand trips his company handled had been canceled in the past week. “It was all because of the public opinion around this incident. People felt that traveling to Thailand was unsafe, and requested refunds.”

This anxiety could complicate Thailand’s efforts to revitalize its tourism sector after the pandemic. Thailand has eased visa requirements for Chinese travelers and offered discounts through Chinese travel platforms in a campaign the country has called “Nihao Month,” using the Mandarin term for “hello.” Nearly 7 million Chinese people traveled to Thailand in 2024, making them the largest group of international visitors.

The public outcry over Mr. Wang’s abduction raises the pressure on the Thai and Chinese governments to do more to prevent Chinese from being abducted and trafficked into scam compounds in Myanmar.

“The cancellation of performances and public attention may force Thai authorities to become more serious about combating human trafficking and scams,” said Ja Ian Chong, an associate professor of political science at the National University of Singapore.

Hundreds of thousands of people, often lured by offers of high-paying jobs, have been ensnared by such cybercrime operations in Myanmar and Cambodia and forced to work in sophisticated scams to defraud people online. Many captives land first in Thailand before being smuggled across the porous border into lawless areas mostly controlled by Chinese organized crime syndicates.

Thai police said that Mr. Wang had traveled to Bangkok for what he believed to be a casting opportunity. After he went missing on Jan. 3, his girlfriend filed reports to the Chinese police and embassy in Thailand. She called for help on social media, and her posts, which were shared by Chinese celebrities, spread widely.

On Jan. 7, Thai authorities said that Mr. Wang had been found and rescued, but they did not provide details. Criminal gangs often demand hefty ransoms to free their captives from such compounds.

Mr. Wang, in video interviews with Thai media outlets after his release, said that he had been forced to shave his head and to learn how to type quickly.

Thai officials sought to use his rescue to assure Chinese travelers about visiting Thailand. In one video, a Thai police officer urged Mr. Wang: “You think Thailand is safe for you. Can you say in Chinese?”

Mr. Wang’s swift rescue set off a wave of appeals for help from the families of other Chinese victims, some of whom have been missing in Southeast Asia for months or years. A log containing details of the disappearance of more than 170 other Chinese victims was widely shared on Weibo.

Thai officials have scrambled to show that they are working to protect the safety of visitors. Thai police met with Chinese diplomats to discuss setting up a center to coordinate efforts to track missing people and exchange information. And on Monday, Thai authorities said that two Chinese women who had been abducted in Thailand had been rescued by the Chinese authorities and repatriated.

Thienprasit Chaiyapatranun, president of the Thai Hotels Association, said he hoped the Thai government would do more to assuage the concerns of Chinese tourists.

“We are nervous that it will have long-term effects,” he said.

Siyi Zhao contributed research.

Ukraine’s national electricity operator introduced emergency power cuts on Wednesday after the country came under what the energy minister called a “massive” missile attack.

Air-raid sirens wailed at around 5:45 a.m. in the capital, Kyiv, as most of the country was put on alert for missile launches. As people huddled in shelters into a third hour and the air force warned of incoming cruise missiles, the energy minister, Herman Galushchenko, announced emergency steps.

“Due to the massive attack, the transmission system operator is applying preventive restriction measures,” Mr. Galushchenko, wrote in a statement on Facebook.

Emergency power shutdowns were applied in six regions across the country, including Kharkiv in the northeast and Zaporizhzhia in the south, according to Ukrenergo, the national electricity operator.

Russian forces have repeatedly targeted Ukrainian energy infrastructure in campaigns to black out, and wear down, the country in wintertime.

The scale of the assault on Wednesday was not immediately clear. It came a day after Moscow threatened to retaliate for what it said was Ukraine’s use of Western-made long-range rockets to strike inside Russia.

Decades ago, Mozambique’s liberation party, Frelimo, easily attracted adoring crowds. The promise of salvation from Portuguese colonizers, and a life with jobs and housing for all, was an easy sell in a southern African nation that was suffering under racist rule.

But when Daniel Chapo of Frelimo becomes president on Wednesday, he will confront a country more dissatisfied with his party than at any point during the country’s 50 years of independence. Tens of thousands of people took to the street after the October election, which voters, international observers, opposition leaders and rights groups have roundly criticized as fraudulent.

The country of 33 million has been roiled by political chaos since the vote. And now, Frelimo’s grip on power is being tested like never before at a time when Mozambique faces urgent economic and social crises, analysts say. Two of the three opposition parties boycotted the opening of Parliament on Monday.

The anger among voters exploded into massive street protests in the past several months that led to clashes with the police. At least 300 people have been killed.

Mr. Chapo and his party had likely hoped that the inauguration on Wednesday would help move the country toward reconciliation and stability. Instead, the challenges facing Frelimo’s leadership could just be getting started, political insiders say.

“Frelimo became used to seeing themselves as the chosen party,” said Gabriel Muthisse, a former top party official who remains an active member. “They believed that elections were only a formality for the people to confirm their leadership. Over the past five, 10 years, things are showing that that is false.”

Last week in the capital, Maputo, the police responded with deadly force when supporters took to the streets to greet the top opposition leader, Venâncio Mondlane, who returned to Mozambique after a self-imposed exile. The fiery populist has won the support of disaffected young voters who see him as an ally in their fight against a corrupt political elite.

Mr. Mondlane, who claims to have won the election, has called for continued protests, though this week has not attracted the mass demonstrations that shut down the capital and other cities in previous months.

In an interview in Maputo, Mr. Mondlane said that he has communicated with Mr. Chapo through a mutual friend. He expressed hope that the president-elect would negotiate a resolution to end the political crisis and accept reforms put forward by him in a recent proposal. Those reforms include building three million houses for poor Mozambicans and creating a half-billion-dollar fund for startups led by women and young people.

“You must give the people something very crucial and something tangible,” Mr. Mondlane said. “I don’t know if all the items that are in my proposal will be satisfied or not. But I think that we will begin a platform of dialogue.”

Protests were still needed, he added, because to ensure reforms will happen, “you must put the government under pressure.”

Mr. Chapo, 48, emerged last year as Frelimo’s surprise presidential candidate. Unlike others in the party, he did not lobby for the nomination. He entered public office just 10 years ago, but came face to face with the country’s troubled political history long ago.

When he was 5, he said, his family was kidnapped by guerrilla forces fighting Frelimo during Mozambique’s 16-year civil war. A lawyer by training, he served as a provincial governor before running for the presidency for the first time last year as a member of Frelimo.

Branquinho João da Costa, a 43-year-old doctor living part time in Maputo, recalled his grade school days when the glory of Frelimo was drilled into him and his classmates through freedom songs. “It’s very difficult to be completely disconnected from Frelimo,” he said.

Many Mozambicans were now disgruntled with the party over accusations of corruption and its failure to address rising prices, which he called “a new kind of slavery for the people.” Mr. da Costa said the Frelimo of his childhood was more in touch with the party’s socialist roots, and that it was led then by officials who cared less about wealth and power.

“The real aim of Frelimo was serving people,” he said. “Now many of them, they fight to get political positions just to steal from us.”

Frelimo no longer has the luxury of ignoring such criticism, some party members say. The past few months have been a warning, said Alsácia Sardinha, who was sworn in this week for her third term as a member of Parliament for Frelimo.

“We have to reinvent ourselves to respond to the demands of the people,” she said. That reinvention includes the party policing its own government against wrongdoing, she added.

Mr. Muthisse, the former Frelimo official, said that Parliament can no longer rubber stamp laws put forward by the president. The party needs to focus on reforming institutions, like the electoral commission and the courts, in order to regain public trust, he said.

That reform should be at the center of negotiations with the opposition, Mr. Muthisse said.

“Everybody has to bring ideas,” he said, “so that in the next elections, we all believe.”

Israel and Hamas on the ‘brink’ of a truce

Israel and Hamas are close to a deal on a cease-fire in Gaza and the release of hostages there, Antony Blinken, the U.S. secretary of state, said yesterday. “It’s closer than it’s ever been before,” he said. “But right now as we sit here we await final word from Hamas on its acceptance. And until we get that word, we’ll remain on the brink.”

Negotiators said Hamas seemed ready to accept the deal, including its details about the exchange of Palestinian prisoners for hostages and the specific movements of Israeli troops as they withdraw from positions in Gaza, a person familiar with the talks said last night.

The person said Israel was also locked in on the agreement, and that both sides seemed prepared to announce their acceptance of it in the very near future. Neither Israeli nor Hamas officials have publicly confirmed their positions. Here’s what we know about the proposal.

Gaza: An analysis in The Lancet found that Palestinian deaths from bombs and other traumatic injuries may have been undercounted by 40 percent during the first nine months of the war.

South Korea’s president was detained for questioning

Yoon Suk Yeol today became the first sitting South Korean president to be detained for questioning by criminal investigators, after striking a deal with law enforcement officials that ended a weekslong standoff. He has been accused of insurrection in connection with his short-lived declaration of martial law last month.

In a video message, Yoon said he had agreed to submit to questioning to prevent a “bloody” clash between his bodyguards and the police. But he called the investigation and the warrant to detain him illegal. Here’s what to know about South Korea’s leadership crisis.

Investigators have 48 hours to question Yoon, after which they could apply for a separate warrant to formally arrest him. Separately, the Constitutional Court is deliberating whether the National Assembly’s Dec. 14 impeachment of Yoon was legitimate and whether the president, currently suspended, should be permanently removed from office.

Republicans embraced Hegseth’s bid to lead the Pentagon

Pete Hegseth, Donald Trump’s pick for defense secretary, emerged from a tense confirmation hearing yesterday with the Republican Party’s support intact. A Senate vote on whether he should lead the Pentagon — a department with three million employees and a budget of $849 billion — could come as soon as Monday.

Over hours of questioning, Democrats quizzed Hegseth about sexual misconduct allegations — Hegseth was accused of rape in 2017 — and his drinking habits. They called him unfit to lead the Pentagon and grilled Hegseth, a former Fox News host, on his long history of disparaging comments about women in the military.

What’s next: It was unclear whether Hegseth had left the hearing with the votes he needed. If all Senate Democrats oppose him, Hegseth will have to secure the backing of at least 50 of the 53 Republicans in the chamber.

Related: A report was released yesterday that detailed the special counsel’s investigation into Trump’s attempt to overturn the 2020 election. Here are four takeaways.

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The Maha Kumbh Mela festival in India begins this week. It is expected to draw up to 400 million Hindu pilgrims to the banks of the Ganges and Yamuna rivers, in what would be the world’s largest gathering.

The ceremony happens every 12 years and centers on a series of holy baths. But it has also become an important political event. For Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it is a chance to promote his right-wing party.

The 24-hour diner

All-night diners are a signature New York institution. But in a city that supposedly never sleeps, they’re disappearing as costs rise and habits change.

Priya Krishna, a reporter for The Times, spent a Friday night at Kellogg’s Diner in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, dining nonstop from 8 p.m. to 8 a.m. “Surprisingly, I drew no scrutiny from the staff for my hourslong stay,” she writes, “a heartening reminder that no other place will welcome you as unconditionally as an all-night diner.”

Read about Priya’s night of pecan pie, lost treasures and Michael Jackson’s “Thriller.”