Göth, Amon

Amon Göth (11 Dec. 1908 – 13 Sept. 1946), SS Hauptsturmführer, was in charge of constructing and then heading the Płaszów Camp near Krakow. As such, he ended up getting prosecuted by the SS-internal court system for looting inmate property and selling it on the black market. He was arrested in early 1945, but due to the war situation, could not be tried. He was eventually arrested by U.S. units and later extradited to Poland, where he was put on a Stalinist show trial, during which his guilt was predetermined and where former inmates of his camp were encouraged to testify against him. Göth denied all charges and challenged the credibility of all incriminating testimonies — unsuccessfully. He was hanged in Krakow on 13 September 1946.

Amon Göth was made known to a wider audience through Steven Spielberg’s move Schindler’s List, in which Göth is shown committing various atrocities, including randomly shooting inmates from his home balcony overlooking the camp. This, however, was physically impossible in reality, because Göth’s house was at the bottom of a hill and the camp on top of it. This alleged incident was thus yet more artistic license by the Jewish director Spielberg.

(See the entry on Schindler’s List, as well as Rudolf 2019, pp. 253f.)