Video: 'Analyzing Evil: Amon Göth (Goeth) From Schindler's List'
(Friday, September 13, 1946, around 6:00 p.m. Central European Summer Time) — Amon Göth, the former commandant of the Nazi concentration camp at Plaszów whose reign of terror claimed thousands of lives during the German occupation of Poland, was hanged today after being convicted of war crimes by Poland’s Supreme National Tribunal.
Göth, 37, an Austrian SS captain, was found guilty of ordering the imprisonment, torture and mass extermination of Jews and other civilians, as well as personally murdering prisoners under his command. The tribunal ruled that he bore direct responsibility for atrocities committed at the Plaszów concentration camp and for mass executions carried out in the Kraków and Tarnów districts during the war.
Witnesses at the trial described a commander who routinely shot prisoners without warning, ordered brutal punishments, and oversaw the systematic murder of thousands. Prosecutors charged that more than 13,000 Jews were executed under operations directed by Göth during the Nazi occupation.
The execution was carried out near the former site of the Plaszów camp, where countless prisoners perished under his authority. Polish officials said the sentence marked another step in bringing leading Nazi war criminals to justice following Germany’s defeat.
Video: 'Amon Goeth - The Butcher of Plaszów Documentary'
Also executed today was Dr. Leon Gross, a Jewish physician who was convicted of collaborating with Nazi authorities at the Plaszów camp. The tribunal found that Gross had assisted camp officials in carrying out policies that contributed to the suffering and deaths of fellow prisoners.
Göth served as commandant of Plaszów from 1943 until his removal by SS authorities the following year. Although later arrested by the Germans on charges unrelated to his treatment of prisoners, he survived the war and was captured by American forces before being extradited to Poland for trial.
His prosecution was among the first major postwar cases in which a Nazi official was convicted not only for directing crimes against humanity but also for personally committing murder.
As Europe continues to reckon with the horrors uncovered after the collapse of the Third Reich, today’s execution stands as one more chapter in the effort to hold those responsible for the Holocaust accountable before the law.
