So I have never seen Schlinders List, but I know the scene with Ralph Fiennes, and after viewing r/historyporn I was quite shocked by a picture of Amon Goth that was a mirror to those scenes from the film.
I decided to read about him on Wikipedia, and I was confused by the SS arresting him for what seems to me, for being a murderous nazi.
Why did the nazi party decide to arrest him, especially at a time when they were losing the war, was it a pretence?
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There’s a lot to unpack here. Göth wasn’t arrested for “being a murderous Nazi” which wouldn’t make sense in the context.
As portrayed in the film, he was guilty of taking bribes by Schindler and others, as well as the theft and diversion of “state resources” during his time as camp commander.
Göth, despite being notorious for his brutality, was arrested by the SS in September 1944, but not for murder.
The charges were for corruption, embezzlement and involvement in the black market.
Göth was the SS-appointed commandant of Kraków-Płaszów, infamous for personally shooting prisoners and enforcing terror. But even the SS had limits; especially when one of their own was seen as stealing from the Reich’s “property.” His subordinates reported him for:
Embezzling Jewish property
Misappropriating camp resources
Selling rations on the black market
These were serious charges in the eyes of SS authorities, especially during wartime scarcity.
In September 1944, Göth was formally relieved of command and placed under SS arrest by an internal tribunal, not for his killings, but for economic crimes.
This action was part of a broader SS initiative to police its own ranks via Judge Konrad Morgen, known for investigating corruption in concentration camps.
The tribunal took place in Breslau (modern-day Wrocław), where Göth awaited further proceedings.
He was then hospitalized, supposedly suffering from diabetes and mental instability, which the SS used as grounds to hold him rather than pursue a full trial.
By early 1945, as the Third Reich collapsed, the SS system lost all order. No verdict was ever delivered, and Göth’s case faded amid chaos.
Instead, he ended up in Bad Tölz, Bavaria, where he was found and arrested by U.S. forces in May 1945.
From there, he was extradited to Poland, stood trial before the Supreme National Tribunal in Kraków, and was executed by hanging on September 13, 1946.
TL;DR – Dual Arrest Timeline
Sept 1944 SS Tribunal (Breslau) Corruption, embezzlement, black-market activity Relieved of command; hospitalized, but no verdict
May 1945 U.S. Military Forces War crimes, atrocities at Płaszów camp Try, convicted, executed in 1946
Sources:
Yad Vashem summary: “from February 1943 until September 1944, when the SS tribunal arrested him for corruption and embezzlement.”
Britannica: details his “selling on the black market many of the rations intended to feed his prisoners,” mixing cruelty with corruption.
Wikipedia entry on Amon Göth confirms both the internal arrest and the later Allied arrest and trial—but secondary to above.
He was embezzling; on both sides. Selling rations meant for the concentration camp with one hand, as well as stealing confiscated goods that should have gone to the government with the other.
They weren’t saving face by dismissing him; even if he was a real bastard, even by Nazi standards. I doubt they much cared about that.
He was just wildly corrupt, and he got a little too greedy with grifting the Nazi party. His arrest by the SS was for fraud and suspicions of leaking secret information (which was Schindler), not brutality.
In a way, his corruption likely shielded Schindler, as the SS assumed/suspected that the person leaking/selling information was the same person who was defrauding them. Not an unreasonable assumption, all things considered.