The Nazi Camp Commandants
Nazi Commandant of Płaszów - Arnold Büscher and Schindler’s List Uncovered
10m
This documentary examines the life and crimes of Arnold Büscher, an SS officer whose career moved through the heart of Nazi Germany’s concentration camp system.
After joining the Nazi Party and the SS in the early 1930s, Büscher served at Flossenbürg, Sachsenhausen, Buchenwald, Neuengamme, and later became commandant of Płaszów following the arrest of Amon Göth. As a member of the SS Death’s Head Units, he helped administer a system built on forced labor, violence, and deportation.
At Płaszów, Büscher’s authority collided with the efforts of Oskar Schindler, who worked to save more than a thousand Jewish prisoners from transfer to Auschwitz by relocating them to his factory. While Büscher obstructed parts of the process, Schindler’s bribery and persistence ensured the survival of those later known as Schindler’s List.
After the war, Büscher was arrested and tried in Kraków for his role in camp crimes. The court found him guilty, bringing his career inside the Nazi camp system to an end.
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