Amon Goeth's House
House on Jerozolimska
Street where Amon Goeth lived
The photograph above, taken in 1998,
shows the front of the house where Amon Goeth lived during the
time that he was the Commandant of the Plaszow camp near Krakow,
Poland. His mistress, who was introduced to him by Oskar Schindler,
lived with him in this house.
The photograph below shows another house
on Jerozolimska Street, which was used as the residence of Amon
Goeth in the movie, Schindler's List.
House used in the movie
Schindler's List as Amon Goeth's house
The novel, Schindler's List, on which
Spielberg's movie is based, says that Goeth stepped out of the
front door of a "temporary residence" and shot prisoners
at random. Later when he moved into a three-story white house
on Jerozolimska Street, Goeth shot prisoners from the balcony,
according to the book. In the movie, Schindler's List, Goeth
is shown standing on the balcony in the rear of his house, shooting
prisoners, who were not working fast enough, with a high-powered
rifle. According to my tour guide, he actually shot prisoners
from a hill overlooking the camp because his house was behind
the hill.
The photograph below shows Goeth standing
on the balcony, smoking a cigarette, and holding a rifle.
Amon Goeth holding
a rifle on the balcony of his house
Goeth was married and had two children,
who were living in Vienna while he was the Commandant of the
Plaszow camp, although some sources say that he was divorced.
Like Oskar Schindler, whose wife did not accompany him to Krakow,
Goeth took a mistress who was one of Oskar Schindler's secretaries.
Goeth lived lavishly and drank heavily, just like his friend
Schindler, who is shown the photo below, taken several years
after the war.
Oskar Schindler
Goeth's mistress, Ruth-Irene Kalder,
remained loyal to him and kept a photograph of Amon on her night
table until the day she died. In an interview with a British
journalist in 1983, she described Goeth as a charming man with
impeccable table manners. She said that she never regretted,
for one second, her relationship with Amon, which began when
she was 25 years old. Kalder committed suicide the day after
her interview in 1983. Allegedly, she had become distraught when
she learned that the 82-minute documentary, which the journalist
was making, was not just about Oskar Schindler, but would include
a negative portrayal of her former lover, Amon Goeth, who was
also the father of her love child, Monika, born in November 1945.
Kalder was a young, beautiful woman with a slender figure, a
former actress and an experienced secretary; why she chose to
live with a monster like Amon Goeth remains a mystery to this
day.
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